compiled by Lauren Salinero
Dr. Phillips Elementary
As part of Orange County Public School’s Teach-In, Tricia Hartley and Kristin Bagley’s kindergartners at Dr. Phillips Elementary “back float” with Dr. P. Phillips YMCA’s Josh the Otter.
Dr. Phillips Elementary received several guests during Orange County Public Schools’ annual Teach-In. School representatives would like to extend thank-yous to all who came out and presented to classes, including visitors from Capoeira Brazilian Pelourinho Inc., Chuy’s, Dave & Buster’s, Dr. P. Phillips YMCA, McDonald’s, Universal Orlando Resort and more.
Waterbridge Elementary
Orange Tree resident Megan Roy is named as Waterbridge Elementary’s teacher of the year.
Megan Roy, a third-grade teacher at Waterbridge Elementary, was named as the school’s teacher of the year. Mrs. Roy graduated in 2005 with a degree in family and child sciences. She has served as the team leader for the third grade for the past five years and is a Common Core Black Belt. Mrs. Roy lives in Orange Tree with her husband, Michael, and four children.
Whispering Oak Elementary
(Front, l. to r.) Katie Swirsky, Diego Caso, Leiann Le, Natalia Bartko, Noah Larson, Aidan Bernhard, Sophia Heller, Matthew Hazelwood, Jack Bajdas, Matthew Lee, (back, l. to r.) teacher Lise Abrams, Karl Johnson, Diya Raj, Kathryn Crutchfield, Isabel Reyes, Tiana Tran and teacher Cathy Moore of the Whispering Oak Elementary National Elementary Honor Society participate in NEHS’s annual food drive.
The Whispering Oak Elementary National Elementary Honor Society held its annual food drive. The group collected more than 3,000 items that were donated to Bread of Life Fellowship Inc., Matthew’s Hope Ministries Inc. and First United Methodist Church of Winter Garden’s food banks. The school’s NEHS officers include Natalia Bartko, Sophia Heller and Diya Raj; and members are Jack Bajdas, Aidan Bernhard, Diego Caso, Kathryn Crutchfield, Matthew Hazelwood, Karl Johnson, Noah Larson, Leiann Le, Matthew Lee, Isabel Reyes, Katie Swirsky and Tiana Tran.
Bridgewater Middle
Shannon Till (left) of Shannon Till — State Farm Insurance presents a $500 check to Tanekia Gage, Bridgewater Middle’s eighth-grade dean, in support of the school’s student of the month program.
Bridgewater Middle representatives announced the launch of a student of the month program, one of the portions of the Bridgewater’s Positive Behavior Support (PBS) systems. It acknowledges boys and girls in grades six through eight for their “paw-sitive” traits and their demonstration of specific character traits, such as respect, caring, self-discipline, perseverance and trustworthiness. All student-of-the-month recipients receive a one-of-a-kind T-shirt and certificate, attend a doughnuts and orange juice breakfast or ice cream social, and are entered into a drawing to win a gift card. The program was made possible by a $500 donation by Shannon Till — State Farm Insurance to help purchase the breakfast items, ice cream and gift cards.
Gotha Middle
Gotha Middle civics teacher Robb Zurek (left) presents an honorary teacher certificate to Windermere Mayor Gary Bruhn during Orange County Public School’s annual Teach-In.
Windermere Mayor Gary Bruhn participated in this year’s Orange County Public School’s annual Teach-In. He attended Robb Zurek’s seventh-grade civics class at Gotha Middle to speak about the various levels of government and each level’s responsibilities and limitations. At the end of the day, Mayor Bruhn earned an honorary teacher certificate.
Et Al
(L. to r.) Marco Salazar, Alexander Wan, Tzuri Murph, Julia Feinstein, Laura Anderson, Rehanna Latif, Nikhil Kar, David Beltran and Temo Salazar of Cranium Academy donate food to Matthew’s Hope Ministries Inc.’s food pantry.
Students at Cranium Academy participated in a food drive to benefit Matthew’s Hope Ministries Inc. The youngsters took home purple bags to fill with food for the organization’s food pantry. It was planned around Thanksgiving in hopes of everyone having enough food for the holiday. The children were so successful, they had to make eight trips to Matthew’s Hope, because the school’s box kept getting full.
To celebrate United Nations Day — with the theme of “Children Around the World” — Premier Academy students (l. to r.) Akhtar Ahmad, Saniya Ahmad, Zoha Ahmad, Grant Hughes, Abbie Eanet and Gianna Pereira wear clothes representing their native countries.
Rori O’Rourke (front, left) and Parker Coronel (front, right) portray Mary and Joseph during Christ The King Lutheran PreSchool’s Christmas program, Someone Has a Birthday.
Christ The King Lutheran PreSchool presented Someone Has a Birthday, its Christmas program, on Dec. 7. All of the school’s 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds participated in the event, after which Christ The King Lutheran Church hosted a cookie reception. The young actors included Parker Coronel and Rori O’Rourke, who played Joseph and Mary, respectively; Tiger Dhaliwal, Colin Herbert and Joshua Hetz, who portrayed shepherds; and Aubrey Creeden, Victoria Cronembold, Zoey Dean, Aria Feltman, Jude and Seela Issa, Sophia Pincura and Quinlin Rossi, who performed as angels.
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