Reach Out Committee Helping Children in Need … and more news

compiled by Lauren Salinero


Bay Meadows Elementary

Parents and community members are encouraged to help support Bay Meadows Elementary by donating to the school through fuelmyschool.com on the web. The website offers free support programs to schools, including FuelAFamily, Supplies4Students, MySchoolWish and Cars4Schools. BMES supporters can choose to donate through Cash4Schools or earn cash for the school by buying a car with a dealership partner through Cars4Schools. For more information or to donate, visit www.fuelmyschool.com/grant-a-wish/listings/details.php?shoolid=827 on the web.


Palm Lake Elementary

110616sn01To celebrate Oscar Mayer’s 80th birthday, Danielle Pyke’s exceptional student education class create a “weinermobile.”

Danielle Pyke’s exceptional student education class at Palm Lake Elementary has been studying cooking and how to sell its products. In honor of Oscar Mayer celebrating its 80th birthday, the children made a “weinermobile.” The ESE program plays an important part in addressing the needs of students who are special learners. More than 14 different programs and related services are available for eligible students from preschool through 12th grade. The primary focus on each program is to provide the most appropriate educational services for the student through nationally recognized curricula and behavioral approaches.


Whispering Oak Elementary

110616sn02The staff at Whispering Oak Elementary form a pink ribbon in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Pink was recently the color of the day at Whispering Oak Elementary. To recognize October as being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the school held a Pinked Out Day. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed and the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in women. One in eight women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with the disease in her lifetime.


Lakeview Middle

Lakeview Middle participated in last month’s Red Ribbon Week. Each day brought a new theme for the students to participate in a fun way while learning about the dangers of drug use. Monday started with Free Yourself from Drugs — wear red, white & blue, Tuesday was Don’t Get “Tied” Up in Drugs — wear your best tie-dye attire, Wednesday was Drugs are Wacky & Tacky — wear your wackiest and tackiest outfit, Thursday was Don’t Fall for Drugs — wear fall attire, and Friday was Join in the Fight Against Drugs — wear your best in-dress-code superhero outfit.


Et Al

110616sn03(L. to r.) Akhtar Ahmad, Rebekka Napartovich, Otto Fernandez, Kailey Augustin, Abbie Eanet, Gianna Pereira, Saniya Ahmed, Grant Hughes and Zoha Ahmad make “friendship stew” during class at Premier Academy.

Starting with the 2017-18 school year, two major changes will impact the Free Application for the Federal Student Aid process, making applying for financial aid a little easier. FAFSA forms can be filed as early as Oct. 1, 2016, instead of Jan. 1, 2017. Also, students (and parents, as appropriate) will be required to report income and tax information from an earlier tax year. Last year, fewer than one-half of all local high school seniors completed a FAFSA application, leaving nearly $17 million in need-based Pell Grants unused in Central Florida. Heart of Florida United Way launched its “Going to College” program in 2014 to help combat this problem. It uses text messages to help students, parents, guardians and counselors keep track of important financial aid and college-specific deadlines.


110616sn04

The Brady family — Frank (back, second from right) and Karen (middle) with their children, (back, l. to r.) Emily, Bethany, Rebekah and Liam (front) — receive help from Holy Family Catholic School’s Reach Out Committee to adopt Jude (not pictured), an orphan from China.

The Reach Out Committee at Holy Family Catholic School is helping an Ocoee family raise funds to be able to adopt a child in need. Karen Silvers Brady fell in love with Jude, an orphan in China, while looking through websites of orphanages. Jude has intestinal issues and a colostomy bag. Karen and her husband, Frank, already have a full household with Bethany, 15; twins Rebekah and Emily, 14; and Liam, 4, who has Down syndrome. The Reach Out Committee promoted an effort to raise funds through the foundation fund2orgs.com by collecting gently used and new shoes. The items will be sent to other countries to show people how to create a small business that can provide for their families. The children sought to fill at least 100 bags of shoes to help with the estimated cost of $25,000-$30,000 to adopt and bring Jude home.


110616sn05SheriLyn Adams and Martha Stephens’ three-day classes of 3-year-olds enjoy story time at Windermere Union Church Preschool’s fall pumpkin patch.


110616sn06Gov. Rick Scott sends a congratulatory letter with Certificates of Achievement to each Orlando Science Schools student who earned a perfect score on his/her 2015-16 Florida Standards Assessments and/or End-of-Course Assessments.

Twenty-two students at Orlando Science Schools earned perfect scores during the 2015-16 Florida Standards Assessments and/or End-of-Course Assessments. Each one also received a personal congratulatory letter from Gov. Rick Scott. Outstanding achievers included Ahad Ali, Samhith Bhrugubanda, Levi French, Amitha Karuppiah, Joshua Li, Tanvi Ranade, Samir Saldanha, Tien Tran, Sean Walcott, Max Grabov, Jaeyun Ahn, James Kim, Minh Le, Peter Penev, Saardhak Bhrugubanda, Briana Mavinkurve, Peter Pham, Esha Ranade, Harshita Uppada, Deshaun Chinnery, Rashaad Pedron and Ratnesh Kesineni.

Although we try to ensure that all information presented above is the most current, correct and dependable available, we do rely on others for the source of our news. Therefore, the Southwest Orlando Bulletin and Kearney Publishing Corp. cannot be held responsible for the validity of the information presented here, nor does mentioning it constitute an endorsement. School News is welcome and may be mailed to P.O. Box 851, Windermere, FL  34786; or emailed to Lauren@kearneypublishing.com. 💓