District News

Shout-out to Mrs. Stephenson's leadership class for their recent participation in the Mock Trial competition held at the Walton County Courthouse! Through this competition, students learn critical thinking skills, legal reasoning, analysis, and professionalism, as well as the structure and function of the courts and the legal process.

The following students participated in the event:
Jackson Campbell
Michelle De La Rosa
Emily Hicks
Amber Kendrick (Best Prosecution Witness)
Lorenzo Miodus-Santini
Tyler Morse (Best Defense Witness)
John Pennington
Fiona Robinson
Cody Warren (Best Defense & Prosecution Attorney)

MSE students and families rotated through dozens of hands-on activities and experienced the wonders of the Night Sky inside a mobile planetarium at MSE’s STEM Night January 21^st. The engaging activities were created to inspire and grow interest in science, technology, engineering, and math. Each activity exposed the students to basic scientific and mathematical principles, and reminded us all how much fun learning can be! We are especially thankful to community members, Paxton School, Walton Middle School, Walton High School, and the STEAM school for contributing to our successful event!

MSE STEM

STEM MSE

Third grade students at WDE are learning about Canada, and recently had the opportunity to taste maple syrup candy! Canada is the world’s largest producer of maple syrup. Students learned about the importance of the Sugar Maple tree, and why the maple leaf is on the Canadian flag. Students had mixed reactions to the maple flavored candy, but the memory will last forever!

From left to right: William Holley, Dariyon Moore, Ethan Miles, Destiney Waggoner, and Saffire Lewis

Choosing a college and career path is not to be taken lightly. In the efforts to have our students begin thinking about college and careers, each 5^th grade class was assigned a college to represent. Students conducted research on the universities to determine location, majors offered, requirements to attend, yearly cost, mascot, history of the college, and any major awards the school has received. Each student was also to consider a major offered at the assigned school that may interest him or her. Many of our students already have career goals in mind, and informing themselves of college requirements is allowing them to begin planning their individual paths of education. Mrs. Currid’s class – Embry- Riddle Aeronautical University, Mrs. Garrett’s class – Clemson University, Ms. Dickey’s class – Oklahoma State University, Mrs. Bush’s class – Southeastern Louisiana University, Mr. Stafford’s class – Emerald Coast Technical College

College Posters

It is an EPIC day at the STEM symposium in Pensacola. Carrie Sneed, Christine Petersen, and Alecia Hogans attended the STEM Symposium in Pensacola. They are excited to bring some EPIC ideas back to Walton County teachers and students.

This two-day event hosted by Discovery Education and Santa Rosa County Public Schools focused on how to create a shared STEM vision, provide professional development to educators and administrators, and cultivate inquiry-based, transdisciplinary instruction to prepare students for their future.

Walton High's FBLA participated in the 2019-2020 FBLA District 1 competition at the University of West Florida on January 23 and won 19 awards, with 17 students placing fifth or above. At this time, at least six members are going to the state convention in Orlando March 12-15. Two other district awards were won by Jordan Young (for Outstanding Member) and Taylor Grace (for Who's Who).

WHS FBLA District

WHS FBLA

Walton High School’s Culinary 1 students recently received hands-on experience with our Food Service Director, Robert Martin, in the Walton High School cafeteria and kitchen. Receiving goods and determining if anything needs to be rejected are important skills in the food service industry. Mr. Martin provided students with an invoice and products to examine, while Culinary Arts teacher Ms. Spice took students to check on the temperatures in the walk-in cooler and freezer as well as the rotation of goods in the store room.

WHS Culinary with Robert Martin

Students at the Magnet Innovation Center are hard at work in their Principles of Engineering class designing, building and executing their latest projects.

Sophia Roessler and Emily Sidrony are working on designing, Blake Stevenson, Tray Toups and Davis Cleveland are building and Dalton Robinson is executing his project in the world of virtual reality to see if all components in his design are working effectively so he can move into the building stage.

Mr. Stephen Byrd's instructional style proves that literacy matters in the career and technical subjects. Students in Mr. Byrd's eighth grade ICT class recently learned to create simple web pages using HTML code by engaging in a paired programming activity. In paired programming, one partner carefully reads aloud the task instructions for creating the web page, while the other partner listens and responds, creating the web page as they go. In this hands-on lesson, students learn the importance of both reading carefully and listening closely, else their website creations will veer far off course. At different points in the lesson, students switch roles so everyone gets to experience the reading, listening, and creating aspects of the assignment. After this introductory lesson, students will delve into deeper detail about web design (colors, aesthetics, placement, alignment, proximity, etc.) throughout the unit, testing at the end to earn their industry certification in web design. Mr. Byrd does an excellent job of building students' literacy and listening skills while equipping them with high-demand technology competencies.

Cover photo - A.J. Lardiere reads instructions for creating a web page, while Kyla Brown listens and follows along step-by-step.

Noah McKnight and Grace Bell practice paired programming.

WMS Byrd

Rolly Benitez and Gunner Sharp make a great team, showing off their completed web page.

Congratulations to Sydni Free and Olivia Mixon of Freeport High School for advancing to the regional weightlifting meet. Sydni finished 1st and Olivia finished 6th at the class 1A District 2, girls weightlifting meet at Arnold High School.

FHS Weightlifting competition winners

WHS Leadership Students Participate In Mock Trial

January 27, 2020

STEM Night at MSE

January 27, 2020

Third Grade at WDE

January 27, 2020

WDE 5th Grade College One Pagers

January 27, 2020

STEM Symposium in Pensacola

January 27, 2020

WHS FBLA Wins Big at District Competition!

January 26, 2020

WHS Culinary Students Receive Hands-On Training

January 26, 2020

Magnet Innovation Center!

January 26, 2020

Literacy, Listening, and Tech Learning at WMS

January 26, 2020

FHS Students Advance to Regional Competition in Weightlifting!

January 26, 2020