District News

On Tuesday, November 19th, fourth and fifth grade classroom winners participated in the Schoolwide Tropicana Speaking Competition. Parents, students, teachers, and judges were amazed by the well thought out speeches and the students' ability to present them to such a large group of people. Congratulations to each of these students!!!

Fourth Grade Winners

1st- Kyson Allen ••• The Tasmanian Devil

2nd- Makenna Anderson ••• Addiction

3rd- Charles Allan Brooks ••• Mad Scientists Throughout History

WDE Tropicana 5th Grade

Fifth Grade Winners

1st- Annabel Hicks ••• My Geographic Tongue

2nd- Carli Nowling ••• Sharks Anonymous

3rd- Calie Brackin ••• Crocs

First and second place winners from our school competition will represent West DeFuniak at the District Tropicana Speaking Contest on December 12th at Freeport High School.

This week, faculty, staff, and students honored Coach Laurie Gilbert with a retirement party. Coach Gilbert will be retiring in December after 32 years of teaching. The entire Paxton family is very thankful for all Coach Gilbert has done for our school and wishes her well in her retirement. Coach Gilbert has been at Paxton for 17 years and taught at Freeport for 15 years before that. She will continue to stay on as track/cross country coach. Attendees of her party included her husband (Bryan), children (Maryllyn and husband Blake, Ryan and wife Brooklynn), granddaughter (Evie), sister (Cathy), and mother-in-law (Sherry). Thank you, Coach Gilbert!

Cover picture: Emma Baker, Broxson Dickey, Hallie Campbell-Work, Jake Daniel

Students from Mrs. Willcox's Kindergarten class at WDE enjoyed making Stone soup while learning about the letter S. Each student brought in an ingredient to add to the soup. They also enjoyed listening to different versions of the story Stone Soup.

WDE Stone Soup

Pictured: Henley Cosson

WDE Stone Soup

Pictured: Terry Gandy

Kobe Phillips presented his winning speech from the 2019 Florida Farm Bureau Youth Speech Contest at the Tuesday night meeting of the Walton County School Board at South Walton High School. Kobe, a student at Freeport High School, placed 3rd in the state of Florida in the annual speech contest sponsored by the Florida Farm Bureau Women's Leadership Committee.
The 2019 topic was: “Recent natural disasters have had a
major impact on agriculture. How have these impacts affected
consumers?”
Walton County School District is incredibly proud of Kobe, and look forward to following his promising future!

Kobe Phillips '

Kobe Phillips

Cover Picture – LtR – Liam Holley, Dariyon Moore, Mason Shelton, Brianna Jiggetts, Hannah Johnson, Destiney Waggoner

As an introductory experiment to their study on properties and states of matter, physical and chemical changes, and mixtures and solutions, WDE 5^th graders experimented with a solid and a liquid to make a gas. The 5th grade students mixed baking powder and vinegar to create a reaction and make the gas. The combined products made the “hands” come to life by emitting a gas. The students enjoyed watching the magic of the gloves rising!

WDE Magic Hands

Mckade Nelson, Isabella Adkinson, Skyler Ramos, Carli Nowling

WDE Magic Hands

Daetyn Kee, Amiliauna Robinson, Hayden Arnold

WDE Magic Hands

Ethan Lewis, Que’Asia Dukes, Bethany Hopper

Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance’s Grasses in Classes is a hands-on, environmental education program that gives students a direct role in the restoration of Choctawhatchee Bay. In partnership with AmeriCorps and with partial funding from the USFWS Coastal Program, Boeing Corporation, and National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, CBA provides teachers in Okaloosa and Walton Counties the equipment and materials required to grow shoreline grasses at their school.

Grasses in Classes students tend salt marsh nurseries throughout the school year, and receive monthly education on local estuarine topics that meet Florida’s state science standards from CBA and CBA partners (e.g. AmeriCorps members). http://basinalliance.org/…/in-the-class…/grasses-in-classes/

Third grade teachers at West DeFuniak Elementary School recently had their second visit with Grasses in Classes. Students enjoyed comparing and contrasting the Choctawhatchee Bay with and without shoreline grasses. Smooth cordgrass acts as a pollution filter and helps buffer the shoreline against flooding and erosion

WDE Grasses in Classes

Congratulations to Grace Minton (AP CSP) for being selected as a winner in the 2019 district-wide Congressional APP Challenge representing South Walton High School and the Walton County School District! Grace is a student at the Magnet Innovation Center, and received 2nd place honors in the competition hosted by Congressman Matt Gaetz.
The Congressional APP Challenge was established in 2014 by the United States House of Representatives to encourage students to create and submit their own app for the opportunity to receive national recognition. Congressional APP Challenge winners may be eligible to have their app featured on a display in the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
Congressman Gaetz stated "It is always exciting to see what our students are capable of, and this year exceeded my expectations...I am incredibly proud of our students for what they've accomplished. The future looks very bright!"

Congressional APP Competition

Pictured: 2nd Place Winner, Grace Minton, from South Walton High School; 3rd Place Winner, Collin Padgett, from Northwest Florida Collegiate High Schoo; Congressman Matt Gaetz; 1st Place Winner, Blake Gaither, Sims Middle School.

SWHS students sign letters of commitment!

Congratulations to John Spring who signed a letter of commitment to play tennis at Carson Webb University in North Carolina!

Pictured with his Seahawk team members: Zack Greene, Carson Moore, Larsen Spence, Nick Reid, Natalie Reid, Micah Rudzki

SWHS Students sign with colleges

Congratulations also to Alex Kilpatrick who signed with Duke University Track and Field.

Pictured with his parents, Andy and Nelson Kilpatrick.

Behind: Seahawk Track and Field Coach Willie Parker, Athletic Director Phil Tisa and brother Lawson Kilpatrick.

Freeport Middle School art students had a blast making crazy paper hats last week!

Using media to inspire personal art making decisions, art teacher Kendra Estes showed the students a collection of media images of paper hats she had collected, and all the many ways to build them. Students worked with strips of paper and glue to problem solve steps to make the 3-dimensional hat designs they conceived. It took a bit of problem solving and collaboration by the students to get their hats to look they way they planned in their sketches.

Way to go, FMS artists!

FMS Crazy Hats

Congratulations to Walton Middle School art student Maeghan Hopper for having her art work selected as the Walton County representative in the Art in the Capitol Competition. Maeghan's art work will be displayed in the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee during the 2020 Legislative Session.

In July of 2016, the Florida Legislature passed and Governor Rick Scott signed House Bill 701 establishing the Art in the Capitol Competition, a statewide visual arts competition for Florida students in grades 6 through 8. Each school district is required to hold an annual art competition with artwork judged by a selection committee consisting of art teachers. The winning art from each district is then displayed in the Capitol.

On Friday, November 15, 2019, Representative Brad Drake honored Maeghan with a special visit to collect the picture to be delivered to the Department of Management Services at the state Capitol. Superintendent A. Russell Hughes and Principal Jason Campbell congratulated Maeghan and her art teacher, Brittany Grant, for this achievement. Maeghan's family came to the event to show their support and encouragement. Her grandmother made a 6 hour drive to celebrate this recognition with Maeghan!

In conversation with Rep. Drake, Maeghan shared her love for art, and indicated that she would like to pursue Animation as a career!

This is the second consecutive year that the Art in the Capitol Competition winner from Walton County School District has been a student at Walton Middle School, with art teacher Brittany Grant.