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.

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.

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).

Walton County School District celebrated all those selected as school based 2019-2020 Teacher of the Year and Educational Support Professional of the Year tonight at the annual TOY/ESPOY Awards Ceremony!

We are proud to announce our 2019-2020 WCSD Teacher of the Year, Jeannine Abadie, from Emerald Coast Middle School! Huge Congratulations to Ms Abadie, math specialist at ECMS!!! We look forward to your representation of our EPIC District in the coming year!

Congratulations also to our new WCSD Educational Support Professional of the Year, Lisbeth "Anne" Turner, from Freeport High School! Thanks for all you have done to help so many at FHS, and in the Freeport Community!

Selected as the 2019-2020 WCSD Assistant Principal of the Year was Mr. Scott Hulion, Assistant Principal at Walton Middle School! Way to go, Mr. Hulion! Mr. Hulion is an exemplary Administrator, and a tremendous asset to Walton Middle School and the WCSD!

Selected as the 2019-2020 WCSD Principal of the Year is Dr. Alexis Tibbetts, Principal at South Walton High School! Congratulations to Dr. Tibbetts for her incredible accomplishments at SWHS! Under her leadership, the SeaHawks have doubled in numbers and soared in academic excellence!

Special thanks to St. Joe Community Foundation for their support of our event, and the very generous monetary award presented to our Teacher of the Year and ESP of the Year!  

Another very special event of the evening was the presentation by 2018-2019 Teacher of the Year, Meredith Ness, of a framed copy of the Congressional Record recognizing Ms. Jeannine Abadie as WCSD Teacher of the Year, and Ms. Lisbeth Turner as WCSD Educational Support Professional of the Year by the Hon. Matt Gaetz.