Exploring ways to stay healthy
Casio Jones, wellness director for Florida Hospital Zephyrhills CREATION Health and Wellness Center, visited the fifth-grade class of Barbie Monty at Carrollwood Day School. Jones shared his Green Body Pledge, which includes 10 key principles encouraging students to make healthy life choices.
Aviation programs open house
Pasco-Hernando State College will host an Aviation Programs Open House July 27 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at its East Campus, 36727 Blanton Road in Dade City, in the Public Service Technology Building.
Pending approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, beginning fall 2017, PHSC’s new aviation department will offer two programs: Aviation Administration Associate in Science and Professional Pilot Technology Associate I Science.
Future programs will include Aviation Maintenance Administration Associate in Science and Unmanned Vehicles Systems Operations Associate in Science.
To RSVP by July 20, visit PHSC.edu/aviation, or call Cathi Kelly at (352) 518-1255.
Back-to-School celebration
Fred K. Marchman Technical College, Chasco Elementary School, Calusa Elementary, Chasco Middle and Ridgewood High are hosting a Back-to-School Bash July 22 at Ridgewood High, 7650 Orchid Lake Road in New Port Richey.
There will be free student resources, including physicals, school supplies, clothing and haircuts.
There also will be activities, bounce houses and free breakfast.
For information, call Kara Merlin at (727) 774-3701.
Bright Schools Competition winners
Sophia Nobles and Catherine Tomasello, along with their coach and teacher Michele Seidel, of Tampa Christian Community School in Lutz, have been named the first-place national winners in the second annual Bright Schools Competition. The team, ShiftCycle EyeWear, was one of 50 national finalists teams.
The competition, a collaboration between the National Sleep Foundation and the National Science Teachers Association, encourages students (grades six to eight) to explore the correlation between light and sleep, and how it influences student health and performance.
According to Bright School’s website, ShiftCycle’s winning project, “ShiftCycle EyeWear” identified a problem in their community and developed a prototype to help the estimated 15 million U.S. night-shift workers stay alert while on the job and realign their circadian rhythm, so that they can get better sleep after work. ShiftCycle’s eyewear offers green-blue light therapy and features electro-chromic polymer lenses that block blue light and bright light at the right times.
Students had to identify, investigate, and research the issue using scientific inquiry or engineering design concepts to develop a prototype, create an awareness campaign, or write a research proposal for the competition.
Projects were evaluated on the basis of several criteria, including scientific accuracy, innovativeness and potential impact.
Information about the competition and winners can be found at BrightSchoolsCompetition.org.
Leadership program gets top honors
Leadership Saint Leo, the university’s program to develop and train leaders, was honored at the LEAD2017 forum hosted by HR.com in Nashville, Tennessee.
The forum brings together top thought leaders and the world’s best leadership practices.
Saint Leo’s program started in 2005 to expand leadership capacity, build culture and create a common leadership lexicon across the university, including its education centers, online offices and University Campus.
HR.com recognized the Saint Leo program, selected from entrants, in these categories:
- First place Best Third Party Channel Partner/Customer Training Program
- Second place Best Use of Executive Coaching
- Fourth place Best Use of Team Building
- Fifth place Best Mentoring Program
- Sixth place Best Experienced/Senior Leaders Program
About 110 of the school’s active leaders have graduated from the program.
Pasco exam scores climb
Pasco County Schools saw the percentage of students overall who are considered proficient increase by 3 percentage points in both English language arts (ELA) and mathematics, moving up from 52 percent proficient to 55 percent proficient in ELA, third through 10th grade; and, from 54 percent proficient to 57 percent proficient in math, third through eighth grade.
Local area schools on the state’s watch list and the grade levels showing improvement (10+ percentage points) included:
Cox Elementary School: fourth-grade ELA up from 31 percent to 48 percent; fourth-grade math up from 36 percent to 66 percent; and fifth-grade math up from 29 percent to 41 percent.
Lacoochee Elementary: third-grade math from 26 percent to 63 percent; and fourth-grade math from 35 percent to 46 percent.
Pasco Elementary: third-grade ELA up from 26 percent to 39 percent; third-grade math from 25 percent to 49 percent; and fifth-grade math from 32 percent to 44 percent.
Florida school ranks among best
Schools.com’s Best Schools for 2017 ranked 1,649 four-year colleges and universities in the United States. The top 10 were: Utah State University, Texas A&M-College Station, University of Utah, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, University of Florida, North Carolina State University-Raleigh, Utah Valley University, University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus, University of Maryland-College Park, and Oklahoma State University-Main Campus.
The rankings involved a rigorous data-driven methodology evaluating the higher education options against 13 factors related to affordability, flexibility, and other quantitative factors.
For the analysis, full methodology and sources, visit tinyurl.com/y744ld68.
