Teen Heart screenings again offered by Who We Play For

Dates available at CRHS, CHS and LHS

Heart screenings are again being offered at our three high schools by Who We Play For (WWPF), a not-for-profit out of Melbourne, Florida who provides efficient and non-invasive heart screenings to communities across the country. WWPF’s mission is to eliminate preventable sudden cardiac death in the young through affordable heart screenings.  Citrus County School is again opening up our schools to WWPF who will be offering the screenings from 5-8 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, at Crystal River High School; from 5-8 p.m. Wednesday, May 11, at Citrus High School and from 4-8 p.m. Thursday, May 12, at Lecanto High School. Screenings are available at a reduced cost of $20.

To register and pay online visit https://www.whoweplayfor.org/heart-screening-registration-other-screenings and then choose which school location you will be going to.

For more information on the screenings and Who We Play For, visit their website at www.whoweplayfor.org

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Kennedy speaks at Kennedy Space Center AMF new STEM curriculum launch

What a great honor it was today to represent Citrus County School District and the Florida School Board Association (FSBA) and speak at the launch of a new no-cost innovative “STEAM” (Science-Technology-Engineering-Arts-Math) initiative and curriculum. NASA Astronaut Captain Winston Scott, former Florida Senator Bill Montford, and Florida Representative & The Astronauts Memorial Foundation Executive Director Thad Altman announced the Mission One STEAM initiative and curriculum.

Mission One STEAM initiative is being developed in collaboration with many Aerospace and Community Partners.  It will be made available in the future to public, private, and home schools. In addition, the Mission One STEAM project will offer onsite special activities, events, and competitions at the AMF Center for Space Education in the Kennedy Space Center.

Inspiring space exploration, aerospace engineering, and STEAM is not new for Citrus County Schools. Citrus has helped produce a number of former Citrus Schools students that work in the air-space industry including NASA Engineer Dr. Eric Stewart. (Read more about Dr. Stewart at https://thomastalks.org/citrus-students-conference-with-nasa-engineer-and-former-alumni/.)

Thank you to The Astronaut Memorial Foundation, Mark III, Rotary International, The Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay, and NASA Hunch for their support of the Mission One STEAM Initiative and this event.  Special thanks to The Astronauts Memorial Foundation, Florida Representative Thad Altman, and Matt Susin, Brevard County School Board Member for making this event possible.

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Purple Heart Anniversary

Was honored to have accompany me to the the Aaron A. Weaver Chapter 776 Military Order of the Purple Heart breakfast, former POW and two Purple Heart recipient, Capt. Richard Tangeman, U.S.N (Retired) and his wife Lori. With us is Florida Senator Wilton Simpson.

August 7th is the Nation’s Anniversary of the Purple Heart.  This weekend as the Nation’s First Purple Heart School District, Citrus Schools was honored to be asked by the Aaron A. Weaver Chapter 776 Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH) to celebrate at their annual MOPH Awards Breakfast.

During the event Patriot, Curt Ebitz read ‘The History of the Purple Heart’.

The History of the Purple Heart, first known as “Badge of Military Merit”

At his headquarters in Newburgh, New York, on August 7, 1782, General George Washington devised two new badges of distinction for enlisted men and noncommissioned officers. To signify loyal military service, he ordered a chevron to be worn on the left sleeve of the uniform coat for the rank and file who had completed three years of duty “with bravery, fidelity, and good conduct”; two chevrons signified six years of service. The second badge, for “any singularly meritorious Action,” was the “Figure of a Heart in Purple Cloth or Silk edged with narrow Lace or Binding.” This device, the Badge of Military Merit, was affixed to the uniform coat above the left breast and permitted its wearer to pass guards and sentinels without challenge and to have his name and regiment inscribed in a Book of Merit. The Badge specifically honored the lower ranks, where decorations were unknown in contemporary European Armies. As Washington intended, the road to glory in a patriot army is thus open to all.”

Pre-WW2 Awards: The Purple Heart as we know it today was reestablished in 1932 to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the birth of George Washington. The original criteria for award of the Purple Heart as published in the War Department Circular No. 6 of February 22, 1932 states that the medal be awarded to anyone serving in the Army who had received combat-related injuries or had received the AEF’s Meritorious Service Citation Certificate during WWI, the latter criteria harkening back to the intent of George Washington’s “Badge of Military Merit”.

WWII Awards: In April 1942 the War Department amended its policy regarding the issuance of the Purple Heart. The new regulations authorized the posthumous award of the Purple Heart retroactive to December 7, 1941, and eliminated the use of the medal as a merit award.

(source: http://www.citruspurpleheart.org/page3.html)

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