4-H Speech Competition at Citrus Springs Middle School

An important skill for young people to learn and be successful in is public speaking and 4-H competitions at the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade levels are an excellent opportunity to show those skills. And today they did! All eight students did a superb job sharing about issues, passions, problems, and solutions. Three students receive medals, and the top 1st and 2nd place winners move on to the District-wide competition. Thank you to CSMS Instructional Coach Muriel Burnett for coordinating the event, the teachers for their work and support with the students, and for the families for their support.

Congratulations to CSMS 1st place Noah Walker on his speech “Splash!”, 2nd place Sastia Mitchell on her speech “It Only Takes a Second”, and 3rd place Tyler Neveau on his speech, “Technology”.

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CTE Month and HOSA Student

HOSA students share at School Board opening

LHS and CRHS HOSA students share about recently competed very successfully at HOSA Florida Regionals.

February is a month we celebrate and honor a number of great things. It is Black History Month, School Counseling Week honoring our great counselors, and February is Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month! (CTE is sometimes referred to as Workforce education and in the ‘olden days’ vocation classes.)

Citrus Schools has been committed to CTE education. Many of you know it is a personal passion for me as well. Citrus Schools has magnet programs like the Academy of Computers at CHS and the Academy of Health Careers at CRHS, and each of our high schools has in-school academies like culinary, drafting, business, and more. We now offer over 150 separate CTE courses, covering approximately 63 industry certifications, that connect to 34 different Program of Study Pathways available to our high school students at one or more of our three high schools and through dual enrollment at Withlacoochee Technical College. We are also expanding four new Programs of Study for the new 2022-2023 school year.

I had opening exercises for our February school board meetings and as is my tradition I love to bring students from our schools in to share their talents and successes. At yesterday’s meeting, we have seven students from Crystal River High School and Lecanto High School share about their recent HOSA– Future Health Professionals competitions. A number of the students received top awards as individual and team, and some advanced to the State competitions later this winter.

One of the most in-demand programs of study pathways and in need careers in Citrus County and Florida are in the medical profession. We have over seven medical pathways available to high school students, and at two of our schools, we have local chapters of HOSA– Future Health Professionals (formerly known as Health Occupations Students of America). HOSA is the premier organization for student leaders pursuing careers in the healthcare industry. HOSA is a state and national organization that operates as an integral component of the health science education curriculum.  Through its association of state and local chapters, HOSA provides powerful instructional tools, recognition, leadership, networking, scholarships, and connections with the healthcare industry to thousands of members across Florida and the United States. Through the HOSA Competitive Events Program, members have the opportunity to showcase their health care and leadership skills in over 55 different events related to all aspects of the health care industry.  HOSA integrates into the Health Science Technology Education curriculum seamlessly to develop and recognize smart, dedicated, and passionate future health professionals.

Thank you to our students for sharing and their families, teachers, and staff for their support and encouragement of our students!

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Productive time in Tally

It was a productive time in Tallahassee last week meeting with our State Legislators and State Education leaders on education issues for our students, families, teachers, staff, and schools. So appreciative for their time to listen to our concerns and for working together to collaborate on improvements.

Florida School Board Association’s Board of Directors meeting coincided with FSBA’s Days in the Legislature. As President-Elect I presented during the meeting. Thank you to these committed school board representatives.

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