Coral Springs Charter
As we headed into the close of an exciting semester, a school-wide day of service was hosted by the Interact Club, a sign language and service club, where high school students participated in service activities and workshops in 30-minute intervals throughout the school day. There were opportunities to learn about mental health, CPR, meditation, and yoga, and to participate in putting together donations to help various organizations, like lunches for those with food insecurities and toys for shelter dogs. The day culminated in a visit with a keynote speaker who spoke to students about how they can put “service above self.”
On Dec. 1, the SGA held a Wii Sports Tournament, and the competition was fierce. Students from every grade competed in small groups for combat in Wii baseball, tennis, and boxing. The winning team included senior Conner Cox, senior Avril Rosano, freshman Cameron Khouri, and freshman David Rodriguez. The SGA also hosted its “Giving Tree” program to collect toys for children in need for the holiday season.
The Senior Thespians showcased their skills at their district competition on Dec. 11. Students competed in various theater talents such as acting, musical performance, pantomime, and set design. “I love spending time with my troupe and getting the results of all of our hard work at the end of the day,” said senior Shira Smolar.
Photos by Madalen Erez
Heron Heights Elementary
By Lauren Generoso, HHE PTO President
Our green yearbooks are going on sale this month! For the second year in a row, we are using the environmentally friendly company TreeRing. Its yearbooks are high-end, well-crafted books printed on recycled paper. For every yearbook purchased, a tree is planted through Trees for the Future. For more than 30 years, Trees for the Future has been planting trees across the world that not only help to end deforestation but help with poverty and hunger, providing families with food and income through the Forest Garden Approach.
Last year, we were able to plant 347 trees, and this year we look forward to surpassing that number greatly! To eliminate unnecessary waste and resources, only the exact number of books purchased are produced. Not only do we feel good about providing students and parents with a yearbook that captures their memories in a beautifully produced book from our yearbook committee, but they can also have confidence in the sustainable, environmentally conscious approach we take in producing them.
To learn more about Trees for the Future, please visit https://trees.org. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. ♻️ #hhecares
Park Trails Elementary
By Principal Arlene Manville
Park Trails Elementary is planning our rededication ceremony to commemorate 20 years of serving the Parkland community. The ceremony will include a ribbon-cutting and the unveiling of a 20th-anniversary mural, and students will be writing letters and collecting items to put in a time capsule. Representatives from the city, district officials, and the original staff will all be at the event.
Park Trails looks forward to proving another 20 years of excellence for the children in our community.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
We can’t believe the first semester is coming to an end. Where has the time gone? Students were busy preparing for midterm exams and testing season, and they never lost sight of staying motivated along the way. To assist with this, our Guidance Department recognized all of our students with straight A’s by awarding them with cookies made by our very own culinary department. There were 550 students who were reminded, “You’re such a smart cookie!”
Our After-School Academic Academy, daily tutoring, has been going strong. In addition to U.S. history, algebra, geometry, writing, reading, and biology, we have added Spanish. Students are benefiting from the academic tune-up.
If you were able to join us for our annual multicultural show, you know why there wasn’t an open seat in the house. What an amazing opportunity for students to showcase their talents while embracing their cultures. It was incredible to celebrate our diversity while taking a journey around the world. Senior Hailey Jacobsen served as the emcee and also wrote the script for the event. She summed it up best: “We live in a world where something as trivial as the color of your skin or the language you speak determines whether or not you’re hated, and this needs to change. If only everyone could experience the beauty of world culture, this problem could be solved.”
The multicultural show is very special to many of our students. Sra. Garcia, the teacher who sponsored the event, was thrilled to have Andrea and Rebeca Benarroch in attendance, students from 2014 who helped make the show for the community come to fruition.
As always, our Eagle Regiment doesn’t dare disappoint, as they brought home the Class 4A 2021 State Championship with a score of 92.20. To earn this victory, especially after a pandemic where most of our freshmen and sophomores had never even marched before, is nothing short of amazing. “It was an incredible weekend capped off by an incredible season,” said band director Steve Rivero.
Congratulations to the MSD wrestling Eagles for winning the Coral Springs Wrestling Tournament! The Eagles beat out Saint Thomas Aquinas by 34 points in the 13-team field for first place. Thirteen out of 15 Eagles placed in the top 6.
If you needed some holiday spirit, hopefully you stopped by to see us during our winter festivities. Our theme was “Who has more holiday spirit than we do? No one!” You may have noticed our holiday hats and socks, ugly holiday sweaters, Grinch PJ’s, snow in our courtyard, and holiday movie gear. Keep up the great work, Eagles!
Correction: Last month, we inadvertently left out that “Puffs,” a fast-moving comedy about a certain school of magic, was student-directed by Lexi Schwartzberg.
Riverglades Elementary
By Christina Chioda and Kimberly Mann
Riverglades would like to welcome everyone to 2022! We hope that everyone had a wonderful winter break, and we are excited to begin the second half of the school year.
A huge thank you to everyone who donated to our Holiday Toy Drive. We really appreciate your generosity. We are happy to say it was a very successful event!
Riverglades students can get ready to run, hop, and compete as our annual Field Day kicks off this month. This is a great opportunity for the kids to enjoy exercising outdoors as they work with their classmates through a variety of fun obstacles. Students can demonstrate teamwork as they build memories during this fun event!
Eagle Ridge Elementary
By Principal Lyndsey Sierra
Congratulations to Seema Naik on being selected as one of the top five District finalists for Teacher of the Year 2022. Mrs. Naik will be honored at the upcoming Caliber Awards in February.
Mrs. Naik is an amazing educator and is passionate about science, technology, and engineering, as she is our VEX Robotics sponsor and fourth-grade teacher. We are so proud of her and all her accomplishments!
Westglades Middle School
By Principal Matthew Bianchi
Westglades finished the end of the calendar year with a lot of success. Our girls basketball team completed their undefeated regular season at 10-0. This makes back-to-back undefeated regular season records!
Our Fine Arts department continues to shine, and at the Florida Thespian Festival, several students received Superior ratings! Also, our Band program had 14 students make All-County and three make All-State, and we had a fantastic Winter Concert and amazing marching band performance in the Coral Springs Winter Parade.
We have several matriculation events coming soon to welcome our incoming fifth graders and to transition our students to high school. Our feeder elementary school students will take field trips to our campus this month, and we are looking forward to our Showcase Night on Feb. 10.
Social media and the news often focus on the negatives that go on, and with so many positive things happening at Westglades, we want to give parents and students the ability to share positive messages with each other and with our staff. Westglades now has a Pawsitivity Padlet for the community to post information about our staff and students.
Please share some of the great things that you have experienced at Westglades and spread the pawsitivity! Go to https://padlet.com/WestgladesMiddle/Pawsitivity.
Somerset Parkland Academy
By Jennifer Knight, VIPP President
Congratulations to the Somerset Parkland Academy middle school soccer team for winning the league championship in their inaugural season. The championship game was played on a wet and rainy day, but the team persevered. Way to go, Cowboys!
In the week leading up to Thanksgiving, the Somerset kindergarten classes wrote letters of gratitude and drew pictures for the wonderful BSO officers who protect our school and ensure that the kids are safe entering and leaving the school. The school then invited several officers who have worked at the school for coffee and doughnuts while the kids gave them their letters.
Various extracurricular groups at SPA held numerous practices as they prepared to perform at the SPA Winter Caravan. The Color Guard, Dance Team, Drama Academy, singers, and music classes really honed their craft in the final weeks leading up to the big event.
SPA partnered with the Parkland International Music Academy, and the kids performed at various spots around the school grounds in December, as vehicles with SPA families slowly moved through the event.
Coral Springs Middle School
Coral Springs Middle School (CSMS) will hold its annual Stallion Round-Up sixth-grade orientation event on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 6 p.m. The event is an awesome way for students and parents to tour the school and hear about the amazing opportunities students will have for their middle school experience. This event is open to all parents and students from our community.
The School Choice window is open. If you are not currently zoned to attend CSMS, you will need to complete a reassignment application. Visit www.browardschools.com/schoolchoice.
Congratulations to our teacher of the year, Vanessa Lopez-Delalla. As the school’s ESE specialist, Ms. Lopez-Delalla works exceptionally hard to ensure the success of all her students at CSMS. Congratulations also to our school-related employee of the year, Joanne Alonzo. Mrs. Alonzo is the school’s ESE secretary, and she goes above and beyond her job and is always there to help others.