Author name: Lynda

Congratulations to Creekside Girls Soccer Team — 2024 State Champions!

Congratulations to the following students for qualifying for the 2024 National Merit Scholarship:

• Iesha Alam
• George Ayanleke
• Sahara Butler
• Julia Diab
• Kate Franklin
• Manish Kota
• Nithila Neminathan
• Luke Noce
• Brewer Sicilian
• Jack Singletary
• Gideon Steenson
• Sasha Steenson
• Benjamin York

Congratulations to the 2024 Chili Cook-off winners:

• Chili Best Spiciest Chili- #14 Odette (Don’t Fear the Reaper)
• Best Vegetarian- #11 Stradley (Veggie Cheese Chili)
• Best White- #13 Safer (White Creamy Chicken)
• Best Overall- #10 Ayres (Vegan Curry)

Creekside’s senior, Tyler Gunther, placed second in the International Pivotal Essay Contest scored by Global Priorities Institute through Oxford University, winning a $7,000 scholarship.

“The Pivotal Essay Contest is a worldwide competition for high school students interested in creating original ideas about how humanity can protect the long-term future. Tyler Gunther’s essay outlined a hypothetical set of policies governments could put into place in order to better protect the interests of future generations. Tyler spent many hours researching his essay, but mainly drew inspiration from Professor William MacAskill’s 2020 Book, What We Owe The Future.”

More reading:

• https://pivotalcontest.org/
• https://www.effectivealtruism.org/articles/longtermism

Congratulations to the following students for qualifying as a Semifinalist in the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Competition.

• Iesha Alam
• George Ayanleke
• Sahara Butler
• Julia Diab
• Kate Franklin
• Manish Kota
• Nithila Neminathan
• Luke Noce
• Brewer Sicilian
• Jack Singletary
• Gideon Steenson
• Sasha Steenson
• Benjamin York

CONGRATULATIONS to Creekside’s Academy of Environmental Sciences students who won the ESRI 2023 Florida GIS StoryMaps competition! This year’s competition topic was Living in the Sunshine State.

Lauren Griffin won FIRST PLACE in the state of Florida for her StoryMap on Forensics in the Sunshine State. Check out her StoryMap here:  https://arcg.is/108OP90

Grey Kohl received Second Place with her StoryMap on Habitat Fragmentation: https://arcg.is/00Paif

Honorable Mentions for the state competition include:

• Giancarlo Horton – Prehistoric Florida Fish: https://arcg.is/1nnanW0
• Brinlee Stevig – Florida Sand Dunes: https://arcg.is/0qTby11
• Olivia Bittencourt – Florida Red Tide: https://arcg.is/4STbj1

The Florida GIS StoryMaps competition is part of a national competition held by ESRI. The Florida Geographic Alliance hosts a state competition annually as part of ESRI initiatives to expand GIS technology applications and skills to youth. Students in the Academy of Environmental Sciences have partnered with ESRI Geographic initiatives for over 14 years and learn geographic information systems and spatial analysis to use in their university studies and future career pathways.

Lauren Griffin will represent her classmates and the Academy of Environmental Sciences at the Central Florida GIS conference held this September as she shares her StoryMap and explorations in GIS with community partners from around the state. CONGRATULATIONS Lauren and all Awardees of the 2023 Florida GIS StoryMap competition!

Qualifying FBLA members attended the State Leadership Conference in Orlando this spring. Congratulations to the following students on their accomplishments:

• Alexander Sheridan, 1^st Place, Information Management
• Luke Dixon, 2^nd Place, Information Management
• Charlie Aaronson, 5^th Place, Business Law
• Aiden Chang, 2nd Place, Computer Applications
• Megan Hayes and Maya Shternshus, 5^th Place, Graphic Design
• Marshall Reich, 5^th Place, Insurance & Risk Management
• Alexander Sheridan, 1^st Place, Introduction to Business Concepts
• Charlotte Romano, 2^nd Place, Introduction to Business Presentation
• Harshitha Bandaru and Varshitha Inturi, 5^th Place, Introduction to Event Planning
• Kenny Tran, 3^rd Place, Personal Finance
• Matthew Bravo, 2^nd Place, Political Science
• Ben York, 4^th Place, Spreadsheet Applications
• Rohit Bongu, 3^rd Place, Future Business Leader
• Krisha Shah, $2000 Business Through Education Scholarship Recipient
• Nikhil Patel, Region II FBLA State Vice President for the 2023-2024 School Year

Nikhil had four amazing campaign managers:  Makaela Kennair, Sahara Butler, Luke Dixon, and Cooper Maurer.

Creekside students were awarded the following awards at the 2023 Northeast Florida ACE Regional Competition:

• School of the Future RFP:  Best Proposal and Best Presentation
• Community Support RFP:  Best Presentation
• Best Overall — All RFP’s
• $10,000 Scholarship:  Lauren Castillo
• $3000 Scholarship:  Erin Philip
• $2500 Scholarship:  Anaye Varde
• $2000 Scholarship:  Brandon Shaw
• $1500 Scholarship:  Gwynn Williams
• $1500 Scholarship:  Carter Smith

Creekside was well represented at the Florida History Day competition in Tallahassee.  Students who scored either 1^st or 2^nd in the state in their category will now be advancing to Nationals in Washington DC this summer!

Sabrina LaVopa and Priya Schramm – 1^st place for their documentary Extending a Ladder and a Hand: The Life and Legacy of the Daughters of Bilitis

Lily Clarke – 2^nd place for her historical paper Standing Firm: How Wangari Maathai’s Ecofeminist Movement Challenged the Roots of Kenya’s Patriarchy

 The following students also represented St Johns County at the competition:

• Melania Carrigan
• Kaea Charfauros
• Josie Domitrovic
• Riley Hayes
• Krisha Shah
• Anna Villanova

During 2018, CMiC, a long-time national ACE sponsor, and the family of the company’s late founder Allen Berg, announced a pledge of $10 million to advance the construction industry in memory of its founder, Allen Berg. The initial grant established the CMiC-Allen Berg Memorial Scholarship Awards, administered through the ACE Mentor Program of America. These scholarships are multi-year awards aimed at talented, deserving ACE high school seniors intending to pursue post-secondary education and training leading to careers in architecture, engineering, construction or the skilled crafts. Each of the 77 ACE affiliates across the country may nominate one student for consideration. This year, Kendall Reckamp of Creekside High School was our Northeast Florida nomination. She was one of 25 winners of a scholarship in the amount of $32,000 to be provided over four years with additional mentoring support during her time in school. As an affiliate, we have had four winners in five years including three from Creekside. Kendall joins past Creekside winners Tarynn Kaelin and Leighanna Goldman.