Author name: Lynda

Congratulations to all of the amazing Miss Creekside 2025 contestants on shining so brightly at the pageant on Saturday night!  Laurn Wygonik was named Most Photogenic and Miss Congeniality. Tia Patel won the People’s Choice Award and Best Publicity.  Kamm Khosh won Best Interview and Best Formalwear. Elizabeth Talbot was named Most Scholarly, Megan Hayes was named Most Talented, and Priyanka Cingirkonda  and Katie Clarke received Top 5 Awards. Karina Castillo  was named 2^nd Runner Up, Charlotte Romano was named 1^st Runner Up, and Elizabeth Talbot was crowned Miss Creekside 2025. A special thank you goes out to the junior escorts, the hardworking tech team, and all of the student and faculty supporters who helped to make the pageant a success.

Congratulations to Saniya Aleem on her 3rd place State win in the Drop Savers Poster Contest, sponsored by St. Johns County Utilities.  Special recognition was given to Saniya at the St. Johns County Board of County Commission’s meeting on April 16.  Saniya’s creative contribution emphasizes the significance of youth involvement in promoting water conservation initiatives.  Click here to read full story.

Creekside’s FBLA chapter traveled to Orlando to attend the FBLA State Leadership Conference from March 15^th through the 17^th.  100 qualifying students competed in 51 different events over the course of the weekend.  This year was a record-breaking year for Florida FBLA ,with over 5200 people in attendance at the State Leadership Conference from around the state. The following 14 students placed in the top 4 of their respective events.  13 competitors qualified to move on to National level competition this summer!

1^st Place Winners:

• Alexander Sheridan in Agribusiness
• Aiden Chang in Computer Applications
• Shri Abhinaya Balasubramanian in Digital Animation
• Nikhil Kumar in Future Business Leader
• Marissa Lee in Word Processing

2^nd Place Winners:

• Aiden Chang in Information Management (State-level event)
• Benjamin York in Computer Applications
• Bryn Fremont in Future Business Educator
• Amrita Ketireddy in Networking Infrastructures
• Prateek Kalusani and Yaozhou Xiong in Introduction to Programming

3^rd Place Winners:

• Ethan Glocke in Information Management (State-level event)
• Lalitha Kantam in Business Communication

4^th Place Winners:

• Jennay Gabbidon and Leighaina Clement in Business Management

Congratulations to these students on a job very well done.

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.