Flagler County high schools earn national recognition

Palm Coast Observer
Neighbors

The U.S. News and World Report released its national and state rankings for best high schools in the U.S. Both Flagler Palm Coast High School and Matanzas High School made the list. Flagler Palm Coast High School earned Bronze Recognition. Matanzas High School earned Silver Recognition with a National Rank of 1807 and a State Rank of 75. Rankings were completed by the American Institute of Research based on three key steps.

Step 1: determine if the students at the school were performing better than statistically expected in Reading and Math; step 2: determine if the school's least advantaged students (minority and economically disadvantaged) were performing better than average for similar students in the state; and step 3: computing a College Readiness Index based on the school's AP or IB participation rate as well as how those students performed on those exams.

Only the top 500 schools in the U.S. were awarded a Gold Medal Recognition. Schools ranked numerically between 501 and 2019 in the nation were awarded Silver Medals Recognition. An additional 2,688 high schools that met the threshold of performance on the step 1 and step 2 were awarded Bronze Medal Recognition if its College Readiness Index was less than the median of 18.17 required for a silver ranking.

FPC band cleans up at State Concert Band Assessment
The Flagler Palm Coast High School Symphonic Band 1 earned straight Superior (A) ratings for the fourth time in the past five years, receiving the coveted Otto Kraushaar Award for the third time in the past four years. The Otto Kraushaar Award is for earning straight Superior (A) ratings at District Marching Band Music Performance Assessment, District Concert Band Music Performance Assessment and State Concert Band Music Performance Assessment. Very few bands in the state earn this distinction.

Congrats to seventh-grade tech winners!
Congratulations to eight Flagler County girls selected to attend the American Association of University Women Tech Trek STEM Camp 2014 at Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, July 13-19.

AAUW FL Tech Trek camp is a week-long STEM camp for rising eighth grade girls. Girls will live on campus in residence halls, attend core classes, hands on workshops, field trips and a professional women's night. Potential campers must be in the seventh grade, nominated by their teacher, complete the application process, and interview before selection is made by an AAUW state committee.

Only forty girls statewide were selected. The Flagler County girls selected are Loneke Selman, Alaina Behler, Sarah Metscher, and Mariann Trecki from Buddy Taylor Middle School. The Flagler County girls from Indian Trails Middle School that were selected are Nicole Januskiewicz, Emily Wise, Gabrielle Wong, and Zoe Estberg.