Mustang Message
February 28, 2016
Skills USA - Regional Competition
A Message from Jeff and Yolanda
This past week, Denise Duzick, Benjamin Kurke, Chef Geri and a group of dual-enrolled and adult students traveled to Manatee Technical College to compete in the regional Skills USA contest. SkillsUSA is a nationally recognized program that serves as a partnership between students, teachers, and industry to ensure that America has a skilled workforce. It provides students with the opportunity to apply and practice quality work in their prospective fields and reinforces self confidence, work attitude, and communication skills.
Our students represented us well in the competition and the silver and gold winners will move on to state level competitions April 24-27th in Lakeland, Florida. Congratulations to all the students who participated and good luck to those who will be going to states. You make us proud.
Estrelita Diaz- Gold, Culinary Arts
Renaldo Robinson - Silver, Culinary Arts
Jason Trujillo - Bronze, Culinary Arts
Brian Eugene - Gold, Restaurant Service
Gavin Becker - Silver, Restaurant Service
Victoria Vale - Silver, Commercial Baking
Jeffrey Dixon - Silver, Culinary Arts
Alexis Ramirez - Bronze, Commercial Baking
On Saturday, Neil Fehr worked with students, Brady Sharbaugh, Gavin Becker, Krisha Mak and Vendredi Carter during the Moody Mega Math Challenge. The students had 14 hours to complete the challenge! We were the only school in the county to participate in this event. Moody's Mega Math Challenge is a mathematical modeling contest for high school juniors and seniors. Through participation, students gain the experience of working in teams to tackle a real-world problem under time and resource constraints akin to those faced by industrial applied mathematicians. The Challenge is sponsored by The Moody's Foundation and organized by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and awards $150,000 in scholarships. The M3 Challenge spotlights applied mathematics as a powerful problem-solving tool, and as a viable and exciting profession.
Congratulations are also in order for 9th grade student Cassidy McNabb and her Language Arts teacher, Rita Kentros. Cassidy placed 4th in the 9th/10th grade category for the Laws of Life Essay competition. The Laws of Life competition started with 4,137 essays from charter, private and public schools in the county. Finalist were honored this past week at a dinner held at the Naples Hilton.
Cassidy Celebrating with Family
Cassidy and Dr. Patton at the Laws of Life Event!
Moody's Mega Math Challenge!
Tech Corner
PicLits is an interesting site to help springboard student writing. It draws upon the visual use of an image and includes a variety of words from which students would select to create a unique “capture of the essence, story or meaning of the picture.” Although there are natural transitions to using it in the traditional English class, it can have value in almost any class as you seek to help students learn new concepts and make meaning in a personal way.
If you have ever wanted to demonstrate something to a student through an online whiteboard, give NotebookCast a look. It is in beta which opens up the possibility of glitches, bugs...and extinction, but being able to share real-time whiteboard with up to ten others may have some value. The site also indicates that you can save the boards for later use which would be beneficial and you can use for free right in your browser.
Happenings
We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, March 5th at the Fifth Annual Fly In Cruise at the Naples Airport, 8:00 a.m.-noon. All proceeds benefit the students at LWTC/LWTHS. If you are interested in volunteering see Darlene Crete.
- This week we say goodbye to Workforce Education Coordinator, Theasa Miller; Entrepreneurship Teacher, Anne Stout; and our former student and part-time receptionist Darlyn Perez. We wish them the best.
- On Tuesday, 3/1, 2:00 -6:00 p.m. the Growing Associates In Naples (GAIN) will be on campus to learn about the educational opportunities in Collier County and to take a tour of LWTC/LWTHS. Although most of you will be gone for the day, make sure your areas are organized as the group will be touring.
- On Tuesday, 3/1, 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. at the MLK Administration Building, Dr. Patton is hosting a town hall meeting focused on "Funding Your Child's Educational Future". LWTC/LWTHS will be well represented by Student Services staff who will have an informational booth, the Culinary Arts program will be providing appetizers and Yolanda will be part of the panel answering questions about financial aid and scholarships available.
Reminders
- Our final Fly In/ Cruise In meeting will take place on Wednesday, 3/2/, 2:35 p.m. at the Naples Airport.
- PLT reflections are due February 29th.
- Please don’t forget to submit your Florida Teachers' Classroom Supply Assistance Program receipts to Ray Smith. He is asking that the receipts be submitted by February 29th so there is adequate time to check each submission and submit the final report to the Budgeting Department by their deadline of March 15th.
- Don't forget to nominate a staff member for the month of February by clicking on the Padlet link . Type the name of the nominated staff member in the "Title" portion of the Padlet post and your reasoning in the body of the post. Also you can nominate by grade level a student for the month of February by clicking the appropriate link below. Follow the same protocol of putting the student name as the title and reason for nominating in the body of the posting.
9th grade Link:
10th grade Link:
11th grade Link:
12th grade Link:
Spotlight on LWTHS Staff Member
Rita Kentros became involved in education with an inspiration from her 5th grade teacher. As a child, Rita dove a bit into the English subject. One day her mother had attended an English teacher interview and she thought to herself, “I could do that!” The part she loves most about her job is the kids. Rita originated from Chicago, where most of her family lives today. Her background is Greek. Both of her parents come from the Greek Islands. She was originally born in Germany, but came to the United States when she was 5 years old. Rita has a strong interest in photography. Her interest began when she was 17 years old, because she saw her cousin’s photography and was amazed by it. A special thank you to Rita for all she does with the yearbook!
Spotlight on LWTC Staff Member
Shauna Kelly was the office manager for a financial planner before she came to LWTC as our bookkeeper. When she is here, Shauna holds everyone to task. When she is home, her creative outlets are painting, crocheting and cross stitching. Shauna has a husband, two daughters, one son, five grandchildren and a dog and a cat! Most of her children are in Atlanta, where Shauna has also lived . She has traveled to 26 states with Washington, DC being her favorite because of the history. One of Shauna’s greatest accomplishments is walking because her parents were told that she never could. Shauna proved everyone wrong and her adversities have made her a stronger person!
Kudos
- Chef Geri, Benjamin Kurke and students for their strong showing at the Skills USA Regional Competition.
- Adult Education teachers who gave up their Saturday to attend the ABE/GED training.
- Sam Green for organizing breakfast for the ABE/GED training on Saturday.
- Neil Fehr for taking on the coaching and mentoring role for our students in the Moody's Mega Math Challenge.
- Joann Cassio for attending the Quickbooks training in order to incorporate the industry certification into her Economics class.
- Pat Metcalf for providing an ACT prep course for our students who need a concordant score for graduation.
- Lynne Bruce for signing students up to take the upcoming ACT.
- Rita Kentros for being our Laws of Life coordinator.
- Nancy Turmelle for giving a great interview/observation for the Surgical Technology program on Tuesday. The Naples Daily News reporter will be coming back and bringing a photographer with her.
Congratulations to the following staff for submitting their attendance on time during the week of 2/8-2/12: Scott, Monahan, O'Brien, Romero, Whippo, Peck, Rodgers, Barr and Cassio and during the week of 2/16-2/19: Scott, O'Brien, Romero, Whippo, Peck ,Rodgers, Barr, Cassio, Hagerman, Simmons, Genovese and Bergquist. Mrs O'brien and Ms. Simmons have each won a $5.00 culinary certificate. Our own time attendance rate increased from 39% to 52% in the last two weeks. Who will be the next winner?
Happy Birthday
No birthdays this week
Upcoming Staff Meetings and Trainings
- See the lwcampus.wikispaces.com for the LWTC/LWTHS meeting calendar.
Upcoming Student Events
- 3/1 Culinary Field trip to Botanical Gardens 11:00-1:30 - Chef Abdo
- 3/5 Fly In ~ Cruise In, Naples airport 8:00am - 12:00 pm - Ms. Crete