First Lady Casey DeSantis Announces 2021 Black History Month Theme and Student Contests
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Student essay contest winners will receive a 4-Year Florida College Plan scholarship provided by the Florida Prepaid College Foundation
Today, First Lady Casey DeSantis announced that the theme for Black History Month in February will be “Community Champions – Celebrating the Contributions of African Americans in Florida’s Communities” and released information regarding the student art and essay contests and Excellence in Education awards.
“Countless contributions of Black Floridians continue to shape our communities statewide,” said First Lady Casey DeSantis. “During Black History Month, the Governor and I look forward to recognizing and celebrating these champions of service who have made Florida stronger. I encourage students from across the state to join in these celebrations and enter our art and essay contest, as well as educators that go above and beyond to serve our students.”
First Lady DeSantis is inviting students to participate in academic and creative contests based on theme, “Community Champions – Celebrating the Contributions of African Americans in Florida’s Communities.” Students in grades K-3 can participate in an art contest while students in grades 4-12 can participate in an essay contest. Additionally, students, parents, teachers and principals are invited to nominate full-time educators of all student grades for the Black History Month Excellence in Education Award.
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STUDENT MOVERS AND SHAKERS
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Freedom 7 Elementary 6th grade student, 11 year old, Ashritha Vuddharaju participated in a writing contest in 2020, and her story was selected for publication as a part of an anthology of Young Writers.
The book “Through Their Lenses" - Award winning short stories by Tweens is up on Amazon, Kindle, Barnes & Nobles and many other platforms. The book features Vuddharaju's story titled "How I tamed a shapeshifter."
The Vuddharaju family will be purchasing a few copies of this book for the Freedom 7 library. If you would like to learn more about this anthology of stories, please click the button below.
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BPS Celebrates Black History Month
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Black History Month is one of many opportunities throughout the year to incorporate learning across the curriculum and all grade levels to empower our students to be more enriched and appreciative of one another. We are honored to offer African American Studies at some of our high schools in the district and look forward to adding this opportunity at additional schools in the near future. Brevard Schools recognizes that we have a commitment to improve our diversity and equity practices for our African American community and other minorities by accelerating student achievement, eradicate opportunity gaps and increase the diversity of our employees to better represent the diversity of our students and families.
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Know an employee, teacher or student who has made a difference at your work site or school? We want to hear about them!
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BPS Recognizes "Rock Star Mentors"
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Professional Learning and Development is starting the new year by recognizing mentors at each school who have consistently gone above and beyond in supporting our new educators. These mentors, recognized by their school’s lead mentor, each received a “Rockstar” thank-you card, a Starbucks gift card, and chocolate. Additionally, each card included a personal note describing the positive and unique impact they have made within their school’s mentoring program. Our desire is for the mentors to know that we appreciate their hard work, dedication, and extra hours that are necessary to ensure Brevard Public Schools’ new educators achieve greatness!
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UPCOMING EVENTS & IMPORTANT INFORMATION
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Scholarship Opportunities
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Congratulations to the following students who have won College Board Opportunity Scholarships: Christina Bennet (Edgewood HS), Carson Brown (Palm Bay HS), Elena Fentress (Viera HS), Laylani Salinas (Viera HS), Madison Simpkins (Satellite HS), and Kai Zhen (Melbourne HS).
The College Board Opportunity Scholarships provide a digital college planning guide to plan, prepare, and pay for college. Students who complete steps in the program are eligible for scholarships ranging from $500 to $40,000. The scholarships do not require an essay, application, minimum test score, or GPA. The more effort that students take, the more chances they have to earn scholarships. At least half of all the scholarships will be designated for students whose families earn less than $60,000 per year. Seniors, there is still time to take advantage of this opportunity by registering and completing the Complete the FASFA and Apply to College sections by February 28th. Juniors can start the process of registering and completing steps now. More information can be found at https://opportunity.collegeboard.org/.
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Student Volunteer Opportunities
Bright Future Hours
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March 6-8
Space Coast CityFest is in need of volunteers for their festival Clean-Up Crew. Clean-Up Crew is responsible for maintaining trash cans and sweeping up around the festival grounds. COVID-19 precautions: Masks are required and will be provided, there will also be hand washing and sanitizing stations throughout festival grounds. All CityFest staff and volunteers will be temperature checked and screened for symptoms before beginning their shift. Please contact Kassie Pecot at [email protected], or 321-795-0286.
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United Way of Brevard is looking volunteers for a variety of projects including: help maintaining their Free Little Libraries program, and scanning and shredding papers.
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It's Crossing Guard Appreciation Day!
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While crossing guards are not BPS employees, they play such a crucial role in helping our students get to and from school safely each and every day. We appreciate all of our crossing guards who serve our community with such heart.
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Have FOCUS at Your Fingertips...
Download the App Today!
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BPS Parents/Guardians: It’s not too late to sign up for the Focus app. Check out the quick video tutorials below that walk you through:
- How to create a parent account
- Viewing student grades and report cards
- Tracking assignments
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NOW HIRING
We are hiring Bus Drivers! If you would like more information about employment with BPS, please visit www.brevardschools.org
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BPS COVID-19 Resources
This web page is designed to house information for parents, students, faculty and our community. Helpful items include:
- COVID-19 District Dashboard
- Latest district news as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Student and staff health and safety protocols
- Fact Sheets and information from the CDC, AAP and other authorities
- COVID-19 videos and resources
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FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
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BPS HEADLINES is a publication of Brevard Public Schools.
2700 Judge Fran Jamieson Way * Melbourne, FL 32940 * 321-633-1000
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