Several students from high schools in greater Boca Raton were named as finalists in the National Merit Scholarship program and a couple were finalists in the National Achievement Scholarship program. From West Boca High, Noah Graff was named a National Merit finalist. A resident of the Mission Bay community, Graff has his own tutoring business and has also volunteered in various ways including shaving his head for St. Baldrick’s. He’s a wrestler and he competes for the school’s academic teams as well. From Olympic Heights, Sarah Curtis was also named a National Merit finalist. Ms. Curtis participated in the school’s Zerobotics team which traveled to MIT in 2014.
“It was an amazing experience,” said [then] junior Sarah Curtis. “Participating in this incredible conference really reinforced my love of engineering.”
Ms. Curtis is also a pretty good softball player, and plays in the school band. Spanish River had two National Merit finalists: Ari Levin and Alexander Sugar. We couldn’t find a picture or any details on Mr. Sugar. Mr. Levin will be attending Northwestern University next year. Boca High is not in West Boca, but some West Boca kids go there. They had the most finalists. National Merit Finalists from Boca High: Elisa Figueras Peter Lin James Lynch Jennifer Menke Akaash Mohan Kelsey Powers Ryan Rice Jake Woods National Achievement Finalists from Boca High: Elgin Davis Nigel Davis Disclosure: The founders of West Boca News are friends of the Levin family.
Representing the State of Florida at the National FCCLA Conference in Washington, D.C. are from left to right: Brianna Glick, Annie Coen, Celeste Elkin Mrs. Kelly Hampton, Jeneva Ontaneda, Lauren Brito and Shaunta Wright.
Another good news press release came in related to a local high school: Students at Olympic Heights High School Come Home with the Gold! From March 6th to March 9th Olympic Heights Community High School students who are members of the Family, Career and Community, Leaders of America Club participated in the 2015 State FCCLA Competition in Orlando. FCCLA is a nonprofit national career and technical student organization for students in grades 6-12. They are the only national career and technical student organization with family as its central focus. Olympic Heights students competed in a variety of areas: Color Photography, Black & White Photography, Advocacy, Career Investigation, Culinary Arts, Entrepreneurship, Fashion Construction, Fashion Design, Food Innovations, Hospitality, Tourism & Recreation, Leadership, Life Event Planning, and Teach & Train. The students have worked throughout this school year to complete research and develop a career project in relation to their topic. This included development of a proposition, planning and implementing their project, providing community service, and developing a presentation to demonstrate their achievements. At the state competition students had to present their project to a panel of judges. Olympic Heights would like to recognize and congratulate the following students who received Gold Medal Awards at the 2015 FCCLA State Competition: Brandon Arnone, Lauren Brito, Annie Coen, Brianna Glick and Jeneva Ontaneda. Winning Silver Medals from Olympic Heights at the state competition were: Shelby Black-Smith, Jenna Cammarano, Anielyse Daniel, Reema Hamade, Ashley Jean-Baptiste, Allison Kraus, Cristal Rivera, and Melanie Sosa. In addition, Olympic Heights students were awarded bronze medals. They are as follows: Leah Brand, Celeste Elkin, Damian Gonzalez, Viviana Hernandez, Natalie Marsal, Aylin Morales, Maxx Padron, Kisha Saint-Louis, Brianna Sylfont, Natalia Velez, and Shaunta Wright. Olympic Heights FCCLA Chapter: Top Row (Left to Right) – Chef Eric Schlossberg, Allison Kraus, Jenna Cammarano, Cristal Rivera, Anielyse Daniel, Melanie Sosa, Natalia Velez, Damian Gonzalez, Shelby Black-Smith, David Maxxwell Padron, Ashley Jean-Baptiste, Brandon Arnone, Whitney Vilsaint, Natalie Marsal, Shaunta Wright, Lauren Brito, Annie Coen, Taina Alexis, and Mrs. Kelly Hampton. Bottom Row (Left to Right) – Leah Brand, Brianna Glick, Kisha Saint Louis, Aylin Morales, Vivianna Hernandez, Brianna Sylfont, Celeste Elkin, and Jeneva Ontaneda. Not Pictured – Reema Hamade. Of the twenty-four students competing from Olympic Heights High School, six students earned the highest scores in their category. Therefore, they will represent the state of Florida at the National FCCLA Competition this summer in Washington D.C. Special recognition was given to Lauren Brito and Jeneva Ontaneda who each received a $1,000 scholarship for their Hospitality, Tourism & Recreation entry from Johnson & Wales University. This outstanding winning FCCLA Team is sponsored by two very dedicated Olympic Heights teachers, Mrs. Kelly Hampton and Chef Eric Schlossberg. Two additional chaperones accompanied the team this year and they are both parents of FCCLA members, Ms. Phyllis Fimiani and Mrs. Jazmine Ontaneda. Congratulations to the Olympic Heights team on their outstanding success!
We received a wonderful press release from Ohio State about West Boca High graduate Samuel Yacinthe: West Boca Native Re-engineers Chevrolet Camaro Samuel Yacinthe, a graduate of West Boca Raton Community High School, is helping to redesign and re-engineer a Chevrolet Camaro as part of the Ohio State EcoCAR 3 team. EcoCAR 3 is a four-year advanced vehicle technology competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors. Students from 16 universities across North America are challenged to redesign and re-engineer a Chevrolet Camaro to make it more fuel efficient and better for the environment, while still maintaining safety, performance and consumer acceptability. Yacinthe serves as the Systems Engineering Lead for the Ohio State EcoCAR 3 team. In his role, he is responsible for design, control, and integration of vehicle systems. He had a large impact on the vehicle architecture selection process, since he helped develop models of the entire system, so the team could predict the behavior of the system for different design inputs. “My position on the Ohio State EcoCAR 3 team during year one is extremely important,” Yacinthe said. “Since we currently don’t have a physical vehicle, we need to run simulations on computers to test our ideas for achieving design goals.” So, what really sparked Yacinthe’s interest in automotive engineering? He instantly thought back to his first Lego set and how he enjoyed finding solutions to complex problems. But, in high school Yacinthe had an opportunity to experience engineering and design on a whole new level. “At my school, I was on the drafting and design track,” Yacinthe said. “This meant that I took one class a year dedicated to those topics. In an early course, I was introduced to computer-aided design tools. By the end of the track, I was able to draft an entire house.” He specifically mentioned math teacher Stacey Jacobowitz: “I don’t think I ever told her, but she was one of my most favorite teachers throughout high school. Though math can be challenging, she made it fun and easy to understand.” Yacinthe is still considering where he hopes to be in the next few years. This summer he will be interning with the Ford Motor Company within their Research & Advanced Engineering group. “I believe that many of the opportunities I have now are a product of a great foundational education and hometown,” Yacinthe said. “Whether I go on to become a Professor in engineering or to work at an automotive company, the skills I have learned from Boca Raton will stay with me forever.” Yacinthe grew up in the Palmetto Pines community south of Palmetto Park Road and west of 441. Read more about the project: Ohio State’s EcoCAR team
Eleven school bands performed today at the Ninth Annual FAU Concert Band Festival. Several local schools participated, and we caught four of their performances, below. If anyone wants to share video of Boca Middle or Boca High, please e-mail us at [email protected]. The first band we saw was West Boca High: Here they are in video and audio, with band director Larry Shane conducting. Mr. Shane informs us this was the “Symphonic Band” and also sent us another video of the Wind Ensemble, which is at bottom.
Next up we saw Spanish River High with director Craig White.
Then came Loggers’ Run Middle School and director Craig Denny.
And the last one we saw was Omni Middle School with William Castillo directing.
From West Boca High’s Mr. Shane, here is the Wind Ensemble:
Brian Levine is a student at West Boca High. Cross-town rivals West Boca High School and Olympic Heights High School are teaming up in order to fight against one common enemy, cancer. This year, these two high schools continue the eternal struggle against cancer by participating in St. Baldrick’s. St. Baldrick’s is an organization that first started on March 17th, 2000. It began as a challenge Tim Kenny set forth to his colleagues John Bender and Enda McDonnell. One simple question – “How will you give back in return for your own good fortune in business?” – kicked off a massive, international program unlike anything seen before. Today, thousands of people world-wide volunteer, donate, and shave their heads in order to help put an end to children’s cancer. If you want to learn more about St. Baldrick’s, click here. Here in Boca Raton, high school students at Olympic Heights and West Boca are shaving their heads in order to support this cause. West Boca High has been participating since 2013 while Olympic Heights is going on their eleventh year of participation. Now, both schools together have earned well over half a million dollars. Students are working hard to raise money for the event by sending mail and emails and by taking advantage of social media. Olympic Height’s event will take place on February 26th at their gymnasium. In order to prepare for the event, students and teachers alike are selling custom dog tags ($5), wristbands ($5) and t-shirts ($10). They are being sold in room 8106 at Olympic Heights. Students here must raise a total of $100 dollars in order to get their head shaved. If you would like to help Olympic Heights, you can either write a check out to Olympic Heights, donate in cash to room 8106, or donate online to their website here. Donations can go to the entire school or to an individual student. West Boca’s event is also taking place on February 26th at the gymnasium in their school. To participate as a ‘shavee’ in the event, students at West Boca High have to raise $50. At the school store and around campus, volunteers are selling St. Baldrick’s bracelets ($5) that must be bought in order to attend the event. To donate and help raise money for West Boca High, you can write a check out to West Boca High, donate cash to the school store, or donate online to their website here. Donations can go to the entire school or to an individual student. A child is diagnosed with cancer every three minutes world-wide. Come support schools and students alike as they work together to help save lives and put an end to cancer this St. Baldrick’s. If you have the opportunity, go bald! After all, hair grows back! Pictures provided by Joseph Marutollo and Elena McKnight. Note: Another student wrote up last year’s St. Baldrick’s event at Olympic Heights.
