The FSUS PTSA has four $250 scholarships available for seniors for the first time this year.  Information about the scholarships should be at student services or posted on the FSUS web site by March 10.

Each of the four scholarship categories requires participation in some way with at least one FSUS PTSA scheduled event or meeting your senior year.  If you participated in the PTA Reflections program at the beginning of the year it counts toward the scholarship requirements as does the community playground build for the elementary school.  We still have a few events/meetings left this year so there is still time if you plan to apply.

We have made the application pretty easy to fill out and we are not requiring you to write an essay.

Please check the FSUS PTSA web site on March 10 or look for hard copies of the scholarships at student services.  One senior will be selected for each of the scholarship categories where entries are received.  You may apply for more than one scholarship provided you meet the requirements listed in each scholarship.

Bonnie Abellera
Reflections Chair

Annual Health and Safety Fair
The PTSA's Health and Safety Fair is set for Thursday March 27, 2008 (the Thursday before spring break) from noon-5pm in the Florida High gym.  For the first time the annual fair will be held during school hours, allowing faculty to bring their classes to the gym to visit the booths of some 50-60 community groups that promote health and safety.  Parents are welcome too and the fair will be open to the general public.  Free refreshments will be served. 

Pre-planning is underway and anyone with a spare hour or two to help out with this important project should contact me.

School Garden
Harvesting the fall garden is complete and the kids successfully grew cabbage, onions, collard greens, radishes, peas, and many other vegetables and took it home to eat.  Cole slaw made from stuff the kids grew was served at the January PTSA meeting potluck.

Preparations are now under way for a spring garden with a load of mushroom compost being delivered the first week of March with planting to begin the week of March 10.  As of press time, about 20 kids have signed up for the spring garden club.  Thanks to the PTSA members whose dues and contributions fund this project, and special thanks to Suzanne Lane, Irene Bivins, Zulema Wibmer, Julie Lengacher and Amy Springer for planting expertise and helping supervise the kids. 

Healthy Snacks on Campus
The PTSA continues to lead the charge toward healthier snacks on campus.  This month the snacks the PTSA provides to students taking the FCAT will for the first time meet the nutrition criteria in the Florida High Wellness Policy.  The pilot program to provide concession stands with healthy foods like bananas, granola bars, fruit juice and nuts continues to be a limited success (it's admittedly hard to compete with candy bars).  The PTSA surveys of foods available on campus continues and final data along with recommendations for improvements will be presented to the school's Wellness Committee and Board of Directors before the end of the school year.

Any PTSA members interested in assisting with these efforts should contact me.

Do Your Kids Eat While Watching TV?

If so, a recent study shows they will probably eat more than kids who eat while not watching TV, whether or not they're hungry.  The study appearing in a recent edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition offered groups of kids 1,000 calories of a favorite snack food and told them they could eat as much as they wanted.  The group that watched a continuous TV show during the experiment ate more calories (500) and spent more time eating (21 of 23 minutes) than the no-television group.  The study concluded that eating snacks in front of the tube has the potential to profoundly affect how many calories children consume.  For more info click here. 

A few months ago, Florida High PTSA submitted twelve student cultural art entries to the Leon County Council of PTAs for this year's National PTA Reflections program.  The council has since selected the student entries that advanced to state.  Only three entries could be submitted in each category for each age division.  Florida High has ten student entries now at the Florida PTA state office that are under review for selection as finalists to send to the National PTA level of competition.

Congratulations to these students:

Henry Vogt              Grade 2         Visual Arts - painting
Carina Krehl             Grade 5         Visual Arts - collage
Richmond Abellera   Grade 7          Visual Arts - painting
Diana Quijada          Grade 8          Visual Arts - computer graphics
Elysa Woodard         Grade 8         Visual Arts - computer graphics
Catherine Annis       Grade 9          Visual Arts - computer graphics
Jessey Krehl            Grade 7          Music Composition -song and piano composition                                                   "Working Together"
Victoria Barnes        Grade 9          Literature - inspirational poem "Being Me"
Kiyo Kawaguchi        Grade 9         Literature - short story "The Story"
Amelia Jonas           Grade 10        Literature - poem "Daddy's Footprints"

Note:  The following categories did not have any entries submitted from the school or county - photography, dance choreography and film/video production.

The state office may only select one entry in each category for each age division to submit to the National PTA.  Students from all over Florida compete for this honor.  The National PTA staff then selects one entry (from all participating states) in each age category/age division that best represents that cultural art category.  These entries are posted on the National PTA web site (you can still see last year's submissions www.pta.org Reflections).

The Florida PTA state office will let our students know by March 31 whether their entry advances to the National level of competition.  (We have our fingers and toes crossed that we'll have a few entries that go to Nationals...)  We should be able to announce those results in the April newsletter.

Congratulations everyone!

Bonnie Abellera
Reflections Chair

FSUS PTSA members were treated to a night of music and dancing thanks to some very special faculty and students.

John Buckley's Percussion Band kicked off the February General Assembly meeting with a lively percussion performance.

Seņor Guastella's and Seņor Sardiņa's students danced the Cha Cha, the Merengue, and performed Latin percussion.

Right after the Merengue performance, the students gave a quick how to Merengue lesson, followed by some members of the audience participating in dancing along side the students.

Dancers:  Shelby Malvestuto, Katie Watson, Alex Campo, Chris Farnsley, Maria Cooper, Christina Griffith, Kara Wilcox, Ryan Shepard, Shade Ojo, Devyn Hardy, Tony Cooper, Dylan Coley, and Jaimie Jones.

Percussionists:  John Auber, Zach Thomas, William Adeshina, Brittney Singletary, Jessica Fowler, Joel Geenacre, and Josh Alday.

New Members Inducted

On Tuesday, February 19, 2008, the Florida High National Honor Society welcomed a whopping 35 new members to its ranks, including one senior, three juniors, and 31 sophomores, all with a GPA of 3.6 and higher. The ceremony was kicked off with a few encouraging words from Principal Susan Martelli and Interim Director Bill Johnson. Sponsors Mr. Stinchfield and Mr. Strazulla, and members Kadmiel Perez, Hannah Bowerman, Shayla Shane, and Ashten Mays all participated in the induction ceremony. We would like to thank the old NHS members and their parents for providing refreshments particularly Phil Harrison for the lovely cake.

Congratulations to the new NHS members and their parents. Here's a list of the new members:                      

Nina Ashenafi-Richardson has announced her intention to run for Leon County Judge, seat 5. Nina is the mother of Carina, a second grader in Ms. Birard's class. She is the wife of Rep. Curtis Richardson.

* * * * *

The FSUS 2008 Recycling Competition was a huge success!!!  We collected 9383 phonebooks which are being sent to a sugar factory in Georgia to make sugar bags.  The High School came in 3rd place collecting 38 phonebooks, the Middle School came in 2nd place collecting 4580 phonebooks and Elementary came in 1st place collecting 4765 phonebooks.  Congratulations to Mr. Fair's first period class for collecting 1800 phonebooks and winning a ride from Mike's Limo to Ci Ci's Pizza and Ms. McLarnon's class who came a close 2nd collecting 1747 phonebooks.  We also saved 1387,353.745 cubic inches of recyclables from going into our local landfill.  Great job to Mrs. Robertson's class for collecting 356,496 cubic inches of recyclables and winning a ride from Mike's Limo to Ci Ci's Pizza for lunch.

Congratulations to everyone, we are all winners.  We look forward to continuing our recycling program and making a difference in our community.  Thank you for all of your support.

- Sue C. Fair, 5th Grade Instructor, sfair@fsu.edu