Congratulations to Principal Joe Burgess and the Chiles High School Brain Bowl Team for winning the 2013 Big Bend High School Brain Bowl yesterday. The field of competition included 36 teams and resulted in a final match between our own Chiles High School and Bainbridge High School of Bainbridge, Georgia. The Timberwolves team included: Wayne Zhao (Captain), Hannah Williams, Jeremy Jones, Kenneth Zhou, Nick Yang, and Jeffrey Zhu. The team’s sponsor is Andrew Shoenberger.
STUDENT ASTRONAUT CHALLENGE ANNOUNCES WINNING
TEAM OF SECOND ANNUAL COMPETITION
– Statewide program brings attention to Florida’s STEM initiatives –
Tallahassee, Fla., March 11, 2013 – The Chiles High School team from Tallahassee is the winner of the 2013 Florida Student Astronaut Challenge. The Florida Department of Education, in partnership with Florida State University Schools, NASA, Flightline Group, Inc., Florida Engineering Foundation, Inc., Coaxis International, and the Tallahassee Automobile Museum, hosted the second annual Florida Student Astronaut Challenge Friday, March 8-10, 2013, in Tallahassee.
High school students from across the state participated in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics or STEM-focused competition designed to test their knowledge of space-shuttle operations, engineering, launch, orbit, and landing of the Space Shuttle “Enterprise” flight simulator.
“This program provides an excellent opportunity to recognize the talents of STEM students across the state,” said Public Schools Chancellor Pam Stewart. “As a former high school principal, I know how students and their teachers welcome challenges that call for extraordinary creativity, effort, and team work. Setting the bar high for our students in STEM programs will help Florida’s students compete for jobs in the 21st century.”
This year the Florida Student Astronaut Challenge received 350-percent more team applications, with nearly 200 students from 30 schools in southern, central, and northern Florida competing at the regional qualifier. Regional qualifier events consisted of a written examination based on reference material supplied by the competition and supervised and administered by the Florida Department of Education. A panel of experts in the field of science and science education evaluated the proposals and selected the top teams, and last year’s challenge winner – Pompano Beach High School – to travel to Tallahassee to compete in the 2013 finals. Six teams competed for this year’s top spot.
Each of the six teams received tickets to Universal Studios-Orlando and an invitation to tour the Kennedy Space Center and meet an astronaut. In addition, Chiles High School received special recognition and medals at Sunday’s awards ceremony and an automatic entry into next year’s competition.
For more information about the competition, visit Student Astronaut Challenge.
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As Lily Williams walked off the track at UNF in Jacksonville Friday night, she will forever be remembered as one of Florida’s greatest track and field athletes. Those that were in attendance saw her win three Gold Medals in what many feel are the three toughest events to win on the same night at the state track meet. She had just won the triple crown in the 1600, 800, and 3200 Meters and had done so in just over 90 minutes. This feat is so difficult, that most coaches feel it is impossible and will not even think about asking their athletes to attempt it. She was competing against the best distance runners in the State, some of which were running just one event hoping that this would give them a better chance to win. It’s not that she won all three events, but how she won. She was absolutely dominant in all three races and made it look easy. There is no doubt in my mind that on Friday night, LBW was unbeatable. Lily has been an amazing student-athlete at Chiles HS and accomplished so much in the classroom as well; a straight ‘A’ student who plans to become a surgeon.
10 Chiles High School students were treated to an hour with celebrated Tallahassee Author Juliana Baggott to ask her questions about being an author and her new book Pure. The students were thrilled to be able to talk to Ms. Bagott about her experiences writing over 15 books and in many other arenas. Students from Miami also “Skyped” in during the event. It was a unique experience that everyone involved enjoyed.
Congratulations to Chiles High School Students Ethan Caswell, Hank Coleman and Madison Boyd on winning $1500 for this 1st place public service announcement from the Florida Board of Immunization.
