Congratulations to Tanner King for being selected as the 2010-2011 FHS Mascot.

Congratulations to Mollie Hannah for being selected as a member of UNA’s 2010-2011 cheerleading squad.

All four Florence High School/Florence Freshman Center choirs received straight superior ratings at District Performance Assessment last week.

Forty-eight FHS/FFC students were selected to Alabama All-State Chorus.  We have more students in All-State than any other school in Alabama.  These students are: Jeressa Cunningham, Jessie Harrison, Petra Malmquist, Rebecca Marchman, Conner Puckett, Adam St. John, Daniel Dean, Nathan Skinner, Dederick Anderson

Aubrey Holden, Daniel Hulsizer, Cory Miller, Tanner King, Oliver Irvine, Deondre Almon, Summer Akers, Keia Andrews, Kylan Edmondson, Laila Hetland, Drey Mitchell, Porter Mitchell, Aubrey Parsons, Suzanne Reese, Abigail Sharp, Kaleigh Vickery, Jennie Wooten, Jordan Dobbins, Katie Pruett, Allison Young, Tiara Horton, Myoshia McDaniel, Kiana Oates, Briana Roach, Lydia Rodriguez, Jakeithea Stewart, Jasmine Thomas, Jessica Bailey, Hayley Frazer, Gabbi Fuqua, Lane Hardison, Annie Hendricks, Ashley Littleton, Andrea Engelthaler, Brittany Etherly, Brianna Gilbert, Hannah Marsh, Alina Phillips, and Allie Rodgers.

Fourteen FHS students were selected to the Alabama All-State Show Choir.  (Again, more than any other school in the state.)  These students are:  Porter Mitchell, Drey Mitchell, Shaun Leary, Petra Malmquist, Elli Mitchell, Jessie Harrison, Tanner King, Keia Andrews, Allison Young, Lacondra Reeder, Aubrey Parsons, Blair Schlosser, Abigail Sharp, and Abby Threet.

District winners of the Outstanding Choral Student competition are both from FHS:  Porter Mitchell and Suzanne Reese

Good News!! The FHS Science Olympiad Teams competed in the Regional Tournament on Saturday at UAH. All three teams placed in the top ten out of 20 teams.

Team 1 placed fourth overall and missed advancing to the state by only one event.

Team 2 placed sixth overall and Team 3 placed 10^th overall.

Please congratulate these members on their success. Even though they are not advancing to state, they improved their overall team score by  50 points

from last year to this year’s competition. The top team beat us by 65 points last year, but we trailed the first place team by only 14 points this year. GO FALCONS!

 The Florence High School Team also received the SPIRIT AWARD. The event supervisors vote on the team whose members show spirit, are respectful, and display good sportsmanship while attending the competition on the UAH campus.

 The following students were awarded medals at the competition:

First Place Medalists

Experimental Design – Taryn Burgess, Michael Ann Rodriguez, Lauren Cox

 Forensics – Shao-Yu Chen, Hannah Beer

 Environmental Chemistry – Nate Bailey, Roman Sherrod (9th)

 Second Place Medalists-

   Mission Possible – Sam Broder, Sean Bogrάn

   Fossils – Carl Parsiliti, Lauren Cox

  Cell Biology- Carl Parsiliti, Stuart Bartmess

   Write It Do It- Lydia Rodriguez, Gabrielle Lindley

 Third Place Medalists

     Disease Detectives – Lauren Cabiness, Ethan Morgan

     Mouse trap vehicle- Lauren Cabiness, Hannah Wright

 Fourth Place Medalists-

  Forensics- Melanie Batchelor

  Anatomy – Shao-Yu Chen, Jui Paul

  Egg O Naut (rocket)- Colby Dow, Michael McWaters

   Mousetrap Vehicle- Sam Broder, Sean Bogran

   Remote Sensing- Sean Bogrάn, Shao Yu Chen

   Disease Detectives- Sarah Abroms, Jessie Harrison

    Dynamic Planet- McKay Cleveland, Jency Wilson

   It’s About Time- Leslie Beattie, Sims Wallace

    Trajectory- Tyler Dutton, Marcella Villagrana

Fifth Place – Honorable Mentions

    Dynamic Planet – Colby Dow, Ashley Grissom

     It’s about Time- Sean Bogrάn, Lauren Cox

      Experimental Design- Ashton Ray, Sarah Abroms, Jessie Harrison

     Mouse Trap Vehicle- Nate Bailey, Alli Bowling

      Picture This- Leslie Beattie, Ashton Ray

      Egg O Naut- Doss Clevland, Melanie Batchelor

      Fossils- Audrey McGee, Doss Cleveland

Three of our freshman competed in the high school division and placed 6^th or better in all of their events. Carrie Ann Davison, Roman Sherrod, and Davis Tran.

 Thanks to Marilyn Williams and Rick Ashley for providing additional support and instruction to our team members during several long night practices and an all day practice on the Friday before competition.

Freshman Coaches:  Matt Ball and Carolyn Wear

FHS Coaches: Donna Bogran and Robin Thompson

YEARBOOK STAFF WINS AWARDS IN TUSCALOOSA

Exciting news from the FHS yearbook staff: the 2009 edition of the yearbook earned first place in the state for yearbook design and was awarded an overall Superior rating Friday at the Alabama Scholastic Press Association’s State Convention in Tuscaloosa. In individual competition, Leigh Rusevlyan won 3^rd place in the state for News Writing.

February ASMA Winners

Congratulations to the February ASMA winners:

First Place with a perfect score of 7 correct answers:  Stuart Bartmess

Second Place with 5 correct answers: Taryn Burgess  

Third Place with 4 correct answers:   Eldwin Arparcio, Ashley Grissom, Duncan McKinney, Michaelann Rodriquez, Abby Threet

Any junior or senior student interested in applying for membership to the National Math Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, should see Mrs. Barnett in room 36 or Mrs. Griffith in room 34 for a list of requirements and for an application.  All completed applications must be returned by Friday, February 26, 2010, at 3:05 pm.

National Merit Scholarship and AP Scholars Recognition Program -2009-10

Semi-Finalists Bartmess, Cleveland, and Reese Qualify as Finalists

Over 1.5 million students took the 2008 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) last October and entered the National Merit Program, a nationwide competition for recognition and awards conducted by National Merit Scholarship Corporation.  Some 16,000 of those high performers were recently designated Semi-finalists.   Only Semifinalists have an opportunity to continue in the Merit Scholarship competition and advance to Finalist standing by meeting a number of additional requirements.  Florence High School is proud to announce our 2009 National Merit Semi-finalists:

Stewart Bartmess, the son of Dr. John E. and Beatrice M. Bartmess

McKay Cleveland, the daughter of Doss and Florrye Cleveland

Suzanne Reese, the daughter of Kevin and Corinne Reese

The National Merit Scholarship Program has now determined that these three students are Finalists in the 2010 Competition for National Merit Scholarships.

Florence High School would also like to recognize 2009 Commended Students for their exceptional academic promise demonstrated by their outstanding performance on the PSAT. Commended Students placed among the top 5 percent of more than 1.5 million students who took the PSAT. They are:

Lauren Cox, the daughter of Bobby and Elizabeth Cox

Michaelann Rodriguez, the daughter of Michael and Bobbie Ann Rodriguez

Jency Wilson, the daughter of Art and Kim Wilson

Joe Woestendick, the son of Wayne and Jenny Mitchell

The 2009 National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP) is recognizing nearly 5,000 students selected forma pool of over 200,000 students who took the 2008 PSAT. Students with GPA’s of 3.5 or higher are designated as Scholars. Florence High School National Hispanic Scholars are

Austin Gallegos, son of Adrian and Vivian Gallegos

Michaelann Rodriguez, daughter of Michael and Bobbie Ann Rodriguez

Twenty students at Florence High School have earned AP Scholars Awards in recognition of their exceptional achievement on AP exams. About 18 percent of the 1.6 million students worldwide who took AP exams performed at a sufficiently high level to earn an AP Scholar Award.

One student qualified for the National AP Scholar Award by earning an average grade of 4 or higher on a five-point scale on all AP exams taken and grades of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams. This student is a 2009 graduate, Obianujunwa Anakwenze.

5 students qualified for the AP Scholar with Distinction Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. These students are 2009 graduates Obianujunwa Anakwenze, Andrew Husted, Jane Locker, and Addison Osbirn.

2 students qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams. These students are

Stuart Bartmess, son of Dr. John E. and Beatrice Bartmess

Carl Parasaliti, Jr., son of Carl Parasiliti, Sr. and Judy Parasaliti

13 students qualified for the AP Scholars Award by completing three or more AP exams with grades of 3 or higher. These AP scholars include 2009 graduates Grace Beer, Mary Cleveland, Richard Curtis, Elton Darby, Jacob Gattman, Dylan Kelly, Courtney Leyde, Alex Lindley, and Alex Yu.  Currently enrolled students include

Shao-Yu Chen, son of Chiong-Yiao Chen

Christie Connolly, daughter of Chris and Laura Connolly

Lauren Cox, daughter of Bobby and Elizabeth Cox

Pruitt Holcombe, son of Les and Pam Holcombe

Of this year’s award recipients at Florence High School, six are seniors : Stuart Bartmess, Shao-yu Chen, Christie Connolly, Lauren Cox, Pruitt Holcombe, and Carl Parasaliti. These students have at least one more year in which to complete college-level work and possibly earn a higher level AP Scholar Award.