JANUARY, 2020

PRIDE THE NEWSLETTER OF AVON PARK HIGH SCHOOL

Avon Park, Florida

January, 2020 Leading Together to Achieve Excellence! Volume 5, Issue 5

Danielle Erwin, Principal

APHS SUFFERS LOSS

APHS and the Highlands County

community suffered a tremendous

loss with the passing of Avon Park

football coach Jerry Hudnell after a

short illness.

Hudnell was a graduate of Ohio

State University where he studied

special education and teaching. After graduation, he

began his coaching career at Unioto High School in

Chillicothe Ohio. He and his family moved to Highlands

County in 2015, where he began teaching ESE and

coaching at Lake Placid High School. When APHS had an

opening for head football coach in 2018, Hudnell jumped

at the opportunity. He suffered a life-altering stroke and

heart attack this past August, and fought diligently to

recover over the last several months.

In his honor, the Sunshine Committee sponsored a

“Wear a Jersey Day” in December, where students and

staff wore a jersey (pictured above) and paid a dollar

donation. All proceeds were given to the Hudnell

family, who designated a local charity for the funds.

He will be greatly missed by both students and staff, and

we extend sincere condolences to his family.

DELL SCHOLAR SEMIFINALIST

For the fourth year in a row, APHS has a Dell

Scholar Semifinalist. Congratulations to semi-

finalist Dezirea Knapp (pictured below). Dell

awards about 300 scholarships nationwide each

year. The scholarship comes with $20,000, a

laptop, books and supply

credits, and a mentor.

Students have to be in a

college readiness system

such as AVID for at least

their junior and senior

year, and be eligible for a

Pell grant. Way to go!

AVID COLLEGE FAIR COMING

AVID students will be organizing a College Fair

again this year to be held Jan. 21 to 27 in the

APHS auditorium. The fair will run during

advisement, with one grade level attending each

day.

JANUARY, 2020

NEED GUIDANCE?

See your Counselor

GOODBYE TO MRS. LANGSTON

The Guidance Department wishes Mrs. Langston the

best as she begins a new career with K12 Virtual. We

will miss her. Until we replace her position, students

will be served according to the following alphabet:

Mrs. Griffin - last names A-Go and Sb-Z

Mrs. Ridenour - last names Gr-Sa

TESTING DATE DEADLINES

SAT March 14 - registration deadline Feb. 14

Register at account.collegeboard.org.login

ACT Feb. 8 - registration deadline Jan. 10

Register at www.actstudent.org

SFSC COLLEGE FOR A DAY - SENIORS

College for a Day at SFSC for Seniors will be Friday,

Jan. 31. Make sure you have a current Emergency

Treatment form on file. Field trip permission slips will

be sent home soon.

SENIOR GUIDANCE REMIND

Letters A-L Text 81010 @ aphsg

Letters M-Z Text 81010 @ bgfke7

GOOGLE CLASSROOMS

Grad class 2021 code: r9jyycx

Grad class 2022 code: jtjahx

Grad class 2023 code: cbb322

UPOMING CAREER CAFÉ SPEAKERS

If you haven’t visited the Career Café yet, don’t worry.

It returns for another quarter in 2020. From Jan. 9 to

March 26 the café will feature guest speakers sharing

career information about technical jobs that require

certificates, 2 year degrees or on the job training.

Some of the speakers will represent Lanfier Citrus

Caretaking, Edgewood Landscape, Nucor Steel Mills,

School Board of Highlands County and various jobs in

the medical profession. Career Café’s are held each

Thursday during lunches in Room 302. Don’t forget to

get a pass from Mrs. Crow,

PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE

LEARN TO FLY + CYBER PROGRAMS

Any student interested in earning their private

pilot’s license may have the opportunity through

AFJROTC. Based on grades and your score on a

flight aptitude test, you may compete for a

chance to earn one of the 200 annual

scholarships AFJROTC presents to high students

to earn their wings over the summer. In addition

to the flying program, AFJROTC is beginning to

offer scholarships to attend summer programs

for cyber security and cyber programs. Both of

these opportunities will require joining AFJROTC

but the process is easy. If interested, please stop

by and see Colonel Rhoades or Senior Master

Sergeant Northcutt in the ROTC room.

UPCOMING COLLEGE VISIT

Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC)

February 5

College Room 303 during B Lunch

JANUARY, 2020

KEY CLUB meets Fridays at 3:25 p.m. in Room

231. The club is accepting new members.

FBLA meets the 2nd and 4th Friday of the

month.

ROBOTICS meets every Monday and Wednes-

day at 3:15 p.m. in Rooms 804 and 807.

NHS meets the first Friday of each month at 8

a.m. Upcoming meetings are Jan. 10 and Feb. 7.

This past November NHS members wrote and

hand delivered thank you cards to our

community’s First Responders to let them know

we appreciate the hard work and sacrifices they

endure to keep us all safe and secure. To help

provide scholarships to graduating club members,

there are two upcoming fundraisers: Jan. 7-21

World’s Finest Chocolate; and Feb. 3-10 Valen-

tine’s Candy Grams sale. Buy a card, fill it out

with the recipient’s name and advisement class,

and the card and a candy treat will be delivered to

them Feb. 14.

FFA: APHS FFA Senior Jacey Pella and FFA

advisor Ms. Ball, along with other FFA chapters,

traveled to Tallahassee with Highlands County

Farm Bureau and Highlands County Young

Farmers and Ranchers. They spent the day

advocating for agriculture at the State Capitol.

They met with Rep. Cary Pigman, Sen. Ben

Albritton, Florida Farm Bureau President John

Hoblick, and Commissioner of Ag Nikki Fried,

along with many others. They also attended the

“Taste of Florida” event in the capitol courtyard,

visiting businesses from every agriculture industry

in Florida. FFA Upcoming Events: Jan. 11 Show-

manship Clinic; Jan. 13 FFA Meeting Auditorium;

Jan. 17 Districts Contest; Jan. 24 212 Conference;

and Feb. 4 FFA Meeting Auditorium.

SGA meets every Tuesday at 8 a.m. in Room 10-

118.

AFTER SCHOOL TUTORING

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

801 Lab, 3:15 - 4:45 p.m.

Congratulations to the students who

were selected for December.

Pictured above, from left: Julianys

Cruz Rivera (9th); Hadley Jackson

(10th); Jorge Espinal-Urbina (11th);

and senior Katherinne Fuentes Mejia

(pictured left).

Congratulations to the December “Caught Being

RED” PBIS drawing winners pictured above. Keep up

the great work! A special thanks as well to our

monthly prize sponsors: Sonic, Sweet Frog, Thankful

Hearts and Outback. Students remember to BE RED

- Respectful, Engaged and Disciplined. Your good

behavior could make you a prize winner as well.

YEARBOOKS ON SALE

Yearbooks are on sale for $60 through Jan. 31. See

Mrs. Macbeth for an order form, or go to

YBPay.Lifetouch.com and use ID Code 10769620 to

order now and save! Senior and Business Yearbook

ads are also on sale. Order online at

YBPay.Lifetouch.com or see Mrs. Macbeth to get an

order form.

JANUARY, 2020

APHS Web Page calendar of upcoming events has

schedule information for Red Devil sports.

APHS: WHERE EXCELLENCE

IS A TRADITION

BOYS AND GIRLS SOCCER HOME

Jan. 16 - Girls vs. Frostproof 7 p.m.

Jan. 21 - Boys vs. Tenoroc 6:30/8 p.m. Senior Night

Jan. 23 - Girls vs. Desoto 6:30 p.m. Senior Night

BOYS AND GIRLS BASKETBALL HOME

Jan. 10 - Girls vs. Frostproof 6:30/8 p.m.

Jan. 14 - Boys vs. Sebring 6/7:30 p.m.

Jan. 17 - Boys vs. Desoto 6/7:30 p.m.

Jan. 20 - Girls vs. Hardee 6/7:30 p.m.

Jan. 21 - Girls vs. Sebring 6/7:30 p.m. Senior Night

Jan. 23 - Girls vs. McKeel 6/7:30 p.m.

Jan. 28 - Boys vs. Lake Wales 6/7:30 p.m.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Jan. 10 - A DAY Schedule

Jan. 11 - Cheer Competition Bring the Heat at APHS

Jan. 14 - SAC Meeting 5:30 p.m. Room 302

Jan. 15-16 - AFJROTC Blood Drive Bus Lot

Jan. 17 - A DAY Schedule

Jan. 17 - Senior Panoramic Picture

Jan. 17 - AFJROTC Movie Night

Jan. 20 - NO SCHOOL

Jan. 20 - Chili’s Give Back Night for Choir

Jan. 23 - AVID Family Night

Jan. 30 - Assemblies See Something Say Something

Jan. 30 - Heartland Honor Band Performance LP

Feb. 4 - AFJROTC Commander’s Call

Feb. 5 - College Shirt Day

Feb. 6 - Junior Jump Parent Night Auditorium

Feb. 7 - Progress Reports go home

UPCOMING FUNDRAISERS

World’s Finest Chocolate NHS Jan. 7-31

Otis Spunkmeyer Sale Choir Jan. 21-31

AFJROTC Bracelet Sale Feb. 1-14

Valentine’s Day Candy Grams NHS Feb. 1-14

Candy/Meat Sticks Robotics/FBLA Feb. 3-28

MICROSOFT WORD CERTIFIED

Congratulations to all of the students pictured

below who have established their ability to perform

a number of Microsoft Word tasks, including

formatting text, manipulating tables and other

objects, and applying references using real-world

scenarios. They are on their way to earning

Microsoft Office Specialist Certification - next step

is Microsoft Excel. SFSC now accepts Microsoft

Office Specialist Certifications for the 3 credits

students can obtain for the CGS1100 Introduction

to Microcomputers class.