Class Notes 12.04.14

+ Chamber taking applications

The application process for the Danniel J. Petro/West Orange Chamber of Commerce Scholarship is now open.

The application is available at wochamber.com under “About West Orange County; Committees; Education; Scholarship.”

To qualify, the recipient must:

• Be a dependent of a chamber member business owner or of an employee of a chamber member business;

• Reside in one of the chamber’s service area communities (Dr. Phillips, Gotha, Horizon West, Lake Avalon, MetroWest, Oakland, Ocoee, Orlo Vista, Pine Hills, Windermere and Winter Garden); and

• Must be a senior attending a chamber member high school and looking to further his or her education at Valencia College (any campus), Westside Tech or the University of Central Florida.

Student recipients will be awarded $1,000 scholarships; the number of recipients will be dependent upon the amount of money available in the scholarship fund at the time of the award. Any unspent money will be allocated to the following year. Two student recipients will be awarded $2,500 scholarships from the Petro Family Foundation.

All interested students must complete the online application and return it to the West Orange Chamber of Commerce, 12184 W. Colonial Drive, Winter Garden, Florida, 34787, Attn: Kelly Carney, or via email to [email protected]. The application and all supporting materials must be received no later than March 20, 2015.

For more information, call (407) 656-1304, Ext. 5.

+ Montverde Academy hosts PB&J food drive

Students at Montverde Academy collected more than 1,000 jars of peanut butter and jelly through the school’s recent food drive. Sponsored by the school’s National Junior Honor Society, the drive challenged middle-schoolers to collect supplies for the popular lunchtime sandwich.

“All middle-school students were challenged to bring in two jars of peanut butter and 2 jars of jelly for Buses ‘n Backpacks, a local charity that feeds hungry kids in Lake County,” said teacher and NJHS adviser Sara-Stelle-Parets.

Sixth-graders brought in 358 jars; seventh-graders donated 128; and eighth-graders collected 532 jars. When the drive concluded, members of the NJHS loaded the jars onto the “Buses ‘n Backpacks” delivery truck.

+ OACS students ace district math contest

Oakland Avenue Charter School participated in Orange County Public Schools’ Math Contest Oct. 31 to Nov. 6.

OACS was a top achiever out of the 89 elementary classrooms from around the county, with eight classrooms finishing in the top 10. The teachers include: Chelsea Siegmund, fifth grade (first place); Marsha Shope, fifth grade (second place); Vina Barr, second grade (fifth place), Bradford Nemcik and Mallory Guarino, co-teachers, fourth grade (sixth place); Daisy Mitchell, third grade (seventh place); Kathy Casey, third grade (eighth place); and Amy Kosky, fourth grade (10th place).

In addition, 25 of the top 50 students contest-wide are from OACS. Of those 25, four are top-10 finishers, and the first- and second-place achievers are fifth-graders at OACS: Thalikia Phanouvong, first place; Emma Takacs, second place; Brendan Flakes, sixth place; and Dylan Manley, seventh place.