Superintendent Hughes met with senior student leaders from each public high school in Walton County School District to talk about various topics at the inaugural Superintendent’s Roundtable. The purpose of this exciting initiative was to hear from the students and learn from their experiences before they graduate from Walton County School District.

A few points of discussion were Safety & Security, changes that might help future students, and the level of rigor in their core classes. At the end of the meeting, students shared some final remarks about their thoughts from the day. A few of those statements included:

“It’s nice to realize that all the different schools in the county have similar experiences and problems.”

“For Superintendent Hughes to want to hear the students’ voices is amazing.”

“I feel honored because a lot of people have a lot of stuff to say and I get to be able to say what I have to say.”

“I think this was a really great experience getting to hear that everyone is doing something different in their school, but yet we’re all still working toward a common goal.”

Superintendent Hughes presented each student with a certificate to be included in their portfolios and resumes, as well as a special challenger coin and portable Bluetooth speaker as a token of appreciation for their participation and continued leadership. Superintendent Hughes looks forward to continuing this very special occasion each year as a benefit to both our students and district alike.”

South Walton High School’s auditorium was packed to witness five athletes sign letters of commitment to compete at the college level.

(L to R) Jake Peaden will play golf for Evangel University in Springfield Missouri; Gage Peaden will play football for Culver Stockton in Canton, Missouri; Jace Hughes will play baseball for Marian Military Institute in Marion, Alabama; Madi Daum will be playing beach volleyball for Florida International University; and Anthony Bryan will be competing in track and field at Abilene Christian in Texas.

Congratulations to our Seahawks!

Submitted by Barbara Stratton.

Mrs. Amanda McKee's kindergarten class of West Defuniak Elementary had a blast figuring out which of Santa's Christmas cookies would float the longest. In this science experiment students tested to see if sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, or marshmallow cookies would float the longest. We discovered that marshmallow cookies float the longest because of their chocolate coating that keeps the cookie from absorbing the milk. Submitted by Jessica Dawkins.

Mrs. Angela Fuentes's class participated in a Socratic seminar as they discussed their answers to an English Language Arts selection test. Students needed to prove why their responses were correct using text evidence. Then, students had to agree on their selected answer together as a group. Students were able to receive immediate feedback on their class score and go back to any questions that were incorrect.