Five Star Magnet Program

Future Broadcast Journalist Shines at UM Summer Scholars Program.

John Keller

 John Keller, a senior in Palm Beach Gardens Community High School’s Television, Radio, and Film Production Technology Magnet, enjoyed a unique experience at the University of Miami’s Summer Scholars Program.   John, an aspiring broadcast journalist, took college courses in Intro to Radio and Intro to TV, earning 6 credits at the university he hopes to attend.    While in Coral Gables, he stayed on campus in a dorm and got a sense for what it’s like living and studying at UM.  John particularly enjoyed his on-air time with the campus radio station, especially his interview with acclaimed receiver Laron Byrd.

The state competition for Health Occupations Students of America was held at the Doubletree Hotel in Orlando from April 8-April 11. Ten students participated in the event.

Seven of the students competed in HOSA bowl, a jeopardy-like team event in which competitors must use a mix of knowledge, teamwork, and strategy to advance in the competition.  The HOSA bowl team of Karna Mangrola, Maikhanh Nguyen, Erika Torres, and Wardha Haider finished in second place and will advance to national competition in June.  The HOSA bowl team of Talhah Riaz, George Ugartemendia, and Anil Sedani finished in sixth place.  Both teams put in hours of practice and represented our school admirably.

 In other events, Liz Bejarano took home a bronze medal in the medical spelling category and will join the 2^nd place HOSA bowl team at Nationals.  Pooja Pachigar also competed in the same event and had a strong finish, making it through three rounds of competition.  Finally, Samantha Solomon competed in the Extemporaneous Health Poster category.  This event requires competitors to be able to design and complete artwork specific to a health care theme in a limited time frame. Sam’s beautiful art work is on display in room 3-210.

Congratulations to all competitors!

On November 4-5, 2009, our 48 Global Business Seniors went to the Port of Palm Beach for a tour of the import/export activities that occur at the Port. The tour was led by Mr. Carl Baker who works in the Business Development Division. The students first watched a PowerPoint presentation given by Mr. Baker where he shared with the students the history of the port, the current business activities, and the future growth plans. After the presentation, the students boarded the bus and toured the shipyard area, the sugar silo, and the cold storage warehouse where they went into the freezer, which was -10 degrees F! It was very educational and a great time was had by all! Our many thanks to the Port of Palm Beach for providing our Global Business Students with such a great opportunity!

The FBLA officers headed to Orlando November 19^th- 21st for the Florida FBLA- PBL State Leadership Conference and the National Leadership Conference at the Caribe Royale Resort.  Thursday night began with the Florida Opening Session and we were privileged to hear Toody Byrd- a very humorous 80 year old woman- speak on fulfilling your dreams, reaching new heights and being successful in your everyday lives.  We also represented District 20 being one of 2 schools in our district to attend this conference.  Julien Borbon, our District President helped out the Palm Beach Central representatives in the Battle of the Districts competition bringing us to 4^th place.  Friday was the end of the Florida Conference and the beginning of the National Conference that night continuing through Saturday.  We attended a lot of great workshops about being successful business leaders and developing leadership skills.  There were also great keynote speakers that shared their knowledge with us of their real world experiences. All of the officers that went (Jasel Agosto, EJ Turrisi, Shea Brown, Melissa Kahan, Dorothy Vo, Aaron Jones, and Julien Borbon, and Andrea Pedata- representative) all grew closer, learned how to be a better leader and had a blast together.  Also, thanks to our awesome chaperones, Mrs. Kummerlen and Ms. Testa! Thanks so much for a great trip. Always remember: “Everyone can be a winner!   -Shea Brown, Reporter

On November 22, 2009 the Five Star Magnet Program had it’s open house for the incoming Freshman Class for next year. The event started with Mr. Larry Clawson, our new principal speaking about our new facilities. After that Vice Mayor David Levy spoke about how the Five Star Magnet is affiliated with the community. After that Tashea Gordon, Andrew Gilmore, Mike Silva, Marin Daley, Bryce Sartory, Brittany Ewing, Michela Mavour, EJ Turrisi, Jillian Idle, and Karna Mangrola all talked about their respective magnet or academy areas of interest. After the formal presentations the prospective students and their parents were invited out to the courtyard to go on student directed tours through the different magnet and academy classrooms. This turned out to be a great event and we hope to see all of the prospective freshmen here next year.

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