Salutatorian: Kyleigh Meiers GPA: 8.67 What accomplishment are you most proud of from your high school years and why? Being the salutatorian; it’s a full-circle moment. The beginning of freshman year you are working hard and taking all of these AP classes. It was kind of like a reward for working hard over the past […]
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Strawberry Crest High School Traditional Salutatorian
Sadie Gibson: Traditional Salutatorian 2026 GPA: 7.42 What accomplishment are you most proud of from your high school years, and why? My personal academic accomplishment that I’m most proud of is the honor of being the Salutatorian for the class of 2026. Outside of academics, I’m proud of establishing Crest’s Project 7 Club, growing membership […]
Continue ReadingPlant City High School Valedictorian
2026 Valedictorian: Marley Mueller What accomplishment are you most proud of from your high school years, and why? I was President of my class during both my junior and senior years. I was selected by an election process. I was excited that my peers reelected me to lead them through all our senior activities. With […]
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2026 Salutatorian: Joshua Jones What accomplishment are you most proud of from your high school years, and why? I would say getting to perform in Carnegie Hall with our orchestra. It was this year, senior year, and it just felt that it was tying everything together for what I’ve been doing for the past seven […]
Continue ReadingMILITARY SIGNING DAY
This year, National Signing Day landed on February 4. This is the official day for high school athletes to sign binding commitments to play for NCAA Division I and Division II colleges. The day is surrounded with anticipation and fanfare to cement which players these schools have recruited. On May 7, for the third year […]
Continue ReadingNot Full, But Alive – The World Premiere of Common Ground
Photos courtesy of Jason McLemore The cacophony of middle school musicians tuning their instruments, mingling with the low hum of human voices, created an ambiance this writer had not been exposed to in quite some time. The Tomlin auditorium was not full, but it was alive. There were a good number of notable school district […]
Continue ReadingCassi Lemonidis’ Family Art Making Night Shines
Lincoln Elementary recently hosted a Family Art Making Night. It was a tremendous success. Though we didn’t attend in person, we had the opportunity to converse with Cassi Lemonidis, the art teacher and creator, about herself and the event a few days later. How long have you been in education? […]
Continue ReadingLeaders Open Direct Dialogue With Parents After Plant City High Campus Gun Incidents
In a high school cafeteria where the empty chairs vastly outnumbered the attendees, Plant City’s top officials spent Tuesday night offering something parents have been demanding: a direct, unvarnished conversation about guns in schools. The meeting, organized by Hillsborough County School Board Member Patti Rendon, was sparked by a string of recent incidents involving students […]
Continue ReadingBridging the Gap: Seniors Find Their ‘Future’ at Trinkle Center
With their final days of high school rapidly approaching, Javiel Rivera and his fellow seniors are no longer just counting down to graduation; they are counting on what comes next. Standing in a crowded convention hall at the Trinkle Center, Rivera clutched a bag filled with brochures that felt less like paper and more like […]
Continue ReadingDual-Enrolled Dynamo: Grace Burris to Take Center Stage as Hillsborough College’s Commencement Speaker
When nearly 10,000 graduates, families, and faculty fill the Expo Hall at the Florida State Fairgrounds on Fri., May 1, one voice will rise above the crowd: Grace Burris. The Plant City resident has been selected as the 2026 Hillsborough College commencement speaker, an honor earned through a competitive speech contest that drew some of […]
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