Auburndale H.S. NJROTC was recently awarded the “Unit Achievement Award” for the 2017-18 school year.  Our outstanding cadet staff including, Commanding Officer Abygayle Rausch (future Naval Officer), Executive Officer James Kiddy (future Marine), Operations Officer Hailey Auterson (studying aeronautics at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University) and Administrative Officer Corey Miller (future Coast Guardsman), deserve a great deal of credit for their hard work throughout the 2017-18 school year.

Here is the short list of their accomplishments:

• One third of the unit, 53 cadets, on the honor roll.
• Over 900 hours of community service, including the school’s recycling program.
• Visits to the aircraft carrier Yorktown in Charleston, the Navy SEAL Museum and the Lakeland Air Show.
• College ROTC visits – USF Tampa and FSC Lakeland.
• Participation in three drill meets.
• Participation in four orienteering meets.
• Participation in six academic meets (“brain brawls”), took 1^st place for one academic meet.
• Hosted and participated in the Polk County Cadet Challenge athletic meet.
• Participated in eleven rifle matches (Division Champion, Polk County Western Division, and 5^th place NJROTC unit in Florida).
• Hosted and participated in the State VFW Rifle Match.
• 42% of cadets passed the Physical Fitness Test (1 mile run, push-ups and sit-ups).
• One cadet, Abygayle Rausch, was nominated and appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy for the fall of 2018.
• Presented the colors for 21 events requiring a color guard.

Congratulations to the cadets of Auburndale High School for their outstanding accomplishments!

Congratulations goes out to AHS students Ross Persichetti, Caitlynn McCahill, Conner Grove, and Jaedyn Smith, as well as teacher Ms. Emily Kauwell!  They were the winning team responsible for designing the new logo for Polk County Public Schools.  The team members each received $600 from the Polk Education Foundation. They also will split proceeds from online sales of School District shirts and other merchandise sporting the new design. The sale runs through May 8. Purchases may be made at www.imagedepotexpress.com/pcps.

Click here for the Ledger article about our students.

The Auburndale High School Wind Ensemble has made history by earning the Otto J. Kraushaar award on Thursday, April 26^th, 2018. This award is given to high school programs who earn Straight Superior ratings at Marching Music Performance Assessment, District Music Performance Assessment and State Music Performance Assessment. This is the top award a band can be given, and the first time Auburndale High School has earned this award since 2000. The band consists of 38 musicians and is under the direction of Ms. Hannah Haugen. They performed Under the Double Eagle by Wagner, A Blessed Hymn by Kahelin, and Songs of Old Kentucky by Karrick.

We are very excited to share that great things are continuing to happen as we prepare our students for College, Career, and Citizenship, at Auburndale Senior High School!  As of this morning, we have had a total of 253 college acceptances and our scholarship offerings are now totaling $6,128,882!

The Polk County EMS Firefighters, Paramedics, and EMTs visited our nursing classes today to share career options.  Here are some photos:

Juniors and seniors are invited to participate in a job shadow and post-secondary options visit opportunity:

Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Thursday, April 19, 2018
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Juniors and seniors are excused from attending classes on these days for the purpose of learning about a variety of careers and visiting post-secondary schools such as colleges/universities, technical colleges, and exploring military options.  Due to underclassmen testing on these days, students will not attend a normal-day schedule if they are present on campus.

• Students are responsible for arranging a place of business to job shadow, a post-secondary school to visit, or military offices
• Students/parents are responsible for transportation to and from job shadowing location, post-secondary school, and military office visits
• Regardless of the age of the student, a parent/guardian must sign the permission form

For the next few weeks, the Biology teachers will be providing review sessions in preparation for the EOC test.  These sessions will be held from April 23 through May 4 from 2:00 until 3:00 after school, every day.  They will focus on essential topics for the test.  Students should contact their Biology teachers to sign up, find topic schedules, and check for room assignments.  Parents may call AHS and ask for an administrator or guidance counselor for more information.  Online support can be found here at the Biology Resources link.