Northview Students Learn About Robotics From NHS Grad
April 24, 2008
A Northview High School graduate returned to the school Wednesday morning with his college professor to introduce the students to four robots.
Jarrod Brown (pictured above right), who graduated from Northview in 2004, is now a senior in the engineering program at the University of West Florida. He and his professor, William Weber (above left), demonstrated…at least tried to demonstrate…the four robots to the students.
The first, a “Scorbot-ER V Plus” simply did…nothing. “It crashed,” Weber told the students. The Scorbot is a commercially manufactured robot arm.
While the commercially made Scorbot failed, the three student build robots performed without a hitch.
The first, “Sumo Bot” quickly scurried about clearing its defined area of small blocks.
The second used optical sensors to follow a black line over four colored areas. When it was over the yellow area, the yellow LED light would illuminate. When it detected a blue area, the blue LED would illuminate, and it followed the same pattern for the other colors. When it detected a star shape in the blue field, it would stop and proudly play an electronic greeting card sounding “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”.
The third robot was constructed by students at Milton High School. It was designed for a robotic competition where it had to move small bottles faster than its competitors.
“It’s really exciting,” Brown told the NHS students. “It is real fun to get into this kind of stuff.”
“This is a good career move if you are concerned about your standard of living in the future,” Weber said after pointing out that some of the top starting salaries in the nation right now are in the engineering field.
“About half of our grads end up in Fort Walton Beach working for the Department of Defense,” Weber said.
Pictured below: The “Sumo Bot”, the color sensing robot, the Milton High School Robot and the Scorbot. Scroll down to see all four photos. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos.
Heather Leonard Retiring After Teaching Dance 14 Years In North Escambia
April 24, 2008
When the music fades after a dance recital in Flomaton Friday night, Heather Leonard will take off her slippers for the very last time as a dance teacher. She’ll head off for the traditional post-recital pizza with the girls, knowing that she’s not only taught dance, but has taught grace and self-respect to hundreds of girls across North Escambia.
After 14 years teaching dance in North Escambia, Heather Leonard is retiring, and she is closing her Heather Leonard’s Danceworks. She will end her career with her students’ final recital at Flomaton High School.
She has taught not just dance to girls from Jay to Century to McDavid to Byrneville to Walnut Hill. She has taught them self-respect, self-worth and a little bit about her Lord.
She began teaching dance as her business 14 years ago after moving to Byrneville. Her first classes were taught at the Byrneville Community Center, a location she would continue to use until just after Hurricane Ivan.
“When I came here it was the biggest blessing that no one had ever really danced,” she said. “I came in and had a fresh slate. Fresh kids with no experience. They got to be mine.”
She was happy that she got to teach the girls of North Escambia that they could respect themselves and still dance.
“I am a Christian, and my values do not line up with a lot of the dance community. I’ve tried to teach the girls that they are how God made them. They are precious, innocent. They are not trashy.”
“I look at the way the dance community is as a whole…cut throat, self-centered, eating disorders to be too thin, smoking, drugs. I can’t stand those things.” Those are the things that Heather crusaded against during her 14 years.
“Once I was saved, I looked to God who showed me that those things were not what He liked,” she said. “He brought me out of the darkness into His light. I became very focused on ballet and finding a way to teach the girls to love themselves the way He made them. I’ve always been very careful to lead them in the right way.”
“We love Miss Heather,” Chelsea Sims, a senior at Northview High School said. She is 17, and she has danced 14 of those years with Heather. “She’s so much more than a teacher. She’s our friend.”
“She helps us with our lives,” Sarah Killam, a freshman at Northview said. She is 15, and she has danced with Heather for 10 of those years. “She’s like a mom to us. Sometimes we will stay after class and talk to her about what is going on in our lives.” The photo to the left shows Sarah with Heather at one of Sarah’s first recitals.
“And she’s always worked to help us be better Christians,” Chelsea said.
“We can have Sunday School sometimes after dance,” Darbi Langhorne said. She’s now in nursing school at Pensacola Junior College. She has danced with Heather for 14 years.
The theme song for Friday night’s recital will be “Sharecropper’s Seed” by Christian artist Nicole C. Mullen. “So I’m praising the Lord of the harvest…God still cares for the least of these,” the song says.
“The Lord cares about everyone. He cares about you, about me. One of my relatives was having a hard time, addicted to drugs. It could have been me. It’s impresses me so much how much God cares,” Heather said. “This dance is dedicated to him.”
Every performance for Heather Leonard’s Danceworks always starts the same. “Before every performance we circle up and pray,” she said. “It has always been that way.”
For the past few years, her dance studio has been in the back of the Country Bumpkin building in Century. It’s nice studio…a mirrored wall, a proper wood dance floor and metal ballet bars.
“That’s not how we started,” Darbi said. “We started with a mirror on a wood frame we rolled out at the community center. The (ballet) bars were PVC pipe and duct tape. But we just danced anyway.”
Hurricane Ivan proved to be a test for Heather and her students. It heavily damaged the Byrneville Community Center where her classes were held. There was no ceiling, no heat and water puddled on the floor when it rained.
“But we were determined,” she said, “that Ivan was not going to beat us. It was a lesson in perseverance. We felt like we had to continue to show that we had not been beat by Ivan.”
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Heather and the three girls gathered around on the floor looking through a box of pictures (pictured above). They would laugh as they looked at 14 years of memories. Sometimes Heather would pause, a fond memory on her mind.
“It’s been a great time,” she said.
“I love it a lot. I’ve been dancing since I was three years old. There has never been a year since then that I did not dance.”
So why is she retiring from dance?
“The Lord put it on my heart to set dance aside,” Heather said. “He wanted to make sure I love Him more than I do dancing. He changed my life. He made me; He saved me. He wants me to show others how much He cares.”
She expressed her thanks to the North Escambia community for supporting her during her 14 years. And she expressed special gratitude to her husband Stephen.
“My husband has been so supportive over the years,” she said. “He was the brains behind the business. He helped me go into business without doing into debt, and to be a good steward. I appreciate him so much.”
The final Heather Leonard’s Danceworks recital will be at Flomaton High School this Friday night at 7:00. Admission is free.
For more photos from Heather Leonard’s Danceworks, click here.
Pictured top of page (L-R): Heather Leonard, Darbi Langhorne, Sarah Killam and Chelsea Sims practice their “Sharecropper’s Dream” dance. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
County Group Tours Problems Roads Across North Escambia
April 24, 2008
District 5 Escambia County Commissioner Kevin White took to the roads around North Escambia Wednesday to investigate firsthand many of the complaints his office has received over the past several weeks.
White was joined by members of the county’s engineering department and Leroy Wiggins, a member of the county’s Dirt Road Paving Committee. White has participated in the driving tours since taking office three years ago.
NorthEscambia.com caught up with the group on Bratt Road as they visited a home where the resident had complained about water runoff from Bratt Road flooding her property. The resident was not home. But the group surveyed her situation and came to the conclusion that her home was located in a low lying area that would likely flood regardless of whether or not Bratt Road existed.
The next stop was Killam Road north of Highway 4A. While the road runs from Highway 4A to West State Line Road in Alabama, the Escambia County only maintains the road about half of its eight tenths of a mile length, with county maintenance ending just before Buck Smith Road.
The county actually abandoned the northern half of the road several years ago, White said, but they are looking at options to reacquire the entire road.
“There’s water tower there, plus you have mail carriers and school buses trying to get through here,” White said. A Central Water Works water tower is located on the now private section Killam Road.
“Central Water Works has tried unsuccessfully for several years to get the county to resume ownership of that portion of the road. We found it unthinkable that the county would abandon a public road where not only a water tower but also a well and water treatment facility are located,” Lisa Fuller, office supervisor for Central Water Works said.
The portion of the dirt road maintained by the county is wide and relatively smooth, but the northern half is narrow with very deep areas washed away.
Other stops made by the group Wednesday included Roley Road, Occie Phillips Road, Pineville Road, Enon School Road, Arthur Brown Road and Gobbler Road.
Pictured above: District 5 Commissioner Kevin White discusses a homeowner’s flooding problem near Bratt Road with Leroy Wiggins from the county’s Dirt Road Paving Committee. The sand in the ditch behind the men apparently washes from Bratt Road. Pictured below: The area of Killam Road maintained by Escambia County in the top of the photo is smooth; the area in the foreground not maintained by the county is badly washed. This photo was taken at the intersection of Killam Road and Buck Smith Road. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
County Renews Management Contracts For Local Parks
April 24, 2008
The Escambia County Commission has approved park management agreements with several groups in the North Escambia area.
The volunteer groups will lease and manage the parks for public recreation purposes.
Agreements were approved by the county with:
- Molino Recreation Association at Don Sutton Park
- Northwest Escambia Little League at Harvey C. Bradberry Park
- Northwest Escambia Football League at Ernest Ward School
- Quintette Community Park Association at Quintette Park
- Cantonment Baseball Association at Cantonment Athletic Park
- Cantonment Football Club at Cantonment Athletic Park
Tuesday Night Manhunt Near Walnut Hill
April 24, 2008
Escambia County Sheriff’s Deputies searched the area around South Highway 99 and Leandras Lane for several hours Tuesday night, but they were unable to locate their suspect. He was still at large as of midnight Wednesday.
Deputies say they attempted to serve a warrant at a mobile home near the dead end of Leandra Lane just after 8:00 Tuesday night. They were reportedly looking for Ivan Snyder, 35. Reports indicate that Snyder had been missing from a work release program since at least last Thursday.
Initial reports indicated that when deputies tried to serve the warrant, no one was at home at the mobile home in the 7400 block of Leandras Lane. It was believed Snyder was spotted near Leandras Lane and South Highway 99. A perimeter was setup, and the sheriff’s department helicopter and a K-9 unit were called to the scene.
NorthEscambia.com was the only media on the scene as deputies searched the area for about three hours. The K-9 unit followed a possible trail from Leandras Lane west across Highway 99 toward Deer Run Lane, along the railroad tracks and then back east toward Leandras Lane. Deputies and the K-9 unit last searched the area around the suspect’s trailer and toward the dead end of Leandras Lane. The trailer is located about one half mile from South Highway 99. The entire area is about seven miles south of Highway 97 in Walnut Hill.
The sheriff’s helicopter was used a night vision camera to search the area for about two hours until they were forced to leave the area due to low fuel about 10:40 Tuesday night. The ground search continued until it the entire manhunt was called off at about 11:20 Tuesday night.
Pictured above: A deputy watches the area of Leandras Lane and South Highway 99 from Deer Run Lane about 11:00 Tuesday night. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photo. Pictured below: A map of the area, which is about seven miles south of Highway 97 in Walnut Hill.
Jay Royals Down NWE Hammer Heads
April 23, 2008
The Jay Royals downed the Northwest Escambia Hammer Heads 11-0 Tuesday night at Bradberry Park.
Click here for a photo gallery from the game.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
North Escambia’s Top Seniors Honored Tuesday Night
April 23, 2008
The academic best of the Class of 2008 was honored Tuesday night at a Pensacola banquet. The Escambia County Senior Academic Awards were presented Tuesday night to the top five students from each school in the county, and the best in several subject areas were also honored.
The top five Northview students honored Tuesday night at New World Landing were: Jessica Elaine Born, Keswanna S. Johnson, Phillip Lee Mayhair,Kristan D. McCants and Nicholas Lee Prather. Also honored from Northview were: Kirsten Renee’ Robinson, English; Anna Maria Baker, foreign language; Colton A. D. Kawamura, math; Jeremy Lyndon Halteman, science; Adam Garrett Wieborg, social studies; and Andrea Leigh Byars, career and technical.
The top five Tate High School students honored Tuesday night were: Cory M. Edgar, Amy Elisabeth Renaud, Holly Michelle Renaud,Mary A. Rougeau,Ryan W. Rougeau, and Lindsey Whitlow. Also honored from Tate were: Caleb Stumpf, English; Jacob S. Tuley, foreign language; Zachary M. Price, math; Angela Bolden, science; Stephen J. Young, social studies; and Thomas C. Summerford, career and technical.
The awards are sponsored by the Kerrigan, Estess, Rankin, McLeod and Thompson law firm in cooperation with the Foundation for Excellence.
Northview Senior, Ernest Ward Student Hit The High Seas
April 23, 2008
These days Northview senior Ethan Cole and his cousin Zac Cole, a seventh grader at Ernest Ward Middle school, are settled in for the duration of the 2008 school year.
But during spring break, they became world travelers. Departing on March 29, the boys traveled with Zac’s parents, Mark and Peggy Cole to Progreso and Cozumel, Mexico aboard the Carnival cruise ship Holiday.
Enjoying twp days at sea, the boys spent their time playing putt-putt golf, touring the ship, watching sail fish, playing games in the arcade and eating the many wonderful meals prepared by the staff.
The boys especially enjoyed the endless supply of pizza and ice cream served 24-7 on board the ship. Once in Progreso it was a six mile ride on a shuttle bus to get from the pier to the mainland. The pier there is one of the world’s longest piers.
In Progreso they toured the town on a double decker bus, shopped in the local flea market and haggled with vendors over prices. Briefly the visited the local supermarket, fascinated by the differences in the products on the shelves there. Back on the ship by 3:30 it was off to Cozumel for the next day.
In Cozumel a short cab ride took everyone to the main part of town for shopping and exploring the town. All of the store fronts are open to the streets with the salespeople beckoning you to enter their establishment. The streets were lined with people selling different craft items. You can buy most anything including hand carved conch shells or have your hair braided on the street. The boys were fascinated by the different vehicles on the streets, especially the small delivery trucks. It was a wonderful experience and both Ethan and Zac would love to take another cruise in the future.
Photos and information submitted by Peggy Cole. Scroll down for more photos, click to enlarge.
Lights! Camera! Action! Bratt Fourth Graders Take To The Stage
April 23, 2008
The fourth grade classes at Bratt Elementary School presented “Lights! Camera! Action!” for a packed house Tuesday night at the school.
The lively musical included such favorite characters as SpongeBob Squarepants, Cinderalla, John Travolta, Mary Poppins, Forrest Gump, Little Red Riding Hood, Jed Clampett of Beverly Hillbilly fame, Mae West, Clark Gable and Shirley Temple.
During the PTA meeting just prior to the program, PTA officers for the upcoming school year were elected. The new officers are Amanda Rice, president; Sandy Presley, vice-president and Stephanie Booth, treasurer. It was reported that the PTA has a balance of $14,519.
For a complete photo gallery from the Bratt Elementary School fourth grade play, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
One Person Injured In Highway 97 Crash Monday Night In Walnut Hill
April 22, 2008
At least one person was injured in a one vehicle accident on Highway 97 Monday night.
The accident happened about 10:30 on Highway 97 just north of Wiggins Lake Road. The northbound Oldsmobile 98 apparently skidded across Highway 97 just up the hill from Wiggins Lake Road, hit a culvert and flipped end over end. One person, who was identified as being a passenger in the vehicle, was lying on the ground when the Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department arrived on scene.
The person who identified himself as the driver of the vehicle was up and walking around after the accident and was not transported to the hospital.
The accident is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
Pictured above: Emergency personnel get ready to transport the injured from a Monday night accident on Highway 97. Pictured below: The accident vehicle. NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
