Molino Residents Check Out The Pels’ Big Win
August 30, 2009
A caravan of fans from a Molino church were at Pelicans Park Friday night as the Pels won the 2009 Second Half South Division Championship with an 8-3 win over the Shreveport Captains. The fans from Aldersgate United Methodist Church were among nearly 2,300 fans to see the Pensacola Pelicans clinch a playoff spot, the first for the Pels since 2005.
Pictured top: Pensacola Pelicans fans from Molino at a Friday night Pels game. Pictured bottom: Aldersgate United Methodist Church youth Zach Glenn and Julian Satterwhite got many signatures from the champs. Submitted photos by Sandra Greenwell for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Meet The Beat: Northview’s Tribal Beat Band Previews New Halftime Show
August 29, 2009
The Northview High School band previewed their new halftime show and other new songs during a special Meet The Tribal Beat program Friday night.
From Ghostbusters to September by Earth, Wind and Fire, the Tribal Beat’s musical repertoire has expanded this year under new Band Director Scott Slay. Other new songs planned for this season include “Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry, “Go With The Flow” and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”.
“Students will be able to identify with music and enjoy it, but it probably won’t be music that they would have bought for themselves,” Slay told NorthEscambia.com recently.
Slay has added a “pit crew” to support the band, including an electric guitar and xylophone to support the woodwind instruments.
During the next year, the Tribal Beat will take on more of a local focus, the new band director said, marching and participating in local events and parades. For now, distant competitions and events are out while Slay works to improve and build the program. “It will be more of a focus of serving our communities,” he said.
The public will have another chance to hear the Tribal Beat Thursday night at 7:30 during the annual “Meet the Chiefs” program.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Pictured above and below: The Northview High School Tribal Beat band performs Friday night. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Go Chiefs: Girls Of All Ages Learn At NHS Mini-Cheerleading Clinic
August 29, 2009
The annual Northview Mini-Cheerleading Clinic was held Friday evening, giving girls three-years old through the eighth grade the chance to learn cheers from the NHS varsity and junior varsity cheerleaders.
The girls will have the opportunity to cheer at halftime of next Friday night’s Northview Chiefs football game.
Click here for a photo gallery.
Pictured above and below: The Northview Mini-Cheerleading Clinic Friday night at Northview High School. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Photo Gallery: Byrneville Elementary Ready For Emergencies
August 29, 2009
Byrneville Elementary School held several practice emergency drills Friday morning to prepare for a variety of situations.
Students participated in fire drills, tornado drills, campus evacuations and other drills to get ready for emergencies. Students, teachers and even the principal practiced exiting classroom windows with emergency ladders. Students were even evacuated from the school to the nearby Byrneville Community Center.
Units from Escambia Fire Rescue’s Century Station were at the school to assist in the drills.
“This is a practice and that the activity is being carried out to assure that our students know what to do if a real emergency situation takes place,” Bryneville Principal Dee Wolfe-Sullivan said.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Pictured left: Practicing a classroom evacuation with an emergency ladder. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge. Pictured below: Students evacuated campus to the Byrneville Community Center.
North Escambia’s Very Own Road Man: Rigby Retires After 25 Years
August 28, 2009
Sometimes a man can move a mountain.
In the case of Ron Rigby, he has probably moved the equivalent of several mountains during his career. Rigby is retiring from the Escambia County Road Department after 25 years –all but just a few months of those years operating a Gradall excavator, moving tons and tons of dirt across North Escambia.
When Rigby climbed into the operator’s seat of a Gradall Thursday at the road department’s Camp Five near Byrneville, he said it was a part of him he was going to miss. Like a surgeon, turned excavator arm around effortlessly. There was a smile on his face –sometimes a man just enjoys his work. And his coworkers.
“I’ve been with these guys so long,” Rigby said of the others that work out of Camp Five, the county road department’s headquarters for all projects in North Escambia’s District 5. “They are all like family. I’ve really enjoyed working with them. I’m going to miss them all.”
Rigby was hired by the county road department 25 years ago. Within six months, he was assigned to work on a Gradall, digging ditches and moving dirt all over North Escambia.
Over the years, he watched many men hired to haul dirt or bush hog road shoulders as they worked their way up through the ranks to various supervisory positions. But Rigby was always at home behind the controls of his excavator. Many of his coworkers described that excavator as an extension on his arms.
He said that he will always remember being part of constructing various roads around North Escambia. “I ride down Rockaway Creek Road,” he said, mentioning it as just one example, “and I remember when we paved it. It makes you feel good.”
He said he’ll never forget the 12 hour days for weeks at a time after hurricanes Erin, Opal, Ivan and Dennis. “They were a lot of work for everybody,” he said.
Thursday, Rigby’s coworkers gathered at Camp Five for a congratulatory luch — fried fish with all the fixin’s and a retirement cake complete with the Road Runner Looney Tunes character.
They laughed, shared stories of being stuck in muddy ditches and remembered Rigby’s quarter century serving the citizens of North Escambia.
“I’m really go to miss them,” he said.
Rigby said he is looking forward to his retirement and spending more time with is wife Suzanne. He’s also looking forward to some good fishing and hunting time, and perhaps even a little travel.
“You know,” he said, “I am really looking forward to enjoying Susie and the time we can together.”
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Think You Have Talent? Jam Session Planned In Century
August 27, 2009
If you think you might have musical talent, there is an event coming up in Century that is for you.
The Century Care Center will host a jam session on Friday, September 4 at the facility at Industrial Boulevard and West Highway 4. The time for the jam session will be announced soon.
For more information, or to express your interest in taking part in the jam session, call 256-1450 ext 16.
Playground Equipment Being Installed At New Bratt Park
August 27, 2009
Installation of the playground is underway at the new Bratt Community Park on West Highway 4. The playground and swings are not yet open to the public.
County employees are currently working to install the 8-foot wide, eight-tenths of a mile walking track around the perimeter of the 13-acre park, according to Joy Jones, director of Escambia County’s Parks and Recreation Department.
“We are just getting started, but we are going to keep it going,” Jones said recently of work on the park. The county is still waiting on one permit to be issued, she said, and then the work on other park features like the picnic pavilion will begin.
The park will also include two softball fields, a full basketball court and exercise and rest stations positioned along the track. The softball fields will not be lit for night play; in fact, the park’s hours will follow that of other county parks — sunrise to sunset.
The park is being funded with $200,000 in LOST (local option sales tax) monies set aside for the park’s construction.
Jones expects that park will be completed within six months.
Pictured above and below: Work is underway to install the playground at the Bratt Community Park. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Flomaton Fire Names Poster Contest Winners
August 26, 2009
Flomaton Fire and Rescue recently held their second annual poster contest at Flomaton Elementary School, naming a brother and sisters as co-winners.
The halls at Flomaton Elementary were filled with posters reflecting all of the students’ hard work. Members of Flomaton Fire and Rescue were hand and had the hard job of judging and picking the winner. When they were done, there was a two-way tie for the winner. And the winners turned out to be siblings.
Madison Wright, a second grader in Mrs. Luttrell’s class and her brother Jake Wright, a fourth grader in Mitzi Smith’s class, had the winning posters. The two posters will be combined and turned into artwork for t-shirts.
When told about being double winner’s of the poster contest and that they actually had tied for first place, the two siblings, almost in unison, asked the question, “Well who gets to ride in the fire truck?”. Much to both of their delights, they were told they would both be allowed to ride on a Flomaton fire truck during this year’s Flomaton High School Homecoming Parade.
The poster contest was held in cooperation with the Alabama Department of Forestry. The Flomaton fire department was awarded a $4,500 grant to educate the community about preventing wildfires. Flomaton Fire and Rescue was the only volunteer fire department in Escambia County to receive the grant.
The grant will be used to purchase t-shirts to be passed out in Flomaton featuring the winning poster contest artwork from the Wright siblings. Each of the Wrights will also receive a certificate and plaque from the fire department, and a t-shirt for themselves and their entire family. Jake and Madison’s entire classes will also receive a t-shirt, and a t-shirt will be given to each student that entered the poster contest.
The t-shirts are being printed, and when completed, Fire Chief Steve Stanton will make the presentation to the winners and all the recipients of the t-shirts at the school. Madison and Jake will also receive their certificates and plaques at that time.
Pictured above: Flomaton Fire and Rescue poster contest winners Madison and Jake Wright with their winning posters. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Becoming One: Teacher Liaison Working To Bring Communities Together
August 24, 2009
The transition of Carver/Century K-8 School into Ernest Ward Middle and Bratt Elementary will go smoothly. Just ask anyone involved with either school in any capacity, and they are sure of it.
Except for Joyce Wright-Evans. She’s double sure.
Wright-Evans is a teacher on special assignment as a community liaison at Bratt and Ernest Ward this year in a position funded by federal stimulus dollars to help ensure that parents and the community are as involved as possible with the two schools. It is all part of the plan to make sure the consolidation of Carver/Century K-8 into Ernest Ward and Bratt goes as smoothly as possible.
“It’s going to be a great year,” Wright-Evans said last week while sitting in the office of Ernest Ward Principal Nancy Gindl-Perry. “I am very proud to be part of the Ernest Ward family.”
“You hear that?” Perry asked. “Part of the Ernest Ward family…that’s what we are here at Ernest Ward…family.”
With hundreds of children in the two schools — an expected 547 just at Ernest Ward — a big part of Wright-Evans’ job will be helping parents and the community feel like part of that family at EWMS and Bratt Elementary.
“I think she has the right temperament, and she has the right personality. She’s very energetic, and that passion for children is going to show,” Escambia School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas said of Wright-Evans. “She is going to be a good thing for everyone involved with either school.”
Jeff Garthwaite, former principal of Carver/Century K-8 School and now stimulus funds coordinator for the school district, agreed.
“She will be there to help plan community activities like open house, and she will be there to smooth out any bumps in the road that might happen,” Garthwaite said. “She will troubleshoot any problems, and she will act as an advocate for children and parents with the school.”
“Parents can contact me about anything involving the schools,” she said. “We work together as a team.”
Wright-Evans will also be reaching out to community groups and businesses, looking for their involvement with Bratt and Ernest Ward.
“It’s all about the kids,” Wright-Evans said. “It is about each one of them. The kids come first.”
Wright-Evans will maintain an office at Ernest Ward and travel frequently to Bratt. To contact her about any issue or more information on how to become involved with the two schools, email jwright-evans@escambia.k12.fl.us or call Ernest Ward Middle at 327-4283 or Bratt Elementary at 327-6137.
Pictured: Joyce Wright-Evans in the hallway at Ernest Ward Middle School. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
2009 ACT Scores Released; Northview Shows Improvement
August 23, 2009
Florida’s class of 2009 scored worse on the ACT college entrance exam than seniors last year, while Northview High School showed a full half point increase.
Across Florida, scores released Wednesday showed the class of 2009 had an average 19.5 on the college entrance exam, .03 points less than last year’s average. The national average was 21.2. Only students in Kentucky, Mississippi and the District of Colombia scored lower than the 62 percent of Florida’s graduates — 105,297 students — that took the test.
Just over half of 106 seniors at Northview High School took the 2009 ACT during their high school careers; the 56 students had an average composite score of 19.4. The top composite score in Escambia County was 20.4 at West Florida Tech and Washington High Schools. Tate High had a composite score of 20.2. Northview scored better than Pine Forest High (18.2) and almost as well as Escambia (19.5).
Northview’s 19.4 composite score for the class of 2009 was an improvement over the 18.9 composite earned by the class of 2008.
The 2009 composite score at Jay High School was 19.6, the lowest composite of any regular high school in Santa Rosa County. The 2008 composite at Jay was 20.0.