The Whirly Girls met up Friday morning to discuss and decide which events they would each be competing in for Brevard County's Innovation Games. The Innovation Games is an event in which students from all over Brevard County come to compete in a diverse series of STEM-related competitions. It will take place in March. The girls will specifically be participating in the Unmanned Aircraft System Challenge, which specializes in the usage of drones and mini quad-copters. In this challenge, students will compete in a field filled with obstacles and showcase their skills. Various categories within...

With a theme of "Peace and Unity," the chorus performed its first-ever autumn autumn concert Friday night, featuring nine songs performed by all 57 members of the choir. The show opened with "The Star-Spangled Banner" arranged by Carl Sauerbrunn, which was sung a cappella by the chamber choir. The women's choir followed by singing two songs, the first "Simple Gifts" arranged by Aaron Copland, and the second "When I am Silent" arranged by Joan C. Varner. Next came the mixed choir, who also sang two songs, the first "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor" arranged by Mark Brymer, and the second "Gather...

The Junior Class will be raising funds to help an organization for students with learning disabilities while also raising money for Prom. "We are selling soaps the first week of December. We get 40 percent of profits and the rest goes to an organization for students with learning disabilities," Treasurer Haley Alvarez-Lauto said. "There's an assortment of bath bombs, lotions, sugar scrubs and bars of soap that are available for students to purchase." Alvarez-Lauto said this is a good way to help this organization, while also aiding the Junior Class in its fund-raising goals for their Prom...

After weeks of preparation, the school choir anticipates the new fall concert, which is set to be held Friday at 6 p.m. Chorus teacher Amy Davis decided to hold the upcoming concert in place of the usual Christmas one, with a theme of "peace and unity." The concert will still include a couple of Christmas songs, but its main feature is the several songs from areas all around the world, including the American immigration-themed song "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor", the Christian hymn "Shall We Gather at the River", the African tribal song "Sisi Ni Moja", the American Holocaust-themed song "When...

Cheers enveloped the crowd as the Whirly Girls flew their drone, with a banner reading "Re-elect Matt Susin" attached to it. On Thursday evening, five of the varsity Whirly Girls attended an event part of the re-election campaign for Matt Susin, the Brevard County School Board vice chairman. "He texted me and said, 'I'm having my re-election campaign's first event, would the Whirly Girls be interested?" said Jill Whitacre, team coach and sponsor of the Whirly Girls. The girls quickly agreed. Apparently, the drone team and Matt Susin have quite a history. "He [Matt Susin] is the person...

Students from the advanced robotics class and the Whirly Girl drone team visited Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland to discuss college preparation and to tour the state’s only completely STEM-based university last Wednesday. "I'm always looking for opportunities that I can give to my robotics students in order for them to see how the STEM classes they are taking at school relate to the real world," robotics teacher Jill Whitacre said. "My hope is that students might be inspired to continue pursuing their studies in STEM." The students can now apply their new knowledge in classes. "We...