NFM High gets athletic academic award, jazz band to be featured at festival
Many North Fort Myers High School students are in the news this week – both for academic achievement and music.
North Fort Myers High School and Ida S. Baker High School have been honored as the State Academic Team Champions for fall sports.
The North Fort Myers High Girl’s Cross Country Team was the champion for Class 3A, with a cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.843. Ida S. Baker High’s Volleyball Team was the champion for Class 4A with a cumulative GPA of 3.658.
The Florida High Schools Athletic Association recognizes the importance of athletes putting academics first. Awards are given out for all sanctioned sports and their class divisions.
“It’s a very nice achievement because it not only shows their commitment to athletics by taking the time and dedications for practices and meets, but also shows the importance that academics in being a student athlete,” said Erik Timko, Athletic and Activities director at North.
Timko is also chairman of the Lee County Athletic Conference, which includes all 13 public high schools in the county.
“The award was for the whole state in classifications. Each sport has a classification based on the size of the school, in those two instances, our school and Ida Baker were the champions in the state.”
Timko said most of the recognition was for the girls cross county team, but the school had several of it’s fall sports teams ranked in the top 20.
“I’m very proud of all my athletes, especially the fact that they have shown what we believe in, academics first. It has been a priority for them as well.”
It’s the second of such distinction for North. Our tennis team won last year.”
Overall, there were four Lee County Athletic Conference schools that were team finalists for academic awards. In addition to North and Ida Baker, Fort Myers High and Mariner High were finalists.
“It is truly an accomplishment to have athletes as a group who are recognized for academic excellence,” said North Principal Kimberly Lunger. “They are a spectacular group of girls who have their heads on straight and care deeply about their education.”
Jazz Band to be featured at benefit festival
The North Fort Myers High School jazz band will be featured at a music festival to benefit the University of Florida’s non-profit Randell Research Center. The event will be held will be held at the Center’s site on Pine Island Saturday, Jan. 30.
Music at the Mounds will feature national and local acts, including the high school band.
Besides being an outdoor music festival, it also will be an archaeological showcase to benefit the Center. The Lee County School’s music program will also benefit, according to Dennis Havlin of the University.
Besides the school jazz band, professional groups featured include the Palm City Dixieland Band with Fox 4’s Jim Syoen, Suzanne Lansford’s violin stylings, Tomorrow’s News Bluegrass and Deb and the Dynamics. It will be a day of bluegrass, jazz, dixieland and pop music.
“The idea of getting this project started is to get the community involved and it is going to be an annual event,” said Havlin. “What we’re trying to do is get the whole county involved, that’s why we contacted Lee County Schools. We asked that any schools who wanted to be invited, and North Fort Myers responded. They actually get part of the proceeds.”
He’s looking forward to having the school band as part of the event.
“I was impressed with the band and particularly with Jim Samz, who is the band director.”
“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to have a chance to be involved in a significant festival that is being held in the community,” said Samz. “It’s typically something most of most students hadn’t heard of and it’s a unique opportunity to support something like that. It is also an opportunity to support each other, raising funds with what the students do best, which is performing music.”
He said the band is excited about the special performance.
“They like going out and playing in the community,” Samz said. “It’s absolutely a great cause. I’ve been out there. It will be nice for them to renovate, make it more accessible. Much history is there.”
“If the public has not had a chance to hear our jazz bands, this is a great opportunity to do so,” said North Fort Myers High School Principal Kimberly Lunger. “You will be pleasantly pleased. They sound very professional.”
Kara Hillman is the vice president of the Band Boosters.
“I actually think it will be a wonderful event, to broaden the horizons of our young people and introduce their music to the community,” she said.
Hillman has been helping coordinate the event through the Randell Research Center and the school.
“Also, our Booster Club is going to have a concession tent and a Spirit Tent – where we sell T-shirts and things for the kids to raise money,” she said. “Our marching band and other bands go to different competitions so we’re always in the mode of fund raising. This is the way we can get the kids into the community to help them and help us at the same time.”
Havlin talked about the center itself.
“The site on Pine Island is managed by the Florida Museum of Natural HIstory, which is out of the University of Florida. The curator of the museum from Gainesville is Dr. William Marquardt. He is the person in charge of the Randall Research Center.”
An active dig site will be displayed and Dr. Marquardt, curator at Florida’s Natural History Museum, and other UF archeologists will be there to answer questions.
The property on Pine Island was originally donated by the Randell Family for scientific research.
“It’s an archeological site that is one of the unique sites in the world that allows scientists to study extremely well preserved relics.
“One of things that was very important to me is that this particular site allows scientists to accurately access the historic level of the Gulf in the last 2,000 years. The ocean has been four feet higher and two feet lower than it’s current sea level during this time period. Global warming is a factor that the earth has been experiencing.”
The address of the center is 13810 Waterfront Dr. in Pineland, near Bookelia.
The cost per ticket is $20, children 10 and under free, for a whole day of entertainment. Music will be continuous from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with gates open at 9 a.m. Bring your lawn chairs. Food vendors will be on site.
For information visit University of Florida’s website www.flmnh.ufl.edu/rre/events.htm or call 283-2062 & 283-2157.