NHS Choral Director Named Florida Secondary Music Educator of the Year
Niceville High School Choral Director Michael Dye has been named the 2020 Florida Secondary Music Educator of the Year by the Florida Music Education Association. A native Arkansan, Dye has taught in Florida for 30 years.
Dye will be retiring at the end of this school year after 44 years as a public school music educator. He has been Niceville High School’s choral director since 1990. In 2004 he was Niceville High School’s Teacher of the Year, and runner-up to the Okaloosa County Teacher of the Year. His Niceville choirs have earned a state-high 18 “Choirs of Distinction” awards. Under his leadership over 500 students have been all-state singers. In the early 2000’s he spearheaded the effort to establish the Florida Vocal Association Men’s All-State Chorus. Dye has conducted all-state choirs in Florida and Arkansas as well as dozens of district and regional honor choirs. He has judged state choir assessments in Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Under his direction the Niceville Singers have sung in the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, England, Wales, Scotland, China, Spain, Italy and France as well as three performances in Carnegie Hall. Dye has served as president of the Florida Vocal Association and the Florida School Music Association.
Dye will receive the award in January at the Florida Music Education Association’s 2020 Convention in Tampa.
Niceville Robotics Team Hosts Inaugural Build Day
On Saturday, October 5, forty budding roboticists got together for the first ever Build Day at the Neiger Education Robotics Facility (NERF) in Niceville. Teams from Ft. Walton Beach High School, Davidson Middle School, and OCSD Manufacturing Program were joined by students from Collegiate High School, Boys & Girls Club, and even a team from Tallahassee. The students spent the day with their coaches and mentors designing and building their robots in preparation for their first tournament on November 9. The event was planned and hosted by Doolittle Institute and Emerald Coast Robotics Alliance along with student volunteers from Niceville’s Robotics Team.
The teams are participating in the FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC) (firstinspires.org). FTC is an international competition where teams pair with another team on a 12’ x 12’ field to compete against another alliance of two robots. The alliances race against time and each other to accomplish specific tasks in 2.5 minute matches. In this year’s game, SKYSTONE®, alliances must gather “stones” from a “quarry” and use them to build towers on the other side of the field.
Although we have had FTC teams in the area for some time, last year we reached sufficient numbers to create our own local AeroCoast League. Saturday’s build day was the first of its kind on the Emerald Coast. The 6,000 square foot NERF was built expressly for the purpose of facilitating these types of events. It houses competition fields, programming & CAD stations, and a wealth of bench & hand tools necessary for teams to design and test their robots.
Besides the teams present, Hans Wolf from Tampa Bay Robotics Foundation was on hand to train the event volunteers who will be officiating the AeroCoast League tournaments this season. The tournaments are being held at the Hsu Innovation Institute on Anchors Street in Ft Walton Beach and are open to the public (free admission). If anyone would like more information on FIRST® robotics, starting a team, or volunteering, please contact Lauren Bierman (lbierman@doolittleinstitute.org) or Ben Shuman (shumanb@okaloosaschools.com).
National Merit Program Announces Commended Students
Nine seniors from Niceville High School have been named a Commended Student in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program. They are Halle Bright, Lucien Dewever, Matthew Erk, Sarah James, Marissa Rung, Eshaan Sharma, Nicholas Van Nimwegen, Dillon Welde, and Ian Zegouros.
About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2020 competition for National Merit Scholarship awards, Commended Students placed among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2020 competition by taking the 2018 PSAT.
Pictured are:
Front: Eshaan Sharma, Sarah James, Matthew Erk, Ian Zegouros, and Principal Marello; Back: Halle Bright, Marissa Rung, Lucien Dewever, and Dillon Welde. (Not pictured Nicholas van Nimwegen)
NHS Students Selected as National Hispanic Scholars
Halle Bright and Joseph Moore, both seniors at Niceville High School, have been honored by The College Board as National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP) Scholars for their excellence in academic achievement. The NHRP identified outstanding Hispanic/Latino high school students who took the 2018 PSAT/NMSQT/PAA. Halle and Joseph scored in the top 2.5% among Hispanic and Latino PSAT/NMSQT test takers in our region. An important component of the NHRP is that the list of recognized students is distributed to subscribing four-year postsecondary institutions in October. This gives the students an opportunity to hear from colleges that are particularly interested in communicating with academically outstanding students of Hispanic/Latino heritage. This honor will enable Halle and Joseph to highlight their outstanding educational achievements to top colleges and universities.
Hailey Moriarity Receives Congress of Future Medical Leaders Award of Excellence
Advanced Studies Finance Meeting
Monday, September 30, 2:00 p.m.
Advanced Studies Office
2019 Homecoming Court
Congratulations to the 2019 Homecoming Court!
Front: Freshman Alex Nacchia, Sophomore Taylor Flint, Junior Marleigh Moore, Seniors Amy Erickson, Tori Thorson, Tanollie Henry, Peyton Chambers and Jenna Skalicky.
Back: Freshman Lawton Brown, Sophomore Cage Baum, Junior Dev Patel, Seniors Dante Barrett, Jackson Cook, Kobe Babin, Logan Kraus and (not pictured Jake Dever).
NHS Seniors Named Semifinalists in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program
Jackson Cook, Dane Dickerson, Luna Holub, and Sara Strunk were among the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 65th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million that will be offered next spring. Niceville High School has the most National Merit Semifinalists than any other Okaloosa public and charter school.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance. It was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 410 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence. Students qualify for the National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the PSAT during their junior year of high school.
All four students are enrolled in multiple Advanced Placement and University of Cambridge courses at Niceville High School.
Pictured above (left to right): Sarah Strunk, Luna Holub, Principal Charles Marello, Jackson Cook, and Dane Dickerson.
Joseph Moore Earns Congressional Award Bronze Medal
National Honor Society Application Information
Juniors and seniors interested in National Honor Society must attend one mandatory meeting to pick-up applications and go over criteria. Meetings will be held in room 209, immediately after school. If you do not attend a meeting, you will not receive an application for National Honor Society. Please see Ms. Brasher in RM 209 if you have any questions.
You must attend one of the days below:
- Tuesday 9/10
- Wednesday 9/11
- Thursday 9/12
- Friday 9/13
- Monday 9/16
- Tuesday 9/17
- Wednesday 9/18
- Thursday 9/19
- Friday 9/20
