Polk County Public Schools
Seven Polk schools won 2007-2008 Florida Department of Education Music Enrollment Awards. Music enrollment awards are given to secondary schools for effective music curriculum and for recruiting and retaining students in music programs.
To qualify for a music enrollment award, at least 35 percent of an entire school’s student body must be enrolled in music courses.
Schools winning music enrollment awards were: Blake Academy (Lakeland), Boone Middle (Haines City), Davenport School of the Arts, Mulberry Middle, Bartow Middle, Lawton Chiles Middle (Lakeland) and Jewett Middle (Winter Haven). The seven Polk schools winning the award in 2007-2008 are an increase from the 2006-2007 school year. Two Polk schools won the award in 2006-2007.
Auburndale High dedicated and named its arts building during the 2007-2008 school year for nationally renowned visual artist and AHS graduate Robert Stackhouse. Stackhouse is a 1960 graduate of Auburndale High and many of his works reflect scenes or remembrances of growing up and observing nature and wildlife near Lake Juliana in Auburndale. Mr. Stackhouse is acclaimed for his sculptures, paintings and prints.
During his career he has been honored with more than 70 one-person exhibitions. He has served as a visiting artist and professor at art schools across North America including the Cleveland Institute of Art, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Gallery of Toronto. He has installed more than 30 permanent displays of his work in outdoor and indoor venues both nationally and internationally. His work has been exhibited by prestigious museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Recently, the Polk Museum of Art honored Mr. Stackhouse by displaying a 30-year retrospective.
He holds degrees from the University of South Florida and the University of Maryland in College Park.