Polk County Public Schools
For the second consecutive year, Haines City’s Daniel Jenkins Academy won the middle school championship in the Florida archery tournament.
Twenty-one Florida middle schools competed in this virtual tournament that was held during the second semester of the 2008-2009 school year. The schools competed on their school campuses and then reported the results to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, the organizer of the state tourney. Thirty-five elementary, middle and high schools competed statewide with more than 750 students participating in the tourney. The state tourney is part of the National Archery in the Schools Program.
Bartow’s Union Academy (fourth in the state) and Mulberry Middle (ninth) had Top Ten finishes among the middle schools. Lakeland middle schools Blake Academy and Lake Gibson Middle also participated in the state tourney.
Daniel Jenkins students Kailey Swanson and Fakiara Gabriel finished in second and third place respectively in the middle school female individual competition.
The Daniel Jenkins archery team was coached by Felix Vicens, a teacher at the school.
Daniel Jenkins archery team roster included Isaac Cabrera, Justin Christian, Cesar Diaz, William Floyd, Fakiara Gabriel, Jonathon Glover, Thalia Guajardo, Jonathan Harrison, Brenn Hines, Dallas Jarrell, Glenn Johnston, Nick Jones, Sean Jones, Jonathan Lang, Greg Miller, Christian O’Brien, Jadis Ortega, Ryan Pynes, Mabelle Santos, Kailey Swanson, Tyler Van Cura and Cameron Wright.
A team of students from Lakeland’s Kathleen High won the state championship in the 2009 FFA Agricultural Mechanics Career Development Event. The event was held in Haines City during the second semester of the 2008-2009 school year. Kathleen finished in first place over nine other Florida high schools in the competition. Agricultural mechanics is a competition related to agricultural machinery and equipment and includes the topics of marketing, energy, environment and natural resources. As a state FFA champion, the Kathleen agricultural mechanics team qualified to compete at the national FFA convention to be held in Indianapolis in October 2009.
Kathleen’s team members are Clayton Kiddey, Jacob Lee, Zach Lee and Sarah McCain. The team’s advisor is Kathleen High agriculture teacher Kyle Carlton.
