Narrow Down Your College Search

By on September 23rd, 2014

college choice
Check out these tips from FLVS Student Erica Nathan on choosing a college! 

Figure out what you want in a college
Do you want to study political science or engineering? Attend a small school or stay close to home? What type of college can you afford? These are just a few questions that you’ll want to consider when starting to narrow down your college search. Once you know what you’re looking for, you can start your search. The ACT has a great list of the many factors to consider. Continue reading


Applying High School Experience to Career

By on September 5th, 2014

ExperienceMany high school students face the daunting task of applying for their very first paid job with zero experience and very little preparation. Here are a few simple tips to help you translate your high school experience (volunteering, participating in clubs, playing sports, etc.) to a job application:

1. Everyday skills should not be taken for granted.

Top performers in school are organized and goal-oriented.  Good students use proven time management skills.  Club secretaries are detail-oriented.  Athletes take initiative and follow directions well.  FLVS students are computer whizzes!  Instead of listing previous jobs on your resume, you can list clubs, sports, and even your GPA (if you’re proud of it).  Just make sure to include a brief description for each item, and explain the valuable job skills you use on a regular basis for each task.

Continue reading


Communication – The Disappearing Art Form

By on September 2nd, 2014

phoneText, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat…these are but a few of the new and most common ways for today’s generation to communicate. Gone are the days of face-to-face time. Gone are the days of just sitting on the porch and shooting the breeze for hours. Gone are the days of chatting on the phone until late at night and mom coming in and saying “Hey, it’s time to hang up and go to bed.”

Today’s teens spend their hours not speaking with each other, but texting, posting videos, and of course, taking selfies.  In May 2014, the term “selfie” joined the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.  (“Selfie: An image of oneself taken by oneself using a digital camera especially for posting on social networks.”)  It is now a permanent part of the American vocabulary. Today, kids don’t see the need for words, when a selfie can express what life is all about. Continue reading


New Courses and Resources at FLVS

By on August 19th, 2014

youtubeBack to school is an invigorating time of the year filled with fresh starts, meeting new classmates, and taking exciting new courses.

It’s also a great time to take a look at several NEW course options at FLVS: Criminal Justice Operations 1Theatre, Cinema, and Film Production, and M/J Careers in Fashion and Interior Design. Learn more about these and other top course picks for fall here.

With these and our new Career and Technical Education offerings, FLVS now offers more than 140 courses! Taking a course with FLVS can help you fulfill your online graduation requirement, get ahead on your classes, boost your GPA, make up a course credit, or explore an interesting elective not offered at your school. Continue reading


Meet FLVS Student Logan Gatza

By on August 14th, 2014

LoganGatzaEn garde! Fencing, swimming, running, shooting, and horseback riding…he may only be in elementary school, but 9-year-old Logan Gatza has quite a bit of sport in him! He recently took the silver medal at the USA Modern Pentathlon National Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

What is modern pentathlon?

Modern pentathlon consists of fencing, swimming, running, shooting, and horseback riding. Two years ago, Logan started fencing at Winter Garden Fencing Academy. He first developed an interest in fencing because he thought it would be “a cool sport in which to compete.” Logan said he also thoroughly enjoys swords and the fact that “you get to face off against another opponent.”

Continue reading


Back-to-School Basics for Parents and Students

By on August 12th, 2014

back to school
Every student and parent (well most of them anyway) gets excited for the start of a new school year. Students are ready to meet their new teachers, new classmates, show off their new clothes, and start the year off on the right foot.

Parents are excited too, but for different reasons. Usually they are just thrilled to get the kids out of the house, as the summer months can seem way too long for some parents.

The following is a list of tips to help students have a successful year – and that might even remind parents of some important strategies they should be utilizing.  Continue reading


What’s New in Career & Technical Education at FLVS?

By on August 7th, 2014

New CTEIt would likely be easier to list what ISN’T new with FLVS Get Certified: Career and Technical Education Courses! Since you learned about the many benefits of industry certification in my previous posts, our teams have been quite busy increasing the options and opportunities for students to prepare for and earn those certifications.

In July 2014, we added 12 new certification preparation courses – with another eight to follow this fall! That’s a total of 22 new opportunities for students to show colleges and employers that they have the skills needed for success! Continue reading


Meta-Emotion

By on July 30th, 2014

emotionThis past Sunday was National Parents’ Day. In this blog post, we’ll explore why parents should make talking about emotions with their child a priority.

As infants, the emotional connection lays the foundation of child-parent attachment. During the preschool years, emotion education is used to help children learn about their own emotions and to help manage their behavior. As children grow, the child’s focus centers around school-related activities, and friends take center stage. Parents might think children of this age have learned to regulate their emotions. However, adolescence often presents a challenging parenting environment, where children attempt to assert their independence.

Continue reading


Teach Me With Minecraft: Contest Winners

By on July 25th, 2014

minecraftThe votes are in!

We are so excited to announce the winners for our “Teach Me With Minecraft” competition. Our goal was to learn more about what can be taught from games like Minecraft and how we can use similar interactive elements in our FLVS courses.

We had hundreds of amazing submissions and have learned so much from your Minecraft builds!

Congratulations to all the winners, and to everyone who submitted a build…YOU ROCK!

Continue reading


Meet FLVS Student Cody Sullivan

By on July 23rd, 2014

Cody SullivanAs many people head out to see movies this summer, FLVS student Cody Sullivan is going to see himself on the big screen!

At the young age of eight, Cody began performing in theater. Then he started taking acting classes. Not long after, he retained an agent and moved out to Los Angeles for six months. Since then, he’s had the opportunity to act in a variety of shows like Revolution, Chicago Fire, Criminal Minds, House of Lies, and Trophy Wife.

Most recently, you can see the high school sophomore in Wish I Was Here, a movie starring Zach Braff and Kate Hudson (premiered in theaters July 2014). He had the opportunity to play “Jesse” and was on set for 2-3 days for his three scenes. Cody said it was the most fun to work with Braff because he was “very funny and cracked a lot of jokes.”

Continue reading