Student Experience

Meet Emari, FLVS Alum & Dual Enrollment Grad

By Guest Blogger on July 16th, 2020

This post was written by Emari Craft, a Class of 2020 graduate who took online courses with FLVS Flex.

My name is Emari Craft. I was a Florida Virtual School (FLVS) student from 7th grade until 11th grade. Online school was the best option for me. I wanted flexibility without compromising my education. When I became a Florida Virtual School student, I was worried that I would not receive the same education as my peers. I did not receive the same education. I believe my education was even better than what I would have received in a traditional school. I was always prepared for End-of-Course exams. I did well on the ACT because of the rigorous courses I took when I was an FLVS student.

Staying Connected Through Blended Learning

By April Fleetwood on June 23rd, 2020

Florida Virtual School supports Blended Learning Community (BLC) settings in schools across the state of Florida and beyond. In these blended environments, students learn through a combination of online and face-to-face learning. Over the past two years, the FLVS Analysis, Assessment, and Accountability Research Team has partnered with the University of Central Florida to study the unique environment that Blended Learning Communities offer FLVS students, teachers, and Florida schools.

FLVS Class of 2020: Dive into the Next Chapter

By Guest Blogger on June 17th, 2020

This post was written by FLVS Full Time National Honor Society President, Maya Washburn.

To my fellow graduates of the Class of 2020, I know this is not how we imagined it, but please don’t let the midst of this pandemic dull your fires or sadden your passionate hearts and wise, academic minds.

Our accomplishments and experiences over the past four years of our lives surpass in-person contact and any computer screen standing in our way, as we all particularly know very well.

Embracing Nostalgia: The Good and The Bad

By Guest Blogger on July 5th, 2017

This post was written by Charissa, a student in the FLVS Creative Writing Club.

Have you ever passed by a place you used to visit when you were young and a nostalgic feeling started to resonate in your chest?

The feeling blew you back in time a bit, and sparked that good memory concealed in your mind to come and revisit. It was probably a joyous occasion, and that feeling of ancient and special happiness surfaces again.

Well, what if something bad happened to you? Would the nostalgic feeling be the same? I highly doubt it would. If I visited a place that held a bad memory, I would feel suffocated by air tainted with unhappiness and regret. I wouldn’t have a happy and elated feeling in my chest. I would feel empty and alone.

Something I have realized in this society is this:

We all have our good places reminding us of the joy and happiness life can bring you, but we also have our bad places that are a reminder of how the world can be messed up sometimes. Some people have one more than the other. Continue reading

FLVS Attends GOES-R Satellite Launch

By Linda Childs on December 7th, 2016

On Saturday, November 19, I had the privilege of watching the GOES-R weather satellite launch from Kennedy Space Center.

Now you may be wondering what GOES-R stands for. It’s the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, a satellite system that orbits the earth and sends data back to National Weather Service computers. The R indicates what number or version the GOES satellite is on, so there have already been versions A-R. GOES-S is slated to launch next year and is the twin to GOES-R.

Of course, weather satellites get launched all the time, so why would this one be any more special than the others?

Well, right now we receive images of satellite scans every 30 minutes or so. The GOES-R satellite will provide data at least every five minutes, and in some circumstances every 30 seconds! So not only will it be five times faster than current weather satellites, but it will also gather three times more data and it will have four times better resolution. Continue reading

To Bennu and Back!

By Linda Childs on September 29th, 2016

Hello FLVS peeps!

I had the distinct honor of representing FLVS at the OSIRIS REx rocket launch a few weeks ago.

Now if you’re wondering what exactly that means, OSIRIS REx stands for NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer. That’s a mouthful, right?

In a nutshell, NASA is sending a spacecraft to an asteroid named Bennu. Once it reaches Bennu (after a trip lasting two years), the spacecraft will orbit the asteroid for about a year, find the perfect place to collect about 80 grams of the rock, and head back home, arriving back to Earth in 2023.

It won’t actually land on the asteroid, but instead hover over it – and with the help of Canada and their amazing knowledge of spacecraft arms – will grab a small sample. (To put this in perspective, 80 grams is about the equivalent of 80 Skittle candies.)

So why are we going to Bennu? Continue reading

FLVS Student Pursues her Passion for Animals

By Guest Blogger on September 13th, 2016

This post was written by tenth grade high school student Madison Toonder. Read about Maddie’s oyster research in a previous blog post here.

In October 2015, I was awarded a scholarship to attend any pre-collegiate program of my choice for winning second place in the nation in STEM mathematics at the Broadcom MASTERS national science fair competition in San Francisco, California.

I chose the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University’s two-week summer intensive in Massachusetts because it is directly related to my career path.

Tufts’ program is designed to give high school students insight into the rigors of veterinary school. During the program, we attended lectures, studied animal anatomy through fascinating dissections and hands-on palpitations, completed hospital rounds with fourth-year veterinary students, and explored the many different possible career paths within veterinary medicine. My daily agenda was varied and included activities such as learning proper techniques for handling animals, observing surgical procedures, and learning how to perform routine check-ups on a variety of different animals. One of my favorite activities was suturing bananas to practice proper technique. Continue reading

The FLVS Minions

By Guest Blogger on May 17th, 2016

Young adolescents require drastically different and unique approaches to education.

Middle school educators have always understood that the biological events of puberty fundamentally disrupt the somewhat smooth development of elementary school years and has a profound impact upon the cognitive, social, and emotional lives of young teens.

In line with this important insight, educators see the need for the delivery of special instructional and administrative changes in the way that education takes place for kids in early adolescence.
Continue reading

Student Gives at Animal Shelter and Gains Much More

By Guest Blogger on November 24th, 2015

This month, we asked students to share ways they give back in their communities using #flvsgiving on social media. This post was written by one of our students who volunteers at her local animal shelter.

Hi, I’m Alexis Lamphere.

I’m a senior at FLVS and I currently volunteer with the Osceola County Animals Services in Saint Cloud.

In addition to volunteering my time, I foster kittens that are underweight or too young to be adopted and don’t have a mother cat to take care of them.

Working at the shelter is honestly a life-changing experience. I’m given the chance to help improve and change many lives every day. It teaches you to be selfless and you start to have an endless love for each animal. You start to care about the animal’s happiness more than your own and he/she becomes more than “just some dog” or “just some cat.” The animal becomes a loved one, a friend, and part of your heart. Continue reading

Student Researches Sunscreen’s Effects on Oysters

By Guest Blogger on October 28th, 2015

Hi! I’m Madison, a student at FLVS.

While attending a Busch Gardens camp in the summer of 2014, I learned that the park utilizes oysters to naturally filter their lakes. I soon became fascinated with oysters, and after some research, I discovered oysters are dying globally due to pollution.

After this discovery, I formulated an experiment focusing on the effect of micronized chemical sunscreen (as used in spray sunscreen) and nanosized zinc oxide sunblock (as found in thicker, clear sunblock) on the ability of a bivalve mollusk (or oyster) to filter bay water. Continue reading