The 43rd Annual Student Recognition Banquet was held to recognize students from area high schools nominated in the areas of Arts, Leadership, Community Service, Academics, and Career & Technical. The Arts category is new this year. Students in each category received scholarships from local businesses.
The banquet was held at the Show Palace in Hudson on April 27, because of a potential sinkhole at Palace Grand. The Palace Grand was closed and the entire event had to be relocated in a few days. The Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce and Show Palace Entertainment pulled off a very successful evening despite the last minute change of venue.
The students were sponsored by local businesses.The business representatives, the student and their family shared the same table. Many of the table sponsors also provided scholarships for the students.
Students have to be nominated by their school and meet stringent academic requirements to be able to attend the banquet. It was exciting to meet so many local students who have such a bright future. Many of the students had GPAs over 4.0 and have provided hundreds of hours of community service. As they leave our area to attend college, several of the business leaders urged them to remember that there are great opportunities right here in Hernando County.
Serena Davenport was one of the nominees in the Arts category from Weeki Wachee High School. She wants to attend the University of South Florida and major in Behavioral Health Sciences. She is looking forward to eventually working in Art Therapy after taking a year off to work and save up money. Besides art classes, she is taking several other courses that will help her prepare for the job market. She’s certified in Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. She enjoys photography as well as painting and drawing.
Julia LaCava, a nominee in the Career & Technical category and a student at Nature Coast Technical High School, was part of a team that finished second in a national high school film festival. She also
was part of a team that represented Nature Coast at the All American High School Film Festival in New York City where they presented an 8-minute film entitled “Words Unspoken” to raise awareness of cyber bullying.
Hailey Skugland of Nature Coast Technical High School performed a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem on the violin.
The keynote speaker was Lynne Mueller-Nissen, author of the Herbert the Hedgehog series. Lynne is a 1984 graduate of Springstead High School. Every year the Chamber of Commerce finds a successful graduate of Hernando County schools to speak to these successful students. Lynne gave a short, but inspiring interactive presentation that everyone — not just teenagers — could relate to.
It was good for students to meet local business leaders and learn of opportunities the area has to offer. Many of these students may believe that they need to go to a large city in order to find a good opportunity.
This may encourage some of these students to return to the area when they graduate and contribute to Hernando county’s future.