Good evening!

My name is Laura Rogers and I'd like to welcome you to the 18th Annual best and brightest awards ceremony here in the beautiful Ruby Diamond concert hall tonight's ceremony will honor the amazing contributions from Leon County's exemplary High School seniors both in and outside the classroom and some of them even from when they were at home the honorable mentions runners-up and winners announced tonight are the students who have set an example of academic success and community service and are constantly raising the bar for all of Leon County's students two years of the amended classrooms did not dampen the enthusiasm for learning in a new format or being involved in different ways with school programs and Athletics and the Arts in the service clubs.

Our 8th grade students have written inspiring essays on using their Democratic Voice through volunteerism you'll hear us describe what dedicated and thoughtful students they are and we want them to leave a legacy to inspire individuals to become more selfless to take action and not wait around for a change but to be that change all of these best and brightest finalists are dedicated excellent and humble first of all I would like to thank our title sponsor Envision Credit Union.

Envision has supported the Best and Brightest Awards since its creation in 2006 and helped to award more than 931 thousand dollars to 3,175 12th graders and 8th graders in the Leon County school system and community and we couldn't do that besides with Envision but with some of the other businesses that support this program these include our partners the Tallahassee Democrat, Sax Media, Comcast, Hub International, Sperry and Associates, Ron Sachs and Gay Webster Sax, Comcast, with Leon County Schools, the City of Tallahassee, Leon County government, Tallahassee Ford Lincoln, neighbors Giblin Dickerson the attorneys at law, Walmart, Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, the Florida Association District school superintendents, Career Source Florida, Mainline Information Systems, and Summit International Group, Target print and copy and mail, and Awards For You.

Their support allows us to award all these school-based finalists with at least a hundred dollar scholarship the overall category honorable mentions tonight will be awarded five hundred dollars runners-up will receive five excuse me 750 and the winners will be presented a fifteen hundred dollars cash scholarship in addition to the scholarships that's wonderful in addition to these scholarships provided to each of the students world-class schools which is a program of the greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce donates one hundred dollars to the Department of the grand prize winner School in each of the 15 categories we're really excited to be able to honor our eighth grade contest participants this is our 12th year as the additional element of the best and brightest Awards Leon County's eighth graders entered essay submissions about the importance of community service the winner tonight will receive five hundred dollars runner-up will receive 250 and the honorable mention will receive one hundred dollars these students will now be able to begin their High School careers with goals of excellence in academics and service in mind and hopefully partake in the best embars Awards and four more years we'd also like to thank Leon County's public and private high schools for their service and work and nominating these school-based winners their dedication of encouraging students to excel in academics and service really is the amazing part of grooming and getting these schools the students involved I would like to give a round of applause to our Leon County school board members who are here tonight I just saw a few here if y'all would mind standing and our wonderful principals guidance counselors our teachers and all the schools that are involved please stand as we applaud you let's not forget the importance of the best and brightest committee our judges and the volunteers who make this scholarship program possible at this time I'd like to have the audience tonight please thank our volunteers who have worked so hard and if there are any judges that might have been able to attend please stand up and also any past best and brightest finalists and winners who have come back please stand we will honor you thing so we love being back here at Ruby diamond and I have to say thank you to the staff who has helped us every year and the videographers with wfsu who will broadcast this ceremony program on YouTube and also in the the channels as we get it edited we're so very appreciative of our very talented Benjamin Gunner as our pianist tonight and so glad to have him so please let me start and invite Michelle ubin with the president and CEO of sax media to the stage who will serve as our Mistress of Ceremonies tonight good evening are you excited all right well let's begin our ceremony tonight by welcoming this year's eighth grade essay finalists as they enter from the back of the auditorium thank you foreign and now please join me in welcoming this year's class of 2023 best and brightest High School seniors foreign foreign look a little bit better I want you to know that every one of you is a winner tonight just by being nominated in the category you were nominated for so let's take a moment to have all of these winners smile for our photographer David Barfield who's in the balcony and accept one more enthusiastic Round of Applause it is truly it is truly inspirational to see almost 200 young people here tonight who have made such a positive impact on our community we also want to thank you parents teachers mentors and friends for instilling great values in these students and raising up such awesome young people it's a great blessing to see these students in person after hosting virtual Ceremonies for the past two years but we need to set some house rules for our award ceremony parents friends family members I know you're going to want to clap and cheer and say that's my baby and Shout your child's name and way to go so when you feel that urge do it just just do it this is one event where we don't ask you to hold back we want you to to see feel and hear your excitement for these amazing young people and just get into it enjoy yourselves I also want to take a minute to say how proud I am of my good friend and business partner Ron Sachs who dreamed up the best and brightest Awards 18 years ago and sustained and grew it with the support of all of the sponsors you will hear from in a few minutes his vision was to honor not just the students with the highest GPA or the highest SAT scores but those who excel in different areas and pour their passion into service for our community that Vision has built a culture of service among Leon County High School students and our community is better for it Ron and his wife gay are traveling out of the country because they're celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary and are not able to be here tonight but please join me in a round of applause for them seniors take a look at The Medallion you're wearing tonight that Medallion represents your dedication to Leadership Learning and service to your school and your community we hope you will take those commitments with you and build on them throughout your lives each year the school-based winners far surpass our expectations the best and brightest judges were impressed with every one of the school-based winners you presented yourselves with confidence in your interview and your knowledge and character came shining through before we announce the 2023 best and brightest Award winners runners-up and honorable mentions we would like to invite a few special guests tonight to speak to you because these Awards would not exist without them I appreciate your patience while we welcome them to share their congratulations please welcome Dr Cassandra Grayson Envision Credit Union's board of directors chair and our Premier sponsor good evening I am grateful and honored to experience this exciting Awards event as chair of a volunteer board of directors of Envision Credit Union I am proud that we have been a sponsor of the best and brightest Awards since its Inception in 2006. we are honored to continue to be the premier sponsor of this Awards event as an education-based member-owned Credit Union it is our responsibility to encourage and support the education and mentorship of our youth we are pleased to provide a foundation that these great Awards these students can be recognized for their unique accomplishments to date Envision Credit Union has contributed over six hundred and fifty thousand dollars towards scholarships and our employees enjoy participating in the best and brightest awards ceremony students I personally congratulate you for your success I would also commend your parents Guardians and teachers who have helped along the way these students we are honored tonight they have been impacted by some very special teachers their teachers have inspired them with love for their subject matter they're caring for each of the Student Success their encouragement and support for extracurricular and community service we love our teachers let's give our teachers a round of applause your teachers trusted you to do your best but students you realize that their trust required personal responsibility your teachers respected your uniqueness but you realize that their respect had to be earned often your teachers encourage your Independence and students you soon discovered that you had to step out with self-confidence finally as teachers and parents supported your community service you found that kindness is a strength not a weakness you are amazing Future Leaders George Washington Carver once said learn to do common things uncommonly well you will command the attention of the world you did that students and we are so proud of you let's give the students another round of applause Envision Credit Union is proud to recognize you for your achievements students we commend you for your talent Focus hard work and for setting an example for other Leon County students who will follow you we wish you much success in the future as your journey unfold keep soaring and keep doing amazing things thank you Dr Grayson now we welcome the executive editor of our hometown newspaper the Tallahassee Democrat William Hatfield a founding partner in this project thank you uh and good evening everyone so I will begin with full disclosure I am terrified of public speaking so to get over that I am going to take a selfie with some of the smartest people I know now we're going to do this here we go I'm going to need some hands up that's perfect thank you I will tell you he is far more important than me to have a selfie with so uh uh that was a good choice at the Tallahassee Democrat we are so pleased to be involved in tonight's celebration of the best and brightest I interview a lot of people in my job but one of the most inspiring each year is when I get to sit down with the student Geniuses and the journalism and media category the students you will meet tonight are truly the best of the best they give us all a glimpse of what Leon County's Youth are involved in and the positive impact they have made already in such a short time in their lives even best and brightest Awards school-based finalists every best and brightest School award uh finalists had his or photo featured in the Democrat this past Sunday I'm the only speaker with a prop here it is tomorrow a full page ad will feature the top three Award winners in each of the 15 categories and we will feature the 64-page color insert with bios and features of all the students so make sure to look for that special section tomorrow morning you will also find complete coverage in a photo gallery of tonight's celebration online at tallahassee.com but there's more in Friday's paper we will have a complete coverage of tonight's event with plenty of photos from our photojournalist Alicia Devine uh it might even be on the front page though I've learned better to predict that 36 hours out in this town uh what I do know is the students here tonight all have impressive records of commitment to service and academic achievement everyone at the Democrat is proud to present these outstanding students with the recognition they deserve congratulations thank you William the 64-page section that he mentioned will also be available in the lobby after the ceremony tonight tonight you can take as many as you like we are blessed to have highly ranked and high performing schools in Leon County and we look forward to their continued success under the leadership of our next speaker Leon County Superintendent of schools Rocky Hannah please join me in welcoming superintendent Hannah foreign already stole my uh my selfie annual selfie picture with the best and brightest class of 2023. uh they recognized our school board members here tonight I see our mayor here uh other elected officials raise your hand thank you so much for being here Roseanne wood my colleague and and one more time because we can't do this enough if you are a school administrator or a teacher stand up again to be recognized Lord knows you deserve it thank you and students before I make some brief remarks I want you to do me a favor before you leave or shortly thereafter I want you to go by and say thank you to your administrators and to your teachers they need it more than ever right now okay so make sure to make a point to write them a letter or pick up a phone and call them uh it'll mean a lot you're the reason that we're all in this profession okay so please do that for me it's hard to believe it's been 18 years since Ron Sachs and Laura Rogers came to me when I was at Leon High School with this idea of recreating an award ceremony that Ron had when he was a senior in South Florida each year this ceremony gives me renewed Hope from the future of our state and our great nation at a time when we need it more than ever students selected to sit on the stage tonight represent the best of the best not only in their respective school and in our community but of all students throughout the State of Florida and our great country students tonight you are being recognized your outstanding academic achievement and leadership in one of 15 different categories for these accomplishments you should be extremely proud of yourself also tonight you're being recognized for something I believe much more important the size of your heart I have said many times during my 35-year career with our school system what our kids do in the classroom on the athletic field in the Arts is important however to learn at a very young age to give back and help others that's a lesson that's invaluable is probably the greatest single lesson we could ever teach our children famous boxer Muhammad Ali once said that service to others is the rent we pay for our room here on Earth each of us must earn our place to be on the stage tonight means that each of you have given countless hours outside of school to support local organizations to help other people many who are much less fortunate than you are more importantly you have served as role models to your younger classmates and peers by unselfishly giving of your own time to support humanitarian causes even when it may have not been the cool convenient or easy thing to do this is what you should be most proud of no matter the outcome tonight each and every one of you are winners and I cannot tell you how very proud I am of you just as you have made your mark in your schools so will you enrich the lies so will you enrich the colleges and universities you attend as well as the businesses and uh and other careers you decide to choose for your life congratulations again on this achievement and as our school board member Daryl Jones likes to say The Best Is Yet To Come God bless you foreign thank you superintendent Hannah for your Devotion to all of our students in Leon County we are fortunate to live in a city with many outstanding institutions of Higher Learning where students can continue their education and career development please welcome one of our partners Bill spires director of financial aid with Tallahassee Community College good evening and on behalf of our Board of Trustees and our president Dr Jim murdaugh I offer you congratulations and best wishes on your next PATH to success Tallahassee Community College is recognized annually as one of the top 100 colleges for the number of associate degrees awarded and nearly 75 to 80 percent of our graduates transfer to the State University system primarily to FSU and FAMU within a year primarily to the schools again right here in Tallahassee as in years past Tallahassee Community College has partnered with the best and brightest to add an additional scholarship opportunity to the top 45 winners those winners announced tonight will also receive from Tallahassee Community College additional funds of an annual amount up to two years to attend TCC based on the level of winning with the best and brightest Awards those students who receive honorable mention will receive a thousand dollars each year towards TCC tuition runners-up receive fifteen hundred dollars each year towards TCC tuition and winners received three thousand dollars each year towards to TCC tuition foreign I hope that those that are interested in attending TCC no matter what level of finalists will contact me to help you earn your degree over the last few years we've heard a lot about artificial intelligence tonight we have the real intelligence in front of us you are the students we are most proud to have attend TCC because you are dedicated to your studies and you're active with your school congratulations and we hope to provide you these scholarships and hope to see many of you as TCC Eagles in the fall thank you thank you Bill and thank you to TCC for your generous support of the top winners who choose to attend Tallahassee Community College at this time it's my pleasure to introduce our keynote speaker Mark Ziegler has been a teaching professor in the FSU School of communication where he has received numerous teaching Awards throughout his career twice he was selected by students and alumni for the University teaching award and was also named the 2009 distinguished teaching award recipient which is the highest honor that Florida State University's students and faculty can bestow on a professor for almost 28 years Ziegler has taught FSU students the importance of public speaking and how to be a persuasive speaker in 2014 he was inducted into the FSU alumni association's circle of gold in recognition of his contributions to the university if you've ever attended an FSU commencement ceremony you know Mark Ziegler has the task of announcing every graduate's name as they receive their diploma that means calling more than a thousand names in about two hours without stopping we might need his help tonight this fall he'll be taking on a new position with the College of Business please join me in welcoming our keynote speaker this evening Mr Mark Ziegler thank you Ben I heard the do You Hear the People Sing earlier saw the Arts kids coming in kind of humming along with the songs that you would put out I want to say that I am really happy to share a town with you guys I look forward every year to when this hits in the Democrat and then I start hearing from Laura about the judging taking place I'm always particularly interested because it's my own background in the public speaking folks where the public speaking finalists all right really really proud of y'all those of you who aren't a public speaking finalist which is great all right other areas still work on your public speaking all right it's very important it could be the thing that sets you apart from others so I want to do this very quickly because when you hear a keynote speaker after all we've done you're thinking man we are not going to get to dinner and I like you want to get to dinner and we want to honor these incredible young people and these eighth graders who are sitting there thinking how am I going to get up there in four years just keep working the number one thing that I wanted to impress upon all of us but mainly those of you being honored tonight is how important your credibility is when you make your way out into the world over the next couple weeks you're going to go through a lot of graduation ceremonies and you're going to hear one speaker after another and they mean well and you intend to listen but you never remember anything that they say and having been a speaker at numerous graduations no one cares all right and I understand and I feel your pain but at the same time I know how important credibility can be and so I've got a little mnemonic device d-e-t-e so sometimes y'all ask for what are the Deeds all right that's the details for when you're going to a party the Deeds here d-e-t-e are how you maintain your credibility as a human being and what is credibility believability okay number one and as a university Professor who's thought taught tens of thousands of students I have numerous stories that I will not belabor tonight but number one with me is dynamism you walk into the room with enthusiasm and energy that when you walk into the room the professor and your fellow students say that person's got something going on so you stand up you walk like you mean it you own the place here here's the difference when you walk in when you whatever you do next fall the spirit of the room is going to go up and then I want to want you to watch the people who walk in the room and in their very manner suck the life right out of the room that's not who you're going to be number two develop your expertise you've got to find an area that's yours where you're going to become the best in that area it can be auto mechanics it could be Neuroscience it can be surgery it can be pressure washing it can be being a librarian it can be going into education all of the careers that are going to be open to you how do you develop the expertise number one research read study learn number two experience get out there and get your hands dirty do some of the work number three make a commitment make a commitment to something so that you stand for something and you will develop expertise in that area what does the T stand for trustworthiness trustworthiness your appointment today you're always there before time when it when it's time for you to give a presentation at work or at school you don't call the teacher and say I can't give my talk this morning I have a sniffle no you can do the sniffles when you're in third grade when you get to College when something's due you get there and do it when you get that first job professionally some of you in the next couple of months eight o'clock the first day you're there at 7 45. trustworthiness and finally ethics do you follow the rules do you have a sense of right and wrong this is the right thing to do this is the wrong thing to do and have an ethical advisor mine is in this building you go up the stairs you go up down toward the president's office you go into the general counsel Florida state is one of my good friends Carolyn Egan once or twice a week I will call her and say hey Carolyn how about this tweet that I want to send out and she'll go ah thumbs down on that one most the time she'll say yep I think we're good there check everything okay so here you go dynamism expertise trustworthiness and ethics and you know all of that you have the rest of your life to keep building that and I want you to have a hundred percent you can destroy it with one post on social media so I want you to be and and that's us too I know you hear it from the above your parents your grandparents parents mess up too here's the other thing eight years ago a young man came up to me we'd gone through a whole semester of communication stuff and he said Ziegler my head is about to explode so many good things you've said I've learned a lot I want to remember all of those things but do you have a bottom line and I said you know what let me think about it two nights I didn't sleep I said yeah I got a bottom line when I saw him on Wednesday two days later I said whenever you go to interact with someone figure out what your intention is for that conversation what is your intention and here's what I'll tell you the world is set up as your parents and your elders know to pile a bunch of poop on you while you're going through life people just shoveling dirt shoveling poop piling it in your way you can help everyone who's going through that by in your conversations with other people lighten the load lighting the load you don't have to yell at the lady at Whataburger it's fries and a cheeseburger why would that upset you be nice to everyone with whom you operate because what happens that's thank you what happens is people get in there and they play up oh the president's here let me ooh the president's here oh the mayor is here by the way ask the mayor how he graduated from Florida State there's a story and then that same person who is genuflecting in front of the president and the executive officer will walk by a janitor or an usher and act like they don't even exist you can judge people how they treat those that are lesser than themselves I want you treating the president just like you treat the people that are mowing the yard and getting the gum up off the bricks in front of the Westcott building lighten the load how can I help I'm just so darn proud of you and I'm proud of this program and for those of you who are coming to Florida State let me see the hands all right all right we got a big fall for you guys where are my FAMU where my fam you all right man just across the street where are my TCC folks all right they got money waiting for you where are our folks here that are going into the workforce or the military anyone all right how many of you have no idea what you're gonna do and you know what you're still the best and brightest proud of you kids thank you parents thank you Tallahassee Community have a hell of a time tonight thank you Mark for that great advice and those inspirational words we now welcome Dr Grayson and Laura Rogers back to the stage as Laura mentioned in years past we wanted to light a fire among the middle schoolers who've been learning about Civics to Kindle their own interest in community service from this goal we launched our eighth grade essay contest and all the public and private middle schools and home schools this year students were asked to reflect upon the following quote the heart of a volunteer is not measured by size but by the depth of the commitment to make a difference in the lives of others Deanne Hollis each Middle School selected up to three top finalists those essays were submitted to a panel for review and tonight we'll announce the top three winners the county-wide winner will be awarded five hundred dollars the runner-up two hundred fifty dollars and the honorable mention one hundred dollars from Envision Credit Union all the schools will recognize the finalists with a certificate at their individual convocations later this month as I call out our winners names please join us on stage from the staircase here to receive your award and don't forget to smile for the cameras our photographer David Barfield takes a group photo ready our honorable mention in the 8th grade essay contest goes to from Deer Lake Middle School foreign wrote in his essay would I admire about volunteering is that in many cases people think they are going to help others and magically they become the beneficiary volunteering can turn into a passion that turns into a profession congratulations Ziad our runner-up is Cadence Kimbrough from Fairview Middle School Cadence Cadence wrote in her essay bringing joy to others and helping in my community is very important to me whether it's smaller tasks dedicating my free time to help members of my community or raising money for charity volunteering is incredibly special to me congratulations Cadence and our best and brightest 8th grade essay contest winner is Ella Dorne from North Florida Christian Ella wrote in her essay when you give back to the community you live in you gain a better understanding of your passions meet new friends learn about issues that matter to our society and receive joy and satisfaction from contributing to others congratulations Ella Dorne from North Florida Christian School and congratulations to all the students who are finalists here tonight middle schoolers please stand one more time and face the audience as we celebrate you thank you as a winner from your school you will be recognized with a certificate at your school's award program we hope this evening will inspire you to become one of the best and brightest in high school we'll see you back here in four years and now for those seniors each year the best of the best and brightest Awards the pool of incredible students has grown and the selection process gets harder and harder each of the school-based winners here is truly the cream of the crop every one of you is a winner and thanks to the generosity of our sponsors every school-based winner will receive at least a hundred dollar scholarship checks will be available for pickup in the lobby after the ceremony when your name is called please come down stage to receive your scholarship check from Dr Cassandra Grayson from Envision Credit Union and your trophy from William Hatfield with the Tallahassee Democrat stay on stage until all the winners in the category are announced and we get a group photo and don't forget to smile for the camera Laura will be asking the top winner in each category a question reflecting on their achievements to assist with the presentation of the beautiful and heavy I should mention trophies designed by awards for you I'd like to ask Mary Ortega a retired principal and dedicated best and brightest volunteer to join us in the presentation of the awards foreign now let's announce the 18th Annual best and brightest Awards top 45 winners everybody take a breath the best and brightest 2023 Award winners in the art category are an honorable mention for Malcolm Gambles II of Rickards High School Malcolm has served Malcolm has served as a Gadsden Arts Center and museum teen art Ambassador for two years and his work has been on display at the Museum he serves as president of the Rickards High School Anime Club and is also a member of the art Club he volunteers with the reach one sports program supervising and mentoring underprivileged and neurodiverse students through Sports and was rickard's best defensive player in soccer in 2022.

Malcolm volunteered with the MLK service days willpower Innovation Network in the TCC Eagles rise Summer Academy congratulations Malcolm the runner-up in the art category is satali patino of Leon High School the tally is Leon Art Club president and the National Art Honor Society vice president they are an active member in the Leon marching Redcoats band and has acquired a superior rating at both the district and state level for their solo and Ensemble flute choir performance and is in the Triumph music Honor Society they have volunteered hundreds of hours at the Leon County Public Library the city arts and crafts summer program and assisting in the production of the Henry Box Brown production in Pensacola citali has their art published in the Leon Mosaic magazine and received runner-up in the Tallahassee winter festival youth fine art competition congratulations sitale and the winner in the art category is Jesse Powell of child's High School Jesse is a two-time Mahaska Whitley student exhibition General Award winner and winner of The Faculty Choice annual School chalk walk she has also received honorable mention at the Foster Tanner FAMU Fine Arts gallery and an honorable mention at the 2022 youth fine art competition at City Hall Art Gallery she is involved with Key Club the engaged Citizen and Service Learning class and the National Honor Society Jesse has volunteered over 100 hours creating Port pillows for cancer patients at tmh sewing bibs for children at Gretchen Everhart school and sewing masks during covid for health care workers congratulations to all the art category finalists and our top and our 2023 top winners tonight as the winners exit the stage Laura will meet with Jesse for a quick congratulations and a question congratulations Jesse so the art category when people ask you about all the art that you do what inspires you well I always try to tell people that art is a very emotional thing for most artists and personally most of my art is driven not only by my emotions but most of my surroundings so whether that be nature or all the people that I know and love my friends and family inspiration really just comes from everywhere congratulations the city of Tallahassee is proud to recognize the best and brightest 2023 Award winners in the Athletics category an honorable mention goes to Israel yent of Godby High School Israel is captain of the varsity basketball team and has been a star for all four years on the team he has won multiple awards for his athletic performance and received the Martin Luther King Jr dreamer and doer award The National Society of leadership and success and The National Society of High School Scholars he is a member of youth leadership Tallahassee class 18 the National Honor Society and a distinguished young gentleman of America Israel volunteered with the Direct Auto Exchange community outreach coached at Middle School basketball games and is a dual enrolled student at Tallahassee Community College congratulations SRM the runner-up in the athletic category is Wyatt Townsend from Childs High School Wyatt is a three-time athlete participating in varsity swim and dive track and field and serves as captain of the cross country team he plays sixth at the track and field state championship in the 3200 meter race received the team alpha wolf leadership award and is co-founder of the chess club he volunteers with random acts of kindness Club the South City foundation on nutrition and exercise positive sessions for underprivileged Youth and youth leadership Tallahassee class 18.

Wyatt devotes hundreds of hours at swim meets motivating youth at the South City multi-sport complex to become engaged with the athletic community of Tallahassee congratulations Wyatt and the winner of the athletic category is jasoni J Beacham of Florida state university schools Jay is a Big Ben softball player of the year and is on the 2022 all Big Ben first team she's a member of the National Honor Society The Fellowship of Christian athletes and the Renegades Club she is the Florida High Varsity Softball MVP winner of the 2021 offensive award and winner of the all tournament team in Dothan Alabama Jay prepared meals for the ark homeless shelter tutored at the Boys and Girls Club raised funds for pet Alliance and assisted with helping incarcerated individuals get their GED at the Florida Department of Corrections congratulations Jay thank you we're gonna take a picture and then congratulate congratulate all the winners as Jay goes to answer a question from Laura congratulations Jay we're so proud of you so not only are you an athlete you're also a leader and an academic so what advice can you give a young person that'll be coming into school on how to be able to get involved with Athletics um so with me being a younger athlete before um going back remembering things you know with the college rules you know you can't get recruited until like your junior year so it's a lot of worrying going on um but the one thing I can say if you're a younger athlete just be present try to be where your feet are if you're in the classroom focus on your studies if you're on the field you know do your best there if you're doing community work focus on that so just be present and just know that your parents and your family is your biggest supporters and that you're very loved congratulations Jay Walmart is proud to recognize the best and brightest 2023 Award winners in the business category an honorable mention in the business category goes to Julia zoo with Charles High School Julia Julia has created her own baking business Julia can bake and has over 9 million views on her Tick Tock account she is co-captain of the varsity tennis team with the highest GPA and represented the State of Florida at the Congress of future medical leaders she's a National Merit semi-finalist president of the National Honor Society and member of the English Honor Society Mu Alpha Theta and the Spanish Honor Society Julia is chairperson and Ambassador with youth Health leadership Tallahassee is active with volunteer Leon at the public library and service project chair with the Red Cross Club congratulations Julia and the runner-up in the business category is Lucille Lucy Whitehead of McClay School Lucy owns her own cooking service Lucy's kitchen where she cooks Gourmet three-course meals and weekly meal prep she is a Maclay student ambassador on the Leadership Council vice president of the student United Way president of the junior classical League she's a member of the National Honor Society Tallahassee Youth Orchestra and president of the Maclay book club Lucy has been recognized with the Lomax teal award for outstanding Junior the college board's National African-American recognition program and volunteers at the Big Bend Homeless Coalition congratulations Lucy foreign ER in the business category is Kalyn Jean-Louis of Florida state university schools Kalyn is founder and CEO of her business kalin's caring connection whose mission is to support children and single parent families and who's helped to raise forty five hundred dollars to supply them with backpacks toys food and gift cards she's a she's the boss honoree from the she Academy is a Tallahassee Democrat five young women to watch and was named the capital outlooks young entrepreneur of the year she is a member of future Business Leaders of America Spanish Honor Society and the Junior League of Tallahassee teen board she sits on the youth Advisory board for the Geeks and Gramps program has her own radio show and podcast Kalin serves as the president of the Tallahassee Police youth citizens advisory Council the Junior League of Tallahassee teen board and is the youth president of the Life Changers Church of Christ and chapter president of the Florida High future Business Leaders of America congratulations to Kalyn and all the business category followers congratulations Kayla so in the business world the businesses really do like to be able to involve people in the community services we see from many of the businesses helping here today what have you learned from what you've done now that you would be able to help succeed in the business world while I've learned many lessons in the business world I think the top three things I would tell to others is that through community service one you learn determination to continue to keep pushing because when you're able to give back you see that your difference is actually making an impact in others lives my second thing I would say is if your heart is truly in it then your Outreach will be greater and when you are in business it is really important that you make sure you lead with your passion and number three in the business world I've learned that as long as you make connections and you truly are there for your community you will succeed congratulations Career Source Florida is proud to recognize the best and brightest 2023 Award winners in the Career Technical category an honorable mention goes to thunmay haldia of Rickards High School funmay has earned several Awards in Computing olympiads for programming including first place with his team at the national algorithms competition he is in the Florida State University Young Scholars Program where he designed algorithms to control robotic arm movement for the elderly and disabled he is a two-time American Invitational National mathematics examination qualifier is Vice President of rickard's Mu Alpha Theta and Secretary of the Florida Association thunmay is the co-founder of viral Tech a peer-to-peer tuition-free tutoring Network president of the programming club and co-director of the Rickards Invitational hosting 800 students congratulations Sunday and the runner-up in the career category is Julian Barrios of Leon High School Julian has received the National Registry of food safety professionals manager certification competes in a Statewide culinary competition and has prepared large Banquets through the Leon culinary arts program he was awarded the American Legion award for Scholastic excellence and the president's award for outstanding academic Excellence he is the outstanding Cadet leadership award recipient and was also presented with the College Board Hispanic recognition award Julian is the Battalion Commander for the JROTC with responsibility for discipline of all Cadets he tutors math at Cobb Middle School and assists teachers with curriculum and classroom organization congratulations Julian and the winner of the Career Technical category is Heaven ward of McClay School Heaven is a teaching assistant in the academic Resource Center as head tutor and manager she tutors English and math and Quincy with immigrant families and also leads a freshman student overnight Retreat as a McClay student ambassador and counselor she is a varsity weightlifting and track and field competitor recipient of the American Youth Foundation National leadership award and is the Glee Club fundraising chair She was recently named student of the semester is the English Department teaching assistant in the mark program and a member of the moo Alpha Theta and Spanish honor societies congratulations to heaven and all of the Career Technical category winners congratulations Heaven thank you so the career category a lot of careers are being taught in schools now and that is a great future so what have you been able to learn in school that you think you're going to be able to apply that everyone can apply in their careers I think one of the best things I've learned at McClay that you can apply to any career and just see your life in general is to learn how to build responsibility perseverance and Grace you need all three to succeed and have balance in your life responsibility I learned is not something that can just be a liability but such an asset to you you need to have Grace for yourself as you go through your journey through life and know that there are steps that you may take for and backwards but regardless they're all worth it and I think that perseverance is good because none of us are 100 24 7 but having perseverance is ambition and determination and those things will take you very far congratulations Evan Ron Sachs and gay Webster sacks are proud to recognize the best and brightest 2023 Award winners in the drama category they are an honorable mention to elspeth Ann Abbott of Florida state university schools else Beth Anne is a featured dancer in many of the school performances and is active in the Florida High chorus she has received numerous diamond and platinum Awards in dance competition and first place at Nationals she volunteers at the Quincy Music Theater and young actors theater she helps Conley Elementary's school ese students is a certified Zumba instructor for the teachers and is a certified nursing assistant on the TCC President's List else bethan is a Girl Scout a four-year member of the student astronaut Challenge and the National Honor Society president and a camp surfing counselor for children congratulations espa fan the runner-up in the drama category is Meryl Webster of McClay School thank you Merrill is a Tallahassee Dance Academy principal dancer and received best technical execution and team Choice Awards she is in national French Honor Society the Quillen scroll journalism Honor Society Key Club and is a student ambassador she is print editor-in-chief of the Maclay newspaper and their member of the year she's also the co-sponsorship chair of dance Marathon Merrill has volunteered over 250 hours with the springtime Tallahassee bells and gents organization where she is Miss Congeniality and she is an assistant teacher at a dance camp for two summers with kindergartners and first graders congratulations Meryl and the winner in the drama category is Jenna John of Rickards High School foreign is the lead student director of the Pangea cultural festival and choreographed and performed in a K-pop dance group as a violinist and pianist she has volunteered at educational and charity events and is the Tallahassee Korean Baptist church youth worship leader and event coordinator she's a quest Bridge National College match recipient National Honor Society president president of Rickards Model United Nations team and class director of Key Club Jenna participated in over 400 hours in Teen Court and received the distinguished service and leadership awards she is a student producer of wfsu's 4-1-1 teen and an assistant teacher and volunteer with the Tallahassee Korean language School congratulations to Jenna and all of the drama winners thank you congratulations Jenna so it takes an incredible amount of work that obviously you have done in performance and in the different type of Arts so what advice can you give the students that want to keep up with their studies keep involved and still be dynamic on the stage the biggest obstacle that students face when they're wanting to pursue or get involved in drama and Performing Arts or any of the other Arts is the time commitment I know when I first told my parents that I wanted to be a part of my first drama production they asked me are you sure because I had a lot of other stuff going on but I think it's important for students but also for parents to understand that you don't just learn how to sing and dance on the stage you learn how to time manage and you also learn a lot of crucial skills which I think would be communication and collaborating with the other students and um producers that you're working with so just go for it and it'll all work out congratulations foreign media is proud to recognize the best and brightest 2023 Award winners in the English and language arts category the honorable mention goes to Leah Pagan of Lincoln High School Leah has received top scores on AP English language composition exams along with five other AP exams she is a national recognition scholar received the principles award each year and is a competitive dancer getting double platinum and platinum on solo and group dance she is a counselor at Swift Swift Creek middle school science camp and volunteers at the Advent day parish and killaran Sunshine Academy during the summer Leah has interned twice for the Tallahassee writers association and created a workshop for developing songwriting through poetry congratulations Leah the runner-up in the English and language arts category is Emily Taylor of Rickards High School Emily created and led the creative writing Club at records which published a book of writings during covid she was a varsity swimmer for two years and is attending Tallahassee Community College's dual enrollment for sorry enrollment program with her writings to appear in their literary magazine she was a girl scout and has volunteered her artistic talents to the Gadsden Art Museum where they displayed her work and she has helped build bunk beds with sleep in Heavenly peace Emily is part of the Latin club and receives State Awards in Regional models and impromptu art and she has assisted counselors over the summer at molab camp on stem and art activities congratulations Emily and the winner of the English and language arts category is Camille racavage of Leon High School Camille is an AP scholar with distinction is active in the National English Honor Society and published a Blog on her Mission experiences with education equals hope organization she is a member of youth leadership Tallahassee class 18 a co-leader of the Leon versus cancer fundraiser raising more than 436 thousand dollars for the Tallahassee Memorial Health Care Cancer Center she is interact service Club president pyurian National Honor Society Treasurer community service committee head of Leon's Student Government Association and is involved with global philanthropy leaders Camille founded and led the big event Junior by organizing students to volunteer a day of service in the community to local non-profits congratulations Camila and all the winners congratulations Camille okay and all this world of tick tock and Twitter and Instagram and all those social medias why do you think it's important for young people to continue to read and to write and work on their skills um while social media is very powerful I don't think it compares to the power of the English language and what it can accomplish especially for good I believe that reading books encourages people to form their own individual opinions rather than blindly following others or saying on Tick Tock and Twitter and all those social media platforms uh additionally I think that having good writing skills facilitates good communication which can foster closer communities and just better relationships congratulations the Tallahassee Democrat is proud to recognize the best and brightest 2023 Award winners in the journalism category an honorable mention goes to Robert RJ Jose of McClay School RJ worked as the sports editor business manager and is now the online editor-in-chief of the school newspaper he is a scholar athlete and captain of the soccer team with a federation referee license and was ranked seventh in the state in his junior year in Snatch weightlifting he is a member of the science National Honor Society Mu Alpha Theta Key Club and the Quillen scroll International Honor Society for journalists RJ volunteered as a Maclay Ambassador and was instrumental in the newspaper receiving recognition by the Florida Scholastic press association with the all Florida award congratulations RJ the runner-up in the journalism category is Shania Brown of Godby High School Shania is the chief editor for the Godby yearbook and treasurer for the National Honor Society she serves as senior class representative on the student government Association and volunteered with the longest table she filled two filmed 200 hours of the girls basketball team and the football team for the coaches footage review and game improvement as team captain Shania contacted a Tallahassee Democrat journalist to highlight the need for support for the Godby swim team and saw the impact of public storytelling with the team receiving ten thousand dollars in donations from the community congratulations Shania and the winner in the journalism category is Kristen hood or family Kristen is a four-year staff member of the yearbook and is Adobe Photoshop certified she is active in the school theater and performing arts program president of the Beta Club and a Comcast rule your future steam Symposium delegate she is a Tallahassee Future Leaders Academy student at the FAMU School of Journalism and graphic communication and is a battalion commander of the junior officer training Corps Kristen is president of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority Youth Empowerment Summit president of the FAMU developmental research School Future Farmers of America chapter member of youth leadership Tallahassee class 18 and co-secretary of the cultivating Queen service organization congratulations Kristen and all of the winners thank you as we listen to It's a Wonderful World congratulations Kristen so there's so much going on in the world if you were gonna do some research and publicize different ideas on what's going on where would you want to do it as a journalist I have a passion to highlight not only black stories but stories that investigate education and education reform congratulations thank you Sperry and Associates is proud to recognize the best and brightest 2023 Award winners in the leadership category an honorable mention goes to Catherine Katie Roth of sale High School Katie is a member of the student government Association and serves as head of the fundraising and community outreach committee she is on the honor roll and a medallion award recipient for outstanding citizenship and is a peer mentor for the barrier Busters Club she partnered with the National Alliance on Mental Illness to provide resources for students and represented sale on wfsu's 4-1-1 radio program Katie founded the school's random act of kindness club and organized student volunteers for many non-profits in the community congratulations Katie the runner-up in the leadership category is neoteria Florida State University schools Nia has been awarded the MLK dreamers endures is on the academic high honor roll for four consecutive years serves as president of building incredible generations and launched the school's first black history program she's a member of the student council National Spanish Honor Society maglab youth advisory Council and a member of The Varsity soccer team she is a member of youth leadership Tallahassee class 18. that was quite a class and the Leadership Council for peace Jam Nia has volunteered over 700 hours to all these school and non-profit organizations and is one of the Tallahassee Democrats five young women to watch congratulations Nia and the winner of the leadership category is Amaya Wayman of Rickards High School Amaya is an active member of the National Honor Society Student Government Association president black history brain Bowl National Achievers society and the United Way student board president she created the girl flow project to address period product inequality and received recognition from the Leon County School Board and a proclamation for her service from the Leon County Board of County Commissioners she's a girl scout Gold Award recipient a member of youth leadership Tallahassee class 18 and an oasis Center for Women and girls youth board member Amaya has dedicated over 1 000 hours in those schools School clubs and also with teen Court Zeta youth auxiliaries and the Florida House of Representatives page program and is the 2023 Miss Black USA Florida talented teen congratulations foreign so it takes a lot of small steps to get a big goal accomplished what motivates you to create the change and make a difference in our school and our community I'm motivated to create change because I know how to impact others but not so much just impact others but Inspire others but most importantly I've learned to be motivated to create change in the classroom in the community but always doing it with the right character thank you congratulations thank you Hub International is proud to recognize the best and brightest 2023 Award winners in the mathematics category an honorable Dimension goes to Rachel Bethke of McClay School Rachel is unable to be here tonight because she is competing in the state track meet but let's hear a little bit about Rachel's involvement anyway she is captain of the only competing all-female student astronaut Challenge and serves on the student council and computer science National Honor Society she is on the McClay volleyball all academic team was an all Big Ben first team Sprinter last year and placed seventh in the National Junior Olympic 400 meter race she is the online manager of mcclay's Notes From The Underground literary journal and writes code for their website Rachel volunteers as a referee at volleyball tournaments in Florida and Georgia and serves as an Accolade at St Peter's Anglican cathedral we wish Rachel another championship at State tonight the runner-up in the mathematics category is Wesley Chen of Childs High School Wesley is a five-time American Invitational mathematics examination qualifier and is secretary of the coding Club he is a National Merit semi-finalist and placed in several Regional and state math competitions and serves as president of Mu Alpha Theta and Secretary of the inter-club council he plays Florida elite club soccer and participated in the 2022 young scholars science and math programs at fsu's College of Engineering Wesley helped organize the child's mini moo competition and tutor students each week and is also an instructor at Mathnasium congratulations Wesley and the winner in the mathematics category is Karthik vedula of Rickards High School Karthik placed third in the nation in the 2022 Harvard MIT math tournament in the geometry Division and seventh overall he was second in the nation in the USA math Olympiad he presented research at the 2023 joint mathematical meeting and writes questions as the head organizer for the Rickards Invitational he is president of the Florida Student Association of mathematics Rickards Mu Alpha Theta and the language and Linguistics club and is Vice President of the programming Club Karthik taught classes to middle school students in Saudi Arabia as a certified teacher for daily challenge teaching and volunteers with Fairview Middle School students as well as tutoring students at records congratulations to Karthik and all the winners thank you congratulations Karthik so math that's always a fun one so why do you think math is important but importantly also is how are you going to help the struggling students yeah so math is prevalent in almost every single field whether it's architecture or design or any science really like physics biology and so on and that's why math is so useful and it's worth learning math whichever profession you decide decide to go into and as for the second part of the question of how do you help struggling students well one one way is to really encourage them to ask questions because asking questions is the best form and most instructive form of learning because when you ask questions you learn more about your weaknesses and you can turn those into your strengths great thank you the best and brightest 2023 Award winners in the music category are an honorable mention to jelana Edwards of Godby High School foreign was awarded best sophomore in band as the co-section leader for trumpet and Rose to drum major her Junior and senior years she is a multiple AV honor roll achiever is Autodesk certified and received her certification in phlebotomy at Lively Technical College she has earned five Superior medals for solo and Ensemble performances and was invited to sit in the All-State honor band jelana has volunteered 100 hours with the Godby band camp teaching students how to play their instruments learn marching Concepts and teaching the band techniques at a Leadership Camp congratulations jelana the runner-up in the music category is Emma Rogers of Leon High School Emma is a member of Leon's concert symphonic and jazz bands playing the flute clarinet and trumpet she has received straight superiors in state symphonic band competitions and is a member of Leon's nationally ranked symphonic band she is the try music chapter of the National Music Honor Society and is the senior drum major for the marching Redcoats representing the band in all official capacities Emma is a founding member of the national mag lab youth Advisory Board and volunteered as a molab camp counselor in training congratulations Emma and the winner of the music category is Brandon Bordeaux of Childs High School Brandon has been awarded the most outstanding musician every year at Childs and serves as historian for the band he is certified in media production and photo and video editing and uses the skill with his musical Endeavors he has performed for thousands of people in parades in theater pits and for children in elementary and middle schools he is the principal horn player in the Tallahassee youth Symphony and serves on their student board he is learning the cello and Orchestra to further his career as a music teacher Brandon is the child's head drum major committing over 200 hours instructing the band as their student leader congratulations Brandon and all of the winners thank you congratulations we're so proud of you give us some ideas of why you think it is so important to include music in our extracurricular activities and our academics and our learning pleasure well I think we all know the answer to that question and sitting right here at the piano we wouldn't have an event I've never been to an event where there's during an Applause there's a piano playing which by the way takes so much skill to time it with the start in the stop very great piano player and you deserve recognition congratulations well one other thing is that in this world there's a lot of hardships politically and socially and things of that nature but music is the one thing that can bring the whole world together of all genders ages and all of that nature so I think music is important for everybody so it can bring everyone together thank you the best and brightest 2023 Award winners in the public speaking category are an honorable mention to Mary Grace slimp of Community Christian School Mary Grace has been on the principles list for every semester of her High School career she was on the golf team in the National Honor Society and her Outreach Ministry has been to serve locally as well as doing Mission work in South Dakota her junior year she was awarded the honor Citation for Extraordinary performance of an honorable act which is given out annually to one student Mary Grace has volunteered over 150 hours at the Seminole Baptist Church as their children's leader and the youth girls Bible study leader and 200 hours operating the cameras to stream Services during the covid shutdown congratulations Mary Grace the runner-up in the public speaking category is Lauren price of McClay School Lauren has a letter of commendation from the National Merit Scholars and is a National Honor Society member she is editor of mcclay's Notes From The Underground literary journal concert band student director jazz band director music Club president and the Glee Club vice president she served as a student ambassador for Maclay and volunteered 180 hours for dance Marathon at FSU with speaking engagements and activities as a Childhood cancer survivor Lauren's new role as Champion for the Children's Miracle Network at Shands Hospital has her traveling the state and sharing her story to help help raise funds for the program congratulations Lauren Henry and the winner of the public speaking category is shubham Dixit of Rickards High School shubham is founder and president of the speech and debate club and president and captain of the brain Bowl Club is a four-time national quiz tournament Championship qualifier he was captain of the swim team and a two-time state champion finalist he is self-taught in sign language to communicate better with deaf friends and made videos as a motivational speaker on teen well-being he won first place in Florida for the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship startup pitch and was an outstanding delegate in the model United Nations and boys state and served as City Commissioner Rick Miner's summer youth intern shubham volunteered hundreds of hours at his Hindu temple for weekly help on the communication systems and leading prayers he served with the India Association of Tallahassee on cultural programming and organizing a city-wide annual quiz competition congratulations shubham and all of the winners congratulations number one Fear public speaking how have you overcome it and can you give any tips you know it's really uh funny my friends and I were talking about this for and it'd be really ironic if I messed this up um but um okay I'll give you two tips one is slightly less serious and one is serious the slightly set less serious tip would be to drink some water which I have not done so my throat is really parched right now and the act of licking your lips 30 times does not really help um and the second uh which is a serious tip and I'd like to start with a quote from Mark Twain and he said there's two types of speakers in this world there's the nervous and then there's the liars everyone is nervous and I can confidently affirm that's true um in order to speak effectively you need to become one with your audience and I know that sounds like a really Zen meditation type of technique that's not true that's what you have to do here you're not the one Speaking the audience is the one that wants to hear you speak you need a a custom your audience you gotta speak to what your audience is actually interested in and that means reading the room and by reading the room I can tell you that in around 10 seconds you guys will start to become bored um so I'm gonna start and uh end right here thank you so much congratulations get together Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare is proud to recognize the best and brightest 2023 Award winners in the science and health category an honorable mention goes to Ann osterhaus of Leon High School Anne is an AP scholar with distinction and attended the FSU College of Medicine stride summer Institute program receiving the heart race award she is a National Merit semi-finalist president of Mu Alpha Theta Honor Society historian of the science National Honor Society the Latin club and is a city lifeguard she volunteers at St Peter's Anglican cathedral young life and the interact club and lions United and was an instrumental leader for four years of Leon's dance marathon and as morale captain and part of the team to win the national award for best Marathon congratulations Anne and the runner-up in the science and health category is Cyrus nadazade of child's High School Cyrus is Vice President of Mu Alpha Theta president of Science Olympiad and the pre-med Club he is a four-year member and recent captain of the state champion swim team and recipient of the 2022 Rural and small town recognition award he is a National Merit commended scholar three-time American International math exam qualifier and co-director of helping hand tutoring Cyrus co-founded the Alzheimer's and Dementia awareness club and was selected to assist in the Wilbur Lab at FSU psychology department he applied his knowledge from there to volunteer at the Azalea Memory Center congratulations Cyrus and the winner in the science and health category is Ariba Ahmed of Rickards High School Ariba earns certification as a nursing assistant and was selected as a member of the Executive Board of the National Youth Advisory board for the Harvard graduate schools making care common research group she is a member of summa [ __ ] laude Society vice president of students working against tobacco a woman in stem Mentor medalist in many Science Olympiad events and is a 2022 poetry contest winner she designed a course Food For Thought where she mentors over 300 hours at Fairview Middle School held a book drive at Palmer Monroe teen center and a clothing drive for disadvantaged youth Ariba co-founded the culture and Humanities club and the kindness Squad she has dedicated over 1 000 hours during high school with dance Marathon English tutoring during covid Key Club American Red Cross and the youth Health leadership program congratulations to Ariba and all of the winners thank you foreign s so the world of science surrounds itself with research and Discovery and lots and lots of trying to find out the quest of the knowledge of how to solve something so is there a particular Focus that you want to pursue in medicine yeah for sure so in my community in the work that I've done I've noticed that there are extreme barriers and disparities that are inherent in our Health Care system is specifically in Tallahassee and so in in pursuing medicine I'd like to be able to provide patients with care no matter what their needs are and no matter where what resources they have available to them and do so in a compassionate patient-centered way thank you Leon County government is proud to recognize the best and brightest 2023 Award winners in the social science category an honorable mention goes to Kalia Pearson of FAMU Kalia excelled in every social science course offered at FAMU developmental research school all while holding a managerial job outside school hours she's active with student government Association is captain of the cheerleading squad and serves on the school-wide black history Bowl team she was selected Queen of the orange and green the MayDay representative and the cheerleading representative of the homecoming Court Khalia created PSAs to educate teens working over the summer and helped organize the black history month program for three years straight congratulations Kalia and the runner-up in the social science category is Alyssa malacheski of Lincoln High School foreign mock trial team leader and AP scholar with distinction recipient of the principals award for three years and the National Honor Society she is the Varsity Cheer senior leader the Key Club Treasurer and the chorus leadership historian social media manager and event manager she served as historian and parliamentarian of the Latin club receiving a gold medal in the summa [ __ ] laude National Latin exam and multiple Regional and state Awards Alyssa organized a service project at the Carney Center volunteered to renovate a community center in New Orleans with Good Shepherd Church as the youth leadership team group congratulations Alyssa and the winner of the social science category is Danny Alex of Rickards High School Danny is an AP scholar with distinction a member of the National Honor Society and was the closing ceremony speaker at the student science training program at the University of Florida he is co-captain of the varsity tennis team and state doubles court quarter-finalist and he's the co-president of the speech and debate team he was the junior representative and Model United Nations with verbal commendations and is the chemistry captain in the Science Olympiad receiving rankings in state and National competitions Danny has volunteered 250 hours through the malayali association of Tallahassee and has served as the MC at functions celebrating the traditions of India he also helped with over 150 hours organizing a program to connect seniors during covid for Elder Care Services congrats congratulations Danny and all of the winners thank you congratulations Danny so the government the media has put a lot of emphasis on stem so you have won in the social sciences can you give us some ideas of how we can still keep the emphasis on the social sciences for the future of course I mean today it's obvious that stem is very prevalent in our society as an aspiring physician like these fields are so important to understand however we must continue you know researching the social sciences because it's the people in this world that make it go around and so in order to shape a better future for all of us we must continue to research the complex issues that are prevalent in our society thank you congratulations Comcast is proud to recognize the best and brightest 2023 Award winners in the technology category an honorable mention goes to Jackson [ __ ] Camp of Maclay School Jackson founded the McClay film school and served as a production assistant on two FSU College of Motion Picture Arts student Productions he is active with the Quillen scroll International Honor Society the Spanish Honor Society and the [ __ ] laude Society he is a student ambassador a summer camp counselor a JV basketball player and a group leader of Fellowship of Christian athletes Jackson has volunteered over 80 hours at McClay live streaming events and created short advertisements for the citizens for responsible spending he is in the Key Club and is a talented artist and vocalist congratulations Jackson the runner-up in the technology category is Grace Tran of Leon High School Grace taught herself how to use 3D print files and ticker CAD software by designing formulas and creating codes to build model objects and she externed at the national mag lab she is President and a top winner in the state French Competition winner of the 2021 Florida housing Statewide art contest interact member and co-founder of Leon's health and wellness club she is an academic Athlete on the golf team a Capstone scholar educating students on skin cancer prevention and is active as a Good Shepherd life teen leader and with Leon's Student Government Association Grace designed the winning Rotary Club commemorative pin competition she is a Girl Scout Gold Award recipient for service over 10 years and is a winner of the bulletnikov scholarship award congratulations Grace and the winner of the technology category is shruthi sentil of Rickards High School shruthi was one of the 93 students worldwide in the prestigious MIT research Science Institute internship she is a student intern and web developer with the University of Florida Plant Pathology Department she is active with stem for girls a co-founder of the Fairview math camps and received numerous Awards in National and international science and engineering competitions in robotics and plant health research she is the 2021 winner in the Florida second congressional district professional app Challenge and is active in school with the Leon County student District advisory Council Key Club and peace Jam shruthi is founder and executive director of Buddy knit non-profit that establishes peer relationships between Middle High and college students with Title 1 schools she has raised twenty five thousand dollars for stem projects and mentorship and expanding a buddy knit chapter in Pensacola's School District congratulations to shruthi and all of the technology planners please congratulations come on over here so technology has really changed a lot my generation and now to your generation so what do you think the future is going to take with house technology going to be for the next generation so we all know that the future of technology is AI but many of us think of it as some demonic Force that's sort of threatening our jobs but in reality AI has the power to gleam insights from human knowledge and things that we've discovered on our own democratizing that knowledge for those where there's less access to the sort of subject matter expertise and I think that AI would really benefit us in raising the Baseline for where our accomplishments can stem from and especially impact those in Grassroots areas thank you congratulations and finally the best and brightest 2023 Award winners in the world language category are an honorable mention to Theresa Morgado of McClay School Teresa is a gold level winner on the national Latin exam and placed second in the junior classical League State forum and advanced Latin vocabulary for three Summers she volunteered in Portugal collecting excess food donations to distribute to 50 families back at home she promoted food drives through mcclay's student United Way as their chair she is a National Merit semi-finalist and a member of the national Spanish recognition program National Science Honor Society and founder of the Science Olympiad team Teresa has volunteered over 200 hours through the Multicultural awareness Club performed in theater and children's choruses and served as president of the student council congratulations Teresa and the runner-up in the world languages category is Ryan Williams of Leon High School Ryan has completed three years of study of the Chinese language and enjoys mentoring students through the National Honor Society as a varsity volleyball player she received the scholar athlete award for three years and was recommended for the AP Capstone program she is a national African-American recognition scholar and a trium music Honor Society active member of the melodier's advanced chorus Ryan has volunteered over 230 hours refereeing for volleyball tournaments and learned life-saving skills through the FSU College of Medicine summer Institute program congratulations Ryan and the winner in the world languages category is Colleen Brynn Cintron of Childs High School foreign is the child's 2022 AP World Language Department Award winner with courses in Latin and Spanish she is a principal dancer in the Padre Ballet company and as a recipient of the Seal of bi-literacy she's used her skills as a translator while attending the Orlando and Sarasota ballet initiative intensives during the Summers she is a Model United Nations board member co-president of the Spanish National Honor Society and vice president of the interact Club Brent has volunteered over 400 hours helping translate and tutor Spanish helped at the Kearney Center and performed for the community as an AP scholar with distinction congratulations to Brynn and all of the winners thank you congratulations Bren people study different languages for many reasons why did you select Spanish and can you tell us some opportunities that it has been given to you by that so my dad grew up in Puerto Rico so I grew up speaking Spanish fluently and wanted to deepen my understanding of the language and doing so has given me the opportunity to connect with the local school and Global communities through community service and the Performing Arts congratulations I would like to ask all of the best and brightest students on stage to stand up as we congratulate you one more time for your four years of study and involvement we know the best is yet to come for you please take your seats and now I would like to ask Sam Rogers with the best and brightest committee to join his wife Laura on stage right behind you well we've kind of come to the end but we got a couple more left including a big one here um over the last 18 years the best and the brightest has recognized over 2 579 High School seniors some of which are sitting here on stage and others are out in life in college um all of these students reflect a solid academic achievement leadership with a special emphasis on community service for the past 12 years an additional award was presented on top of the winners who truly exemplified the spirit of the best and brightest through their deep commitment to community service and civic duty this award is to honor our son Brooks Rogers who tragically lost his life in an automobile accident his commitment to community service and his passion for life exemplifies the EXP the spirit in the best and the brightest because of the generosity of the Tallahassee Community after his death a scholarship fund was established to benefit the best and brightest recipients this recognition has been an exciting culmination of the awards program with a twenty five hundred dollar scholarship awarded to the person and student who exemplifies that spirit the winner is selected among the 45 honorable mentions runners-ups and winners in each category the recipient of the spirit of best and brightest truly exemplifies what it means to have passion for service and giving back to the community so let's talk a little bit about our winner this year this person has maintained their academics Excellence over the past four years and has maintained a 4.0 in studies even with remote learning they have engaged in community outreach that directly impacts the homeless the hungry the poor veterans young women and girls this person was a leader on her schools Student Government Council a member of youth leadership Tallahassee an active member on at least seven boards and an advocate for Women's Health she has raised over twenty thousand dollars and spent over nine hundred hours in her high school years putting together donated items and care packages for a program she founded this year's winner of the spirit of the best and brightest exemplifies wisdom far beyond her years she says I want others to know that they can be bold and bright it's important to know that you can accomplish anything in the community despite the odds the a in Amaya stands for accomplishing goals and the winner is Amaya Wayman congratulations wait there's more because our students are so generous with their talents and time we have an additional recognition for the spirit winner will Josie Tamayo Chief Executive Officer of volunteer Florida please join us on stage and thank you everyone and what a wonderful evening and it is really an honor and a privilege to be here as CEO of volunteer Florida to see all these wonderful students that are engaged in our community to make the lives of all our Floridians better and I will tell you it takes a moment to be in service it takes a lifetime to complete it and it is that service that we continue on every day so as you know volunteer Florida is the state Florida's lead Agency for national service volunteerism promoting Service as a solution to some of our communities most critical issues and needs the volunteer Florida team which I am most privileged to lead seizes opportunities to recognize those who selflessly dedicate their time and talents to help their communities the Bold change makers who stand up and step out for causes they believe in those who are making Florida are Florida a better place to live work raise a family and be more resilient clearly all the students in this room embody the highest level of community and Civic engagement most especially of Maya weyman in the past four years alone Amaya has performed more than 900 hours of service to our local community 900 hours she could have spent in any other way 900 hours she could have spent living her best life in high school and she committed them to the service of others she's volunteered through Zeta youth auxiliaries the national Achievers Society Teen Court Oasis Center for Women and girls the Girl Scouts I'm a former Girl Scout so awesome and founded her on non-profit to facilitate donations and address period poverty with the girl flow project Amaya is actively improving the lives of those around her while learning new skills gaining experiences and enriching her whole life by advocating on the local and state level for those in need she is an inspiration of volunteerism and civic responsibility on behalf of volunteer Florida I am thrilled to present to Amaya the volunteer Florida excellence in volunteerism award in honor of her outstanding and exemplary service congratulations Amaya okay as we close tonight I want to say a special thank you to Laura Rogers who has been the heart of the best and brightest program for 18 years now and just want to thank you thank you all for attending tonight's special 18th anniversary celebration of the best and brightest the awards are now as old as many of you on stage and to add to the excitement of this evening we have for you an early edition of the full color 64-page insert from the Tallahassee Democrat which will be included in tomorrow's newspaper including everyone with a subscription and all the the Rack sales this is a commemorative printing highlighting all the finalists with articles about the top winners please get a few copies from the volunteers at the doors on your way outside of Westcott Fountain also middle school principals can pick up their school certificates for their finalists at the student check encounter and there are checks ready for pickup by all the high school best and brightest finalists at the check encounter as well as we say good night a heartfelt congratulations to all of our finalists from everyone involved in best and brightest Awards you make us proud a hearty thank you to our sponsors for providing them with scholarships making this event possible sustaining it for 18 years and to everyone please have a safe night we will see you again next year thank you come on