Two local high schools welcomed new principals at the start of 2020. Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School brought Alexander Santoyo on board, and Miami Lakes Educational Center and Technical College welcomed Yaset Fernandez, both in the first week of January. Santoyo was previously a principal at Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Miami. He said he was very excited to join the Trojans after the winter break. “They were very...

Palm Spring North Elementary School’s STEM Space Club visited the Civil Air Patrol Opa-Locka Cadet Squadron on Jan. 18 for a water bottle model Rocketry Day. Club members built and successfully launched their rockets skyward. Shown above, left to right are Dr. Rossana Chiarella, STEM Space Club coach; Diego Bello; Samuel Guerra; Alex Gonzalez; Christian Bosch; Lucas Stock and Capt. Roberto Rodriguez, the Opa-Locka squadron’s aerospace...

Students from area schools performed at the Florida Music Education Association’s conference in Tampa, Fla. in January. Sabrina Scavuzzo of Miami Lakes K-8 Center, shown above with music teacher Sara Cino, played double bass with the All-State Middle School Orchestra. Below are Sienna Menendez, Jade Morejon and music teacher Alejandro Fuenmayor of Bob Graham Education Center; the students sang with the All-State Elementary Chorus. In the...

Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High’s marching band needed new instruments. So the school applied to the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, established by Michael Kamen. He composed the score for the 1995 film “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” about an inspirational composer turned music teacher. The foundation donates instruments to schools that can’t afford to replace what wears out. On Jan. 30, the foundation along with representatives from ticket reseller...

When eighth graders from Bob Graham Education Center competed at the Junior Orange Bowl VEX IQ Tournament in November, their teams won awards for documenting how to build a well-crafted robot in their engineering notebook. Those wins entitle the Robocats to compete at the South Florida State VEX IQ Middle School Tournament and at the 2020 CREATE U.S. Open Robotics Championship - VEX IQ - Middle School Division, in Iowa, both in March....