Local students "springing" to acclaim

Neely Yancey – Mustangs Ahead

(LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL) – The year 2017 has been quite successful for the Lakewood Ranch High School (LRHS) Mustangs so far. The school has brought in multiple wins and achievements in both sports and the arts since Jan. 1.

The Mustang boys basketball team lost to the Tampa Sickles in the state semifinals March 3, but still enjoyed their most successful season ever.

Coach Jeremy Schiller is very proud of his team.

“We have great kids who work hard and do their best to represent LRHS in a positive way,” said Schiller.

The boys soccer team brought in many wins as well. Coach Vito Bavaro credited his team’s hard work.

“I’m very proud to be a Mustang,” said Bavaro. “The boys team has never gone this far in the schools history. We are the first Manatee Public school to make it to a State Final.”

With multiple successes brought in from the athletics program, LRHS has also excelled in the arts. All four of the Mustang Choirs received ratings of “Excellent” or “Superior” at this year’s Music Performance Assessments (MPAs).

Chorus and guitar teacher Gisele Panagiotakis sees all of her chorus students as superior.

“I am extremely proud of them,” said Panagiotakis. “I am especially proud of my men’s choir, who started out rocky and most of them had never sung in choir before.”

The Mustang Chorus is in New York to perform at Carnegie Hall this weekend.

LRHS bands, meanwhile, earned a collection of Superior and Excellent MPA ratings.

LRHS’s drama program, the Mustang Players, are in to New York to perform “Exhibit of the Mind,” a play written and produced by the students themselves. Drama teacher Roxane Caravan is elated and very proud of their achievements.

“I think it’s been an incredible experience,” said Caravan. “I think for the kids there is this feeling that the things you feel are isolated and individual.”

While succeeding athletics and the arts, the school’s Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) also chalked up an accomplishment for LRHS. The program received a 97.25% on their JROTC Program Accreditation (JPA) for the year. This means that the battalion will keep their gold star until the following year.

While individual LRHS programs have collected achievements, the school as a whole this week learned a visiting accreditation team will recommend to AdvancEd that the school be re-accredited for the next five years. Accreditation means LRHS diplomas will be recognized nation-wide.

LRHS teacher and accreditation coordinator Anthony Cummins said the accreditation process also provides a course for improvement so LRHS can provide everything it can for its students.

“The goal of the accreditation is to seek a ‘continuous improvement’ model that alerts the school to what they are doing well as well as areas that are in need of improvement,” said Cummins. “It helps us better understand if what we are doing is working.”