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Orange County school board honors students across chess, chess, STEM, culinary and esports competitions
Summary
The Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) board recognized dozens of students, teams and staff for state and national competition wins, scholarships and program milestones during a special recognition portion of the board meeting.
The Orange County Public Schools Board recognized students, teams and staff Thursday for wins in district, state and national competitions spanning Battle of the Books, chess, math, aviation/STEM, culinary arts and esports.
The recognition portion opened with Chair Jacobs and Superintendent Dr. Maria Vasquez thanking winners across age groups and programs and inviting school staff and student teams to the dais.
The board highlighted Battle of the Books winners Sunrise Elementary (elementary), Discovery Middle (middle) and Apopka High School (high).
Nancy Golden, program specialist for curriculum and digital learning, introduced winners from the OCPS chess tournament, noting 733 students from 78 schools competed. Golden named individual winners including Logan Kazmierzak (K–2, John Young Elementary), Bodie Herman (grades 3–5, Audubon Park) and Ashish Jagan (middle school, South Creek Middle). She also introduced the team champions, including Avalon Elementary (K–2), Audubon Park (grades 3–5), South Creek (middle school) and Lake Nona High School (high school).
The board also recognized math Olympic winners: Stone Lakes Elementary’s team won the district event that drew 156 participating students.
Olympia High School’s Aero Magic Flyers team was recognized for winning the state governance award at the 2024 World Design Challenge for a remotely piloted vehicle designed to aid firefighters. Coach John Rollerson introduced students and described roles on the team, including avionics, CAD and systems work.
Wekiwa High School’s culinary magnet program and director Chef Bates were recognized for national and state wins, scholarships and industry connections. Bates introduced multiple student teams: the ProStart culinary team (banana-split competition and state placements); the NASA competition team (second place nationally/internationally in its category); a ProStart restaurant-management team (state championships and national competition); and an Ecolab team that designed a competition-winning food truck to debut at the National Restaurant Show in Chicago. The board noted the culinary program’s seniors had earned more than $679,000 in scholarships this year.
District athletics staff also presented competitive esports teams from Dr. Phillips, Innovation and Timber Creek high schools. Lonnie Flores, district senior administrator of athletics and wellness services, introduced players and coaches for Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros. and Rocket League state championships and noted several students have received collegiate scholarships tied to esports participation.
The recognitions portion included brief remarks from board members praising students and coaches, and closed with photos and a short recess for team pictures.
The recognitions were ceremonial; no formal board policy or funding decisions were made during this segment.
