Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Student Recognition Partnerships topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Volusia recognizes student SALT advisory team, Futures nominees and Addition Financial partnership
Summary
The school board honored the superintendent’s SALT student advisory team, presented Futures Foundation support‑staff nominees and accepted a $10,000 gift from Addition Financial tied to a district debit‑card program.
The Volusia County School Board recognized student leaders and community partners at its April 22 meeting.
Superintendent Carmen Balgobin and district directors presented certificates to members of SALT, the superintendent’s Student Advisory Leadership Team, after students described their work representing schools across the district. "It is a leadership team that represents the different schools, but it also allows these students to feel more included," Lucas Gibbs, a SALT member from DeLand High School, told the board. Gibbs said SALT worked on PSAs and presented on topics including mental health; he cited a statistic presented by the student team that they said showed a "69 percent increase in student mental health issues since 2022." Riley Babcock of Atlantic High School said SALT had built problem‑solving and advocacy skills and had produced PSAs on program awareness and campus revitalization.
The board also accepted recognition from the Futures Foundation, which presented 18 support‑staff nominees across the district with certificates and $25 gift cards. Shamine Shepherd, executive director of the Futures Foundation, outlined the foundation’s grant and scholarship work and highlighted its 40‑year support for Volusia County Schools.
Addition Financial, a credit union partner, presented staff with a $10,000 contribution tied to a district debit‑card program that returns a small share of transactions to the district. Richard Barberi, director of community engagement at Addition Financial, described a program in which card use donates three cents per transaction back to the district; the district said the debit‑card program and Addition Financial sponsorship had generated $10,000 this year to support academies and other programs.
Board members praised student leadership and community partnerships and took photos with SALT members and Futures nominees. Superintendent Balgobin said the student work had been "invaluable to the work that we do."
