Gretchen Everhart School

Happy first day of school! This year, our transition program is helping to reorganize the Owl Mart so that we can have a grand re-opening for our students. The Owl Mart is our school shop where students can use the Owl Bucks they earn for following the school rules to buy little toys, snacks, etc. We are asking for any gently used donations to help keep our shop running. Here is a list of items that are great for the Owl Mart:

clothing (t-shirts, stretchy shorts/pants, comfy clothes)
seasonal items (unbreakable please)
purses/bags
hats (baseball caps are a favorite)
accessories (sunglasses etc.)
snacks (chips, cookies, gummies)
books (kids books)
sensory toys/fidgets
art supplies
toys
stuffed animals
owl items

Donations can be left at the front office between the hours of 8:00 and 5:00. Thank you for your help with this! Go Owls!

It's National Blueberry Muffin Day today so our transition classrooms came together to make some blueberry muffins. We made regular blueberry muffins and also cheesecake blueberry muffins. They were fun to make, yummy to smell, and delicious to eat! So delicious that there wasn't time to take a picture of the students eating them :)

Our transition classes made tie dye shirts this week and got to show them off today! We are loving these colors :)

We had Fun Day today and we think our students had a pretty great time! We had a water slide to go down, several small pools to chill in, our very own "car wash", and snacks like popcorn, cotton candy, and snow cones. It was a wet and wild day!

Congratulations to our 2024 Gretchen Everhart graduates! We celebrated these students last night at graduation and even though it was a small group, we celebrated big!

Special thanks goes to Brenda Rice for being our commencement speaker, Superintendent Rocky Hanna who spoke to the graduates, school board member Laurie Lawson Cox for coming out to support our students, the Magnolia School for bringing some of their students to sing, and to Generations Church where the graduation took place. Thank you for your time and well wishes!

Congrats, Owls!!

Since we still had all of our glow in the dark decor up from prom last week, we decided to have an end of the year dance for our elementary and middle school students. Everyone loved all the neon! It was a fun time for all :)

Our high school and transition students celebrated prom on Friday and boy did they "glow" all out! We had a glow in the dark theme this year and it really was a hit. Students enjoyed food from Raising Cane's for lunch and then broke it down on the dance floor. So much fun!

We are having our annual prom next Friday, May 3. Highschool and transition students are welcome to dress in formal or semi-formal attire.

Since our students get ready at school, we have a spa day for our female students and a men's den for our male students. We are looking for donations for the following items:

nail polish
hair clips
makeup
men's body spray
spray deodorant

We are having a glow in the dark prom, so bright and neon colors are encouraged :) Donated items may be brought to the front office. Thank you in advance and Glow Owls!!

We had one of our favorite days of the year at Everhart today: the day that some of the FSU Marching Chiefs come to visit and play for us! It is always so exciting for our students when they come and play. THANK YOU so much to each of the students and to David Plack for taking time out of your day to come out. It is always greatly appreciated and such a treat :)

We celebrated Inclusion Day today and it was a blast! Students and volunteers walked/jogged around before playing some fun games and listening to the Pyramid band, the Electric People, play. Many, many thanks to Kona Ice for providing some cold refreshments, the Electric People for performing their awesome tunes, students from the Magnolia School who volunteered, and some of the Leon High School football team for also volunteering. It was a fun time for all!

Now, on to Spring Break. Have a wonderful week off!

We are showing our appreciation ALL week for our staff that are not teachers during our, BEST WEEK EVER! Today every staff member was able to draw a prize which included gift cards, coffee, and other special gifts thanks to all of our wonderful families and community members that support our school.

Our Transition students are learning job and independent functioning skills to help them learn how to be even more independent. They really enjoy the vacuuming skills!

Enjoyed seeing many of our students and former students at the Night to Shine Prom this past month. Doesn't Camden look sharp! So much fun to dress up and dance!

Our Transition students have been growing some pretty amazing vegetables and herbs! Check it out!

A big THANK YOU to Dr. Isaac Montilla for serving as our Principal of the Day through the Leon County School Foundation. We had lots of fun and hope he did too! We were able to share the unique features of our school and students and the great accomplishments we make each and everyday where Everyone is EXCEPTIONAL! (We discovered that Principal Dr. Isaac is pretty exceptional too!)

Very proud of our Students of the Month! Congratulations to Luke and Carolina!

So proud of Evan! He is our Elementary Student of the Month! His Mom is also so proud of his accomplishments and is going to proudly display his sign at his house! Keep up the great work!

A BIG Thanks you to Vanessa Moore and the GFWC Sisters of Service Women's Club for their generous donation of gift bags for our students as they celebrated Valentine's Day! We appreciate their ongoing support of our school!

We celebrated Valentines Day on Tuesday by having our annual Valentines Day Dance! Our students had fun dancing, making Valentines, taking pictures, and playing with sensory boxes. Each student also got to take home a treat bag! Thank you to Vanessa Moore and GFWC Sisters of Service Women's Club for putting the bags together and also thank you to the students from FSU who came to volunteer with our students!

Some of our Transition and High School students enjoyed a CLAY activity today and were able to go to a local park where they walked the 1.1 mile loop around the pond, got to see birds, plants, planes and read information signs. There was a picnic / playground area that was also enjoyed. Lots of different choices for spending some quality recreation time.

Dylan loves the merchandise from Barbasol! He loves their shaving cream and when our Talgrotto contact notified them about how much he loved their product they sent him a shirt and a hat! Thank you Barbasol for making a young man very happy!

So proud of our newest Students of the Month! Congratulations to Faith and Joey! They are "Owlriffic"!

Congratulations to Robin Cave! She received a $500 grant from Envision Credit Unit to provide language instruction along with Cara Edenfield during cooking class! So proud of the great work they are doing with students! THANK YOU to Envision for supporting the work of our school!

Some of our students were able to support the Torch Icon Campaign for Special Olympics by making a visit to the Oak Valley Publix to thank them as sponsors! They even got to do some shopping!

A great BIG Thank you to Twyla Sketchley for the GREAT parent workshop on Guardianship! Thank you also to our Gretchen Everhart Foundation for helping us provide dinner and childcare. Lots of wonderful important information!

Here is your opportunity to get some cool Everhart swag!

Thank you SO MUCH to the Everhart Excellence Foundation for the wonderful indoor play equipment for our PreK students! They LOVE it!

Congratulations to Chloe our Middle School Student of the Month! So proud of her and all of her accomplishments!

Parents and Caregivers you don't want to miss this very informative meeting regarding Guardianship and preparing your child for the future. It is never too early to start making plans for the future.

For our final holiday hurrah our technology specialist, Jessica, created a Winter Wonderland in the lit lab for our students to enjoy. The ambience was beautiful and cozy and it was difficult to NOT want to hang out in there! Each classroom even got to decorate a Christmas tree or a snowman, which were all hung up for everyone to enjoy.

Have a wonderful break and we'll see everyone in 2024!