[Music] hello how are y'all I would like to welcome you to the 19th annual best and brightest award ceremony here in the lovely Ruby Diamond Auditorium we are truly so thankful for you to be here and our thoughts are with the schools the families and the students who've been impacted by the storms in our community this past week um tonight's ceremony we're going to honor some amazing contributions from leyon County's exemplary High School seniors both inside and outside the classroom the honorable mentions Runners up and winners are going to be announced this evening and this these students have set an example of academic success and their community service and they are constantly raising the bar for all of leyon County's students these seniors began their High School career with amended classes coming off the pandemic but that did not dampen their enthusiasm for learning in a new environment in a new format and being involved in different ways with the school programs and Athletics the Arts and service clubs our eighth graders have written inspiring essays on using their Democratic Voice through volunteering ISM you'll hear us describe what dedicated and thoughtful students they are they want to live a legacy and to inspire in individuals to become more selfless to take action and not a wait around for a change but to be that change all of these best and brightest finalists are dedicated excellent and humble first of all I'd like to thank our title sponsor Envision Credit Union Invision has supported the best and brightest Awards since its Inception in 2006 and helped award more than $958,000 to 3,368 12th and eighth grade students in leyon County Schools thank y'all there are many businesses that have helped make the best and brightest success these include the Tallahassee Democrat sax media Comcast Hub International spery construction Ron saxs and gayest Webster Sachs um Leon County Schools the city of Tallahassee Leon County government Florida Le of cities neighbors Giblin Nickerson attorneys at law nii talor Tallahassee Memorial healthc Care Florida Association of District school superintendent the beauty tude Foundation the family of Amy Nicole Sachs and AT&T their support has helped us award the school-based finalists with at least a $100 scholarship the overall categories will have each an honorable mention who will receive $500 Runners up will receive $750 and our winners tonight will be presented with a $1,500 cash SC scholarship in addition to the scholarships provided to each of the students world class schools which is the program of the greater Tassie Chamber of Commerce where I work will donate $100 to the Department of the grand prize winner of each school for the 15 different categories we're also very excited to award our eighth grade essay contest for the 13th year as an additional element of the best and brightest Awards Leon County's eighth graders entered essay submissions about the importance of community service the winner is going to be awarded $500 the runner up will receive $250 and the honorable mention will receive 100 these students will now be able to again their High School careers with goals of excellence and academics and service in mind and hopefully partake in the best and brightest Awards again four years from now we'd also Al like to thank Leon County public and private high schools for their work in nominating the school-based winners and their dedication to encouraging all students to excel in a academics and in service um I would like to say let's give a round of applause to all the principals guidance counselors teachers and all the schools that are involved and are here tonight so thank you very much let's not forget the importance of our best and brightest volunteers and our committee the judges the volunteers who have made this program uh possible at this time if there are any in the audience that have helped with the program I'd like to say thank you and recognize you if you wouldn't mind standing up thank you for your help so stand it [Music] [Applause] would there happen to be any past best and bras students here if you're here wave so yes we got one few right there in the top welcome back we do love being here at Ruby Diamond concert hall and we'd like to thank FSU staff who has worked with us um for many years our videographers with wfsu to to help broadcast this ceremony in the coming year and we appreciate of course our talented pianist Ben Gunter who has been here for years and has served as a judge as well and entertaining us and providing um a festive atmosphere thank you now I would love to invite Ron saxs our the co-chairman of sax media and the founder of the BL and brightest Awards to the stage who will serve as our Master of Ceremonies thank [Applause] you well good evening everybody what a great night uh want to reinforce Laura's comments about keeping our neighbors who were socked so badly by last week's stunningly bad storm um keeping our thoughts and prayers but uh this is my favorite night of the year uh and for those of you who haven't been here before I think you might say the same thing when tonight is over uh All The Talented students that we honor tonight are already winners declared by their schools to be winners and it's looking a little empty in the front of the auditorium and on the stage so let's get to the main events and let's start out by welcoming in those eth grade students who are here because of their essays in the eighth grade essay contest the best and brightest [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] wow so I I think you're looking at the back of their heads but I'm going to ask all the eighth graders to stand up and face the audience so you can be appreciated face to face yeah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] woo wonderful thank you and now U the big event are honoring our high school seniors who truly are the 2024 best in brightest I think those of you can stand they deserve a standing ovation as they take the stage let's go 24 best and brightest [Applause] [Music] seniors [Applause] [Music] woo oh man [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you can find your family [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] doing for you all [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] guys look so great [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it's Peter [Applause] [Music] get [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] wow [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so wow now we are complete and students before you sit down one more big Applause for all these wonderful students so exciting where is uh Dave Barfield our photographer up in the balcony wave Dave you see the guy waving up there with the red beard way up top in the balcony all of you if you can see him he can see you smile real big for the best and brightest photographer Dave Barfield okay great okay please be seated wow it's so exciting to be here with our guests of honor the eighth graders and these wonderful seniors 200 young people who by the time this evening is over you will realize as tough as things may seem in the community in the state in the country and in the world we're in pretty good hands as soon as we let them take charge and they've already made an impact in ways that will warm your heart and give you hope for the future we're going to start with the eighth grade essay contest and you'll see words on the screen which is the prompt the eighth graders were given to write about it and in this particular case The Prompt was from Jane Gall and it's it's all about service I don't need to read it out loud to you but you'll see tonight how dedicated these eighth graders are and also want to mention uh I know you all were hooting and hollering for people you know up here and love and you know in Awards programs they ask you to please hold your applause and your cheering to till the end this is not those programs so if somebody is recognized whom you love make as much noise as you want as reasonably as you can take pictures have a good time this is your program too okay so be happy so my name is Ron saxs and uh I brought this idea to important people a lot of them are backstage and you'll meet a lot of them tonight but Chief among them uh Invision Credit Union that tassy Democrat there's no program without them Laura Rogers World Class schools at the Tallahassee chamber so I'd like to hear it for all of them because we are here tonight in the 19th year because of that continuity of [Applause] [Music] commitment so these students really are the best and brightest and while we honoring the eighth graders who placed in the essay contest countywide and the seniors who placed in their category countywide first second and third they are all winners as recognized by their school so I want you all to know that and we're going to have a great time tonight for the seniors that Medallion you're wearing it's like an Olympic Medallion I think you will have that your whole lives so put it in a safe place uh and keep it uh each year these school-based winners surpass our our expectations um and we have some people are going to speak to you tonight briefly kind of build up to the awards themselves but we're going to be begin with the chair of the board of directors for Envision Credit Union our top sponsor please welcome Dr Cassandra Grayson good evening good evening good evening that was better good evening good evening that was much better I'm grateful and honored to experience this exciting award ceremony as chair of a volunteer board of directors of Envision Credit Union I'm proud that we have been a sponsor of the best and brightest since its Inception we are honored to continue to be the premier sponsor of the best and brightest Awards as an education-based member owned Credit Union is our responsibility to encourage and support the education and mentorship of our youth we are pleased to provide the foundation to this great program and recognize the unique accomplishment of our students to date Envision Credit Union has contributed almost 700,000 towards scholarships and our employees enjoy participating and volunteering with the best invitas program I would like to personally congratulate all of your students on your success I I would also commend your parents Guardians and teachers who have helped along the way these students we honor tonight have all been impacted by some very special teachers their teachers have inspired them with their love of their subject matter caring for each of their Student Success encouragement support for the extracurricular and community service and the list can go on and on as to what the teachers do with for their students we love our teachers right we love our teachers right all right students your teachers trust you to do your best but you realize that their trust required personal responsibility your teachers respected your uniqueness but you realize their respect had to be earned often your teachers encourage your Independence and students you soon discovered how to step out with self-confidence and finally as teachers and parents supported your community service I'm sure you found out that kindness is a strength and not a weakness and collaborating with others help you to get more done strengthening those leadership skills right George Washington Carver once said learn to do things uncommonly well those common things uncommonly well you will command the attention of the world Invision Credit Union is proud to recognize you for your achievements students we commend you for your talent Focus your hard work for setting the example for other Leon County students who will follow you we wish you much success in the future as your journey unfold keep soaring Envision Credit Union is very proud of you thank you thank you thank you so much appreciate thank you very much Cassandra we're very fortunate to live in a capital city served by a a great newspaper the newspaper is the medium of record in any community and the facts and the truth about what's happening all around us are at tallahassee.com or in the hard copy of the paper please welcome the executive edit of the Tallahasse Democrat William Hatfield a founding sponsor of the best and brightest thank you Ron and good evening everyone uh and I believe many of us could use some goodness after the news in Tallahassee this week well you're in luck because tonight you're about to see true greatness I will begin with full disclosure I'm known as the editor in sandals I wear sandals every day of the year except this one night and you know why it's because y all are awesome and because there's a dress code but I digress we at the Tallahassee Democrat are so pleased to be involved in tonight's celebration of the best and brightest I interview a lot of people in my job but one of the most inspiring moments each year is when I get to sit down with the student Geniuses in the journalism and media category the students you will meet tonight are truly the best of the best they give us a glimpse of what Leon County's youths are involved in and the positive impact they've made already in such a short time in their lives each best and brightest school-based finalist had his or her photo featured in the Democrat this past Sunday I'm the only one with the prop uh tomorrow a full page ad will feature the top um three Award winners in each of the 15 categories and we will feature the 64-page color insert with bios and features of all the students so make sure you look for that special section tomorrow morning you will also find complete coverage in a photo gallery of tonight's celebration online at tallahassee.com but there's more in Friday's paper we'll have complete coverage of tonight's event with plenty of photos from our photo journalist Alicia Divine who is Where Are You Alicia uh got Applause all right you ready Alicia let's do this but first we have Ron with a very special guest thank you William thanks very much and by the way that 64 page special section will be waiting for you when you leave the awards program tonight in the lobby take a reasonable amount and buy some newspapers tomorrow there'll be one in there too we're fortunate also to live in one of the 67 counties that has one of the highest rated Public Schools school systems it's one of the reasons I moved here from Miami in 1990 please welcome our awesome superintendent Rocky [Music] Hannah yes yes yes hold on I'm not letting you go backstage let me be very clear in 2006 this man came to me with a vision of something he experienced as a senior in high school in Miami Florida tonight would not be happening without Ron Sach so how about a St inovation for this man for bringing this all right first things first a document that tonight happened [Applause] like uh was mentioned earlier tonight is just what the the doctor ordered for us in our community it's a great time for us to celebrate I saw uh Lori Cox here School Board member Lori Cox is here tonight this is the the time of year we kind of divide and conquer Lively Technical College had a graduation ceremony so there's a couple of school board members up there uh Roseanne Uh Wood is dealing with the um impact of the storm she had some some damage to her home so we keep her and everyone in our community that suffer damage in our thoughts and prayers and heaven forbid we actually injured um 18 well now 19 years ago when I was the principal of leyon high school Ron saxs and Laura Rogers came to me with an idea Mr saaks was looking for a place to replicate a very successful program he had in high school as a the concept was 15 categories ranging from art to World languages and everything in between students would be recognized for academic achievement outstanding accomplishments in the field for which they were nominated and most importantly service to others well 19 years later here we are this is without a doubt the Marquee senior event of the year we all as a former principal I always look forward to tonight tonight we have a speaking of Administrators we have a number of school administrators that are here to support their students and let me tell you from experience they are a very competitive group who are definitely keeping score for bragging rights when this thing gets over so at this time if our school administrators that are here would you please stand up to be recognized I see a number of you right in here [Music] also here tonight supporting these students are the people who wake up each and every day to make a difference in a child's life the heart of every school in our community are amazing classroom teachers so teachers would you please stand up to be recognized tonight and finally to our students no matter what happens here this evening I want each and every one of you to know you're are a winner you represent the best of the best not only of students in leyon County but across the State of Florida and our great nation what you have done academically is outstanding your leadership is remarkable and your artistic and athletic ability is as well however what I am most impressed with is your commitment to serving others especially today the great boxer Muhammad Ali once said that service to others is the rent we pay for our room here on Earth that each of us must earn our part well my soon to be graduates by your actions each and every one of you are certainly earning your place as a lifelong resident of this community and a graduate of our Public Schools I could not be more proud of you and I could not be more grateful for what you stand for congratulations good luck God bless each of you and as Daryl Jones would say The Best Is Yet To Come [Music] congratulations thank you Mr superintendent uh we're fortunate also to live in a community with three great higher education institutions and we're going to welcome now Bill spers director of financial aid with Tallahassee Community College a partner of the best and brightest good evening it's good to be with you tonight and on behalf of our president Dr Jim murall and our Board of Trustees I offer you congratulations and best wishes on your next PATH to success Tallahassee Community College soon to be Tallahassee State College is recognized Ang annually as one of the top 100 colleges for the number of associate degrees awarded and nearly 80% of our graduates transferred to the State University system within a year primarily to FSU and FAMU as in years past Tallahasse Community College has partnered with the best and brightest to add an additional scholarship opportunity to the top 45 winners those winners announced tonight will also receive from Tallahassee Community College additional funds of an annual amount up to 2 years to attend TCC based on the level of winning with the best and brightest Awards those students who receive honorable menion will receive $1,000 each year towards TCC tuition runner-ups receive $1,500 a year towards TCC tuition and winners receive $3,000 each year towards TCC tuition I hope that those that are interested in attending TCC no matter what level of finalist will contact me to help you earn your degree you are the students we are most proud to have attend TCC because you're dedicated to your studies and active with your school congratulations and we hope to provide these scholarships to many of you tonight and we hope to see you on campus in the fall thank you by the way doesn't he just have a great voice I think the guy should be doing voice over work we have a keynote speaker who's going to come in with an inspiring message for all of our students and for all their folks and family in the audience and it's Joe O'Shea who serves as associate Provost and Dean of undergraduate studies right here at FSU he helps lead the University's award-winning Student Success initiatives in his own background he's an FSU grad he served as student body president he is a Truman and Road scholar he has a master's degree in comparative social policy and a PhD in education from the University of Oxford if he had been a Le Leon County School student as a teenager I know he'd be up here as the best and brightest but let's welcome him Joe O'Shea thank you Ron I appreciate that kind introduction and welcome everybody to campus and to FSU and to our beautiful Ruby Diamond concert hall it really is an honor for me to be with you all tonight um hearing and reading about all your accomplishments made me so proud and um inspired and honor to be on stage with you all um it's no doubt that you are the leaders of your generation and it's it's exciting to be in the same room with you especially during this time of transition in your lives often these kinds of transitions prompt a kind of reflection and I imagine when you were named among the best and brightest it made you reflect a bit on who you are and uh where you're from and where you're going and I remember when I was in a similar time of transition and as you heard Ron there I was the fortunate to attend Flor State University from undergraduate years and then when I graduated to move to England to attend Oxford University and at a place like Oxford there are people that come from all over the world there and in those sorts of settings people are very curious about one another and they like to ask each other uh questions and most commonly where are you from and when people would ask me I would say I'm from the US I'm from Tallassee Florida and often the response would be the only thing that they knew out Florida like oh Miami or oh Disney World like uh sort of but that regular question of of where you're coming from where are you from it made me think a lot about Tallahassee and what it means to be from our town for me Tallahassee and including my time at FSU was a place that really shaped me and mentors unlocked my potential and nurtured me here Community leaders helped guide my volunteering and involvement in the city and so many in Tallahassee enabled me to feel the power of our community's love and kindness when I suffered the unexpected loss of both my parents when I was in college and I still feel that power for our community through my work at FSU and through the care my children receive here in Tallahassee and as you go off in the world even if you're coming to FSU you will be asked that same question too where are you from when you say you're from Tallahassee you should be proud that this is your city and think about the formative years you've spent here you are the stars of our community and people will look to you what you do will shape their impressions of our city this is a city where tens of thousands of students come from all over the world to attend college to make a better life and to grow in a community who welcomes them a city filled with innovators entrepreneurs researchers dedicated to improving the world a City full of public servants Educators nonprofit leaders and other helping professionals people who are committed to elevating the quality of lives of others we are a community where creative artists performers and writers share their talents to enrich the world and we're a community that comes together during hard times as we've done these past few days after the storms these these moments remind us how interconnected we are and how we support each other just as you've been supported on your journey to become the best and brightest look out to the parents and families Mentor staff and leaders of our schools you make them proud and their support is part of what makes Tallahassee special this ceremony itself reflects our community values that we leaders from business from education and from across the country the county come together with with families each year to celebrate outstanding students in each generation Tallahassee is a special place and you are special members of this special place you give everybody in this Auditorium hope that despite that all goes on all that's going on in the world we still find ways to come together to care deeply about one another we need this in the world right now and in so many ways you embody what took me back here to Tallahassee to help empow Empower young people to make the world a better place if you're coming to FSU next year I will be you Dean I'll be your Dean so please reach out I would love to connect with you and if you're not coming to FSU I'd still love to hear about what you're doing and where you are you are the best and brightest from our community and I know you will all continue to shine wherever you go congratulations and thank you thanks for those inspiring thank you Joe O'Shea for those inspiring words I'd like to ask Dr Grayson and Laura Rogers to come back to the stage shall we get to the main event yeah okay you know as Laura mentioned earlier in years past we wanted to reach down to middle schools to eighth graders to about descend to their High School careers and let them be part of the best and brightest and that was the birth of the essay contest that we honor tonight before the senior Awards the Jane Goodall quote what you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make so first of all for all the e8th grade sa contest winners from your schools nominated by your schools let's congratulate them all right now well done well [Music] done and we expect to see all of you up here four years from now okay so let's go right to it each Middle School selected up to three top finalists they submitted essays for a panel for tonight's announcement of the top three winners by the way I'm so happy not to be a judge in the essay contest or any of the senior Awards U just happy to be here uh first place will be $500 the countywide winner runner up 250 and The Honorable mentioned $100 also from Envision Credit Union all the schools will recognize their respective finalists with a certificate at their own individual convocations at their schools later this month as I call out the names of the three winners please join us on the stage come to the staircase closest to where you're sitting come on up here get your picture taken as a group by our our photographer David Barfield so let's get right to it the honorable mention for the 2024 best and brightest e8th grade essay contest goes to Caitlyn Irwin of monf Middle [Music] School in Caitlyn's essay here's an excerpt from Caitlyn 's essay this is why I believe you should make the choice to help others if possible if you see someone that needs help or you are given an opportunity to help someone take it because you never know when or if it could be you really beautiful congratulations Caitlyn Irwin from monford middle [Music] school our runner up is geneveve lemon from Leon County homeschools and an excerpt from genev VI's essay is right here through directing Shakespeare plays I have helped to create an interactive environment where students can grow in confidence and literary enthusiasm qualities that will enable them to positively affect our broader community in the future beautiful words jenev lemon with Leon County H schools and the first place winner countywide in our eighth grade best and brightest essay contest is Ansley Kate from Florida state university schools congratulations here's an excerpt from ansley's essay a teen can see that there is a bigger World beyond their own they will learn that a community is like a giant team working together to make things better helping our local community is an honor and getting to do something you love while serving your community is a bonus how inspiring congratulations asy Angley Kate from FSU [Music] schools and we're going to ask one more time for all the eighth grade EST contest winners from the school stand up and face this grateful audience [Music] so for you eth graders um you'll be recognized as I said at your schools convocation programs later this month and get your certificate there Middle School principles please remember to pick up your school certificates for your students in the lobby after the program students again we expect to see you up here in four years so plan on it all right so we get to you all yes okay okay they've been sitting under those lights a long time all right so here we go with the 19th year of the best and brightest with this pool of incredible students who have grown through their own School careers and their own lives with lots of inspiration parents teachers siblings and others in the community every year this process gets more difficult for the judges if you look you see who the judges are in each category they're really accomplished professionals who donate a lot of time to interview every one of these students to make the deciding choice about who's going to be the top three in the county but they are all winners declared by their schools so let's congratulate them all one more [Music] time so they've all got the Olympic style medal uh they will all get at least a $100 check um and those scholarship checks will be available in the lobby after the ceremony so you want to be sure to get yours when your name is called please come down to the stage to receive your scholarship check from Dr Grayson from Envision Credit Union and your trophy from William Hatfield of the Democrat stay on stage till all winners in your category are announced and we can get a group photo with Dave Barfield and the Democrats photographer Laura will be asking each of the first place winners a question and they don't know what the question is but it's going to be very interested to see what they spontaneously say um we're always surprised but only in a good way okay okay the trophies are designed by awards for you and they've been our award maker for 19 years and we also would like to ask zoria Johnson one of our volunteers with the best and brightest and the first winner of the spirit award years ago and now she's Rock in her career and still serving by joining us tonight so we're going to get right to it um I got to open up the Secret Surprise we're going to go alphabetically and start with art and the best and brightest for 2024 honorable mention in the art category goes to Mary Clayton stto of mlay school thank you for the Applause Mary Clayton cannot be here tonight because she's busy appearing in the state track meet but let's hear about Mary Clayton's involvement she's her Arts been submitted to the north Florida art fair has received the Elaine Cochran Memorial award at M's come together art show she's a member of National Honor Society a declared Wonder Woman for girls on the run in the National Art Society a National Merit semi-finalist she's spent so many hours volunteering through her role with dance marathon and her role as Key Club president I'm exhausted just reading about what she's done Mary Clayton is also mlay school's varsity girls soccer Captain a member of the big men first team cross country where she ran miles to raise money toward tm's epilepsy research let's hear it from Mary Clayton stto of mlay and our art category runnerup for the best and brightest 2024 is O okoli of Florida state university schools come on [Music] down let me tell you about on she curated pieces for a Marvel Comics exhibition in a virtual AI art museum at FAMU FSU engineering school as a high school apprentice and won first place in the Hispanic Heritage Month art contest this year she's a member of num numerous clubs including National Honor Society mu Aleta National stem Club future Business Leaders of America she's amassed hundreds of volunteer hours through school service organizations like Florida's High environmental Club where she worked to clean up Tom Brown Park and work as a social camp counselor that's on a dedicated member of The Varsity track and field team where she went on to compete in the Junior Olympics thank you you very much so Laura let's see got a little missing part of my script here um so our first place winner okay well theana is our first place winner rather than delay do you have it nope sorry about that folks oh my good little traveling music okay now and all the suspense the first place winner in the Arts category is lyanna riger of Leon High School wow let me tell you a little bit about lyanna her work has been exhibited in loran arts mahasa Whitley student exhibition featured twice in Lyon High School's Mosaic magazine she was awarded the Thomas Ekans emerging artist scholarship from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts pre-ol summer Academy and the past 9 years has been practicing Saber fencing amazing she received the theater Tech Award for best set design on Leon where she painted sets worked as a spotlight operator and was a general technician for Leon's production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat she also is a theater technician here at Ruby Diamond Lanna has had a profound impact on our community through her work at the Lafayette arts and crafts center where she sh shares her artistic gifts as a teachers's assistant for youth painting and drawing classes and congratulations lyanna our first place [Applause] [Music] [Music] winner Dave will do a group shot real quick okay and then I will have a quick question Lanna just the win just those St perfect [Music] congratulations lur is going to do the interview with our first place winners so congratulations thank you the first category always gets a little complicated I'm getting getting here so um as an accomplished artist there's a lot that you get um you know creative with can you tell me when people say what inspires you um definitely my wonderful supportive family um my parents who are musicians um who've prompted me moving throughout Europe and the United States um and having so many wonderful experiences with other artists um and my friends both here in Tallahassee and in New Jersey um among them uh my wonderful co-writer who I've been writing a novel with for over four years um and everything that I think deserves to have a story told about it congratulations and keep [Music] creating Laura's just got that smooth interviewing style she could have her own talk show all right we're moving on to Athletics going alphabetically here and the honorable mention for the 2024 best and brightest in athletics is Canon Ramsey of Florida state university [Music] [Applause] [Music] schools Canon was a player all four years of her High School career in Florida High's Varsity softball team the girls golf team selected captain of the golf team during her Junior and senior years named a member of the all Big Ben girls second team golf received both the softball Varsity Defensive Player of the Year award and the girls gold best driver player award from Florida High she's involved in multiple student organizations including National Honor Society science National Honor and was a member of The Fellowship of Christian athletes leadership team her efforts as a vents chair for dance Marathon help raise money for Pediatric cancer patients congratulations [Applause] Ken how wonderful and best and brightest Athletics runner up for 2024 is Ashlin Kerner of Lincoln High School Ashlin has played on Lincoln's Varsity women's volleyball team for all four years of high school has been team captain for the last three years she was WCTV scholar athlete of the week a two-time Big Ben athlete of the week and has her National certification as a Child Development Associate she was qualified for us volleyball as Nationals twice made their All-American watch list received the team Florida invite and was a Heisman high school scholarship School representative and Ashlin has spent also countless hours volunteering as a coach for the next generation of star volleyball players who attend Lincoln's volleyball camps and Clinics and was selected as Lincoln's youth volunteer of the word of the Year excuse me Ashlin Kerner of Lincoln High [Music] [Applause] School Jesus Ron did you did you not copy front and back no I did not okay so okay so I've got it I got it I got it I got it all right um Caroline I think has all of them so the winner in the Athletics category I've got it you do is Patrick [ __ ] of Leon High [Applause] [Music] [Applause] School Patrick set countless State records on Leon's track team field and cross country teams placed 15th at Foot Locker Nationals earning him the title of allamerican two-time Gatorade Florida cross country Runner of the year three time FHSAA 3A cross country Runner of the year three time Big Ben Cross Country Runner of the year two time New Balance Nationals All-American Val Tori his class student body vice president School service committee had his senior year Florida boy State Delegate he spends countless hours fundraising with dance marathon and strides procedures and also preserving the history of Leon High through his work maintaining the archive room congratulations to our first place winner and the runners up and honorable mention Patrick [ __ ] [Music] [Applause] [Music] congratulations Patrick on being our Athletics winner I know you're fast but not only you're an outstanding athlete you're also a great student and um a mentor to so many people with your leadership um what advice can you give some of these young students that will be coming into high school on how to balance and get started in high school I think it's really important especially in athletics to develop a love and appreciation for your sport rather than going in comparing yourself to those that are older than you I would say try to emulate um their work ethic and their love for the sport as well and I think that'll set a great foundation for you to be able to improve every year and have a career that you're able to look back on and really appreciate and be satisfied with it congratulations way to go all right I've had my two uh unforced errors already so Florida Li of cities we're proud to thank them as the sponsors for the 2024 Award winners in the business category let's get right to it where the honorable mention goes to Kaylee sandel of Leon High School [Music] Kaye was invited to City Hall to meet with the lgbtq advisory Council and was invited to sit as an ad hoc member on it to provide Insight on controversial issues Her speech at the equality Florida press conference won her the the youth youth voice for equality award she's an executive officer of the Marine Corps J Ry United States Naval C Cadet active in Leon Student Government she testified at the capital in front of the education Judiciary Appropriations rules prek through2 regulatory reform and fiscal policy committees and she was featured in an interview with NBC News amazing thank you Kaylee [Applause] sandel our runner up in League of cities business category is Lydia Jiao of Lincoln High [Music] [Applause] [Music] School Lydia started her own clothing business called Lydia's closet where she takes discarded or unused Fabric and turns it into marketable styles that she sells on Instagram amazing selected as the National Bank of America student leader through Second Harvest Food Bank where she attended a summit in Washington DC she's president of multiple clubs at her school Lincoln including mu alathea National English Honors Society and she's also an orthodontic intern and participated in Florida House of Representatives page and messenger program congratulations Lydia Jiao of Lincoln High School [Music] and our first place 2024 best and brightest winner in the business category is Kevin Wang of Rickards High [Music] School Kevin transformed and grew Rickard Science Olympiad Invitational to one that operates from right here on a national scale by coding a new website and garnering over $3,500 in sponsorships he was Captain also the swim team and a state championship finalist six times he maintains numerous leadership roles at rickords including president of Science Olympiad president of speech and debate Club co-founder of future Business Leaders of America statistics captain in mu Alpa Theta and he spent his Summers with the Red Cross learning real estate skills and shares that knowledge with others and his role as a nonprofit maker space where he fixes 3D printer winners and teaches others how to use them congratulations to all our business category [Music] [Applause] [Music] winners congratulations Kevin so when you get out into the Working World with companies working with their um employees participating in community service which is very valuable for everyone have you learned anything from your community service on how you think you'll be a succeeds win the business part okay so um I I believe that business is truly a way to create a more interconnected Community um whether it's by just going around the neighborhood and selling things to fundraise for the swim team or hosting a n national competition um I've gotten to know so many new people and um I've gotten to know so many more communities and I think through business it's one way we can connect people from all different types of backgrounds together and to work towards um the same goal and I think that's something that's really valuable in society today so um yeah I just want to say yeah business is you know something that is important and um yeah great job yeah thank you congratulations thank you we're really grateful to spar construction our sponsor in the Career Technical category let's get right to it honorable mention for that 2024 best and brightest goes to Karen leang of lton Charles High [Applause] School Karen is on the Asian Coalition of Tallahassee youth Advisory Board worked behind the scenes to bring to light the annual experience Asia Festival she's certified Adobe Illustrator has made several posters for child's t-shirt designs for Tallahassee Chinese Christian church youth group and she runs her own baking business she was the team captain of JV tennis at Charles a level five open Southeastern junior team championship runnerup and a National Merit semi-finalist she spent countless hours as a camp counselor at the tallas Museum Camp Cross Point and mlay tennis camp thank you [Applause] [Music] Karen and our runner up in the Career Technical category is ubau konor of Rickards High [Applause] [Music] School a BNA has over 1,000 combined hours of medical training at fsu's College of Medicine during its summer Institute program she won first place at the Science Olympiad state level and is active in Leon County Teen Court she's maintained several leadership positions at Rickards president of National Honors dancer relations chair for dance Marathon president of the Red Cross who bigna helped provide accessible Health Care to people from the burst backgrounds through volunteer work at the Bond Clinic Tallahassee gastro health clinic and ESI Hospital in Missour India that's our winner at Career Technical thank you very much runner up and the winner first place winner in Career Technical is Nia Samson of Lincoln High [Applause] [Music] School Nia was an intern at the North Florida Wildlife Center where she worked as a tour guide and caretaker for animals and she worked to further the diversification diversification of educational Outreach in the Life Sciences one of two sophomores nominated to attend North Florida High o'ri HTH Hugh O'Brien youth leadership seminar she's an involved leader in several student organizations including National Honor Society crochet Club officer and varsity how about that crochet and varsity volleyball go together she has taken steps toward her goal of becoming an environmental justice attorney through volunteer hours spent as a Florida Senate page and a Florida House of Representatives page and messenger congratulations to all our winners in Career Technical [Music] congratulations Nia so in the career category in schools we've starting to really teach a lot of courses and provide that opportunity for the Technical Training so what skills have you learned this year or the past at school that you think have prepared you for going out and into the future um so for the past I guess several years I know that like at the beginning of the school year we often take like an empathy course this year my AP Statistics teacher Miss sap taught it to us um to be honest sometimes I do zone now during that course but you know at the core of it we're supposed to um learn about the importance of honoring and just leveling with people of all backgrounds um and believe that's especially important today given that so many people have jeopardized their jobs or their seats on college campuses for defending or just promoting empathy in general so I just think it's really important to learn the importance of Defending and honoring empathy congratulations perfect Nia outstanding just outstanding all right moving on to the drama category can you stand the suspense our honorable Mansion for the 2024 best and brightest is Ella Layman of Lincoln High [Music] School Ella's played countless roles in musicals such as Anastasia Beauty and the Beast School of Rock at several venues including Leon High lincol high and the monello opera house she's performed in Disney's Candlelight choir and sung the National Anthem at an Orlando Magic game she's a member of several clubs including Key Club mu Alpa Theta French national honor and has devoted 500 hours to her work as a social media director for together Tallahassee a nonprofit aimed at reducing loneliness among nursing home residents wonderful [Music] congratulations runner up in the drama category is Lewis deerman of mlay school Lewis played a role in the Resurgence of mle's theater Department in two years The Troop doubled in size successfully put two Productions that Lewis performed in he's a recipient of mlay school's sophomore the Year award and has had a perfect score for three years on the national Latin exam he's a member of several National Honor societies including National Honor Society science National Honor Society and served as an insect education camp counselor boy that's interesting and was also their theater camp counselor and assistant director for magn Magnolia School summer Theater Camp leis dearm of mlay and the winner in drama and Performing Arts category for the 2024 best and brightest is Oliver jacet of Bale High School Oliver worked Oliver worked to revise and design costumes and craft most of the set for sales production of Shakespeare A Midsummer Night stream he also wrote and directed a production of his own sale titled Mission Santa his portrayal of flute and Oberon in the troops performance at the thespian District Festival earned him most valued performer and Superior in all of his events he was elected junior class president recipient of the department Award of Excellence and honors geometry biology H world history also received sales youth volunteer of the Year award and he wasn't done yet Oliver planned and implemented an 8 week reptiles and amphibians themed camp for middle schoolers at the Magnolia School bringing in live species each week which he became familiar with during his volunteer work dip netting at local ponds what a guy okay [Applause] [Music] [Applause] congratulations congratulations you're on stage right you know all those terms so I know you were very busy with Productions so balancing all your time and performance with your schoolwork give us some advice on how you're able to do it both well it's less balancing and more than understanding how you view a performance in community because if you view a performance as time a way from people friends life and schoolwork then you can change that just simply view the way you view a performance and being among your friends and on stage and just take that into your everyday life view the homework view being with friends view going out and being in the community as simply an opportunity congratulations I'm very proud fantastic okay we're grateful to Hub International for sponsoring this next category English and language arts our honorable mention for the 2024 best and brightest goes to Dean chuu U forgive me if I butchered that of Florida state university schools the Leon is a member of Florida High's magnetic and National English honors Society has helped create this year's issue of the club's literary magazine where two of her short stories will be published her 3D artwork has received Best in Show at Winterfest first place mayor's award the youth fine art competition and she participated in the Harvard School honors writing course a leader within her school Community holding the position of President of mu Alpa Theta and also she has made an impact in Tallahassee through her volunteer work tutor tutoring Elementary and Middle School age students and volunteering as a counselor in in training during Florida High's summer programs [Music] wonderful our runner up in English and language arts for 2024 is Camille fry of Leon High [Music] School Camille is an AP scholar member of both National English honors and National Honors a recipient of the MLK dreamer and Doer award she participated in Florida Senate page and house messenger programs became Speaker of the House for Florida girls State she maintains leadership positions in several clubs at leyon including president of Key Club and committee chair for Student Government Association and she helps to bring out the best in young dancers at the ballet Arts Conservatory of Tallahassee the studio she grew up dancing and worked behind the scenes of the Productions congratulations [Music] and our first place winner for English and language arts for the 2024 best and brightest is Sophia krisner of mlay [Music] school Sophia served as Editor in Chief of mle's literary magazine Notes From The Underground where she received first place fiction for her published work in addition her short story wrinkled won first place in leyon County writing competition and was published in a young author's Anthology she also took first place in the NASA student astronaut challenge she's on the Executive Board of Key Club International a member of ml's Honor council president of the Florida junior classical League a player on the varsity tennis and weightlifting teams and a National Merit semi-finalist Sophia founded the next step a nonprofit that Partners young mothers at local shelters in Tallahassee with human resource professionals to help boost self-confidence and Financial Security through workshops guiding these women through the employment Journey congratulations to all these [Applause] [Music] winners congratulations so glad you're here and all this talk about social media Tik Tok maybe uh you know Instagram why do you still think it's important to actually get a book out and read yes ma'am I believe reading and writing create a sense of community that is unique to anywhere in the world um social media creates this false sense of community and likes and follows and people comparing themselves to other people um who are only showing the best of themselves so in writing and reading we encouraged and shown other people's vulnerabilities and sharing our own to find that unity in other people's pains and joys congratulations [Music] um this uh next category honors the memory of my middle daughter Amy who passed away um a year ago on May 31st she was a journalist loved journalism and loved Sports and so we've named the journalism category to honor Amy Nicole Sachs let's get to the winners thank you honorable mention in this great category go to Amilia Hagens of Leon High School Amilia is the editor-in-chief of Leon student newspaper Leon High Life and hones her skills by writing every day she was selected a first round all Florida winner by the Florida Scholastic press Association and is in the Social Studies English Spanish and peran honor societies she's captain of the Leon Varsity indoor volleyball team competed at the girls junior National qualifier with the Tallahasse volleyball Academy and Amelia shares her love for mentoring young girls in the community at summer volleyball volleyball programs as an interact Club member [Applause] congratulations our runner up for the 2024 best and britis and journalism is dream Hogan of Florida A&M University development research [Applause] [Music] Bo dream took on the bulk of the design work for FAMU DRS Venom yearbook and was a guide for both her peers and her new adviser she was crowned queen of orange and green she's rocking that green tonight and Miss FAMU DRS as a representative for the school she speaks on youth panels host events such as pep rallies and the annual Mayday celebration she's an Honor Society member leader among her peers en roles as junior class vice president varsity cheer captain Varsity flag football captain and dream is the chaplain of the youth group Pearls of perfection and organization committed to developing leadership skills to transform young girls into contributing citizens of the world what a great [Applause] [Music] dream and first place countywide for 2024 best and brightest and journalism is Leah Kos of mlay [Applause] school Leah is editor-in chief of mlay student newspaper the Andalusian and is responsible for curating in five themed print issues during the school year and writing weekly articles her articles have received countless recognitions including multiple honorable mentions as an excellent from Florida Scholastic press she was awarded the Wellsley book award as a top high schooler in academics and extracurricular she's a member of mle's cross country and track and field teams where her team went on to be 1A girl state champions and she volunteers with the golf winds Track Club she's also a re researcher at Florida State University biomed research lab and is Pres presented her findings at several Regional and international science fairs including the international science and engineering Fair where she was a finalist and is in the process of publishing a research paper in her free time congratulations to all these journalism owners [Music] wow congratulations hi Leah congratulations so much is going on around the world what would you want to consider covering a place or a topic well um am clay we try to relate everything that's happening around the world to something um that's happening at mle like we have a really you know big group of people and a lot of people are related to what's happening around the world so just being able to interview people and like show how everything's really connected um something that's really important to me both my parents are from Ethiopia and the region that we're from in t gr there's a lot of turmoil happening there and without like all that's happening around the world it's like not easy to cover like the tasse Democrat can really locally so I would want to cover what's happening there just since it hit so close to home wonderful very good congratulations okay following along alphabetically up to the leadership category but everybody on this stage is a leader not just in their category and the honorable mention for leadership and 2024 goes to Copeland frzy of mlay [Music] school Copeland helped bring competitive cheerleading back to mlay led her team as team captain to fourth place at the school's first competition in the co-ed division in history she received the commander award for exemplary leadership capabilities during her time at the FSU College of Medicine summer Institute and volunteers with ears for elders she's senior class Pres pres president of mccay's Key Club which under her leadership has established its Charter with the national Key Club and has more active members than ever before she's an active member of many honor societies and volunteers with the mclay lacrosse and cheer camps at her [Music] church and the runner up in our leadership category for the 2024 best and brightest is mateline bird of Florida state university schools [Music] meline has a profound impact on the community through her roles as 2024 vice president of her class project manager of teacher appreciation homecoming kindergarten reading buddies Mentor recipient of the achievement Medallion of Excellence award for her performance and Florida State University Medical School strides program she's involved member of National Honor societies Mu Alpha Theta Key Club plays for three fars City sports teams in including cheer cross country and track and meline fought for an all-encompassing representation of American History at her school by launching an online voter registration drive that helped Foster a culture of civic responsibility and is active with Jack and Jill of America meline bird and the winner first place winner for leadership and the 2024 best and brightest is Helen Khan of Leon High School [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Helen Helen was the first Junior to hold the position of executive D executive director of dance Marathon at Lon and the first to hold it for two consecutive years during her first year Leon was the second highest fundraising High School in the nation and set a new school record of $175,000 she held the title of City District Regional Champion ranking at four in tennis her junior year selected for mu Offa Theta science social science and perian Honor Society maintain several leadership roles for service organizations president of interact Club member Student Government Spirit anchor Club students demand action and founded the annual Marshall Fisher tennis tournament in honor of Leon student Marshall Fischer who passed away from a rare form of bone cancer in 2018 this tournament helps raise money for Pediatric illness at Shan's hospital congratulations [Applause] [Music] congratulations Helen you do a lot and it's a lot of small things that might go unnoticed or appreciated what makes you keep motivated to create the change in your school and your community I think seeing the impact that it makes is the most important thing to me I had the opport to visit Shan's hospital and visit specific patients that were treated by our funds raised and it touched me so much and um I really think it's important to be a part of something that's greater than yourself and that's exactly why I'm involved in so many things that allow me to do so congratulations and thank [Music] you okay moving on to mathematics honorable mention for for the 2024 best and brightest award goes to Samuel plal of community Leadership [Applause] Academy get this Sam received a perfect SAT score in math and has made valuable contributions to his high school Community tutoring students at Community Leadership Academy in algebra geometry and pre-calculus he's dual enrolled at tcnc was an intern at a local engineering firm where he was able to contribute knowledge to professional in the field he's a member of the yearbook committee editor of the school newspaper Fellowship of Christian athletes student leader National Honor Society and Sam was recognized at Gretchen everheart's youth volunteer of the Year award for countless hours volunteering with intellectually disabled students by helping them learn vital dailying living skills wonderful thank you Samuel and the runner up in this mathematics category is is Nema mol of Charles High School Nea Nema is Web Master at mu Alpa Theta math club with the help of his teammates created and taught lessons for his AP statistics class he's completed competed excuse me in coding competitions across the country including upen Philadelphia classic programming contest the Carnegie melon University mathematics International competition USA computed Olympiad silver division where he received third place he's vice president of the coding club which debuted Child's first ever programming competition in March this year he is a beekeeper and has set up a program to track bee movements between hives amazing and Nema was selected as winter the Congressional app challenge for an app he created to help immigrants and students with learning disabilities to learn English wonderful [Music] and first place in mathematics for the 2024 best and brightest goes to nuu kamu of Rickards High [Music] School Nu is captain of Rickards Mu Alpha Theta team where she shares impressive knowledge by cating lesson plans on Algebra 2 pre-calculus and statistics she was one of only 105 students in the state to be recognized as a sunshine state scholar in math for exceptional achievements in math and contrib utions to her community and is a National Merit semi-finalist assistant director of the annual rickords fall math Invitational where she helps manage finances write and assemble tests lead the scoring of all nine divisions of tests on the day of the competition for 800 students and she received first place at the Capitol Regional science and engineering Fair ranked in the top five at the state level all while volunteering at the Villas of colar lak's assisted living facility and serving as an officer with the programming Club and Junior classical League congratulations to these math Wizards congratulations we're so very proud of you math is very important use it all the time beyond the classroom but a lot of people do struggle with it so give us some helpful hints well I think the main thing I can tell you is to not focus on the math itself but to focus on the problem solving skills and the critical thinking skills that you learn by doing math I think a lot of times we get caught up in getting the right answer but I think math can teaches a lot more about the rest of the world in terms of finding how there's multiple solutions to every problem which can definitely help us in the way we interact with others and our environment and um we can apply this Theory onto many different fields so I think just remember that math is not just about the numbers it's about the process of learning and the way that it shapes your brain to apply knowledge to other fields as well perfect answer thank you wonderful and we're up to the music category we're honorable mention for the 2024 best and brightest goes to kylo Rogers of Florida state university schools kylo was named percussion Captain her sophomore year receiving outstanding musician award for outstanding leadership in the role she received the award of Superior with distinction at State solo and Ensemble for her collaboration with a fellow percussionist at Florida high on a level five duet Secretary of the triam music Honor Society member of National Honor Society and she's a reading buddy and Kyla has dedicated more than 130 hours to Tallahassee animal services now works to prepare patients and medical equipment for checkups and surgeries as a vet team volunteer that's Kyler Rogers our runner up in the music category for 2024 is Mary Caitlyn buo with Leon County home [Music] schools Mary Caitlyn has played as principal Viola for child's chamber orchestra Tallahasse Youth Orchestra and the Leon County all district Orchestra participated in Summer music festivals such as the Chamber Of Music fanza Swani Summer music festival and Green Mountain chamber music festival she serves as an intern at lamp an after school chamber music program where she provides support to less experienced musicians and Mary Caitlyn volunteers as a children's camp counselor at Camp Cross Point where she teaches campers music theory how to sing how to play keyboard ukulele and prepares them for their own performances at the end of a week for the entire [Music] camp and the best and brightest first place prize countywide in the music category is Alexander Jones of Leon High [Music] School Lexi plays for Leon High School chamber orchestra the Florida All State Symphony Orchestra the Big Ben Community Orchestra and has been selected for Leon County's all district five times youngest member of her quartet with Tallahassee Youth Orchestra and recently won their concerto competition making her the featured soloist in their concert this month she serves as a teaching assistant at leyon for the beginning Orchestra class volunteers hundreds of hours at Faith Presbyterian Church's chamber players and Lexi's Trio with lamp chair players won first place in the Inola chamber Fest competition securing her the opportunity to play in New Orleans for a nationally recognized quartet in the Winner's master class that's Lexi Jones and M Leon I congratulations Lexie so give us some reasons why music is so important to include in academics and also your extrac correal activities absolutely yeah so being a musician not only does music provide an outlet for Stress and Anxiety it provides so many young students with a sense of community and acceptance perfect thank you continue playing wonderful phone okay you know the uh Public public opinion surveys are the number one fear most Americans have it's not dying it's public speaking and tonight we're going to meet some rock stars who are so comfortable doing it that a lot of our elected officials could learn from them so honorable mention in public speaking goes to vincat matot of mlay school then is student council president at mlay where he is an influential leader among his peers speaking at school assemblies and facilitating student council meetings elected to participate in Tallahassee Memorial healthc Care's teen volunteer program where he amassed more than 100 hours he's actively involved in several student organizations including philanthropy Club junior classical League National Honor Society and V founded his nonprofit ears for elders to help Foster in generational relationships between high school students and residents at assisted living facilities that's men matap [Music] pod our public speaking runner up for 20124 is Victoria McQueen of Leon High School Victoria Social Service committee head of Leon's Student Government Association spearheaded reconstruction of Leon's archive room housing the rich history of Lon alumni she's a recipient of the MLK dreamers and doers award and worked on the big event Junior service project she was elected student body president her senior year where she spoke on behalf of the student body at Pep rallies and Leon High School Foundation meetings and she spoke as a representative on behalf of Florida constituents at the Florida capital at a press conference with the readout bringing light to the educational discrepancy created after the barring of AP African-American history from public schools in Florida Victoria McQueen of Leon High School [Music] and first place in public speaking for the 2024 best and brightest is Kinley bass of Charles High [Music] School so Kinley was elected sophomore class representative junior class secretary senior class vice president and frequently volunteers to speak at pep rally as the child's she was selected to participate in the Florida House of Representatives page and messenger program volunteers with Young Life by helping special needs students experience a mock weekend Camp she also is Vice President of the faith love and applesauce Foundation club and the social media manager for Char's Lego Club Kinley is co-executive director of dance marathon and in that role she helped create the night of Miracles a dinner and silent auction fundraiser that raised more than $10,000 in its second year for shann's Children's Hospital congratulations to Kinley and all the winners in this category [Music] [Applause] congratulations as you heard Mr saak say public speaking number one kind of fear so give us some hints on how you can overcome with anxiety and speaking in public I remember the first time that I ever spoke publicly and my dad said kley you just got to look at the back of the room and make the people think that you're looking at them and um from that that was definitely like my okay the whole time I was like okay I just got to look at the back of the room and all the people think that I'm looking at them but I'm really not but also I think that a lot of times people don't really know what you're actually going to say so if you mess up it's not really a big deal you're only going to be the one to know it so perfect you did not mess up okay we want to thank Tallahasse Memorial Healthcare for sponsoring our science and health category where the honorable mention for 2020 four best and brightest award goes to show oang ma of Charles High School shyang amassed more than 800 hours of research at the FSU College of Engineering and College of Medicine where his findings have been published in four academic papers he's a US national chemistry Olympiad finalist a qualifier with distinction at the American Invitational math exam and a US Presidential Scholars candidate he Fosters a passion for St through his roles as team captain of Mu Alpha Theta president of the Neuroscience club and vice president of the child's chemistry club and show yangang is a youth help leadership Ambassador who collaborated with Pine View Elementary's health fund day wonderful and our runner up in science and health for 2024 is Sarah Yu vanga of Rickards High School Sarah U is a re research assistant for Wang Lab at Florida State where she uncovered a mechanism that can advance future drug development and cancer therapy her findings were published in a paper indexed in PubMed and presented at the International Conference on advances in medical engineering and applications where she was awarded best presentation distinction she's executive director of Rickards dance Marathon vice president of the National Honor Society event Captain for Rickards Science Olympiad and Sarah U is co-president Ricker's red cost youth chapter which hosted Ricker's first blood drive and she's an ambassador to the youth Health leadership program and a member of youth leadership Tallahassee class [Music] 19 and first place for the 2024 science and health best and brightest award is Shu Patel of mlay scho so shib conducted a three-year research program on lung cancer metastasis that made him a two-time finalist at the international science and engineering fair and got him invited to present at conferences across the country he received a certified clinical medical assistant certification completed relevant coursework and volunteer work through fsu's College of Medicine summer Institute he serves on the board of directors of Big Ben cares and CarePoint president of Junior classical League brainbow Club founder Model United Nations president a member of youth leadership Tallahassee and shiv has seen more than 1,000 patients volunteering at a local Primary Care Clinic and Cancer Center triaging patients taking vitals performing lab tests he has helped treat many patients from medically underserved towns ship Patel and his colleagues are category winners [Music] ship congratulations science takes a lot of research Discovery everything that I think you've been working on so what do you think you want to do in the future with your medical possible career yeah I think something I really want to focus on is the accessibility of science and health so while we have a lot of treatments and cures and we've researched far and wide and created amazing drugs it's kind of futile if we don't get to the patients that need it the most so I think rural accessibility is something I definitely want to work on in the future and something I think medicine could really expand great thank you so much okay we're rounding the curve toward the end of the alphabet but first we stop at social science where the honorable mention for the 2024 best and brightest goes to Jullian Tron of Leon High School Jillian was an active partic IP in Leon's annual History Fair her project exploring how the Berlin Olympics fell short of establishing Global discourse and the rise of Nazism placed first in the school and District competition and made her a National History Day State finalist she's active in science French mu alpath Theta peran rap Honor Society member Student Government Association helped raise more than 40,000 for Tallahassee Memorial healthc Care dance Marathon publicity merchandise chair and organized Leon's environmental week she's a life teen at Good Shepard Catholic Church where she's used her leadership skills to help guide and Mentor their 150 plus youth member congregation Jillian Tron our runner up in social science is Zoe ruin of Florida state university schools Zoe was selected as a representative of the Big Ben area at the Laken seminar held in Washington DC as a student delegate Zoe attended social justice seminars presented on Jewish value issues she's passionate about to the Florida state representatives in Congress she's been elected a member of student council every year an officer in Rapa social studies honor editor-in chief of the school literary magazine president of multiple clubs including National English honor future educators of America vice president of National Honor Society and Zoe is also an involved member of the Dave marel teen philanthropy initiative which delegates 10,000 manually to Global nonprofit organizations so they can help those most in need Zoe Ru and first place for the 2024 best and brightest in social science is vein thaner of Rickards High [Music] [Applause] [Music] School bin is co-authoring a paper that utilizes Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services data to assess the Community impact of Mental Health Services on substance abuse part of a broader research project on how the pandemic influenced delivery of Health Care in disparate communities he worked to develop a tool to improve social living conditions through the evaluation of environmental impact categorization in collaboration with professors at FSU and fam he's president and captain of the brainbow public health captain of Science Olympiad treasurer of the National Honor Society vice president of the French Club and B volunteers at the Red Cross in Big Ben cares he's founder of future Business Leaders of America Money Matters A History Fair research for National History Day our winners in social [Music] science congrats congratulations congratulations so I know we've been hearing a lot about stem all the science and technology and everything tell us why you think it's still important to work with the social sciences yeah absolutely science research is important but social science research is just as important as my fifth for one of my former teachers used to say people are people are people and I believe social science research really allows you to learn more about people and who we are who we could become and who we used to be and possibly with social science research we could learn how to be better and greater and possibly be the best and brightest perfect thank you [Applause] wow I I think he could have competed well in the public speaking category by the way okay Comcast thank you very much for being sponsor of our technology category and our honorable mention for that award for 2024 goes to the na green of Florida A&M University developmental research School na participated in fsu's I camp on Advanced technological skills in physics with phones where she learned the principles of light electromagnetics and motion received the aspirations in Computing 2023 Northern Florida Southeast affiliate award from the national Center for Women and information technology she's student body president treasure treasurer of National Honor Society co- captain of varsity cheerleading and a youth leadership Tallahasse member nav empowers other young women in stem through her volunteer work at the national Magnetic Lab s girls summer camp [Music] congratulations our runner up in this wonderful category of technology is Ania lens of Leon High [Music] School Ania was an intern in the leyon county community and media relations office for the County Commission where she developed skills and applications such as Photoshop Ines design illustrator and Lightroom she started her own graphic design business called ania's Creations where she creates custom content for customers she manages the black student union Club social media and her role is the historian is active with Delta gem service club and Junior debut time Ania shares extensive knowledge of design programs such as canva and arcgis with college students through her involvement with the 4 Tech change makers program Andale Arkin of [Music] ranai and the 2024 best and brightest winner in the technology category is James Jong of Charles High [Music] School James was selected to participate in Yale's young Global scholar program for Innovations and Science and Technology the MIT Bieber work summer Institute one of only 95 students participate in NASA's stem enhancement in earth science internship president of Key Club boy State Delegate placed 22nd in the National chess tournament and is a four-time scholar for the tennis team represents 33,000 students as the leyon County School Board student member and has leveraged his position to help provide stem resources to students in Title One schools James led a Freedom of Information open records for request campaign and drafted a bill to regulate police surveillance technology that resulted in the program's discontinuance he also founded the Florida chapter of encode Justice a global Coalition of activists fighting for human rights in the age of AI congratulations to all our winners wow congratulations James congratulations so as I mentioned technolog is changing a lot of the ways we are having our lives be affected and so in the role of these generations and especially with AI can you give us some ideas of how you think it's going to change for the future Generations yeah for sure I think technology in general will be integrated into like every aspect of our life in the future um I really believe that it can unveil the true possibilities of humanity and show us great things that we've never that were possible before um and I'm really optimistic about its future and but at the same time I believe there is some danger to AI um whether it's you know exacerbating racial disparities or making communities separated um but I you have a good outlook on it with optimism and a bit of caution but all in all I think the best has yet to come so well thank [Music] you okay thanks for your patience for your world language parents and friends out there but it's not the last award of the night so don't get up after this one so for World languages the 2024 best and brightest honorable mention goes to gka kusuri of Rickards High [Music] School gka helped revamp Ricker's French Club as the club's president she instated bi-weekly tutoring that covered French culture speaking Reading Writing and listening she's a Guinness World Record holder as part of the largest group for reciting the hanu man Jolly saw at the same time in Sanskrit dialect just like all of us and his coordinator of the Bollywood dance and Indian classical dance in town she's a model United Nations Middle School Mentor ecology captain of the Science Olympiad language and Linguistics Club president Red Cross co-event coordinator and is also on the tennis team she Tia volunteered to Tallahasse Memorial where she assisted in tele medicine staff advocating for their new application language line offering translators for patients in 30 plus [Music] languages our runner up for the 2024 best and brightest in World languages is hiwan SEO of Charles High [Music] SCH hewan was one of the youngest members of the Asian Coalition of Tallahassee worked recruiting volunteers for the annual event experience Asia saved act over $18,000 a recipient of the silver by literacy seal for Spanish a two-time US Congressional app challenge winner he founded child's Asian Student Association as co-president he guides lessons about Asian culture and languages coordinates volunteer opportunities he W is ranked seventh place in the world that's the whole world for solving Rubik's cubes and organized his first official Rubik's Cubes competition through the world cube association with competitors from 10 different countries and I wish outside after the program he would show us his Rubik's Cubes skill and first place for the 2024 best and brightest in World languages award is Aaron files of Florida state university schools Aaron speaks Spanish French Hindi Turkish Arabic each a stepping stone to her future as an attorney for underrepresented individuals from Africa and the Middle East she was a talcon Electric Florida Delegate for the Washington youth tour active with future Business Leaders of America on the board of Fellowship of Christian athletes as well as serving with Delta gems and many honor societies she established the first Hispanic heritage cultural celebration at Florida High bringing together Arts performances projects from Chorus Theater history and art departments that she promoted campus-wide for her cultural appreciation and Aon also spearheaded Florida High's First International cultural celebration through her partnership with building incredible Generations as their secretary and international cultures chair she also helped to organize Florida High's first annual Black History Month celebration that's Aon files of Florida state university [Music] schools congratulations congratulations Aaron people learn languages for all different reasons you have learned quite a few can you tell us what you have gotten from learning these languages and how you're going to be using them in the future um I plan to keep using them quite often I think that language learning is something that everyone should aspire to do because it connects you to people of various different backgrounds and not only does it connect you to new opportunities but it allows you to connect those communities to New Opportunities there's so many people who can't get a job opportunity or a housing placement simply because they don't understand the language of that area so I think it's our responsibility to help that process [Music] congratulations wow well thank you all for your patience but before we move on to the final Award of the evening I'd like to ask all of us in the audience to thank and congratulate all of these wonderful students because they are the future every single one of them is a winner and they are our future locally Statewide nationally and globally congratulations to all of you now i' wouldd like to ask Sam and Laura Rogers to come back to the stage for tonight's final award which I think you'll find very touching good evening over the past 19 years best and brightest has recognized over 2,713 High School seniors in Leon County these students each reflect a solid record of academic achievement leadership with a special emphasis on their dedication to our community for the past 13 years an additional award has been presented to one of the finalists who truly exemplified the spirit of the best and brightest with their deep commit to civic duty and service this award is in honor of our son Brooks Rogers who tragically lost his life in an automobile accident his commitment to the community service and his passion for life exemplifies the spirit of the best and brightest because of the generosity of the Tallassee Community after his death a scholarship fund was founded and for the benefit of the best and brightest recipients this recognition has been the exciting culmination of the awards program with the $2,500 scholarship presented to the student with that Spirit the winner is selected among the 45 honorable mentions Runners up and winners in each category the recipient of the best Spirit of the best and brightest truly exemplifies what it means to have passion for service and giving back to the community so let's talk about this year's recipient this person has maintained their academic Excellence over the past four years and is in most honor Societies in their school they have engaged in community outreach that directly impacts students in their school and held highlevel leadership positions in many service clubs this person was a leader of their school student government an active member and an officer on at least seven boards and is an advocate for Health Care awareness she has raised over $2,000 for a benefit tournament she created and has given over 1,200 hours of her High School career coordinating events fundraising motivating fellow volunteers and advocating for the needy assistance this year's winter the spirit of the breast and brightest exemplifies wisdom far beyond her years as she said I hope to establish a distinguished Legacy at my school with contributions to the enrichment of both the school and the Tallahassee Community placing a significant emphasis on service acts of kindness and exemplary leadership this year's winner of the best and brightest is Helen Khan from Leon [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] hold on there's more because our students are so generous with their talents and time we have one more announcement tonight recognizing this wonderful spirit winner by having the chief executive of volunteer Florida join us Josie tomayo thank Youk you thank you and good evening everyone and is really my pleasure to be here a round of applause to all the winners and all the wonderful students and I see many many great leaders that are going to be in our midst for the future so Ron who I've known for very many years introduced me I'm the CEO of volunteer Florida and we are the organization uh the governor's organizations it's in charge and now celebrating our 30th year of promoting volunteerism national service programs and also assisting in times of need for our fellow citizens uh that are involved in disasters and and so forth and we at volunteer Florida one of the many things that we are very honored to do and I take great pride in doing in recognizing those individuals and specifically this young lady who has dedicated much of her career in high school to service and service specifically for the dance marathon and also I think I counted correctly I'm a lawyer so you know how we do math um over almost 2,000 hours in volunteer service to her community and I will tell you one of the things that is most most important about this young lady here and about everyone is your ability to give back to one's Community once you volunteer and give back and give to a cause you not only change your life but you change that other person's life so it is my greatest pleasure to present volunteer of Florida on behalf of the commission and our foundation the Excellence in volunteerism award to Helen con [Music] wonderful this is great Sam La thank you joose thank you so much how wonderful well folks how great has this been tonight give yourself a round of applause for your patience thank you all for attending the 2024 19th anniversary best and brightest Awards one more time for eighth graders and these seniors the future is in good hands with all of these fine young leaders so a couple of final notes um on your way out you will see that special 64 page insert that will be in tomorrow's Tallahassee Democrat but thanks to the Democrat you get it tonight and it's got everything in it you want to see save some for someone else but grab a few and that will be in the paper tomorrow so more coverage this program is all videotaped it will be on television over and over again so if you missed anything or family did they'll be able to see it um the volunteers will see you on the outside Middle School principes can pick up their school certificates for their finalist at the student check-in counter the checks available for high school seniors are their schools finalists at the check encounter ready for pickup as well as we say good night please mark your calendar save the date for Wednesday May 14th 2025 it's our 20th anniversary we'd like to see you all there God bless you God bless our neighbors who are coming back from that bad storm thank you for being here tonight congratulations [Music]