Education Archive

A crowd of people gathered under the bright, fluorescent lights of Laurel Hill’s gymnasium last Tuesday.


Family members, friends, and loved ones bared the heat as the class of 2026 took to their seats for a momentous milestone in life.

For most of his time at Crestview High School, Grayson Chambers was at the top of his class.


A friendly competition between him and Valedictorian, Daniel Barnes, bumped him down to second for Salutatorian. But it was all love in the end.

The word “Valedictorian” wasn’t in Daniel Barnes vocabulary his freshman year at Crestview High School.


Now, he walks across the stage at the top of his class.

To become the top student in any graduating class is no easy task. It takes hard work and dedication to keep high grades all throughout high school.


For Aiden King, that hard work paid off as he was named top of his class, receiving the Laurel Hill Anne T. Mitchell Honors Award.

The world of education has started to expand outside of the basic common core lessons. High Schools are starting to branch out and inherit new classes that will provide opportunities for kids after graduating.


The newest venture in Okaloosa County is the School District’s partnership with Space Florida to bring the Space Florida Academy Program to High Schools across Okaloosa County.

The title of ‘teacher’ is described as, “a person who helps others acquire knowledge, skills, or values, typically working as a professional instructor in educational settings like schools,” but in reality, they are “world changers”.

Okaloosa County Superintendent Marcus Chambers and the School Board recently honored students from Team Okaloosa, who won the Division II state championship at the 2026 Florida Department of Education’s Commissioner’s Academic Challenge.

Okaloosa County School District Board Member, Tim Bryant, is being honored by the Florida School Boards Association.


Mr. Bryant was awarded one of the most prestigious awards given by the FSBA, the Distinguished Leader Award.

The Okaloosa County School District continues to make strides towards transparency in the classroom.


Their newest addition is the introduction of “Apptegy Rooms”, an app that allows communication directly between families, teachers, and schools.

Teachers make an impact on student’s lives every day. Majority of a student’s day is spent with their teacher. They are a parent away from home who not only supply young minds with educational rhetoric, but life lessons and core values as well.


That kind of impact was rewarded for Ms. Michelle Harris, who was surprised with a new home air conditioning system on April 16.