Olympic Heights seniors Belina Bubenik Perry and Riley Tobin (pictured above left and center) won first place in their respective categories of Foreign Language and History at the 2022 Pathfinder Awards. OH senior Daniel Coelho (pictured above right) won third place in the Music Instrumental category.

The Pathfinder Awards are sponsored by the Palm Beach Post, extending eligibility to all public and private high schools in Palm Beach and Martin counties.  Pathfinders is one of the largest and most comprehensive high school scholarship programs in the state. Each year, scholarships are awarded to 54 of the best and brightest high school seniors in the two-county area. Students do not self-apply but are selected and nominated by their schools. 

Olympic Heights math teacher Ms. Molly Weiner, pictured here with her mother, former OH English teacher Ms. Kathy LeGrand, has been named the Palm Beach County Council of Teachers of Mathematics high school Teacher of the Year.

Senior Jessica Abramsky, editor-in-chief of Olympic Heights student newspaper The Torch, won first place for editorial writing in the 2022 Sun Sentinel High School Journalism Competition. The competition includes high schools in both Palm Beach and Broward Counties. Jessica won for her editorial titled “New Texas abortion law, based on faulty reasoning and junk science, set’s women’s rights back by 50 years.” In her comments on Jessica’s editorial, Sun-Sentinel editor-in-chief Julie Anderson wrote, “The opinion writer does an excellent job of explaining the many ways the Texas law has stacked the deck against women. This editorial was timely, well-researched, clearly written and persuasively argued.” Jessica will be majoring in Multimedia Journalism at Florida Atlantic University in the fall, pursuing a career in journalism.

Congratulations to Josh Yaciuk for becoming Olympic Heights DECA’s first state officer. He  will be the vice-president overseeing District 8, leading six high schools and one middle school toward their goals and successes for the 2022-23 school year.

The Olympic Heights Hospitality Academy level 4 students-created business Brush N’ Rush won second place in the Company of the Year Competition and received the Best Social Media Plan Award at the Junior Achievement Spark Tank Finale event on April 9. OH senior Savanna Carik served as the company’s CEO.  

Eight Olympic Heights Student Government Association (SGA) students attended the 2022 Florida Association of Student Councils (FASC) Leadership Conference at Palmetto Ridge High School in Naples, Fla. in March. OH delegate Gabriella Pettilo students won third place in the categories Membership Motivation and Environmental Concerns. OH delegate Kathleen Flory also was able to present a resolution that proposes students and teachers receive mental health days. FASC passed this resolution, so it will now move to Florida legislation. THe OH delegates were also exposed to multiple guest speakers and workshops and submitted project books in multiple categories. 

The Olympic Heights 2022-2023 student body executive board will be made up of President Kathleen Flory, Vice-President Jaiden Goldberg, secretary Danielle Charlip, treasurer Jessica Stempler, parliamentarian Hilkeja Presendieu, and historian Mollie Stempler.

The Olympic Heights jazz band won the highest possible rating of Straight Superiors at the Florida Bandmasters Association State Music Performance Assessment on March 22. Only two other Palm Beach County high school jazz bands received  this rating and only a few others from throughout the state. The OH jazz band, under the direction of Ms. Jackie Parsons, is made up of: Trumpets: Daniel Coelho, Miles Paygane, Stephen Shepley, Hayden Baer, Mackenzie Shiffman; Trombones: Chloe Greenbaum, Jack Virtue, Anothny Polk, Zion Felix; Saxophones: Joanna Waiters, Michelle Orellana, Marcus Tran, Joshua Davis, Jacquelynn Borkenhagen: Rhythm Section: Julian Mendoza  (drums), Clayton Mullings (bass), Joel Koldny (piano), Daniel Aguirre (auxiliary), Daniel Padilla  (auxiliary).