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Runners Return to Seaside 20th Annual Seaside School Half Marathon & 5K celebrates 25 years of Florida’s oldest operating public charter school b y Te s s F a r m e r
T he long-standing Seaside School Half Marathon & 5K returned to Seaside this year after moving the school’s largest fundraiser to a virtual option in 2021. The race is a huge community effort bringing together students, staff, volunteers, community partners, and runners from across the country. Every registration for the Seaside School Half Mara- thon & 5K goes to support The Seaside School, which was recently ranked the number three combination school in the state and celebrated 25 years in the com- munity last year. “This annual event means so much to our school and beyond,” says Teresa Horton, executive director of the Seaside School Foundation. “Its primary purpose is to raise funds, but also provides a chance to gather with members of our special community, celebrate successes and share our vision for the future.” Founded in 1996, The Seaside School,
considerable distance from houses, shops, and cultural centers,” says Seaside founders Robert and Daryl Davis. “Such a school could draw on cultural and community resources and engage citizens in the education of its students.” “The school has been a remarkable success, even if the idea of small schools embedded in their neighbor- hoods has not spread as widely, so far, as we had hoped,” adds Davis. This idea was an important element of the South Walton Conservation and Development Plan of the mid- nineties; an anticipated update of the plan may help Walton County more effectively plan for future growth
students scored an average of more than 140 points higher than the state average on the PSAT. “Certainly the performance of The Seaside School, even with a small population of students, plays an inte- gral part in the success of Walton County School District’s grade,” says Mr. A. Russell Hughes, Superinten- dent of Walton County School District. “We treasure this relationship and the willing, intentional collabora- tion that we engage in for each child to receive a world-class education, contributing to the success of all students.” The general race proceeds go directly to support the operations of the schools and additional fundraising ef-
Inc. was one of the first and is now the oldest operating public charter school in the State of Florida. The original goal of Seaside School, Inc. was simple—create a school to address the need for better middle school education in Walton County—and it hasn’t stopped since. The Seaside School, Inc. currently serves nearly 400 students across three campuses encom- passing 5th through 12th grades. The vision of the school is admirable: to maintain a small school with faculty knowledge- able to each student’s abilities and challenges. The staff offers increased support to each stu-
Photo by Lynn Crow Photography
dent to meet challenges, cultivate talents and increase skills to perform successfully in all academic areas. The smaller setting and lower-class size make this possible. The curriculum at The Seaside School, Inc. is developmentally responsive – actively engaging students in learning skills in context, integrative – directing students to connect learning to daily lives. This enables students to discover their abilities, interests, unique learning styles, and explore ways that they can make contributions to their world. “The Seaside Neighborhood School was an attempt to prove that a small school, fully integrated into a neighborhood and a community, could achieve better outcomes and help children mature better than the currently conventional large schools built on land a
and shift away from mega-schools on sites that could not allow kids to walk or bike to school or be part of a supportive neighborhood. The Seaside School, Inc. students continue to earn high marks on annual state testing year after year. Results from the most recent state assessments show that Seaside is a top-ranked combination school in Florida, perform- ing above the majority of combination schools statewide, and continually scores higher on college entrance exams compared to the national student average. Notably, data from the most recently administered tests in 2021 show Seaside School, Inc. scored number two in the State of Florida for 7th and 8th grade mathematics, number seven in the State of Florida for 10th grade English Language Arts (ELA), and number 6 in the State of Florida in 8th grade science. Additionally,
forts will be allocated towards the capital and endow- ment campaign supporting students at Seaside Neigh- borhood School and Seacoast Collegiate High. “The Educate + Gather + Grow capital and endow- ment campaign will be driven not only by short-term needs, but also by a plan of what the future will hold for our schools,” adds Horton. “Led by continual support, exploration, accountability, scholarship, independence, dreams and effort, our students cultivate their diversity and begin to understand ways they can make unique contributions to our society.”
Seaside School Foundation seasideschoolfoundation.org
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