Okay, good evening, everybody. Welcome to the Alachua County Commission. We're going to go ahead and get started. Yep, if you go ahead and find your seat. Okay, so my name is Ken Cornell. For many of you that haven't been here before, welcome to the Alachua County Commission. We are your government in action. So I'm really pleased to open up tonight's meeting called Saving My Alachua. And I want to talk to the kids about the importance of what tonight is all about. You live in a state that is the third largest state in the country. It's actually the 13th largest country if we were our own country. So think about that. And you're living in a county that has one of two environmental departments that does not exist on the coast. So there's 67 counties in the state. There's only two counties that have EPDs, Environmental Protection Departments, that are inland. And you're in the room with the folks that are running this contest. What we're going to celebrate tonight is we're actually going to be celebrating the future. And we're seeing the future through your eyes and your art. I will tell you that Earth is next week. It's a pretty special day for me. It's when my wife and I decided to get married. And that was 30, I better get this right because she's watching. That was 37 years ago. And some of the art that we're going to see today is celebrating the Earth. I also want to tell you that this is such an important day for Alachua County that tonight's being televised. So we're running live. We're on TV. And tomorrow, it'll be available for you guys to go back and watch if you want to see not only your art, but see your beautiful faces up on the screen. You are the leaders of the future. It's my favorite night of the year because it brings me so much hope, not only for Alachua County, but for the state of Florida, and not only for the state of Florida, but for the entire world. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to our county manager. And she's going to say a few words. Then we're going to hear from Steve. And then we're all going to come down. And Mary Helen Wheeler is going to present the art. And we're going to get pictures, us three, with each of you. So thank you all for being here tonight. Missy? Welcome, everybody. I'm Missy Daniels. I'm an assistant county manager and so excited to be able to be here tonight with all you guys. I'm going to have to use my sheet because I've got some numbers for you. But I want to talk about the contest a little bit. We're recognizing the winners tonight, all of you guys sitting out here, of the county's 13th annual Saving My Alachua Environmental Art Contest. The contest encourages students to submit artwork reflecting their interest in the local environment and addressing one of the following topics. Water conservation, stormwater pollution prevention, natural habitat protection, wilderness, and wildlife protection, proper disposal of toxic waste, or climate-related issues. And you saw all of those represented in the hall very well. Just to put the whole thing in perspective, here's where the numbers come in. We received 583 submissions, individual submissions, from 27 different schools this year. That's public schools, private schools, charter schools. We even have homeschool submissions. The winners here tonight are 39 people who were, or artwork, representing the students who were selected out of the 583. So that is just incredible. Give yourself a hand on that. You saw the amazing lineup of artwork we have throughout the hall. And for you guys, the kids, I just want to remind you, your art really helps people see how important it is to protect the planet. I think when you speak as students, as young people who are interested in show your art, I think that speaks louder than any of us ever could when we're out there talking about what you need to do to protect the environment. Thank you for that. Thank all of you for taking the time to be here. And with that, I'll hand it off to Steve. All right. Thank you, Missy. And thank you, Chair Cornell. Hi, everyone. I'm Steve Hofstadter. I'm the county's Environmental Department Director. And this is our 13th year of doing this event. And I see some familiar faces out there. So I know some of you have won before and are back. So keep submitting art. Talk to your other friends and students. If they're not doing art, try to get them involved. Because this is an incredible opportunity to combine art and science together to learn about environmental issues, to try to understand the issues and concerns you all have with what's happening in our community. So it's a special time for us. We as staff get to be the judges. And I'm telling you, it is hard. With, you know, as we said, 583 applications. And I think last year we had around 600. It is a hard job to do. And every time I look at the art, I'm like, wait, I don't remember seeing that one before. So my strategy is I actually review the art six or seven times before I finally go back and make a choice. And so we have a panel, a large group that does the art assessment in terms of what we select. And so what we're going to do tonight is we're going to recognize the third, the first, second, and third place for every age category, as well as 13 calendar winners as well. So what you might recognize when we call the names up, you might see something that says second place and calendar contest winner. So the, what that means is they're going to be recognized in, in our calendars that we put out every year. And we have last year's calendars up there. If you haven't seen them yet, I recommend grabbing one. They're, they're incredible calendars. Um, we get a lot of, uh, excitement and recognition of these calendars every year. And based on the artwork we've seen this year, next year's calendar is going to be phenomenal. So, um, with that, how, how this will work, we're going to start with kindergartners and move up through all of the years. Last year and this year, we're actually recognizing every grade, um, school grade, uh, through, all the way through 12th grade. Um, before that, we usually grouped high schoolers together into one award. So, so we're going to recognize every single age class. And we'll start from third and then go to the first place winner in each, uh, grade. So at this point, what I'll, I'll have, um, all of the commissioners come down. Uh, Mary Helen Wheeler, uh, is going to read off the names. Um, one thing I want to mention before we start is that obviously I think we said there's 37 winners here this evening. There were, you know, 580 applicants. So we have 544 other pieces of art that we aren't able to show you tonight. So we have teamed up with, uh, Linnea Kea, um, Montessori School, which is right down the street. And on Friday from 3 to 7 and on Saturday from 9 to 3, we're going to display all of the remaining artwork at that school. So we encourage you all. There's some information in our, in our program. We encourage you all to come and visit the Montessori School, um, and see all the rest of the, and see all the rest of the, the work because they're all incredible. Um, they're all deserving of winning. Um, but we, again, we can only select three from each age group. So, um, let me check, make sure I don't have anything else to add. I think that's good. We'll go ahead. I'll turn it over to commissioner. If, if you came in in a rush and didn't see it, we have programs up front as well. Um, that have a copy of, of the artwork as well as some information that I was just talking about. So please grab those on the way out as well as any, uh, calendars. So with that, I will turn it over to, uh, commissioner Wheeler. Thank you. Thank you so much. This is the best job of the whole year. I got to say, uh, I was teaching art at Westwood middle school when this program began all those years ago. And so to be able to be a part of this now to share your children with me, I, I'm, I'm sorry not to be teaching art anymore because I know they would be coming up into my middle school and I'd get a chance to see them. But this gives me an opportunity to see everybody and to celebrate all of your work, all of you, and to share with the world what it is you all are doing to make sure that this community is educated about the importance of the environment. So thank you all so very much for your work and for bringing it here to share with us. I'm going to start reading these names and we're going to start with the kindergartners and I have a third place going to Fern Alexander. Now, do we have the name, the pictures going up here at the same time? There we go. There we go. We have X's up here for you all to stand on so that, uh, we can get a really good picture too. All right, Ms. Fern. Right there. All right. No, you come up. Fern. Woohoo. Fern. Come back. We want you, girl. We want you, girl. Right here. That's all right, darling. That's okay. And then, um, we have Beatrice Curvan. Second place. Right. And then first place is Kehlani Terry. Yes. And you want to make sure to look up there because you've got your pictures coming on the big screen too. And everybody in the whole county can see it. It's amazing. All right. And then I have on third place, first grade, Gianna Darling. You all first graders know. All right. And then for second place, Amelia Pierre-Jean. There's right. And then for the first place and a calendar selection, Mia Lee. Okay. You know what? I, uh, Beatrice, when I called your name, I didn't point out that you're in the calendar selection. Did you see? Uh, I, I'm sorry. I, you're going to have in the calendar. You guys are going to be published. All right. And then second grade, third place, Lily Gatson. All right. Okay. And then for second place, Anaya Patel. Oh, these are wonderful. I'm not getting a chance to look at them carefully enough. All right. And then for first grade, we have Naomi Villaro. First place. Third grade. Oh, third grade is where you learn to do it all. You write in cursive handwriting. You get your, uh, multiplication tables and you're reading like crazy, right? You're reading to learn instead of learning to read by third grade. So you guys are the, uh, the superstars. All right. Third place goes to Fox Smith Kelly. That's all right. We will say that name big and loud. Oh, I see that. Okay. Thank you. And then second place, Annabelle Smith. And then first place in calendar selection, Olivia Kung. All right. Okay. And third place, fourth grade, Aria Yang. Or is it Aria Yang? You're going to have to tell me the best way to say it, darling. Oh, man. That's an awesome one. Tell me how to say your name. Okay. Aria Yang. I didn't use it too bad at any time. And then second place in calendar selection, Rachel Wang. I was just saying. All right, then. And then fourth grade and, uh, Rachel, yours is also calendar selection too, didn't it? Did I say, I didn't say that. It is. It is. Good. I just want to make sure I don't shortchange anybody here. All right. And then fourth grade, first place, Victoria Shue. Oh, by note cards that look like that. I'm telling you. Okay. Fifth grade, third place in calendar selection is Eric Fenn. Okay. Is Joy Fisher here? Joy Fisher, second place, fifth grade. No, that's, yeah. Okay. Okay. And Jaden Wu, first place. Good. Okay. A little bit. A little bit. There we go. There we go. Okay. Sixth grade. Sixth grade. Sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade. Those are my guys. And, and that's an age that I really love and have been able to see amazing artwork come out of. So I'm not surprised that these have done as well as they have. Uh, third place, calendar selection, Daniel Daniela Dodds. Where are you in school, Daniela? A home school. All right, then. Thank you. Good job. It's beautiful. And Shiloh Brunson, second place. Come on in. Second place. Okay. Boy, you've got some talented folks going to school with you. All right. And then here's another calendar selection, Jessica Ma. Right. The Frazier school. So these middle schools are well represented. Okay. We have, uh, third place or seventh grade is Carson Mowitz. Carson, make it? Carson. All right. We're good to see his beautiful artwork. It's a great, that was a great one. And Hannah Robinson, second place. Did Hannah make it? Yes, she did. Great. Come on down. Hannah, where's you in school? Where are you? Oak Hall School. Trying to give shout outs to all these schools guys, because I think it's kind of important to know where our kids are going and and what they're up to and what good work they're doing while they're there. Uh, Chloe Esprit. Chloe's first, first place, first place in calendar selection. That's amazing. All right. Is that it? Okay. Eighth graders. You guys are getting ready to go up to the big house. All right. Third place, Emmy Smith. Emmy? Very nice. Now that would make a really nice team. I'd wear that. Where are you in school, Emmy? Oak Hall. Where are you going next year? New Halls. All right. And second place, Hannah Bond. Is she here, Hannah? All right. We'll make sure she gets that. All right. And first place in a calendar selection, Vivian West. Another t-shirt. Y'all, y'all could go into business and you know that, right? Mm-hmm. What school are you in? Oak Hall. Oak Hall. And where are you going next year? Staying in. Oak Hall. All right, then. All right. Is that all of us? Ninth grade, Tristan Williams. Are you here? No. Third place. Great job. All right. And second place in calendar selection is Milo DeJesus. How are you in school? Uh, Eastside. Awesome. One more. And then. First place in the ninth grade academy, uh, category is Amalia Brunson. Okay. No. Is she, she's sick. But we love this artwork. We're all up and enjoy that work anyway. Is this? Sure. Yes. Thank you. All right. 10th grade, Anna Lee Walcott, third place. It's awesome. It's really cool. I would not have known how to solve that problem. You solved that problem of water well. Where are you in school? First Christian Academy. All right, then. Uh, Jazlyn Johnson, 10th grade category, second place. Where? All right, then. Excellent. Community classroom. All right, then. Uh, this is first, the first place in calendar selection. We have, uh, Xiaoting Zheng. Xiaoting Zheng. Oh, I'm sorry about that name. Xiaoting Zheng. All right. First place in calendar. Let me see that one. Okay. 11th grade, Samson Schulman. Samson here. Second place, Lottie Ward. And you're going to have to tell me if I messed your name up too. Cody. Lody. Lody. All right. That makes more sense to me. All right. All right. Thank you, sir. Congratulations. Where are you in school? Eastside. Eastside. All right. All right. That's okay. Let's hear from Eastside. Okay. Uh, Adrienne Barker, first place, and calendar selection. Adrienne here? Not here. Eastside too, huh? All right. All right. Okay. All right. Third, these are, these are our 12th graders, our seniors. And seniors, when you come up here, if you don't mind, I'd like you to tell me, tell the group kind of where, what you're going to be doing. You're going to be graduating and moving on. So tell us a little bit about where, what school you are and what you think you're going to be doing when you don't have 12th grade anymore. All right. Uh, third place, Lily Bernon, or Bernon, Lily here. Angelica Francisco Jimenez. First, second place, second place. Not here. Did I scare you all off by saying you'd have to come up here and tell you your name and where you're going? You really out there. All right. Let's see if this one, first place in calendar selection. Beautiful. This is Nye Walker. Nye here? Thank you. Thank you. They were busy. Uh, they were busy and, and I hope they will be busy because, um, this is beautiful work that everybody's doing. And, uh, we want to make sure that they, all of you have done beautiful work. Some of you are going to be published. I never had any of my work published in all the 36 years I taught. So you guys have got a great head start, but I also want to acknowledge teachers. You are teachers, teachers who are in the room. Would you all stand up and come up here? Come, come introduce, introduce yourselves, if you would, and tell us what school that you are are teaching. I'm Kati Janish from Healthy Learning Academy. Hi, I'm Becky Lanther from Oak Hall School. I'm Luanne Blaskowski, and I'm at Eastside High School. I'm Jenna Wolcott, and I'm at First Christian Academy. I'm Elaine Schoff, and I'm at the Brentwood School. Kian Cho, uh, from our studio. The program wouldn't exist for that long. So, thank you so much. Yeah, let's make a call. We're on the X. All right, that concludes, um, our ceremony. Uh, let's give everyone a hand for all the work. Uh, before we leave, I do want to recognize some people who really, um, were the, were the ones that put this together. Erica Capen can stand up. She, Erica took over kind of running the program for us annually. I think this is your third year now that you've, you've been handling all this. So she's the one that's been collaborating with all the schools, the teachers, some of the parents, um, to make sure we get the artwork. So if you, um, want to participate again next year, Erica's the one you want to, want to get a hold of. Um, Takumi Sullivan, if you could stand. So, not only is Takumi the one taking the pictures up here, but she's the one that puts together the calendars every year. So the incredible job she does with the calendar is just phenomenal. So, um, it's, it's Takumi that puts that all together. So she, um, yeah, let's give her a hand for that. I don't think we have too many other staff in the room. If any other staff are here, if you want to stand up, um, Stacy, Jenison, um, and the rest are probably out in the other room. Um, we, we work hard to put this together. It is, as the chair said, our favorite night as well, every year to do this. And we want to continue to do it. Um, and we want to encourage all of you, um, and your families to continue to, to work on art, uh, express yourself through art, um, and continue to advocate for environmental issues as well. Uh, again, thank you all for being here. And, uh, closing thoughts, Steve, can I give a closing thoughts? All right. Closing thoughts from John Wesley in your program. Do all the good you can by all the means you can in all the ways you can in all the places you can to all the people you can as long as you can. And with that, we are adjourned.