A piece of history
In the middle of the city of Bunnell, stands an elementary school whose vision is, “To create positive experiences and relationships that inspires a lifelong love of learning.” After Bunnell High School opened in 1923, there was a very active chapter of the Future Farmers of America. They would meet in the basement of the school and eventually raised enough money for a building of their own. This building became the Little Red School House, which is on the Bunnell Elementary campus, where the high school campus used to be. It is a representation of the original school houses and is now a museum. The agricultural history of Bunnell goes hand in hand with our Classroom to Career Flagship.
Classroom to Career Program
Our Classroom to Career flagship is a combination of agriculture and technology, with an emphasis on problem solving. We want our students to be exposed to career paths, which will ultimately help the local community grow and our students become involved citizens.
The PRIDE Lab (Programming, Robotics, Innovative, Design and Engineering) is where students learn Blockley, a basic computer coding language that focuses on algorithm and debugging and uses the engineering process to problem solve environmental problems. Our sixth graders explore careers that are offered in the Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs and the high schools. They do CTE standards based projects that integrate programming, video production, and Google Suite tools.
The REACH Lab (Research, Environment, Agriculture, Culinary and Health) is right next to our greenhouse and Bullpup Garden. The lab serves as a classroom for Health, but it is much more. Grant monies and funds from the Flagler County Education Association and The National Dairy Council (NDC), along with The National Football League (NFL), have allowed us to build our program, in conjunction with the Fuel Up to Play 60 initiative. Our community business partners have been Yellowstone Landscaping, Environmental Land Services, Stone Plus, Flagler County Food Services, and Bull Creek Fish Camp. In health class, the students learn life science, plant life cycles, pollinators, functions, how to cultivate and harvest various vegetables, and how to grow plants in soil, hydroponically and aquaponically. In the Fuel Up Club, they delve deeper into the process. Fuel Up also competes in The Gridiron Challenge and creates their own cooking shows!
The harvest from our garden has previously been used in our cafeteria and most recently at the Bull Creek Fish Camp, the Chamber of Commerce Christmas Party and during the visit from Former Education Commissioner Pam Stewart. During the Commissioner’s visit, the students of Fuel Up were Ambassadors for our school and served lunch to her and other administrators from across the county. The ambassadors took the group on a tour of the greenhouse and spoke about the aquaponics, hydroponics and the gardening processes the students are learning about. The future plans for the lab include expanding its cooking and video capabilities, as well as continually improving the greenhouse
and garden.
Something for everyone
By offering our flagship and extracurricular activities, along with our academic drive towards excellence, we follow our district’s vision to “be the Nation’s premier learning organization where ALL students graduate as socially responsible citizens with the skills necessary to reach their maximum potential.” At BES, we help to build well rounded students, outside of the classroom.
The Spanish Club affords students the opportunity to learn spanish in a relaxed and inviting atmosphere. Our Community Problem Solvers and Future Problem solvers are award winning teams, where students are challenged to solve real world issues. Radiant Runners is a girls mentoring program encouraging fitness and self-esteem. Math Olympians solve math problems and compete in competitions. The LEGO club focuses on team building challenges and participates in the Parade of Homes Brick Builders Challenge. The Tech Club learns about coding, engineering and audio video technologies. The Bullpup Chorus teaches students about the beauty of music and creating performances. The Cheer Pup Club performs at community and school events, pumping up their Bullpup Pride!