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Community briefs 5/24/18

Clay Today
Posted 5/23/18

City offers free swim lessons for summer 2018 GREEN COVE SPRINGS – This summer, the city is partnering with Planet Swim of Ponte Vedra Beach to offer free swim lessons at Spring Park pool. The …

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Community briefs 5/24/18


Posted

City offers free swim lessons for summer 2018
GREEN COVE SPRINGS – This summer, the city is partnering with Planet Swim of Ponte Vedra Beach to offer free swim lessons at Spring Park pool.
The lessons will be offered to children ages 5-12 who live in Green Cove Springs. Lessons will run from June 12 to August 10 and are broken into two four-week sessions, with classes held twice a week. The first session runs from June 12 to July 5 and June 13 to July 11, with the option of taking classes either Tuesday and Thursday or Wednesday and Friday. The second session runs from July 10 to August 2 and July 18 to August 10, with the option of Tuesday and Thursday or Wednesday and Friday classes.
Parents can choose a 40-minute swim lesson time slot between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. for each of the two-day class schedules. Planet Swim will provide total supervision of students during class until they are back under the supervision of a parent or guardian.
The city will pay $14,400 for a total of 72 students.
This will be the second year that the city is offering swim lessons free of charge. Parks and Recreation Director Glee Glisson said that the city initially decided to offer free swim lessons to fill a need in the Green Cove Springs community. Glisson took a poll of students attending Charles E. Bennett Elementary and found that 40 percent of students didn’t know how to swim.
Last summer swim lessons were offered to children ages three and four for a few weeks. This year Glisson aimed to expand the age range and length of classes for free. The four-week sessions ensure that students will get more time in the water and will have a greater chance of remembering what they learned.
“We’ll be able to reach out to more people,” said Glisson. “Kids will be available because they’re out of school. Starting just before school last year limited the kids we could teach.”
Glisson said that the city will also try to accommodate anyone over age 12 or handicapped who is interested in getting swim lessons.
Lessons are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. Any parents interested in signing up their children for swim lessons should contact Executive Assistant Kim Thomas at 904-297-7054 or at kthomas@greencovesprings.com. Swim lesson applications are available at greencovesprings.com, and a completed application is required to register.

National Merit Scholars named
EVANSTON, Ill. – Two graduating seniors from Clay County are winners of $2,500 scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corp.
Fleming Island High senior Nathan C. Campbell and Ridgeview High senior Evan Collins are among 126 Florida students who won the prestigious scholarships. The 2,500 Merit Scholar designees were chosen from a talent pool of more than 15,000 outstanding Finalists in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program. Both Fleming Island residents, Campbell plans to major in linguistics, while Collins plans to study biotechnology.
National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners are the finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.
Winners were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the finalists and their high schools: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from two standardized tests; contributions and leadership in school and
community activities; an essay written by the finalist; and a recommendation written by a high
school official.
This year’s National Merit Scholarship Program began in October 2016 when more than 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools took the Preliminary/National Merit
Scholarship Qualifying Test, which serves as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less than one percent of the nation’s high school seniors, were named Semifinalists on a state-representational basis.
Only these 16,000 Semifinalists had an opportunity to continue in the competition.
From the Semifinalist group, some 15,000 students met the very high academic standards
and other requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. By the conclusion of
the 2018 program, about 7,500 Finalists will have earned the “Merit Scholar” title and received a
total of over $31 million in college scholarships

St. Vincent’s HealthCare rolls out online scheduling
JACKSONVILLE – St. Vincent’s HealthCare is now offering online scheduling for both new and existing patients across all of its primary care and pediatrics providers in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia. St. Vincent’s is also the first and only health system in the area to offer online scheduling for urgent care, emergency care, and mammography, according to a press release.
Patients can now view available appointments for their preferred location or provider and select a time that fits their schedules. Appointments can be scheduled for services that individuals and families need most frequently and most urgently, including regular check-ups, physicals or sick visits.
“We currently have the largest local primary care network that offers online scheduling, which exemplifies our commitment to provide more convenient access to the best possible healthcare at the greatest value for those we’re so privileged to serve,” said Tom VanOsdol, president and CEO of Ascension Florida. “To further improve the healthcare experience in our community, we must work in both traditional and innovative ways to increase access to our world-class care and mission-centered, compassionate caring.”
The addition of online scheduling is part of a nationwide effort by Ascension to provide easy access to personalized care. Plans to expand online scheduling capabilities at St. Vincent’s to include specialty care and diagnostic/imaging services beyond mammography are under way.
Appointments can be scheduled at getjaxhealthcare.com.