Women Build Gala to support Habitat for Humanity on May 7 

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Clay County Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build Gala will be on May 7 at 6 p.m. at the Clay Theatre. 

The Gala brings together community leaders, local businesses and volunteers to support affordable ownership for hardworking families in Clay County. The event includes dinner, music, silent auction items and a fun evening celebrating the progress helping families achieve affordable housing. 

For tickets or information on sponsorship, contact Nikki Glanville, Development Director, at nglanville@clayhabitat.org or at (904) 476-2475. 

Clay County District Schools hosting Job Fair on May 6 

CLAY COUNTY – The school district will host an All Positions Job Fair on Wednesday, May 6, from 5-7 p.m. at Fleming Island High. 

Applicants will be interviewed on-site with school principals and department leadership for the 2026-27 school year. 

Positions include teachers, support staff, janitorial, bus drivers and monitors, maintenance, cafeteria assistants and managers, substitute teachers and nurses, psychologists, mental health clinicians and school guardians. 

It’s time to register new students for 2026-27 school year 

CLAY COUNTY – Parents and guardians are encouraged to register new students, incoming kindergarteners, for the 2026-27 school year in advance. Students who will be 5 years old on or before Sept. 1, 2026, should register for kindergarten. 

The first step is to locate which school the student will attend. To do that, visit oneclay.net and click on the registration tab. 

All students are required to have immunization documents, a birth certificate, a completed religious exemption form for school entry shots, a Florida physical and proof of residency, which includes a government-issued identification card, a copy of the property deed and settlement statement and one of the following: current utility, water, electric, cable gas, internet, cellphone or landline bill. 

Renters must provide a signed lease agreement. Families that live with someone who rents or owns a home must provide a government-issued identification and a District-provided signed and notarized verification of residency. 

Parents and guardians of new students also must complete a new student registration form found at oneclay.net/registration-and-enrollment. 

Finally, all information should be emailed to the student’s new school. For a list of email addresses, visit oneclay.net/registration-and-enrollment

Golden Years Gala Service Awards accepting sponsors, auction items 

ORANGE PARK – To celebrate the contributions of senior adults, The Shepherd’s Center of Orange Park is accepting sponsors and silent auction items ahead of its Golden Years Gala Service Awards breakfast on May 13 at 8:30 a.m. at Sullivan Hall at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 7190 U.S. Highway 17, on Fleming Island. 

The gala honors the county’s Woman and Man Volunteer of the Year and the Ernie Cohen Lifetime Achievement Award. 

The Shepherd’s Center offers award-winning educational programing that promotes health and wellness. 

To sponsor and donate auction items, contact Elizabeth Reed at (904) 463-2278. 

UF/IFAS launches project farming, AgTech businesses 

The University of Florida’s Food and Resource Economics Department is launching the Wayne T. Davis Agricultural and Rural Entrepreneurship program in Fall 2026 to help students build agriculture-focused businesses. 

The new course sequence teaches agricultural business fundamentals in the fall and culminates in a spring “Shark Tank”-style pitch process where students present full business plans to industry mentors. 

Funded by alumnus Wayne T. Davis, the program will equip students to innovate in areas ranging from automation, water use, food preparation, precision agriculture and more. 

Growing a business is difficult. Growing an agriculture business can have its own unique challenges that can be daunting for a budding businessperson. 

That’s why the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Department of Food and Resource Economics (FRE) is launching a new entrepreneurship program, specifically targeted for students who want to create agricultural businesses. 

The Wayne T. Davis Agricultural and Rural Entrepreneurship program will kick off in the fall of 2026 with the course Principals of Agricultural Entrepreneurship, with a follow-up course in the spring of 2027. The class series will focus on the basics of entrepreneurship and business-planning, with a focus on agricultural issues, said Tori Rumenik, an FRE alumna and the program’s creative coordinator. The courses are open to both undergraduate and graduate students as joint classes. All majors across the UF system can enroll. 

“Agriculture is facing huge challenges, from automation demand to responsible water use, and UF really has the brightest minds in the nation where it comes to agriculture innovation,” she said. “We want to make it possible for them to take those big ideas and transform them into businesses after graduation, but we need to provide the toolkit to do so.”