Ponte Vedra High School

Ponte Vedra High School
Address
460 Davis Park Road Ponte Vedra, Florida 32081 United States
Coordinates	30°12′24.00″N 81°23′14.00″W / 30.2066667°N 81.3872222°W / 30.2066667; -81.3872222Coordinates: 30°12′24.00″N 81°23′14.00″W / 30.2066667°N 81.3872222°W / 30.2066667; -81.3872222
Information
Type	Public school
Established	2008
Status	Operational
School district	St. Johns County School District
Superintendent	Tim Forson[1]
School number	511[2]
Principal	Fred Oberkehr
Grades	9 - 12
Enrollment	1,519 (2013-2014)[3]
Hours in school day	9:15 a.m. - 3:45 p.m.[4]
Campus size	77 acres (0.31 km2)[5]
Campus type	Suburban
School colour(s)	Blue █ , Silver █ , White
Nickname	Sharks
Rival	Nease High School[6] Creekside High School
Website	http://www-pvhs.stjohns.k12.fl.us/

Ponte Vedra High School (PVHS) is a public high school in the St. Johns County School District, located in northeast St. Johns County, Florida. The high school was constructed to relieve overcrowding at Allen D. Nease High School.

Overview

The school is within the Nocatee Development of Regional Impact and zoned for the community of Ponte Vedra Beach, but only communities across the river are actually zoned for the school. Total budget was $63,590,000, which included building, grounds, furniture and equipment.^[7]

Ponte Vedra High School has a capacity of 1,500 students. The school is composed of three connected two-story building clusters with an open courtyard in the center. The gymnasium and auditorium are on opposite sides with athletic facilities in the rear.^[7] The school graduated their first senior class in June, 2010. The school mascot is the shark, named "Bruce" and their colors are Ponte Vedra (Carolina) blue, black, silver and white. The main feeder school is Landrum Middle School.

The school's first principal was Craig Speziale, who was hired the year before the school opened in 2008 and served until February, 2014 when his treatment for colon cancer forced him to leave. Speziale died on April 19th, just prior to his 52nd birthday. Speziale was succeeded by Steve McCormick who currently serves as Principal.^[8]

Academics

The advanced scholars program gives students the option to participate in the rigorous programs of advanced placement, dual enrollment and honors courses. As of the 2016-2017 school year, US News ranks Ponte Vedra High School as the 20th best high school in Florida. Nationally, Ponte Vedra is rated as 214th. In a ranking of STEM programs, Ponte Vedra was ranked 208th in the country. US News awarded the school a Gold Medal rating overall.^[9]

Academies

Their curriculum offers academy programs in the areas of Biotechnology and International Business & Marketing.^[10] The curriculum consists of three academic paths for students: biotechnology, international business, and marketing. Students must take a minimum of 3 years worth of academy courses in order to receive credit recognition as a St. Johns County Career Academy Graduate. Ponte Vedra High School is one of a handful of schools in the state to offer business-related academic courses, thus making the program very exclusive and valuable for college-bound students.

The International Business & Marketing Academy is nationally recognized in the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) organization. They are a member of District 27 in the Florida FBLA program and have produced numerous local, state, and national finalists. Marissa Leonard is the program chair for the PVHS chapter.

Athletics

Ponte Vedra currently has 12 boys varsity programs and 12 girls varsity programs. These include baseball, basketball, cross-country, divine, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, tennis, track, wrestling, volleyball, and the marching band.

Golf

On October 3 & 4, 2008, the Ponte Vedra Boys Golf Team won the District Championship. The golf team's record for the regular season was (26-10). They were the first team in PVHS sports franchise to make it to the State Championship.

On October 26, 2011, the Ponte Vedra Boys Golf Team won the District and Regional Championship for the second year. They're the first team in PVHS sports franchise to win, county, conference, districts and regional championships in one year. After losing to Bolles twice during the regular season and finishing second to the Bulldogs in the district tournament last week, the Sharks won the Region 2-1A tournament Monday at the Haile Plantation in Gainesville, defeating Bolles by three shots.

In 2015, the Sharks' boys' team became state champions.

Soccer

During the 2009-2010 season, the Ponte Vedra High School Girls Soccer team won the Florida High School Athletic Association Class CCC state title in its first season with a 1-0 penalty-kick victory over Cardinal Gibbons High School (Fort Lauderdale, Florida). The Sharks (25-3-4) endured two scoreless overtimes against the lowest-ranked team in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America national poll before winning 4-3 on anticipated-death penalty kicks. The Lady Sharks were the second team in PVHS to go to the state championship but earned the first state title.

In 2012-2013, the Lady Shark soccer team won the state title in PK's over the number one ranked team in the state, American Heritage. The girls team won their season with a record of 24-3-1.

In 2013-2014, the Shark varsity boys soccer team won the class 3A state title over American Heritage and were chosen at one of the top 20 teams in the country by MAXPREPS.^[11] The boys varsity teams final record was 20-4-4 and the girls was 9-4-6.

In the 2014-2015 season, the Shark varsity boys finished with a record of 18-3-2. The Lady Shark team finished at 19-3-3, falling out of the playoffs in the state semifinal game to Land O' Lakes.

The 2015-2016 season proved to be the crowning season for the Sharks' soccer program. The Lady Sharks finished as runners-up in the state, and earned an 18-5-8 record. The Sharks varsity boys finished with a stunning 27-0-0 record. This was the only perfect record out of any high school team in the country. The varsity boys capped off the season with a 4-0 3A state title win against Immokalee, as well as a national ranking of 2nd.

In the 2016-2017 season, the Ponte Vedra boys Soccer team had a record of 17-5-3. They did not win districts, however they still won regionals and then lost in the state semi-finals by 1 goal to Seabreeze High School. The boys team had lost 8 out of 11 starters from the year before, when they were undefeated state champions. The girls soccer team had an overall record of 10-6-6.

Baseball

When the baseball teams first season began in 2008-2009 season, the team had a losing record of 5-14-0.

In the 2009-2010 season, the Varsity boys baseball team made it to the FHSAA Final Four after winning the region 1 championship. They were defeated by Tampa Jesuit who had 8 seniors on the team all with Division 1 scholarships as well as the projected top 5 MLB draft pick in 2012. The Sharks had a major turn around after starting the season 1-9. The baseball teams overall record for this season was 20-14-0.

In the 2011-2012 season their record was 21-9-0. In May 2012, the Shark varsity baseball team lost in the Florida State Class 5A title game to Plantation American Heritage. The title game was played at Digital Domain Park, Port St Lucie, FL.

In the 2012-2013 season the baseball team had an overall record of 23-11-0. In May of 2013 the Shark varsity baseball team won the Florida State Class 5A title over Estero High School. The title game was played at jetBlue Park at Fenway South, Fort Myers, FL.

The 2013-2014 season the team finished with a 20-9 record, which was good enough to create a playoff run which ended with a 3-2 win against Clay High School. The baseball team also won the achievement of Notable team.

During the 2014-2015 the baseball team's record dropped to 8-17-0.

The next season of 2015-2016, the baseball team improved with a record of 12-14-0.

Softball

The first season of softball at Ponte Vedra High School began in 2008-2009, when the school was first established, with Coach Conklin. The team had a final record of 18-7-0.

The following season of 2009-2010, Coach Rolison took over. The team finished with a 7-5-0 record.

During their 2011-2012 season, the softball team had a record of 11-3-0.

In the 2012-2013 season, the team had another new coach, Coach Sheperd, and their season ended with a 25-6-0 record.

In 2013-2014, the girls varsity team ended with an improving record of 29-1-0. Their national rank this season was 98.

In the 2014-2015 season, Coach Rolison returned and the team finished with the record of 13-12-1.

The season of 2015-2016, the girls varsity softball team ended with an improving record of 20-8-0.

Lacrosse

The lacrosse team for Ponte Vedra High School began in 2008, the first year the school was established. In this season of 2008-2009, the boys varsity lacrosse team had a winning record of 13-5-0. The girls varsity team also had a winning record of 15-2-0.

The second season for the Ponte Vedra Sharks lacrosse teams was better for the boys. In 2009-2010, the boys varsity team had record of 19-1-0 and the girls varsity team had a record of 13-4-0.

In the 2010-2011 season the boys varsity lacrosse team had a record of 18-2-0. In May 2011 the Varsity boys lacrosse team made it to the FHSAA Final Four. They were defeated by St Andrews the then number one ranked team in the state. The girls varsity team had an overall record of 14-3-0.

In 2012-2013 the boys varsity lacrosse team had a record of 19-3-0 and also made it to the final four again. The girls varsity lacrosse team had and improving record of 20-2-0.

During the 2013-2014 season the boys varsity team ended with the record of 21-4-0. The team made it to the final four but lost to Lake Highland Prep for the third year in a row. The girls varsity team finished their season with a record of 15-2-0 and won the regional title..

The season of 2014-2015 the boys varsity team lost their 4-year final four streak ended when they were upset by Lake Mary. They finished the season with a record of 19-3-0. The girls varsity team ended with w 16-4-0 record.

The following season of 2015-2016, the boys varsity lacrosse team made it all the way to the state championship but sadly lost. The ended their great season with the record of 25-1-0. The girls varsity team had a final record of 14-7-0.

Swimming and Diving

On October 26, 2011 the Ponte Vedra Swimming and Diving team won Districts after an undefeated season. At Regionals on November 3, 2011 the boys placed 2nd overall.

Football

The football team was started in 2008, when the school first opened. Their record after their first season was 3-8-0.

In 2009, the varsity team finished another losing season with a record of 2-8-0.

In 2010, the varsity football team had their first winning season, 7-4-0.

The 2011 season was even better for the Ponte Vedra Sharks football team. In November 2011 the Varsity boys Football team won their first District Championship in District 4-5A in the State of Florida. They won it over rival Creekside High School. The Sharks Ended the regular Season 9-1-0. The ended up beating Clay High School in the first round of the 5A playoffs and beat rival Creekside High School again in the 2nd round and ended up falling short of Wakulla High School in the 5A regional championship. Their overall record for this season was 11-2-0.

During the season of 2012, the sharks varsity football team won every home game. Their overall record for the season was 9-2-0, as they lost in playoffs.

The season of 2013, was a losing season. The sharks varsity football team had a losing record of 2-8-0.

In 2014, the football team had a new head coach. Coach Toblin replaced Coach Lloyd, who had been the coach since the school began. The varsity football team had another losing record of 3-7-0.

In the 2015 season, the Sharks secured a district title and a playoff bid by finishing with an 8-4-0 record.

The 2016 season proved to be a great one for the sharks varsity football team. The team won districts and made it all the way to the state championship. With a sad loss to American Heritage in the state championship, the team still had an incredible season ending with a record of 13-1-0.

Performing Arts

Ponte Vedra High School offers Drama one through four, with levels three and four being honors credit. They also offer musical theatre, and an audition only production class. The Ponte Vedra High School International Thespian Society Chapter is Troupe 7331. They are a part of district two and annually compete in district and state level thespian festivals. There they compete in one act competitions and take individual events including costume construction and design, duet acting, duet musical theatre, ensemble acting, large group musical theatre, make up design, monologues, pantomimes, playwriting, publicity direction, scene design, small group musical theatre, solo musical theatre, sound design, student-directed scenes, and student choreography. Ponte Vedra prides themselves in frequently scoring excellent and superiors on their events, and occasionally receiving a critics choice award.

One Acts

• 2009 - Troupe 7331's One Act "The Language of Angels" was awarded a superior and chosen to send to the Florida State Thespian Festival in April.
• 2012 - Troupe 7331's One Act "Perriot and the Ol' Clothesman" was awarded an excellent and was chosen to perform at the Florida State Thespian Festival that year.
• 2013 - Troupe 7331's original One Act "A Devised Theatre Piece" was awarded a superior and Critics Choice, and chosen to send to the Florida State Thespian Festival in March. It received straight superiors at the Festival.
• 2016 - Troupe 7331’s One Act “Baby Food” was awarded a superior and Critics Choice, and chose to send to the Florida State Thespian Festival in March. It received straight superiors at the festival.

Critics Choice

• 2010 - At the Districts festival PVHS's ITS Troupe 7331 earned 4 critics choices.
• 2015 - At the Districts festival PVHS’s ITS Troupe 7331 earned 1 critics choice for two contrasting monologues performed by Sofia Ferraro.
• 2016 - At the Districts festival PVHS’s ITS Troupe 7331 earned 3 critics choices. First was the duet song “My New Philosophy” from You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown performed by Madelyn Wells and Matt Gibson. The second was a student directed scene by Maggie Frantz. Last was in the choreography category. Kylie Giliberto choreographed a dance to “Falling Slowly” from the musical Once featuring herself and Zachary King. This piece also won runner-up for best in show.

Productions

Every year Ponte Vedra High School puts on a minimum of two MainStage productions, usually consisting of at least one play and one musical. One show is produced in the Fall and the other premieres in the Spring.

Year	Director	Musical	Play
2010-2011	Randall Adkison	Into The Woods	Original play Reap What You Sow
2011-2012	Randall Adkison	Les Misérables	Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
2012-2013	Randall Adkison	Pirates of Penzance	Spoon River Anthology
2013-2014	Randall Adkison	Oklahoma!	Richard III
2014-2015	Joe Kemper	Hairspray	The Foreigner
2015-2016	Joe Kemper	The Wedding Singer	To Kill A Mockingbird
2016-2017	Jason Nettle	Into The Woods & Guys And Dolls	Almost, Maine
2017-2018	Jason Nettle	Footloose	Rumors and A Midsummer Night's Dream

Pageants

Ponte Vedra conducts two pageants each year: the Miss PVHS Scholarship pageant and the satirical, male-only spinoff, Mr. Finstastic. Miss PVHS is a scholarship pageant for junior girls. They are scored on an opening number, talent, modeling walk, interview, and an on stage question. The awards given out include highest GPA, Miss Congeniality, Director's Award, Most Talented, Best Modeling, Best Interview, and the top five highest scoring contestants are recognized. Scholarships are awarded to the top three highest scoring contestants. Mr. Fintastic was started in 2015 and is a male charity pageant. Boys in their senior year compete in the pageant. It is a fun filled evening and proceeds of the program go to a charity selected by the winner.

Year	Miss PVHS	Mr. Fintastic
2009-2010	Kelly Hawkins	NA
2010-2011	Kelsey O'Brian	NA
2011-2012	Kelly Savage	NA
2012-2013	Anna Wheeler	NA
2013-2014	Leila Sabet	NA
2014-2015	Brenna Storm	NA
2015-2016	Chloe Barr	Austin Sizemore
2016-2017	Beth Slade	Justin Vega
2017-2018	Isabella Jones	Hal Swan

Instructors

Randall Atkison was the original teacher of the performing arts department. He was at the school from its beginning in 2008 till 2014. Joe Kemper came and taught from 2014-2016. Jason Nettle was hired in 2016 and is the current instructor for the Ponte Vedra High School performing arts program.

Media center

The school was named one of 26 in the state of Florida to earn the Florida Power-Library School award in July, 2009. The Library Media Services division in the Florida Department of Education collaborated with the Association of Supervisors of Media to select those chosen.^[12]

Student Body

As of the 2015-2016 school year, the school employs 69 full-time teachers, and has a total enrollment of 1,490.

The student body is 90% white, 5% Hispanic, 2% Asian, 2% black, and 1% mixed race.

Notable alumni

• Dillon Bates - University of Tennessee linebacker^[13]
• Perry Orth - University of South Carolina quarterback^[14]
• Beau Beech- Brooklyn Nets guard^[15]
• Brantley Mayers- Amherst College offensive lineman ^[16]
• Walker Sheller- Kansas City Royals Minor League Pitcher ^[17]

References

External links

• Ponte Vedra High School site
• St. Johns County Schools site
• PV Sharks New Booster Club site
• PV Sharks Boys Basketball site
• Aerial view of school and campus