New Palatka High clubs, sports enhance students’ school experience
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Photo submitted by Cathy Oyster – Palatka Junior-Senior High School Junior Bassmasters Club students Cody Mullis and Parker Flanders hold up their winning catches in February. -
Positively Putnam FL
A student’s high school career can involve more than just hitting the books, and school officials have worked to offer a wide array of activities to appeal to all of their students.
The number of extracurricular activities Palatka Junior-Senior High School offers its students continues to grow, to include a pickleball club and a drone team.
Assistant Principal Cindy Bellamy said the school tries to offer as many opportunities as possible – and not just in academics – to students.
“These are well-rounded kids,” she said. “They aren’t just smart. They aren’t just talented. They aren’t just athletic. They’re a little bit of everything.”
This school year, Palatka High added extracurricular activities like a competitive dance team and competitive cheerleading, administrators said.
The school now has an Esports team, too. The Palatka High drone team won the Putnam County Schools Drone Races Championship this year, the team’s inaugural year.
Students might be interested in theater, sports, band, JROTC or more, and Palatka High has it, Assistant Principal Joy Eubanks said.
Principal Cathy Oyster said the school has the only Putnam County Junior Bassmasters Club fishing team in the area. Two students took home first-place awards in February during the Florida BASS Nation fishing tournament.
School officials also started a travel club and a pickleball club and are working to rebuild the Palatka High band and chorus programs to their former glory.
“I feel like we offer such a variety here that they can find something that they’re really interested in, and we really encourage them to find the area that you’re interested in,” Eubanks said.
School sports have expanded to prepare junior high students for Florida High School Athletic Association-designated sports. Assistant Principal Lamar Purifoy said the seventh and eighth grade football team became part of the Suwannee Middle School Association, where the players will get to compete for a championship at the end of the football season.
Eubanks said the school added numerous other junior-level sports for the seventh and eighth-graders since the high schoolers merged with the younger students three years ago.
The older students are role models for the younger athletes, which has helped curb bad behavior, she added. The younger athletes feel like they’re training to perform on varsity, Eubanks said.
Even if junior high students don’t play sports, Oyster said, they still attend games and cheer on their fellow classmates.
“They want to be a part of something larger,” she said. “So, the school spirit has grown tremendously as well.”
