Good afternoon, Hawks! HAPPY Friday!

Thanks to those of you who joined us for the virtual Open House.  We appreciate your involvement, even from afar. 

There is no school on Monday.  Enjoy your Labor Day. 

Accelerated Reader (AR tests) has started and our students are already doing a fabulous job.  They have already read 27 million words!  Keep reading!

PTO is sponsoring a Healthy Hawks Supply Drive.  Please see the attached flyer to see the supplies that are being requested.

Thank you for your patience during our afternoon dismissal.  We have supervision for pick up from 2:50 until 3:15.   Please make sure you have your car tag posted as you enter the Hawks Rise parking lot.  If you do not have a car tag, please contact your teacher, who will notify the front office.

September 16 is a fall holiday.  Enjoy your day off!

There is a PTO meeting scheduled for Thursday, September 23 in the media center at 7 pm.

We are already collecting left behind water bottles and jackets. Please take the time to label your child’s items with their first and last name.  We will return items to your child’s teacher if they are labeled. 

One of the ways that you can give back to our school is to use Amazon Smile when you make purchases through Amazon!  Products that qualify for Amazon Smile generate a .5% giveback to our school.  You can also enable Amazon Smile on your Amazon App so that you contribute to the school each time you shop.  Taking just a few minutes to register for Amazon Smile could make a huge difference for our school community. To learn more about Amazon Smile, please visit: https://smile.amazon.com/.../about/ref=smi_se_rspo_laas_aas

 

The doctors, nurses and staff at our hospitals are feeling the effects of caring for those suffering from COVID - 19. Please consider making a card or two with a message of appreciation. Simple gestures really make someone’s day. Please turn in cards for healthcare workers to your teacher or the office by Wednesday, September 8th.

 

Killearn Lakes Taekwondo is a long time Golden Hawk Sponsor.  They support our school and PTO with fidelity. Please take a minute to read their story below. 

 

 

THE STORY OF KILLEARN LAKES TAEKWONDO

Meet the Killearn Lakes Taekwondo family: Ray, Betty and Blaine Marky. Who would have anticipated that one boy’s love for Power Rangers and martial arts would develop into a cornerstone business within the Tallahassee community? Killearn Lakes Taekwondo and Fitness Center was established in November 2008 in large part because of co-owner Blaine Marky’s dreams. But what started as a dream for one person eventually grew to encompass the dreams, goals, and passions of so many more people.

Blaine Marky took his first taekwondo class when he was 6 years old, and with Betty Marky cheering him on: a year later his dad, Ray Marky, and his uncle, Steve Ehrlich, started taking classes too.  At the time they had no way of knowing where this journey would take them, but eight years later an unexpected opportunity presented itself when an existing martial arts school went up for sale. The family deliberated together about the possibility of owning and operating their own martial arts school. Blaine was in his freshman year of high school and he said he wanted to go for it, and the entire family worked together to bring his dream to fruition.  Soon after they purchased the school.

Running a martial arts school required a high level of dedication from all of the owners: Betty quit her job as an Office Manager at a dental office to handle the administrative components, Blaine juggled school responsibilities and business responsibilities, Ray worked full time and taught classes in the evening, and Steve, as one of the original owners, played an important role through observing the process initially which eventually developed into a full-time commitment until his passing in 2019. Within the first year Blaine, Ray, Steve, and Betty doubled their number of students!

Betty added Jazzercise classes to the class roster within the first year and Killearn Lakes Taekwondo and Fitness Center was born: now their current number of students is around 400! Since its inception the list of fitness classes that Killearn Lakes Taekwondo & Fitness Center offers has increased; now in conjunction with Taekwondo, and Jazzercise they also offer Yoga and Pilates.

Since the very beginning Killearn Lakes Taekwondo and Fitness Center provided the opportunity for martial arts students ages 4 and up to work towards their dreams, the intersection of one local family’s hopes with the hopes and dreams of that of their students cannot be understated. But the school offers so much more to the local community, for example, they are proud Business Partners with 8 public schools and support numerous private area schools.  They also offer scholarships to underprivileged students or current students that have fallen on hard times.

Ultimately you really get the sense that people of all ages are welcome to join the Killearn Lakes Taekwondo fitness family, it’s a martial arts school and fitness center that goes beyond just the classes they provide: just look at the supportive community that they nurture within the walls of their building. Even through 2020/2021, classes may look different (virtual and in-person smaller classes), the family atmosphere has stayed the same. Blaine, Ray and Betty’s dedication to the local community is immensely and immediately evident in all the components of their martial arts school and fitness center.