ER members attend weekend community events to teach adults and children how to protect Florida's Everglades.
ER Ambassadors share their knowledge
Club membership is open to all students at South
https://erambassadors.wixsite.com/sphs
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ER Ambassadors are dedicated to educating the public about the south Florida ecosystem and the restoration of the Everglades.
Membership is open to any student in the school. Virtual meetings are held every Wednesday in room 522 from 3:10-3:45. Everyone in the school is invited to attend and be a member. ER has a website that was set up by alumnus Jacob Ewert and maintained by David Baldwin. Teacher Matthew Zealy sponsors the club. For a role reversal, in 2019 the ER Ambassadors spent the day learning instead of teaching as they celebrated World Wetlands Day in Palm Beach. It was a reward for their spending endless hours teaching children and adults in the community about the Everglades and its restoration. 
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Students earn service hours by volunteering at community, weekend events. They also travel to elementary schools and help children become Junior ER Ambassadors. In other years, they have hosted an Environmental Day at South Plantation incorporating marine activities for the children. For more information check the website: https://erambassadors.wixsite.com/sphs
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Ambassadors teach students at Plantation Park Elementary
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Students see how the Everglades has shrunk in size.
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Children see how the Everglades' size changed.
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Seeing how water can affect the food web.
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2020 Astronaut Challenge
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All spectators can see the team in action on a big screen by the bleachers.
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The Paladins in action.
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4-H Club Showcases Horticulture, Animal Science
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The goal of the 4-H club is that students "learn by going" as it introduces them to the agriculture industry and animal sciences through field trips, classroom study and practice.
Members do just that as they share their skills at the Plant Affair, Water Matters Day, the Dog Wash and Tropical Plant International Expo (TPIE). Before Covid they held plant sales to raise funds to help take care of the animals. They also compete and have won the local Envirothon and won 2nd Place at the Broward County Fair Landscape Division (2019). As a Career course, certification is available for students who want to use the |
skills in their future careers and earn scholarships.
4-H students can be certified: (Florida Nursery Growers and Landscapers Association - FNGLA certification/Animal Science |
certification).
Meetings are on Mondays from 3:05-4:30 in Room 603, and new embers are always welcome. Adviser is Ben Leatherman, an SPHS grad. |
Officers:
President: Chai Comrie Vice President: Emily Pompa Secretary: Giana Trapani Treasurer: Lily Historians: Janae Safford Nadia |
Aquarium Club members focus on marine habitats
Maintain salt & fresh-water tanks while helping the Marine Aquarium Society
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Members of the AQ Club (Aquarium) learn how to take care of the fish tanks around school and at home. Many of the seniors decide to incorporate what they learn into their senior project.
The partnership with the Florida Marine Aquarium Society (FMAS) permits the students to participate in frag swaps as well as monthly meetings held at South Plantation High magnet amphitheater. 
Donovan Holder wins the FMAS scholarship.
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In past years, the FMAS has sponsored a scholarship to an active member of the club. In 2020, Donovan Holder won the award He was the senior who was supervising tank management and also did his senior project on aquatic soft corals, growing them in a tank for sale at the FMAS frag swap. Currently, He is at UCF with a 100% Bright Futures Scholarship, majoring in Economics/Finance, minoring in Computers.
AQ members help out at a Frag Swap in the SPHS cafeteria.
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In Early Years, Solar Knights raced in Texas
http://sphssolarknights.blogspot.com
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After several years of not competing on the national level, in 2014, the Solar Knights took third in a hybrid, track and street race in Texas. It is the only team in Florida to successfully compete in the Solar Car Challenge! The Advanced Division is the top tier division in the Solar Car Challenge. For 2015, they plan is to retake the national title in the advance division by making some vital adjustments to Solar Knight III.
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The summer of 2011 the team was awarded the William Shih Award, which was presented to the solar car team displaying the highest level of technological achievement. In 2014 the team was awarded the Matt Tunnell Award for displaying outstanding driving performance. This year's goals require extensive funding; the current budget estimate is around $45,000 that is provided by industry partners and family donations.
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Part of the race was on Texas thoroughfares.
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The first days were at NASCAR's Texas racetrack.
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Members learned more during World Wetlands Day.
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Solar Knights have designed, built and raced three cars http://www.sphsengineering.com/index.php/solar-knights.html
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SOLAR KNIGHT I
Began as a Senior Project in 2007 and raced from Texas to New York. |
SOLAR KNIGHT II
Won the National Championship at NASCAR's Texas Motor Speedway in Dallas. |
SOLAR KNIGHT III
Won the Advanced Design Award. Sponsored by Advanced Green Technologies. |
History of the Solar Car program at South Plantation
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For information about the 2014 Solar Car Challenge check out the website:
http://www.solarcarchallenge.org/challenge/ The Solar Knights have raced for five years in the Dell-Winston School Solar Car Challenge. The first year, the car was built by Daniel Myers in 2007 as a senior project, and the students raced from Texas to New York in the Solar Knight I. It was a two-seater because the students want to be able to take passengers in a ride for the experience. However, it was not as successful going over the Applachian Mountains because it weighed too much. The next year the students used the frame of an ultralight airplane covered with cloth. They |
raced at Texas Motor Speedway and finished second in the race. The next year they returned to the Texas track, and won the National Championship.
The fourth year, they again raced the Solar Knight II but this time it went cross country from Texas to Colorado, over the Rocky Mountains. They were leading throughout much of the race until the cloudy last day and ended up second. The race is now call the Hunt-Winston School Solar Car Challenge. The summer of 2011, the team drove a new car in a different class. Advanced Green Technologies helped the team with purchase of a used card from McGill University in Canada. The new high-tech car was a challenge to the team, but the Solar Knights won their division. |
Fairchild Challenge Team wins seventh title in 2014
on its way to earning 10 Titles before retiring its club
2014 Winning Team
For seven years, South Plantation High has been one of the few Broward county teams to travel to Miami for the Fairchild Challenge competition. The magnet students have won the top award six of those years. The environmental options of the contest range from art to debate to scientific experiments/projects and documentations.
Environmental science teacher Jessica Brown is the coach taking over for Pam Krauss who was the coach for eight years. Teachers Matthew Zealy and Madeline Rosario mentored students and were honored by Fairchild. Student Coordinators help organize the trips and enter options as their Senior Projects.
Environmental science teacher Jessica Brown is the coach taking over for Pam Krauss who was the coach for eight years. Teachers Matthew Zealy and Madeline Rosario mentored students and were honored by Fairchild. Student Coordinators help organize the trips and enter options as their Senior Projects.
2009 Winning Team
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2011 Winning Team
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2012 Winning Team
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2013 Win Team Leaders
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