And the Academy Award winners are... Cocoa Beach Area Chamber of Commerce is proud to present our Academy Award Winners from Cocoa Beach High School, Merritt Island High School and Rockledge High School Academies. The luncheon at Courtyard by Marriott Cocoa Beach, started May 6th at 11:30 with students Dorothy and Christine Gal singing our National Anthem and the Lord’s Prayer. Then Randy Harris, President/CEO Cocoa Beach Area Chamber of Commerce announced our emcee’s for the afternoon. Jeff Piersall, Space Coast Business Media Group LLC and Dr. Richard DiPatri, Brevard County Superintendent of Schools announced the Academy Award Winners. And the winners are: Cocoa Beach High School, Academy of International Business; Donaleigh Reed and Sydney Smead. Merritt Island High School, Academy of Hospitality and Tourism are Alexandra Guertin and Jackie Casillas. Rockledge High School, Academy of Law, Leadership and Legal Studies are Alexia Baillow. Rockledge High School, Academy of Sports, Entertainment and Tourism Management are Brittani James and Chelsea Flickinger. And Rockledge High School, Academy of Environmental Studies is Hannah Latza. The students were awarded with a Laptop bag full of goodies from gift certificates to t-shirts to Thrill Park admissions! Donations were provided by: AKA Frame & Photo, Andretti Thrill Park, Brevard Zoo, Community Educators Credit Union, La Quinta Inn Cocoa Beach, Merritt Square Mall, Ocean Potion, PIP Printing, Porter World Trade, Rainbow Embroidery, Sea World and Sunrise Bank. After the awards Jeff Piersall gave a very moving speech to the students, family, academic leaders and local businesses. Mr. Piersall advice to the students was three things. One, love the job you do and do the job you love, two, persevere with discipline and three, believe in your Faith. Gold level sponsor was Jeff Piersall, Space Coast Magazine, Media Group LLC. And our Silver level sponsor was Brevard Federation of Teachers. We also had student sponsors that sponsored the luncheon for the winning students, parents, teachers and principals. They were our Bronze level sponsor; Beach & Island Val-U Directory, Daley Environmental Services, Dixie Crossroads, DoubleTree Cocoa Beach Oceanfront Hotel, Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront, Historic Cocoa Village Association, Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach Oceanfront Resort, Howze, Managhan , Theriac & Kramer, PLC., Kennedy Space Center-Reini Marsh, Space Coast Credit Union, Space Coast Dine Around & More! And SunWard Tours, Inc. Cocoa Beach Area Chamber of Commerce Chairwoman Dixie Sansom, Sansom Group/Dixie Sansom Consulting wrapped the afternoon up with thanks to all that attended the luncheon and sponsors. Front row, from left to right, Donaleigh Reed, Alexia Baillow, Jackie Casillas, and Hannah Latza. Back row, from left to right, Sydney Smead, Brittani James, Dr. Richard DiPatri, Chelsea Flickinger and Alexandra Guertin. Image by gioiaphotography.com