P. K. Yonge Developmental Research School (PKY) is a public school affiliated with the University of Florida, in Gainesville, serving students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. It is a one-school school district and a department of the College of Education of the University of Florida. As its name implies, P.K. Yonge DRS is a laboratory school and is a leader in school-embedded educational research in the state of Florida. The school's mission is to design, test, and disseminate best practices in K-12 education by serving a diverse student community. The school was previously named "P.K. Yonge Laboratory School."
Namesake
The school is named in honor of Philip Keyes Yonge (1850â€"1934), who served 29 years on the Florida Board of Control, the former governing body for all Florida public universities, including 22 years as its chairman. Yonge demonstrated a commitment to improve education in the state of Florida.
The School Director is Dr. Lynda Hayes. Dr. Cathy Atria is the Principal, and Dr. Russell Froman is the Assistant Principal. Dr. Carrie Geiger is the Supervisor of Instructional Practice and Dr. Mary Jordan is the Assistant Principal of Academic Advisement and School Counseling.
One notable feature of the school is the creek (Tumblin' Creek) that runs through the school property. The cafeteria sits on the creek and students may enjoy the Florida nature scene while dining outdoors. It also has a county and state renowned performing arts program.
At the beginning of the 2012â€"13 school year, P.K. Yonge opened a state-of-the-art elementary school building.
Athletics
P. K. Yonge Developmental Research School teams compete under the name "Blue Wave". Through its athletic programs, P.K. Yonge has won many awards. The boys' basketball program won the state championship in 1991. The girls have won state championships four times, in 1981, 1983, 2010 and 2012. The school has also won state titles in boys' cross country (1980), boys' track and field (1965, 2005, 2006, 2007), girls' track and field (2005) and girls' volleyball (2000, 2002, 2014, 2015).
P. K. Yonge has teams in the following sports:
Performing Arts
P.K. Yonge's Performing Arts Program is well known throughout the community for their exceptional musical theatre department and competitive ensembles: Concert Chorus, Women's Ensemble, and Vocal Ensemble. The Performing Arts Program at P.K. Yonge has been selected to perform numerous times in Disney's Candlelight Processional. The Women's Ensemble and Vocal Ensemble have gone to achieve superiors at Festival Disney. Beyond in class instruction and competition, several students each year choose to audition for the Florida All State Choirs. If selected, they participate in the annual FMEA convention and perform with the top students around the state of Florida. Like many other high school theatres, they present a Fall straight play and a Spring musical. Past straight plays include Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird, and most recently under the direction of the new drama director, Rachel Snyder, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). Some past musicals include Les Misérables (musical), Hairspray (musical), Ragtime (musical), In The Heights, Anything Goes, West Side Story (musical), Beauty and the Beast (musical), and most recently, under the direction of Dr. Melanie Harris, The Drowsy Chaperone.
The Blue Wave Marching Band
The marching band in P.K. Yonge has competed in FMBC since its foundation in 1998. However, the band didn't become truly competitive until Jamie Burg came on as director in 2008. Since then the band has taken many strides into improving their sound, technique and overall competitive edge. In the past three years of competing they have ranked as one of the top ten marching bands in Florida in rank 2A from 2012-2013, and 1A in 2014.
Past shows have included "Mangione Magic", "Quidam", "Conspiracy Theory", "It's Only a Dream", "Heartbeat", "Wonka Pure RE-imagination", and "Inspire". "The Giving Tree" is the band's latest marching show, meant to be a parable of the classic children's book and a declaration of the beauty in unconditional love.
Color Guard
The Blue Wave Color Guard marches alongside the band during the marching season. Off the field, they are one of the state's best winter guard ensembles. They are a relatively young ensemble, having been founded only in 2012, but since 2013 have been one of the top 5 in class 3A.
Clubs
Branding
P.K. Yonge developed a new official brand during the 2014-15 school year. Like many institutions, the school needed a logo that would meet the needs of all school activities. Following the lead of institutions around the country, the decision was made to develop two logos that could meet separate needs.
Administrative and academic logo
This logo was developed to meet academic and administrative need. It was designed with the following considerations:
- include the full school name
- take advantage of how the community refers to the school as "P.K."
- make clear its status as a developmental research school
- clearly articulate the school's affiliation with the University of Florida
Athletics and extracurricular logo
The athletics logo reflects the school's Blue Wave. It implies movement and action, and strengthens the appearance of the wave present in earlier unofficial versions.
Notable alumni
See also
- Buildings at the University of Florida
References
External links
- P. K. Yonge website
- P. K. Yonge Library of Florida history