winners & losers winners losers

KENON BEASLEY Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Florida is proud to announce Kenon Beasley as the recipient of the 2023 Big Brother of the Year award in Escambia County. He was selected for this honor because of his dedication to mentoring three Little Brothers. Beasley has volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters for more than 10 years and is a current mentor to three Little Brothers: Apricio, Richard and Zayshawn. He helped Apricio succeed in middle and high school, and he is now enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. Richard studies business administration at Florida A&M University. Zayshawn plans to attend Pensacola State College and study nursing.

BOBBY VAN DEUSEN The Pensacola musician scored his third win in the senior division at the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest in Oxford, Miss. Every year, over Memorial Day weekend in Oxford, the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest is held to provide an opportunity for more than 500 piano players from across the U.S. and from five foreign countries to compete and educate people about old-time piano music written before 1940. Van Deusen's previous wins were in 2019 and 2022. His three wins retire him from future contests. Congratulations, Bobby.

JOE HOBBS The local artist was recently invited to demonstrate his new illustrated glass technique at the upcoming Glass Art Society Conference (GAS) in Detroit, Mich. The GAS Conference is held in a different city around the world every year. Hobbs also currently has a gallery show on view in Chattanooga, Tenn. In August, he has another opening in Seattle, Wash.

FERRY PASS MIDDLE SCHOOL Two teams from the school competed at Odyssey of the Mind World Finals on the campus of Michigan State University, representing the state of Florida. They performed exceptionally and ranked in the top quarter of all teams. FPMS Problem 3 "Classics...The Walls of Troy" placed 16 out of 54 teams. FPMS Problem 5 "The Most Dramatic Problem Ever" placed 15 out of 66 teams.

ESCAMBIA SCHOOL CUSTODIAL SER -

VICES Inweekly publisher Rick Outzen toured Warrington Middle School with the Charter Schools USA officials days after the last day of classes and found the facility filthy. The air filters in the classrooms were caked with dust. The bathrooms were covered with vulgar graffiti, and the windows appeared to have not been cleaned for months. The Custodial Services let the students and teachers down, but the school's former principal earned a promotion to assistant superintendent. His part of the WMS campus was nearly spotless. The school district has much bigger problems than Tim Smith and library books.

THE NULL SET Amid a series of high-profile changes at New College of Florida, the school also got a new mascot, the Mighty Banyans, which replaced the school's longtime mascot, The Null Set. Banyans are trees that can be seen in areas of Sarasota where the school is located; it was designed by a student and unveiled June 1 during a meeting of the New College Board of Trustees. Richard Corcoran, New College's interim president, touted the new mascot, "The entire origination and what it is, and how it came about, and who brought it about, is more than special. And it's very unique to New College." Grace Keenan, the student member of the Board of Trustees, pushed back. She proposed using the mascot only for athletic teams, giving the student body a chance to select an alternative mascot if it wanted. The board voted down the proposal after an at-times tense discussion. Go Team Keenan.

BUTTE-SILVER BOW PUBLIC LIBRARY

On the advice of county attorneys, the library in Montana canceled an event featuring a transgender speaker Adria Jawort discussing transgender history. The officials worried public funding would be in jeopardy because of a newly enacted law in the state that bans drag shows and other events put on by "flamboyant" performers. Activists had predicted the anti-trans law that passed last month would eliminate transgender voices entirely, and it appears they were right.