Achievers: New database contains history of Florida’s Spanish missions
Researchers, educators, students and the curious can explore the history of Florida’s Spanish missions via a new online database launched Wednesday.
The Comparative Mission Archaeology Portal includes digitized artifacts, image galleries, personal narratives and details of excavation sites.
The Florida Museum has played a prominent role in Spanish mission research since the 1950s and is a current leader internationally in collection digitization.
“Without the missions, St. Augustine and Spanish Florida could never have existed as long as they did,” said Gifford Waters, historical archaeology collection manager at the Florida Museum of Natural History. “They were truly some of the most important institutions in Spanish Florida from the 16th century to 1763, when Spain ceded Florida to the British.”
Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the database includes information from three North Florida sites: Baptizing Spring in Suwannee County, the site of the Mission San Juan de Guacara; Fig Springs in Columbia County, once home to the Mission San Martín de Timucua; and Fox Pond in Alachua County, the former site of the Mission San Francisco de Potano.
While the database has a research emphasis, it’s designed to be user-friendly to anyone looking for an introduction to what missions were like and common artifacts found during the excavations, such as pottery and projectile points, said Charles Cobb, the Florida Museum James E. Lockwood Jr. Professor of Historical Archaeology.
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Victor Vega of Gainesville earned a Master of Business Administration from Park University in Parkville, Missouri.
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The Gainesville Bridge Club awards the Adrian Dovell Player of the Year award annually to the player winning the most master points at club games in each of three strata.
This year’s honorees are:
Gold Life Master Plus - Evelyn Kleinsasser; Life Master Plus - Anshul Paliwal and Non-Life Master - Stratford May.
Gainesville’s bridge clubs hold sanctioned games four days a week.
For more information, visit gainesvillebridge.com.
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Zachary Hardee of Chiefland was named to the fall dean’s list at Berry College in Rome, Georgia
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The Air Force Junior ROTC program at Buchholz High School earned the highest rating from the U.S Air Force.
The Buchholz unit is under the direction of Col. Jim Roberts (Retired, USAF) and Chief Master Sgt. Johnny M. Phelps (Retired, USAF). Buchholz’s Junior ROTC program earned an overall assessment score of “‘Exceeds Standards” following a recent in-person evaluation conducted by the USAF. In a letter to Roberts, Col. Stephen Sanders of the USAF said the evaluator was impressed with the dedication and professionalism of the students and instructors.
In a letter to Roberts, Sanders said achieving a rating of ‘Exceeds Standards’ is no small feat — it takes a team effort and lots of hard work.
“Your program defines the term ‘successful unit’ and establishes the benchmark for others to follow,” Sanders wrote.
In the last year, the unit has done community service projects, including Adopt-A-Highway cleanups, canned food drives, a fundraiser for Service Dogs for Patriots, landscaping projects at the Ronald McDonald House, Veteran Administration Hospital visits, numerous color guard presentations and activities.
There are currently 133 students enrolled in the Buchholz JROTC program, which was established in1982. The unit was last evaluated four years ago, when it also received an “Exceeds Standards” rating.
