Eastside High School - Gainesville, FL

Eastside High School faculty, staff, parents, and community members are committed to providing a safe, orderly environment with high expectations for student learning and achievement.

Eastside is the home of two magnet programs, the Institute of Culinary Arts and the International Baccalaureate Program. The number of AP exams taken by IB and major program students places Eastside in the top 5% of the nation. Our Institute of Culinary Arts placed first in the state of Florida and ranked second in the nation.

Academically, Eastside provides a challenging program for all students with honors and AP courses. We strongly encourage all students to participate in club activities and sports realizing that making connections in high school leads to the development of leadership skills.

Our web site is one component of our school to community involvement. The web site is updated weekly and links provide valuable information to students and to parents. We wish for you to find the web site informative and suggestions are always gladly received.

Eastside High School Teacher of the Year

Karen Beck is a four year veteran at Eastside High School. She is originally from Delaware. She graduated from the University of Delaware with her Bachelor of Science with Distinction in Agriculture and a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Science. She has taught Biology and Environmental Science at Bel Air High School in Maryland for three years, where she also coached girls softball and basketball. She has previously taught Ecology and Environmental Science at Eastside and served as the 11th grade team leader. Currently, she is the team leader for our innovative laptop team where they incorporate technology into a problem-based learning model of instruction in a small learning community of students and teachers in the 9th and 10th grade. She has received an ACPSF grant for the ecosystems unit where the students survey birds on campus and use them as indicators of the health of the surrounding ecosystem. This also includes night-time owl callings and surveys of local streams. She serves as the science fair coordinator for the school and has served as the District Liaison for Curriculum. She serves on the literacy and school leadership counsels as well. With all of these roles, she has a great personality that attracts the students to her. She enhances not only the science department, but the entire school as well. She is well-liked and respected by the students and faculty. She is our 2007-2008 Teacher of the Year.

Eastside High School Employee of the Year

Tiffany Thames graduated from Eastside High School in 1996 and went on to Santa Fe Community College to earn her Associate of Science degree in Child Development and Education. She is currently working on her bachelor degree in Social Science with an emphasis in Education, while also working full-time. Last year she was nominated for the Guidance/Clerical Aide of the year for Eastside High School. She has gone on to get her CPI training, Second Step Violence Prevention, Basic Guidance and Discipline, and Early literacy for children birth to three.

Officially her position is Guidance/Clerical. She maintains forms, records, schedule conferences, collect student information, type invites, memos, reports, and letters, file folders and proper paperwork, answer the phone, and receive folders and information on current students. She does all of this and manages to take care of all data needed for the Social Security Office, mentor students, tutor students, attend meetings for the students as an advocate, copies needed paperwork for the caseload teachers, complies the advocate list, creates discipline lists, assist with setting up meetings with agencies, maintains a current BIP notebook for the school and deans, attends transitions meetings with the middle schools, and overall does anything else asked of her.