Amber Crews and Warner Squire of Bartow will be among Polk State College students who make presentations at the Florida Collegiate Honors Conference.

The Florida Collegiate Honors Council is a professional association of undergraduate honors programs and colleges in Florida. Since the 1990s, it has hosted an annual conference, allowing honors professionals and students the opportunity to network and share expertise.

Three students plan to make presentations. Including them, a total of 12 Polk State students will attend the conference — the largest group yet to represent the College at the event.

Crews will discuss the medical procedure hemispherectomy, a brain surgery used to treat patients who suffer from seizure disorders.

Squire will present evidence that meditation enhances academic performance. Squire said that he plans to petition the Polk State College administration to create a meditation room on campus.

Caroline Sibley of Winter Haven will discuss the background and culture of Holland during the Dutch Renaissance.

PSC began attending the conference in 2009, as part of its emphasis on growing its honors program and to offer honors students the opportunity to connect on a professional level with other honors programs.

Dr. Patricia Jones, district dean of academic and student services, said the school’s growing representation is a result of the Honors Program Student Council’s heightened activity on both the Lakeland and Winter Haven campuses.

“This is the first year we’ve been able to have an active student group that organizes extracurricular activities. Many of the students going to the conference are from this group,” she said.

IEP survey to start

The Florida Department of Education has begun its annual survey for parents of students with an Individual Education Plan in Exceptional Student Education.

Polk County Public Schools Department of Exceptional Student Education encourages parents to provide their feedback on the survey website at www.ESEsurvey.com before the survey closes on June 30.

The Florida Department of Education conducts the survey to provide the state with information on how well schools are supporting parents’ involvement in their child’s education.

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, states must report this information to the federal government annually.

Parents of children with disabilities and a current IEP are requested to complete the survey.

Survey results are reported to the United States Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, as part of Florida’s Annual Performance Report and are posted on the Florida Department of Education’s website at www.fldoe.org/ese.

Improvement activities are determined based on the survey report.

All responses to the survey are confidential. For information, call Karen Toppin at (863) 534-0930 or e-mail her at karen.toppin@polk-fl.net.

Freshmen Friday and Transfer Tuesday offered

The University of South Florida Polytechnic is accepting freshman applications for fall 2012.

To learn more, check out one of the Freshmen Friday events on the USF Poly campus every Friday at 10 a.m. or 3 p.m. Get information on programs, admission requirements, and application procedures. Take a tour of the current campus, and get a sneak peek of the new campus scheduled to open in fall 2013.

For information see BePolydimensional.com/visit, email freshmen@poly.usf.edu or call (863) 667-7000.

Students interested in transferring can attend a Transfer Tuesday session any Tuesday at noon or 5 p.m. at the USF Poly campus.

Receive information on curriculum and pre-requisites, learn about admissions requirements, and take a campus tour.

For more information email admissions@poly.usf.edu or call (863) 667-7011.