Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Prize money pay for a fish farm in Honduras

By B.C. Manion

 

As the video opens, 12-year-old Sean Carr is playing the grand piano in his family’s lakeside living room in Lutz.

As the seventh-grader’s graceful hands strike the keys, 13-year-old Kathryn Fontana and her younger sister, Sarah sing a song about love and kindness, peace and justice.

As the video continues, the girls’ sweet voices and the piano music serve as a backdrop, while viewers see kids arranging shoes in the Carr family’s driveway for a shoe drive to help villagers in Cusuna, Honduras.

As the images roll on, viewers see Sean boarding an airplane for the first leg of the journey that ultimately will take him by bus over primitive roads to the shacks and humble homes where the people of Cusuna live.

The video shows scenes of the young man making his way about Cusuna — carrying a young girl, praying with villagers, posing for photographs with local boys and washing a small girl’s feet before fitting her with a pair of blue thongs.

The video, produced by Tami Carr – who is Sean’s mom – won first place in a competition sponsored by Friends and Heroes, a company that produces DVDs of animated Bible stories for kids.

The $15,500 prize money was awarded to the Carr family’s church, Bridgeway Church, which now meets at the New Tampa YMCA. The church expects to move soon into its new Wesley Chapel home.

The Carrs found out about the video competition in an email from Friends and Heroes after buying some of the company’s DVDs for Sean’s 6-year-old sister, Olivia, at a home schooling conference in Orlando.

They decided to enter the contest.

“We had to either just take the song that had already been recorded and make a new video to it, or rewrite the song with the old video, or you could do both,” Sean said.

“We did both,’ he said, noting they rewrote one of the song’s verses to match the video they produced.

Sean’s voice and keyboard teacher, Andrew Hoy, professionally recorded the music and Sean’s mom created the video, blending together the sound with still photographs and film clips of Sean, the singers and scenes from Sean’s home, Tampa International Airport and Cusuna.

At one point, it wasn’t clear that Sean and his mom would be able to make the trip to Cusuna, but then everything came together and they were able to go.

“God really planned this out perfectly,” he said.

And, since they were able to go, they decided at the last minute to conduct a shoe drive for the people of Cusuna.

“In Cusuna, Honduras, everyone is poverty-stricken. Most of them have one pair of clothes and no shoes,” Sean said. “So, their feet are very calloused and flat.

“It was really late notice, so we didn’t expect much,” he said, but they wound up collecting 800 pounds of shoes, which they distributed in Cusuna.

Once they made the video, they posted it on YouTube, for the competition.

“There were 13 different submissions, anywhere from professionals to people like us,” said Sean’s dad, Ray Carr.

The prize of $15,500 was exactly the cost to complete a fish farm the church is building for the village, according to the Friends and Heroes’ website.

When they won the contest, the family had a choice. It could donate the $15,500, or keep half of that amount, Ray Carr said.

Sean said he supported using the money to help the people of Cusuna.

“Look where I live. The size of that bathroom is where eight people live over there. I don’t need anything else. They do,” he said.

Sean said he believes he was called to help the people of Cusuna.

“My aunt suffered from cancer and she died from it when I was 9 or 10,” he said. “So, I have a sense of compassion for people that really need help.”

Before building the fish farm in Cusuna, Sean’s family will build its own fish farm as a prototype. Once it has been operating for six months or so, they will replicate the model in Cusuna, Ray Carr said.

To see the video, go http://www.friendsandheroes.com/us and click on the item titled “Meet a real-life hero!”

 

Colin Defant achieves a perfect 36

By B.C. Manion

 

 

When Colin Defant considers his future, the letters M-I-T come to mind.

The junior in Land O’ Lakes High’s International Baccalaureate Program has set his sights on attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., and hopes one day to be a mathematics professor at the university.

He realizes these are lofty ambitions, but one of his recent accomplishments may cause admissions officials at MIT to take a closer look at his application.

Defant is among roughly one-tenth of 1 percent of ACT test-takers to achieve a perfect score of 36.

The ACT includes tests in English, mathematics, reading and science. Of the 1.6 million test-takers in the class of 2011, only 704 can claim a perfect score, according to ACT officials. Each test scored on a scale of 1 to 36. The composite score is the average of the four tests.

All major colleges in the United States accept the ACT score, and a student’s performance often is one of the factors considered during the selection process.

Defant, who has a quiet confidence about him, said he actually wasn’t terribly surprised by the perfect score.

“It was easy to understand the science, even if I hadn’t seen it before in an actual science class because it was a lot of reading graphs,” Defant said.

“I’m good at math,” added Defant, who is the founder of the school’s Mu Alpha Theta mathematics club.

Although he topped out on every aspect of the exam, Defant most enjoys solving mathematics problems. He discovered his affinity for mathematics when he was involved in the Duke Talent Identification Program, which offers the SAT to high-achieving seventh-graders. During the practice SAT tests, Defant found out how much he enjoyed solving the mathematics problems.

“It was like a puzzle,” said Defant, who is the son of Marc and Susan Defant and lives near Dade City.

He still gets a kick out of solving tough problems and often is working ahead of material taught in class because he enjoys the challenge of learning on his own.

During his down time in the summer, he likes tooling around on his computer, looking for challenging math problems.

“I like that everything in math is concrete. There’s one answer, usually, in most cases. I like that. You can prove things to be absolutely true. It’s not an opinion,” Defant said.

Despite his performance on the ACT, Defant’s advice for future test-takers was limited.

By B.C. Manion

 

 

Parents who were worried about day-care issues that would result if Pasco County went to a four-day school week can rest easy – the school district is sticking to its five-day schedule.

The Pasco County School Board was considering a shorter school week as one option to help close a budget gap now estimated at $25.6 million.

After months of study and three public forums, the board made it clear at a March 20 workshop that it won’t pursue the four-day schedule.

Board member Steve Luikart chaired the 36-member task force that looked into potential cost savings and impacts from a four-day school week. He said his interest in exploring a four-day week was to see if it could help the district protect student programs and limit job cuts.

During the workshop, Luikart informed board members that the change would yield about $7 million in annual savings. Board members listened politely to Luikart’s presentation, thanked the task force for its work, asked a few questions, made a few comments and then rejected the four-day week.

No official vote was taken, but board members made it clear that the case had not been made for such a substantial shift in school operations.

School board chairwoman Joanne Hurley said she would only support a four-day school week if she were persuaded the switch would benefit students, parents, the staff and the community.

One of the biggest complaints that parents raised during public forums on the four-day week was child care problems the change would create.

“From the parental standpoint, child care, to me, was a very valid concern,” Hurley said. “You’re talking a significant increase in the amount of money that parents would pay.”

School board member Cynthia Armstrong said she was especially concerned about the impact a four-day school week would have on the most vulnerable children.

“I think about the children who I call ‘hurting,’ ” Armstrong said. Doing away with the fifth day of school would be especially difficult for children who rely on schools for meals, and for a warm building on chilly days, she said.

Board member Alison Crumbley said she would need to see “more convincing evidence” that the change would not harm student achievement. Barring that data, she said, “I’m not willing to take that risk.”

Crumbley also said that shifting to a four-day school week could pose a threat to Pasco County’s efforts to attract quality employers. Good companies won’t come if they’re concerned about the quality of the schools, she said.

As part of the report, Luikart said the task force ran across some potential cost-cutting moves the district could make – which are outlined in the report. The report identifies spending and questions costs in areas including transportation, energy and insurance.

Board member Allen Altman said he’d like the district to take a closer look at issues raised in the report.

Luikart said the task force was a neutral group, interested only in taking a look at the pros and cons, impacts and cost savings of the four-day school week.

As such, it achieved its mission, he said.

Fine arts students score big

Land O’ Lakes Christian School students turned in an impressive performance at the Sun-Shine State Association of Christian Schools’ Fine Arts Competition, snaring 26 first-place honors, 18 second-place awards and eight third-place awards. Many students also will compete in the American Association of Christian Schools National Competition in South Carolina, April 10 to April 12. Six students received $1,000 scholarships to Clearwater Christian College for their accomplishments. They were:

–Abbie Nichols, Katie Avriett, Seth Templeton, Andrew Shelburne in music.

–Olivia de la Rosa in communications arts

–Katie Frazier in English.

The school’s Readers’ Theatre also won first place for its presentation of “The Cat in the Hat.”

 

MOSI spring break camp

MOSI is offering spring break camps for kindergarteners through fifth-graders in Pasco County and private schools. The Powerful Paper camp will explore paper 100 ways, including making paper from scratch. The camp is 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., April 2 through April 6. The program fee is $223 per child, or $168 for MOSI members. For more information, visit www.campfun.org or call (813) 987-6000. The Museum of Science & Industry is at 4801 E. Fowler Ave. in Tampa.

 

The dean’s list

Local students were named to the dean’s list at Emory College, the undergraduate, liberal arts college of Emory University in Atlanta, for the 2011 fall semester. Students must be in the top 20 percent of Emory College or have approximately a 3.81 grade point average or higher to be named to the dean’s list. The students are:

–Michael Filer of Lutz, son of Frederick and Jolie Filer.

–Tristin Kauchick of Lutz, daughter of James and Kay Kauchick.

 

Odessa student in select group

Nico Tavella, of Odessa, a student at Hillsborough High School, is in a select group of 250 students across the country asked to participate in an intensive weeklong study of journalism and media at George Mason University. Tavella was chosen based on academic accomplishments and demonstrated interest and excellence in journalism and media studies. National youth correspondents participate in hands-on learning through simulations that challenge them to solve problems and explore the creative, practical, and ethical tensions inherent in journalism and media.

 

Moore Mickens students of the month

Moore Mickens Education Center has announced students of the month for February. They are: Kate-Lyn Traver, Jorge Zamora, Richard Costner and Yolanda Castillo.

Jorge Zamora was chosen as the Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Month.

 

Liberty Middle fares well at history contest

Liberty Middle School students brought home awards from the Hillsborough County School District’s History Fair on Feb. 24. Teacher Simon Meshbesher and David Dick, an intern from the University of South Florida, directed the team. Maya Patel won in the individual website category with her project on India’s Green Revolution to feed the country’s growing population. Maya was recognized as “Most Enthusiastic about the Topic.”

Bailie Franklin and Junie Kim entered the group website category with a project on the historic Brown vs. Board of Education case, which fought school segregation. A group made up of Sayan Chatterjee, Austin Leto and David Alves won third place in the website division for their Vietnam War-era project, which included an interactive timeline, interactive audio pieces, and primary sources.

 

Teachers can win Disney vacation

The Downtown Disney Resort Area Hotels are partnering with Walt Disney World to honor outstanding kindergarten through 12^th-grade teachers in the 2012 A+ For Teachers at Downtown Disney essay contest.

The fourth annual contest, which runs through April 13, asks first- through 12^th-graders to nominate their favorite teacher by writing an essay of no more than 300 words and submitting it via www.downtowndisneyhotels.com. The essay should explain how the teacher has made a difference in the student’s life and will be judged on its relevance to theme, creativity, originality, and the merit of the teacher’s accomplishments as outlined in the essay. Seven winners will be chosen, and those students and their favorite teacher nominees each will win a vacation prize package that includes accommodations, park passes, meals and gas.

Contest winners will be notified by May 1.

 

By Kyle LoJacono

Pasco County has agreed to continue a program to help its residents pay for prescription drugs.

The program, called Points of Care, can be used by any Pasco resident regardless of age, income or pre-existing condition, according to case management coordinator Edward Folkes, Jr.

“Anyone can save up to 50 percent on their prescriptions at major pharmacies,” Folkes said. “It’s a great thing for anyone who needs prescriptions because it doesn’t cost anything and it’s easy to do.”

To take advantage of the program, county residents only have to visit www.PascoRxCard.com. From there they can print a Points of Care card, which instantly allows them to save at more than 45,000 participating pharmacies nationwide. People can also get the cards from Pasco’s libraries.

Some of the major pharmacies accepting the program include CVS, Kmart, Publix, Sam’s Club, Sweetbay, Target, Walgreens, Wal-Mart and Winn-Dixie. Residents can also save on diabetes supplies, durable medical equipment and hearing aids.

Folkes said the program is “designed to assist residents who do not have prescription drug coverage through their insurance or for savings on medications that are not covered through insurance.”

Pasco launched the program last February. Since then it has saved county residents more than $110,000. Folkes also pointed out the program drove business to local pharmacies while helping families pay for medications.

Points of Care is run by Universal RX, a Virginia-based business. It will administer the program for at least one year.

For more information on the program, including a list of medications and other supplies covered, call (727) 847-2411.

By Kyle LoJacono

The Florida House of Representatives won’t have to worry about redistricting for another 10 years, but the Senate is back to the drawing board.

The Florida Supreme Court rejected the state Senate’s new map for its own districts by a 5-2 decision. The main objection was the new alignment did not follow the Fair Districts amendment passed last election cycle, which is meant to eliminate gerrymandering.

“We conclude that the challengers have demonstrated that the Senate plan, but not the House plan, violates the constitutional requirements,” reads the court’s majority opinion written by Justice Barbara Pariente. “We therefore declare the Senate plan constitutionally invalid and the House plan constitutionally valid.”

The court pointed out eight districts as being in violation of state law, none of which are in the Tampa Bay area. The Senate will have to come up with a new plan in time for the primary elections in August.

The Republican-controlled state Senate received criticism from Democrats almost as soon as it proposed the new lines late last year.

“The ruling by the Florida Supreme Court rejecting as unconstitutional the proposed Senate district lines underlined all of the warnings which went unheeded during the redistricting committee hearings and the ultimate vote,” said Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich. “The Supreme Court saw the same troubling issues of discrimination and favoritism as the Senate Democrats who voted against these maps, and which go against every fiber of the Constitution’s new anti-gerrymandering amendments overwhelmingly passed by the majority of Florida’s voters.”

The Fair Districts amendment prohibits lawmakers from drawing alignments to favor incumbents or political parties, requires the districts to keep minority voting rights and follow major boundaries like roads, waterways and city/community lines whenever possible.

The Senate’s map was challenged by the Florida Democratic Party, The National Council of La Raza, the League of Women Voters and Common Cause of Florida all on the grounds that they were created to keep Republicans in power.

The House’s districts were unanimously passed by the Court. State Rep. Will Weatherford (R-Wesley Chapel), the redistricting committee chairman, was happy the lines were passed by the 7-0 vote.

“I am pleased the Florida Supreme Court agrees that the House redistricting map meets the requirements of Florida’s constitution and is legally compliant,” Weatherford said. “The House map is the product of an unprecedented level of public outreach, committee meetings with members on both sides of the aisle and a careful and thorough review of our constitutional redistricting requirements. Our map prioritizes sound principles over politics and I’m proud of my colleagues for producing a legally compliant map that accurately reflects the wishes of residents from around the state.”

All government district lines must be redrawn every 10 years to reflect changes in population found by the Census. Both Pasco and Hillsborough counties have passed commission boundaries, but the latter is being challenged by the Hispanic Democratic Caucus.

The House and Senate combined to draw the lines for Florida’s Congressional districts. The Court has not ruled on those alignments.

By B.C. Manion

 

Leena Hasbini is seated at her desk, when a student in a ROTC uniform, approaches.

He wants to know if he can get a fee waiver for a college admission test.

She asks him a few questions, clicks her fingers across her keyboard, and in moments has him set up for the waiver he needs.

A little while later, a mother drops in to Wharton High’s Student Success Center. She wants to know how her twin sons can qualify for a Bright Futures scholarship.

Hasbini sets to work immediately, answering the woman’s questions and printing out information for her to take home.

The Wharton High assistant teacher then shifts her attention to a group of students who recently took a field trip to a college. She wants to see what they thought of the visit and whether any of them is interested in attending the college.

Those interactions – over roughly a half-hour — offer a glimpse into Hasbini’s daily quest to help students plug in to educational opportunities that may change their lives.

Her work to expand students’ horizons recently led to the 22-year-old being named Instructional Support Employee of the Year for Hillsborough County public schools.

“I didn’t expect it at all. I was somewhat in shock. I felt like other people deserved it,” said Hasbini, who began working at Wharton when she was 19.

“How do you differentiate from what I do and what a custodian does and what a school secretary does? How do you figure that out?”

She may be humble about the honor, but she’s enjoying the recognition.

“My house looks like a florist shop,” she said.

“It’s so amazing. I feel like they feel like I’ve cured cancer or something. I didn’t do anything that special. I just come to work and I do my job and I make it work.”

She’s pleased to bring honor to Wharton.

“I think it brings a lot of positive recognition to my school,” said Hasbini, who graduated from Newsome High at 17, received her bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida at 19 and will receive her master’s degree in May.

For now, Hasbini plans to focus on school guidance work, but ultimately, she pictures herself in an administrative role at the district level. As a finalist for the district award, she met with schools Superintendent MaryEllen Elia.

“When I interviewed with the superintendent, I told her: ‘Twenty years from now, I want your job.’ ”

While her official title is assistant teacher, around Wharton she’s known as the Success Center manager.

The center offers students assistance, including career readiness, career interest inventories and college applications. It has books students can check out to prepare for SAT and ACT tests and there’s a filing cabinet full of practice exams.

Hasbini said she works on the college readiness piece of Wharton’s school grade.

“Basically, I work with the seniors that either haven’t taken the SAT or the ACT or their scores are right below the cutoff and that impacts our school grade. The more kids that we have that go above the cutoff, the more points we get.”

She’s relentless in pushing students to take the test or to take it over. Last year, 98 percent of the juniors signed up for the test and 68 percent took it. This year, the goal is for 99 percent to sign up, with a completion rate of at least 75 percent.

Hasbini said she understands how education can change a life because her experiences have changed her. She said Joanne Brabham, her guidance counselor at Newsome High, was her hero during high school – and still is.

“She’s a really good motivator and cheerleader and supporter. When nobody else believed that I could do it, she said, ‘don’t listen to them. You can do it.’

“She encouraged me when a lot of other people didn’t,” Hasbini said.

“She just made a huge impact on my life and really reframed how I view education, how you can really make a difference in somebody’s life and how that change can multiply,” Hasbini added.

Besides helping her at Newsome, Brabham – who used to work at Wharton – was instrumental in helping Hasbini get her job.

“I tell her: ‘You helped me so now I can go and help other students and they’re going to help other people.’ It’s like paying it forward,” Hasbini said.

Seventeen-year-old Selena Fernandez, who transferred to Wharton last year, said Hasbini inspired her to change her attitude about school.

“When I came out here I was really lost and I was really unmotivated. I was super depressed. I really didn’t want to be in school at all. I was about to give up completely.

“I felt alone. When you come to a big school like this, you feel really lost.

“Now, I love Wharton because of her. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be in school. I was just about to give up,” said Fernandez, who wants to study broadcast journalism. “She really motivates me.”

Fernandez said Hasbini has helped her line up public speaking engagements that give her exposure and help her network.

In recommending Hasbini, Wharton High’s nominating committee praised her character and work habits. They describe her as “a highly intelligent, insightful and caring individual who approaches her work with an incredible amount of dedication and commitment.”

“When she discovered that our students didn’t have adequate test preparation materials for the SAT and ACT, she set out to build a lending resource library, not only writing and receiving a $700 grant through our school’s PTSA to purchase brand-new books, but also soliciting and attaining donations of materials to give away to students who truly needed them.”

Hasbini stepped in when Wharton’s college and career counselor took an emergency medical leave, “to make sure that our students and parents received the guidance and support they needed,” the nominating committee wrote. The committee also praised her for organizing events, recruiting volunteers, assisting classroom teachers and preparing materials for parents and students.

“Perhaps Leena’s most significant accomplishment is the development of our Edline Guidance page,” the committee wrote. “She has devoted the past three years to creating and maintaining an invaluable resource for our school community that matches that of professional for-profit organizations.”

You can see Hasbini’s handiwork at www.edline.net/pages/Wharton_High_School/CollegeCareerCounselor.

Carla Nolan’s students are not surprised she won

 

By B.C. Manion

 

Carla Nolan’s affinity for teaching and drama began when she was quite young.

As soon as she could talk, she was teaching her dolls.

By age 5, she was directing neighborhood kids in musical variety shows.

Growing up as the daughter of an educator, Nolan recalls being at her mom’s school — arranging classrooms, creating bulletin boards and stuffing mailboxes – on teacher planning days.

She recalls the fun she had putting up seasonal decorations and remembers being attracted to the camaraderie of the teachers, and, of course, to the cinnamon rolls the kitchen staff baked on planning days.

The Sunlake High reading and drama teacher, this year’s Pasco County teacher of the year, now sets a positive tone in her Land O’ Lakes classroom.

During a recent reading class, students stood in a circle taking turns announcing sentences and clapping to the beat of each syllable. At another point, Nolan read aloud to students, probing them occasionally to relate themes in the book to their lives beyond the classroom.

Students play phonemic awareness games, learn Latin and Greek roots, go on scavenger word hunts for unfamiliar terms and use context clues to figure them out. Nolan also helps students sharpen their writing skills as part of a school-wide initiative to foster better writing.

Students in her intensive reading class said they know she wants them to learn.

“She’s taught me a lot,” said 17-year-old Angelique Dorsey.

“She explains things,” said 14-year-old Kaitlin Duenas. “If you repeat questions, she doesn’t get mad.”

“I think she really does care about us,” said Felicia Johnson-Rollock, 18: “I think she believes a lot in you.”

In her submission for the award, Nolan noted that she subscribes to Abraham Maslow’s theory known as the hierarchy of needs.

“I believe that students will respond if their basic physiological needs are met, they are physically safe in their surroundings, they feel a sense of ‘belongingness’ in the classroom, and they know that their interactions will be respected by their classmates and their teacher.”

She’s not married to time constraints and believes students should be involved in setting their learning goals, so they’ll be responsible for their learning and invested in the outcome.

“I do not believe that every strategy is appropriate for every student, and I work to provide options to my students to honor their learning styles, strengths, and needs,” she wrote.

Her drama students said that philosophy is apparent in her classes. Students do vocal warm-ups, work on improvisation, collaborate on scene development and learn the history and vocabulary of the theater.

During one class, students did a read-through of a play by Mark Kaufmann, a California writer. When the actors finished, the entire class offered comments in a vetting exercise aimed at helping Kaufmann improve his piece. The writer asked for the students’ feedback, after becoming acquainted with them last year when they rehearsed his play, “Betsy’s Inconvenient Garden,” Nolan said.

Nolan asked if the class could speak to Kaufmann to get a better understanding of his play, and the playwright agreed.

“We all came in on a Saturday and we Skyped with him,” Nolan said.

“We got clarification on the play and the characters and all that from him. He really liked the kids. They were very funny and creative in their questioning.”

That’s why he wanted to know what the kids think of his latest script, Nolan said.

The drama students said they’re not a bit surprised Nolan won the countywide honor.

“I thought she would get it sometime in her lifetime,” said 18-year-old Lucas Witthoeft. “She has zero tolerance for people slacking off,” said the second-year drama student.

Seventeen-year-old Jay Fernandez, another senior, said he was thrilled for Nolan.

“I let her know that she deserves it. To me, she’s more than a teacher. She’s a friend,” he said.

Eighteen-year-old Meghan Collins has taken drama all four years of high school, but didn’t transfer to Sunlake High until her junior year. She called the class a “delicious, helpful, fun soufflé.”

Cathy Lorenzo, 16, said Nolan is adept at working with students at every level.

“She can interact with her students and not let them feel stupid.”

Meghan Nolan, 14, who is in her mother’s drama class, is thrilled by her mom’s achievement. “It is awesome,” she said. “She loves what she does.”