The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Education

Construction projects to yield big changes for Pasco students

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Pasco County Schools has taken on an ambitious construction schedule that will result in significant changes for thousands of students across Central and East Pasco County in the next few years.

Projects now underway will result in reopening Quail Hollow Elementary School in Wesley Chapel and Sanders Memorial Elementary School in Land O’ Lakes next year.

Construction crews have a long way to go to get Sanders Memorial Elementary School ready to become a magnet school for science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics. District officials say the school in Land O’ Lakes will be ready for the upcoming school year. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
Construction crews have a long way to go to get Sanders Memorial Elementary School ready to become a magnet school for science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics. District officials say the school in Land O’ Lakes will be ready for the upcoming school year.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)

Quail Hollow will have enclosed classrooms, updated building systems and new technology, said John Petrashek, director of construction services for Pasco County Schools. The technology will be the same as any new elementary school in the district.

Quail Hollow also will be larger.

The district is adding eight classrooms there to accommodate 160 additional students, increasing the total capacity to 800.

The additional space at Quail Hollow will result in a boundary change to bring more students there, said Chris Williams, director of planning for Pasco County Schools. Sanders will be a magnet school for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.

The school will not have boundaries and it will enroll its students through the district’s School Choice program.

The district does want to reduce crowding at Oakstead and Connerton elementary schools, so students from those schools likely will be given a higher priority for admission to Sanders.

The district has been working for months on the design for High School GGG, which is slated to open in August 2017 on the west side of Old Pasco Road near Overpass Road. The school will have a capacity of 1,900 students.

“It’s going to be built as a high school,” Petrashek said, but it will open serving students beginning in sixth grade.

The new school will affect existing boundaries for Wiregrass Ranch and Wesley Chapel high schools, as well as Weightman and Long middle schools, Williams said.

“We don’t have the money to build the full middle school and the full high school. This will provide us relief,” he said. “Then, as the population continues to grow, and the demand is there, we’ll build a full-blown middle school next door to it.”

“We have it master planned and master designed for both,” Petrashek said.

The site is a couple hundred acres, so it can easily accommodate a high school and a middle school, Williams said. And the district also is planning to add some other district facilities there as well.

Middle School HH, which will eventually be built there, is not yet included on a district timetable because no funding is yet available, Petrashek said. The school is being designed with two large classroom buildings, with one to be used by middle school students, and the other to be used by high school students.

They’ll share the cafeteria and athletic facilities, but there will be separate locker rooms for the younger and older students, Petrashek said.

The school will operate much like a school within a school, with one principal overseeing assistant principals who specialize in high school and middle school students.

The district also is planning to add an elementary school, known as Elementary School B, on land within a new residential development, Bexley Ranch, now beginning to take shape near State Road 54 and the Suncoast Parkway in Land O’ Lakes, Williams said.

“That’s going to be a huge reliever for Oakstead and Odessa elementary,” Williams said.

Unlike other district elementary schools, which have been designed for 762 students, Elementary School B could be built to accommodate nearly 1,000 students, he said, although that approach is still in the discussion phase.

The district is looking at opening that school in 2017.

Elementary W, another school planned to open in August 2016, would be built next to Long Middle not far from which is next to Wiregrass Ranch High, and Pasco-Hernando State College’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch. The school aims to reduce crowding at Double Branch and Sand Pine elementary schools, as well as provide some relief for Seven Oaks Elementary School, Williams said.

“Seven Oaks really popped this year,” he said.

The relief for Seven Oaks may involve sending some of those students to Sand Pine or shifting them to Elementary W, Williams said, noting its not yet clear what path officials will take.

“In the future we’ll have a school in the Northwood development,” he said. “That’s south of Seven Oaks. Ultimately, that’s going to provide the relief for Seven Oaks.”

While the district looks ahead to these projects, it also has completed work on a number of improvements in other schools.

The new gym at Stewart Middle School in Zephyrhills was finished at the end of last school year just in time for the eighth-grade graduation exercises, Petrashek said. But students are just now getting full use of the new facility.

“It’s still brand new,” Petrashek said.

The renovation of the weight room and locker rooms at Zephyrhills High School also is now complete, Petrashek said. Crews completed the renovation of the school clinic at Cox Elementary School in Dade City over the summer.

“It was simply outdated. It wasn’t functioning, so we redid that,” Petrashek said.

Now, the district is working on the design for a $5 million construction project at Cox that will add a new cafeteria and improve parking and the drop-off loop, Petrashek said, which could be completed by August 2016.

The district also is at the design stage of a campus renovation project at Pasco Elementary School in Dade City. The project, expected to be completed by August 2016, involves renovating classrooms, which will include infrastructure upgrades, new technology and fire sprinklers.

Portable classrooms will be brought in to enable construction work to be done while the campus is occupied.

Published September 3, 2014

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System update: Saint Leo unveils cybersecurity masters program

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Providing personal information on the Internet can save time and offer convenience, but it also carries well-known risks.

Hackers, identity thieves and malicious software can jeopardize someone’s financial and personal well-being with just a few clicks of a mouse.

Vyas Krishnan will oversee Saint Leo University’s new cybersecurity masters program, which was 18 months in the making. (Courtesy of Saint Leo University)
Vyas Krishnan will oversee Saint Leo University’s new cybersecurity masters program, which was 18 months in the making.
(Courtesy of Saint Leo University)

Even if you try not to share your information online, companies that have your data and store it on their computers can make you susceptible if they become a target of hackers.

As a result, cybersecurity — the efforts of organizations to thwart attacks on networks and sensitive data — has become an important focal point for information technology professionals.

At Saint Leo University, it’s about to be a masters degree program. And according to Vyas Krishnan, a professor with the department of computer science and information systems as well as the lead academic technologist, it couldn’t come at a better time.

“You hear in the news about so many data breaches, and hackers getting onto corporations’ networks and stealing either customers information or stealing their proprietary information,” Krishnan said. “This problem has been worsening over the past five years.”

Because of increased demand, the industry is seeing a shortage of trained cybersecurity professionals, he said, making the program valuable to prospective students.

Krishnan will oversee the new 36-credit hour program beginning this fall. The first offerings will be on-campus only, with online availability coming early next year.

A combination of five existing courses offered at the university and seven new courses make up the program, which attempts to cover the areas of vulnerability that exist in systems run by corporations or government agencies. And those systems, Krishnan said, are getting more complicated and more vulnerable as time goes on.

“A lot of the complexity of information technology infrastructure has resulted in multiple points of weakness,” he said.

As a result, a professional in that field needs to know the various areas where threats can manifest, how to defend against them, and how to maintain the integrity of the entire system.

Class subjects include database security, risk management, cloud computing security, systems security management, network security, strategic planning, and legal and compliance issues. The latter is important because different business sectors such as health and finance have different requirements, and a skilled cybersecurity professional needs to know the nuances of their particular industry, Krishnan said.

Graduation results in earning a master’s degree, but there’s more to it than that. Industry certifications are an important part of the information technology field, Krishnan said, and the program is designed to help graduates qualify for them.

The new program, which is open to students with some previous information technology education or work experience, was 18 months in the making. The university already is pleased with the initial interest, officials said. Around 20 students will take part when the degree is first offered, which exceeds Saint Leo’s original goals.

The online offering in 2015 will allow them to increase capacity as well.

Krishnan, who has been with the university for five years and played an integral role in getting this program off the ground, also is satisfied with the program’s development and course offerings.

“I feel very good about it,” he said. “I think we’ve done a great job in putting together a very sophisticated, technically advanced, state-of-the-art program.”

Protecting yourself from cyber threats
While no system is 100 percent safe, there are some common sense steps individuals can take to keep themselves better protected from threats, said Vyas Krishnan, who oversees the new cybersecurity masters program at Saint Leo University.

• Make sure your computer has an antivirus program and firewall installed. These tools help identify existing threats and prevent them from getting through to your computer.

• Keep your operating system up to date, and let it update automatically if possible. ‘It’s a complex piece of software, and when it’s initially released in the market, there could be some vulnerabilities that they may not be aware of,’ Krishnan said. Updates allow the company to close potential holes in the system, but they can’t fix the problems if the user doesn’t allow it to be updated.

• Make sure any website where you give personal information is secure. A website where you have to type in personal information should have ‘https://’ instead of ‘http://’ in the address bar. That extra ‘s’ means the information is encrypted and better protected.

• Be careful about responding to emails that look like they’re from companies you know. Legitimate correspondence from a company won’t ask you to provide sensitive information. If it does, it could be a scam designed to look like a real email from a known company.

Published August 27, 2014

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Enrollment increases at Wiregrass Ranch’s Porter Campus

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Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch began its fall semester this week, with an enrollment topping 2,100.

That’s an increase of nearly 300 students over its initial enrollment in January, when Pasco-Hernando State College opened the satellite campus in Wesley Chapel.

Stan Giannet, the provost at Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, is looking forward to the campus’ first full academic year. The campus is a satellite of Pasco-Hernando State College. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
Stan Giannet, the provost at Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, is looking forward to the campus’ first full academic year. The campus is a satellite of Pasco-Hernando State College.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)

“We continue to exceed the enrollment expectations. We’re very delighted with that,” said Stan Giannet, provost at the campus on Mansfield Boulevard, just south of State Road 56 in Wesley Chapel.

“Compared to the spring term, we added another 70 class sections that were necessary based on the projected enrollment,” Giannet said.

On the first day of the fall semester, Patti Rocco, administrative assistant to Giannet, was excited about the 2014-15 academic year. She loves working on the Wesley Chapel campus, even though it means driving over an hour a day from Weeki Wachee to get there.

“It’s just wonderful. It’s like one big family,” Rocco said, noting she can’t say that’s been her experience in all of the jobs she’s had throughout the years.

The campus is a phenomenal place to work, she said. “It’s warm. It’s wanting to do what’s best for the students.”

So far, the most popular courses are those leading to an associate’s degree, as well as programs in information technology, nursing and human services, Giannet said. Students also are expressing an interest in business courses.

Debuting this fall are the bachelor’s degree program in supervision and management, and the surgical technology and pharmacy technician certification programs.

There are tracks within the management and supervision program that gear people for general management, health care management and public service management, Giannet said. The degree provides coursework to enable people to develop and hone the skills necessary to handle the responsibilities that managers and supervisors face.

The surgical technology and pharmacy technician programs will prepare graduates for jobs that are in high demand and that offer good pay, Giannet said.

Figures are not yet available, but Giannet said Porter Campus is attracting students from Hillsborough County, and those numbers appear to be growing. The campus also has a sizable number of students enrolled in its evening programs.

Classes are offered Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9:40 p.m., and on Friday until 4:30 p.m. Registration for this semester ends Aug. 29, while registration for the spring semester begins in early November.

In addition to debuting new programs this fall, the college also will open a café in its library in September. It will offer salads, sandwiches and other light fare, Giannet said. The college always planned to have a café, it just took some time to go through the process to select a provider.

The campus is situated near many good restaurants in Wesley Chapel, so many students leave campus for meals, Giannet said. However, students carrying a full load do not have time to leave campus, so this café will provide a convenient way for them to grab a quick bite.

The campus continues to seek to create a sense of community among the students, faculty and staff, Giannet said. It also wants to play the role of an intellectual and cultural hub for the community at large.

“We want to be very open and inviting to our community,” he said.

One way that Giannet seeks to foster strong relationships with students is by hosting events such as Pizza with the Provost and Picnic with the Provost, where he has a chance to share campus news, to field questions from students, and to hear feedback about how things are going.

He also has a Provost Success Academy, which focuses on themes aimed at helping students succeed. As part of that academy, the college will host a domestic violence awareness symposium in October.

The overall goal of the campus is to engage students and provide assistance to help students succeed, Giannet said. He thinks students are taking advantage of opportunities available on campus.

“The amount of activity in our library — from the perspective of traffic utilizing library services — is comparable to our largest campus, which is the West Campus in New Port Richey,” Giannet said.

He describes the college’s personnel as being “very student-driven, student-focused, compassionate and caring.

“I think it’s clearly evident,” Giannet said. “We want to provide a meaningful experience for students when they’re on our campus.”

Published August 27, 2014

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Technology, band march to new fundraising beat

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Bake sales, car washes, spaghetti dinners. There’s so many traditional ways to raise money for a good cause.

But when the Wiregrass Ranch High School percussion program decided it was time to transform from a strong winter drum line to a premier one, they realized their efforts to raise $25,000 would have to be far from traditional.

The Wiregrass Ranch High School marching band’s drum line practices after school with players like, from left, Alex Dabrow, Robert Rodriguez, Ashleigh Hans and Sam Ryan. The line is raising $25,000, so that they can keep playing after marching season ends in November. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)
The Wiregrass Ranch High School marching band’s drum line practices after school with players like, from left, Alex Dabrow, Robert Rodriguez, Ashleigh Hans and Sam Ryan. The line is raising $25,000, so that they can keep playing after marching season ends in November.
(Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

“I had to recreate our fundraising strategy a little bit,” said second-year band director Patrick Duncan. “Our families were just selling to each other, and it didn’t do us any good when mom and dad were just looking for the same coworkers all the time, asking if they can buy this, or if they can buy that. At a certain point, they are not going to buy, and parents get really turned off from fundraising.”

A lot of money nowadays is being raised online, through crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Duncan and his team, however, chose GoFundMe, a site that has raised more than $400 million for various fundraisers since its launch.

Unlike Kickstarter, GoFundMe will fund a campaign, even if the financial goal is not met. And unlike Indiegogo, the band would not have to wait for a campaign to end before they can start withdrawing money.

That means once Wiregrass Ranch’s band raises $900, for example, it could buy a set of low-octave crotales. A little more than $5,000 would be just enough to pay for a studio vibraphone.

“They don’t penalize you for taking out money early,” Duncan said. “And if you don’t meet your goal, you can keep the money raised, and continue to try and raise more funds until you get what you need.”

The money will purchase 14 sets of instruments including three vibraphones, a marimba, two crotales, a snare drum, and four pairs of marching cymbals. These instruments will let the percussion line expand from its current 15 to 18 during marching season, to more than 30 in the wintertime as part of an indoor percussion line.

It would be the area’s second indoor percussion line, joining the existing one at Sunlake High School.

“Our percussionists basically don’t have a performance avenue after marching season ends” in November, Duncan said. “By doing this line, we have something that can join with our winter guard, and it’s very musically engaging. There are some really fast-moving lines, and it’s always based on some kind of concept, some kind of story. It’s like something you might see in a performing arts center.”

Duncan already has percussionists ready to join the line once the instruments are bought, and some of his other band members — even those in the wind instruments like trumpets and tubas — have expressed an interest in broadening their musical horizons.

The indoor drum line would perform at area events, including competitions in Plant City and Daytona Beach — the latter an event that typically draws more than 3,000 people.

Duncan wants the new line to start this school year, but to make it happen, he would have to have auditions right after the Thanksgiving break, with first rehearsals set for just after Christmas. While he could get the line together with just half the money he wants to raise, Duncan is really hoping the community will pull through and help put Wiregrass Ranch’s musical program on the map.

“We have too many percussionists right now, which is a good problem to have,” he said. “You have them going in and out during performances so that they can all get a chance to play, and sometimes you even double up parts so you can include more people. But that doesn’t always much musical sense, as that’s not the way the composer intended for it to be played.”

As of Monday, the band has raised a little more than $400 in the campaign. Most of the donations have been in the $25 range, although GoFundMe is capable of accepting larger contributions.

“We started this in hopes that we can find some people who are interested in giving back, and giving to a cause,” Duncan said. “This will give a lot of students the opportunity to get that performance time in their spring semester, and it’s something audiences will not want to miss.”

Donate right now to the Wiregrass Ranch High School percussion program. Visit GoFundMe.com/WiregrassPercussion.

Published August 27, 2014

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Innovation yields national award for Saint Leo University

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Two librarians at the Daniel A. Cannon Memorial Library at Saint Leo University have received national recognition for an innovative program they created.

Jackie Bryan and Elana Karshmer recently returned from the American Library Association’s national conference in Las Vegas where they received the inaugural award for innovation in instructional programming.

Jackie Bryan, left, and Elana Karshmer recently received a national award for their innovative approach for teaching university students how to use the resources available at the Daniel A. Cannon Memorial Library at Saint Leo University. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
Jackie Bryan, left, and Elana Karshmer recently received a national award for their innovative approach for teaching university students how to use the resources available at the Daniel A. Cannon Memorial Library at Saint Leo University.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)

The award stems from a program the pair put together to help students effectively navigate the university’s library, learn about its resources, and meet its staff. They based it on the 1960s television series “Mission Impossible,” Karshmer said.

They called their project, “Mission Impossible: Free Fritz.”

“The whole point of this mission in the library was to go to different stations that we set up where they would actually practice information literacy skills, and then if they successfully completed those skills, they would get a letter,” Karshmer explained.

When they obtained enough letters to spell a particular word, it would free Fritz, Saint Leo’s mascot.

As students made their way through the stations, they completed challenges and had a chance to have fun, intended to reinforce the lesson they learned. In the upstairs stacks, for instance, students had to find a book. Once they found it, they hula-hooped, to reinforce the idea that the volume came from the library’s circulating collection.

The librarians conducted research and borrowed ideas from other places when they were creating their program, said Bryan, who is a reference and instructional services librarian as well as an associate professor.

“Gamification is a trend now in higher ed,” she said.

“A lot of these things are out of (kindergarten through 12th grade). They’ve been doing it forever,” said Karshmer, an instruction program and information literary librarian, as well as an associate professor.

It took several weeks to design the program, which included a number of games and a pair of videos. One video explained what the students would be doing in the library. The other covered the research process.

After watching the video about research, students visited the library and used the catalog, the databases and the library website.

The project reflects the university’s desire to help students get the best use of the university’s resources, Bryan said. Learning how to use the library when they start college helps give them a solid footing.

“It really sets the foundation for the rest of their academic career,” she said. “They may think they know how to find information, but there are so many skills that we can teach them to help find the correct information they need and how to evaluate it, as well.”

It can also help transfer skills to other subjects. Students who learn how to use a database for English, for instance, can apply those same skills for research in other disciplines.

Those skills are valuable beyond college, Bryan added.

“Say you’re doing a project for some company you’re working for, and you have access to the public library. These are still skills you can use,” Karshmer said. “And, you’ll want to use them because people are going to expect you to be able to find high-quality information no matter what you’re doing.”

Many students know how to conduct Internet searches, but haven’t learned how to do scholarly research, Bryan said.

“They’ll take the first results when they do a search, instead of drilling down,” Bryan said. It’s also important to know how to refine a search to obtain the information you need, instead of getting thousands of irrelevant results.

“You need to find credible resources,” Bryan said.

Brent Short, Saint Leo’s director of library services, said he knew Bryan and Karshmer were doing good work, but it was nice to see their efforts receive broader recognition.

“What we’re really trying to facilitate and encourage is the ability to read deeply and write deeply,” Short said. “One of the temptations for students now is they think they can get an instant answer.”

The library staff wants students to feel welcome, encouraged and supported, Short said.

“We do have some expertise to offer,” he said. “We can help guide them where they need to go, and really save them a lot of headache and wasted time.”

Published August 20, 2014

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‘Concept College’ helps make college dreams a reality in Pasco County

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In some Pasco County families, attending college after graduating high school is almost a given. There’s money, opportunity and plenty of options for a student to continue their education.

But in others, college seems like a far-fetched dream. Even before they graduate high school, those students know that the opportunity isn’t there, and that makes it hard to focus on good grades and pursuing whatever options might exist.

Lauren Rowold, a Sunlake High School graduate who is registered for classes at Pasco-Hernando State College later this month, credits the school’s Concept College program for answering questions and making the transition to college easier. (Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)
Lauren Rowold, a Sunlake High School graduate who is registered for classes at Pasco-Hernando State College later this month, credits the school’s Concept College program for answering questions and making the transition to college easier.
(Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)

“Their parents are like, ‘Well, we don’t have money for this,’ so they’re like OK, there’s no point,” said Lauren Rowold, who graduated from Sunlake High School earlier this year.

Rowold wasn’t one of the students who had given up hope. Unlike some of her peers, she made sure her senior year was spent getting her grades up and preparing for a college career. She also took part in Concept College, a program implemented by Pasco-Hernando State College, designed to help at-risk youth and disadvantaged high school students explore and obtain college opportunities.

Rowold was one of about 600 students per year who participate in the program, which takes them on campus, gives them a firsthand look at college life, answers questions, helps with applications, and explores scholarship opportunities.

Concept College provides some optimism for young people who think college is beyond their grasp, said Maria Hixon, PHSC’s director of development.

“This is really targeting students who need assistance to help make them believe that college is possible for them,” Hixon said. “Sometimes without that direct outreach and personal attention, they kind of fall through the cracks.”

Guidance counselors at the high school level identify juniors and seniors who might be in danger of falling through those cracks and could benefit from the program. Students who are disabled, pregnant, or have discipline problems or economic disadvantages, are among those who might qualify. An advisor from the college then visits the high school to provide confidence-building exercises, and those who join the program schedule a visit to either the Dade City or New Port Richey campus that normally lasts more than two hours.

On campus, students tour the school, ask questions and take assessment tests. They also learn about the admissions process, degree paths and financial aid.

Concept College also helps students take their first steps toward attending college, HIxon said. The program helps them with the application process, including paying their $25 application fee. It’s a small amount, but it can make a difference, she said.

That’s not the only financial assistance, however. Participants can apply for scholarships, which vary each year based on how many students enroll and apply, and how much financial support the program gets.

The dollar amount usually ranges between $500 and $1,000 per year, Hixon said. At a school where a 12-credit, full-time schedule costs around $1,100, it can make a transition into college smoother for those who see the cost as a significant obstacle.

Over the years, the program has reached every high school in Pasco County and a couple in Hernando County as well. And it’s all done on a budget of around $10,000 per year.

The program relies on private donations to keep going, Hixon said, with Wells Fargo and the Tampa Bay Rays standing out as major contributors this year. The baseball team presented the school with a $5,000 donation this summer as part of their Rays Baseball Foundation Community Grant Program.

“For what it costs, we do a lot with very little, and it yields a lot of impact for the students,” Hixon said. “It’s a wonderful program.”

And Rowold agrees. After participating in Concept College, she enrolled at PHSC, and will begin pursuit of her associate’s degree in just a couple of weeks. After graduation she plans to enter the medical field.

The program was helpful, Rowold said, and could impact even more students by reaching them earlier so they can be motivated to improve their grades and prepare for a chance they didn’t know they had.

And while she’s excited about starting college, she’s not really nervous. Rowold said she was prepared well by Concept College, and everything was explained to her before she enrolled.

“It answered all my questions,” Rowold said. “I always had questions about it, but I didn’t know who to ask. I felt like I learned a lot.”

Published August 20, 2014

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Chalk Talk 08-20-14

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(Courtesy of Pasco-Hernando State College Foundation)
(Courtesy of Pasco-Hernando State College Foundation)

Firefighter inspires PHSC scholarship
The Pasco-Hernando State College Foundation recently received $11,000 from the James Santella Foundation to establish the James Santella Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship endowment will support Hernando County residents, or graduates from a Hernando County high school, who exhibit an interest in a fire rescue or first responder service career. Santella was a 2004 PHSC graduate and a firefighter for Spring Hill Fire Rescue who passed away from Lou Gehrig’s disease. Santella is shown with his wife Kim and son, Connor James.

Medical scholarship fundraiser
The Medical Center of Trinity Volunteers, 9330 State Road 54, is hosting a fundraising event for scholarships for students studying in the medical field.

The fundraiser is Aug. 21-22, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the lobby of the hospital, and will showcase Masquerade Jewelry and accessories. All items are $5 or less.

There will be a silent auction featuring gift baskets, gift cards, and other items.

For information, call (727) 834-4017.

Still time to enroll at PHSC
Students interested in enrolling for fall term classes at Pasco-Hernando State College should register immediately. Classes begin Aug. 25.

PHSC will introduce three new health programs this fall: pharmacy technician, surgical technology, and health information technology.

There will also be two baccalaureate degree programs: bachelor of applied science in supervision and management, and bachelor of science in nursing.

Students can apply online at PHSC.edu/wise. The application fee is $25.

An additional $20 is assessed during the late registration period. Late registration is Aug. 25 through Aug. 29.

For information, visit PHSC.edu.

Woman’s club awards scholarships
The GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club has awarded a $1,500 scholarship to the following students:

• Stacey Salazar, Erwin Technical Center

• Keely Johnson, Erwin Tech

• Natalie Robinson, University of South Florida

• Angela Maceta, University of Tampa

• Hannah Saucedo, USF

• David Guirguis, USF

• Barbara Feldhaus, University of Florida

• Garbriella Rivera, Duke University

• Ariana Sinudom, UF

• Ashlea Smyly, USF

• Matthew Burney, USF

• Courtney Noya, Florida Atlantic University

Tampa Catholic reunion
The Tampa Catholic High School Class of 1974 will celebrate its 40th reunion Aug. 22-24 at Tradewinds Island Resort in St. Pete Beach.

For information, call Robin Rogers Nasco at (813) 390-0257, or email .

WRHS senior immersed in German culture
Hannah Williamson, a senior at Wiregrass Ranch High School, participated in the Concordia Language Villages program for a two-week session at Waldsee, the German Language Village, near Bemidji, Minnesota.

Williamson was immersed in the German language and culture through learning groups, authentic foods, holiday celebrations, re-enactments of historic events, conversations and more.

Concordia Language Villages is a recognized leader in global education offering 15 world language programs.

Williamson is the daughter of Chuck and Robin Williamson of Land O’ Lakes.

Planting seeds to grow gardeners

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The room at the rear of the Land O’ Lakes Community Center was buzzing with chatter as children made their way around the various stations — creating caterpillars out of egg cartons, turning peanut butter jars into terrariums, and creating worm condos out of recycled soda bottles.

Master gardeners from Pasco County Cooperative Extension shared their enthusiasm for gardening as they talked to the youngsters about worms, air plants and compost.

Pasco County Cooperative Extension master gardeners Juanita Fawley and Mary Ellen Gotto help Makenzie Haworth, 7, build a worm condo. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
Pasco County Cooperative Extension master gardeners Juanita Fawley and Mary Ellen Gotto help Makenzie Haworth, 7, build a worm condo.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)

Master gardeners Mary Ellen Gotto, Juanita Fawley and Stan Groves helped Makenzie Haworth, 7, of New Tampa, as the young girl built a worm condo.

Amy Perkins, who is Makenzie’s mom, said the event helps connect kids with nature, and gives them a chance to experience gardening.

“It’s great exposure,” Perkins said.

“We put this on every year for children,” Gotto said. “It’s educational for children.”

Master gardener Chris Storch helped Caleb Hicks, 9, as he assembled his terrarium. The Connerton Elementary School student attended the event last year and wanted to come back when he heard it was being held again, said Land O’ Lakes resident Ted Beason, the boy’s grandfather.

Storch enjoys seeing the children’s delight.

“They love it, getting their hands dirty and digging into it,” the Lutz woman said.

Vicki Arndtz, a Pasco County master gardener from Zephyrhills, thinks the event gives children from all backgrounds a chance to learn the love of growing plants and vegetables.

“Not every child has an unlimited budget to experiment with gardening,” Arndtz said.

At the terrarium station, children could choose from a wide assortment of recycled containers. There were recycled peanut butter jars, a cheese puff container, pretzel jars and Beanie Babies collectible cases.

After selecting the container, the children added rocks, a weed cloth, soil, plants and decorative items, such as colored stones, gems and coins.

Carolyn Watson, of Land O’ Lakes, was there with her granddaughter, Grace Heller.

“My granddaughter and I love to plant plants together,” Watson said.

The 7-year-old, who attends Corbett Preparatory School, said she’s grown carrots, impatiens and miniature sunflowers with her grandmother.

The master gardeners share a passion for gardening, Arndtz said, and enjoy sharing their enthusiasm.

“Only an eclectic group like this could get excited over worm compost,” she said, laughing.

There’s always something new to learn, Storch said. For instance, gardeners who move to Florida from northern states have to learn about the spring and fall gardening seasons, she said.

“Timing is everything,” Storch said, especially when it comes to growing vegetables in Florida.

To learn more about the Pasco Cooperative Extension, visit Pasco.IFAS.UFL.edu.

For more information about gardening, visit http://solutionsforyourlife.com.

Published August 13, 2014

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As a new school year begins, be sure kids can hear teachers

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A child’s hearing difficulties are not always easy to spot.

That’s why volunteers like Alice Jones of Zephyrhills can play such an important role in a child’s life.

Alice Jones, of Zephyrhills, recently was honored for her volunteer work for the Sertoma Speech & Hearing Foundation of Florida. She conducts hearing tests at various Pasco County schools, to help detect hearing loss in children. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
Alice Jones, of Zephyrhills, recently was honored for her volunteer work for the Sertoma Speech & Hearing Foundation of Florida. She conducts hearing tests at various Pasco County schools, to help detect hearing loss in children.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)

Jones — recently named Sertoma Speech & Hearing Foundation of Florida’s volunteer of the month — has spent the past several years traveling to various Pasco County schools to conduct hearing tests for children.

The 76-year-old goes to schools within roughly a 20-mile radius of her home, sitting with children who are wearing earphones, and asking them if they can hear the sounds coming through the wires. When they can’t, Sertoma lets the school know, so they can inform the child’s parent.

Most of the time the youngsters can hear. But when they can’t, there are places where they can plug in for help, said Barbra Antonelli, an audiologist at the New Port Richey site for All Children’s Outpatient Care Center of Pasco.

Children can be born with hearing loss or it sometimes develops as they grow older, said Judith Reese, an audiologist at JC Audiology in Lutz. Federal law requires screening of infants. That typically occurs before the baby leaves the hospital, or during a follow-up visit soon after.

Some Pasco County public schools have staff members who conduct hearing screenings, but others use volunteers to do the checks. Sertoma volunteers, like Jones, conduct hearing tests for kindergarten, first- and sixth-graders in Pasco County public schools.

The organization always is looking for more help, Jones added. She got involved because a member of the Zephyrhills Noon Rotary Club asked members to volunteer.

Schools where Jones has helped out over the years include Connerton Elementary School in Land O’ Lakes, Veterans Elementary School in Wesley Chapel, West Zephyrhills Elementary and Stewart Middle schools in Zephyrhills, and Pasco Elementary and Pasco Middle schools in Dade City.

There are various causes of hearing loss, Reese said.

“One of the things that happens most often in children is a temporary hearing loss that is due to ear infections or even a build up of fluid in the ear,” Reese said. “Those are easily treated by medical professionals.”

Early detection is important.

“We really like to catch them early because you can have significant delays in speech and language, even if somebody has an ear infection for just a few months,” Reese said. “When they’re developing their speech and language, it can have a big impact on the child.”

Infants who are not startled by loud sounds may have a hearing loss, Antonelli said. If they don’t respond to their name or a dog barking, that may also be another sign.

Sometimes the problem is not obvious, Reese said.

Typically, if a child has an ear infection, parents become aware of it because it hurts.

“So, they’re crying or their ears are real red,” Reese said. “But if it’s just a build up of fluid, they may kind of just disengage, or tug at their ear.”

But sometimes fluid inside the ear doesn’t hurt, but is hindering a child’s hearing. In a case like that, a parent may think that their child is refusing to behave, or lagging behind in school because they’re not trying, Reese said. In fact, it may be that the child didn’t hear his parents or teacher, or didn’t hear them accurately.

It’s not just a matter of hearing sound, Reese explained. It’s also a matter of processing it properly.

Some signs that children may have a hearing loss include errors in articulation, Antonelli said. It also may seem that children don’t listen well or have trouble following directions. Or, they may want the volume on the television turned up.

When children don’t get help, they can experience academic and social difficulties.

If the hearing loss is spotted early, though, those problems can be avoided. Even newborns can be fitted with hearing aids, Antonelli said.

“Basically, they’ll never fall behind,” she said.

For more information, call Sertoma at (727) 834-5479, or visit FamilyHearingHelp.org.

Hearing loss symptoms and getting help

Hearing loss can happen when any part of the ear is not working properly, including the outer ear, middle ear, inner ear, acoustic nerve and auditory system, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The losses can vary greatly and can be due to a number of causes, the CDC says.

Here are some facts from the CDC to help you learn more about symptoms of hearing loss and what to do when they appear.

Signs in babies
• They do not startle at loud noises
• They do not turn to the source of a sound after 6 months of age
• They do not say single words, such as “dada” or “mama” by 1 year of age
• They turn their heads when they see you, but not if you just call their name
• They seem to hear some sounds but not others

Signs in Children
• Speech is delayed
• Speech is not clear
• They do not follow directions
• They often say, “Huh?”
• They turn the television up too high

The signs and symptoms of hearing loss are different for each child. If you think that a child might have hearing loss, ask the child’s doctor for a hearing screening as soon as possible.

Published August 13, 2014

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A year abroad offers student life-changing insights

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When Jennifer Roberts returns to classes at Wiregrass Ranch High School next week, she’ll be a far different person than she was when she last attended classes there.

Roberts, who is entering her senior year, left the United States last September to take part in the Rotary Youth Exchange program, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel Noon.

Jennifer Roberts wraps herself in an American flag and poses with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Her experiences abroad changed her life, she says. (Courtesy of Jennifer Roberts)
Jennifer Roberts wraps herself in an American flag and poses with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Her experiences abroad changed her life, she says.
(Courtesy of Jennifer Roberts)

Roberts went to high school in Zaragoza, Spain — the country’s fourth largest city —situated between Barcelona and Madrid. The 17-year-old said the experience was nothing short of life-changing.

When she arrived there, Roberts barely knew enough Spanish to introduce herself and to say that she’s from Florida. “At first, it was really difficult,” she said.

Even a simple conversation was challenging.

“It makes you miss your native language, because you really have to think when you are speaking another language,” Roberts said.

She mastered some coping skills, to help her through.

“You learn how to just smile and nod,” Roberts said.

She was thrilled when her Spanish-speaking skills had improved to the point where she understood what was going on. When that clarity came, “You just get the moment of joy, ‘Oh, I can understand you,’” she said.

Despite the initial language barrier, Roberts said she felt welcome from the moment she arrived.

“I stayed with two different host families,” she said. “They were amazing. They just accepted me.”

The kids she met at school were nice, too. When they found out she was from the United States, some told her: “Oh, that is so cool.”

Some had misconceptions about Americans, Roberts said. Rampant media reports about guns in the United States have painted the wrong picture.

“They think that Americans just carry guns in their purses,” she said. Some even asked if she had a gun, and if she was carrying one around Spain.

“I was like, ‘I don’t actually know anyone that has a gun in their house,’” Roberts said.

Of course, because she’s a Floridian, some wanted to know if she had alligators as pets. When Roberts told them there was an alligator in the pond of her backyard, some wanted to know how she wasn’t killed by it.

On the pop-culture front, Roberts said, the music and movies are exactly the same. In fact, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” came out a week earlier in Spain than it did in American theaters.

Going out for dinner is different, though.

“It’s very expensive to go out to eat, so typically people don’t go out unless they’re wealthy,” Roberts said. “There, when you go out to eat, it’s a three-course meal. When you order off the menu, it has three options for the courses. It’s a set price for everything.”

Meals are leisurely affairs, too.

“If you go to lunch, it’s usually a four- to five-hour process,” she said. “Or if they’re trying to rush it, it would be two hours.”

Other differences? There are no drink refills or ice, Roberts said.

While in Spain, she craved fast food and Starbucks.

“Before I left, I was not a big fast-food person, but after you’re away, you kind of miss it,” Roberts said. “You kind of miss things like Chick-fil-A.”

She was never so happy to see a taco in her life as she was when a Taco Bell opened in the Spanish city where she lived.

“The only time I got to go to Starbucks was when I was in Madrid, Barcelona or at the airport,” Roberts added.

During the school year, she studied nine subjects, with different classes on different days. At her school, the students stayed in a group together throughout the day, while teachers changed classrooms.

Besides her time in Spain, Roberts had the chance to tour other European countries, including stops at the Berlin Wall, and in Paris where she got to see the Eiffel Tower and the “Mona Lisa.”

As she traveled about, Roberts noticed how similar Spanish is to French and Italian, and now she wants to learn those languages, too.

Roberts thinks her experiences abroad will help her in a future career, whether it be law, politics or international affairs.

She thinks they will help in her day-to-day life, too.

“After being an exchange student, you don’t sweat the little moments,” Roberts said.

Published August 13, 2014

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