Saint Leo aims to make a difference
Saint Leo University is focused on helping others and saving the planet – one plastic cap at a time. The school recently collected and shipped about 15,000 pounds of bottle caps for recycling, for the Caps of Love program.
The proceeds from the effort are used to purchase new and refurbished wheelchairs for children with mobility issues.
Students, faculty and staff were joined by local organizations, schools and businesses in the collection of plastic lids. The tops from bottles of soft drinks, laundry soap, shampoo, prescriptions, peanut butter jars, yogurt cups and more were among the boxes loaded onto a truck and shipped to Commercial Recycling in Tampa.
The Caps of Love organization, which will change its name to Chariots of Love, has presented 79 wheelchairs to children over the years.
Books by the Beach
Students from both River Ridge High School New Teacher Academy and Hudson Elementary School will take part in a “Books by the Beach” scavenger hunt and walk on April 13.
The walk to Hudson Beach and back, for a philanthropy project, will start at the Healthy Families Pasco-Hernando office and include multiple book breaks to collect books on the way to the beach. Each stop will be an adventure.
Along the walk, students will write questions about safety on the sidewalk, share signs to encourage students to read all summer, and create passport-type logs for the students to remember their stops.
Area groups, including Pasco Retired Educators, United Way Pasco, and On the Road for Safety, will join in the event to man the tables along the way.
Each Hudson Elementary student will leave with a backpack filled with summer reading materials.
Charter school information session
Union Park Charter Academy, set to open in August in Wesley Chapel, will have an information session April 17 at 6:30 p.m., at Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, 2727 Mansfield Blvd., in Wesley Chapel.
A team will walk through the plans for the academy and will answer questions.
The school will educate students in kindergarten through eighth grade, and will have only students in kindergarten through sixth grade for the 2018-2019 academic year.
For information, visit UnionParkAcademy.org.
Student art exhibit
Pasco-Hernando State College’s Rao Musunuru, M.D. Art Gallery will exhibit “A Student Showcase” April 18 to May 16, at its West Campus in New Port Richey.
The annual event highlights diverse talent achieved without influence from staff or faculty. Visitors can experience completed works of photography, drawing and mixed media, from past and present art students.
There will be an opening reception sponsored by the PHSC Student Government Association April 18 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., in the gallery.
For information, call (727) 816-3231, or visit PHSC.edu.
Teacher of the Year nominations
U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis is accepting nominations for his annual Teacher of the Year awards, to honor the outstanding educators of Florida’s 12th District.
Teachers and educators from all schools, and all grades, in District 12, are eligible.
Nominations should be emailed to , and include the name, school and contact information of the nominee.
The deadline is April 27.
An awards ceremony will take place in May.
Scholarship opportunity
Saint Leo University is offering an academic scholarship opportunity for students who are intent on starting an MBA program this summer, have the undergraduate grades to prove they can do serious work, and the commitment and discipline to study online all the way through to degree completion.
For those who qualify and apply by April 20 for admission to the summer semester starting April 30, the MBA tuition per credit hour will be reduced.
The per-credit scholarship represents a savings of $6,000 throughout the course of the 36-credit-hour program.
For information about the scholarship, visit SaintLeo.edu/mba-online-scholarship-form.
For additional details, email , or call (800) 707-8846.
