Girl Scouts Leave A Legacy At Tampa Palms Elementary

The Girl Scouts of Troop 966 donated a bike rack to Tampa Palms Elementary as part of their Bronze Project encouraging bike safety. The girls, pictured here with TPE principal MaryAnn Lippek are (l.-r.): Kaitlyn Graulich, Carissa Smith, Mallory Yee, Emory Seay, Lily Scalabrin, Isabella Cruz (in back) and Alexander Dominique. Gina Jasreman is not pictured.
The Girl Scouts of Troop 966 donated a bike rack to Tampa Palms Elementary as part of their Bronze Project encouraging bike safety. The girls, pictured here with TPE principal MaryAnn Lippek are (l.-r.): Kaitlyn Graulich, Carissa Smith, Mallory Yee, Emory Seay, Lily Scalabrin, Isabella Cruz (in back) and Alexander Dominique. Gina Jasreman is not pictured.

When the eight girls (see photo) who make up Girl Scouts Troop 966 get together every other week, they meet at Compton Park in Tampa Palms. They’ve just completed fifth grade, but they’ve been a group since they were in kindergarten. While a few girls have come and gone over the years, the core group has stuck together.

“Six of the girls started together as Daisies, then moved up to Brownies, then Juniors,” explains their leader, Mieke Caris. “They are Juniors in fourth and fifth grade, and have now bridged to be Cadets, which is the Girl Scout rank for sixth grade girls.”

Now, as they leave Tampa Palms Elementary (TPE) and move on to middle school, they are leaving their mark at the school where all but one girl attended, in the form of a bike rack and a bike safety program that will continue, even after they’re gone.

Throughout this past school year, the girls have worked to complete their “Bronze Award” project, the highest award that can be received by Girl Scout Juniors. They have done all of the work and submitted their application; now they are waiting to hear if they will receive the award from the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida.

Earlier this year, the girls decided they wanted their project to support kids. “The Girl Scout law says to care for our neighborhood,” says Mieke, “so they found a good cause in safety when going to school.”

She explained that their research for the project included interviewing their school principal, local police, the crossing guards, and kids and parents on bicycles. They sold Girl Scout cookies and held other fund raisers to support their efforts.

Ultimately, the girls designed a program of bike safety that was supported by the TPE’s PTA. At a PTA meeting, the local group Bike/Walk Tampa Bay gave a presentation on bike safety, the girls discussed their project, and the PTA gave away bicycles and helmets.

“The Girl Scouts then placed a bike rack for all students to use in years to come to store their bikes safely,” says Mieke proudly.

Local Author’s First Book Sparked By Roar Heard In Wesley Chapel

The RoarWEB
Alicia White was inspired by a thread on the Wesley Chapel Community Facebook page to write her first novel, entitled The Roar.

Although Alicia White has lived in Lutz and Land O’ Lakes for 20 years, she says the first time she heard a roaring sound she describes as “ominous” was when she moved to Wesley Chapel a year ago.

White, who is a fifth grade teacher at Turner/Bartels K-8 School in nearby New Tampa, said the noise shook the windows and she felt it in the ground.

“I happened to be online and noticed people posting about it on the Wesley Chapel Community Facebook page,” she says, and it piqued her curiosity. “It’s the kind of thing that makes you look at someone in the room and say, ‘You heard that, too, right?’”

Alicia says that sparked an idea and led her to write a book. “The story is entirely fictional, but the idea came to me from hearing this roaring noise here in Wesley Chapel.”

Alicia’s self-published book is called The Roar and is available in hard copy and e-book form on Amazon.com. Alicia’s pen name is A. M. White.

The Roar is classified as “young adult dystopian fiction,” Alicia says, and is planned to be the first in a series. The book’s back cover explains it this way: “The world as we know it disappeared with the roars. Alex was enslaved by those controlling them. Little does she know that some have survived the roars and live outside the compounds, and someone out there is very interested in finding her. Alex’s world is about to expand beyond her imagination.”

Alicia is currently writing the second book in the series. Although she doesn’t use the book in her classroom (“That would be a little too much shameless self-promotion,” she laughs.), she does use her story to inspire her fifth graders. “It’s not just my dream to be a published author,” she tells her students. “It’s something that can be realized.”

Alicia says she intentionally wrote the book so that it would be appropriate for her students who might come across it. “Nowadays, it’s harder to find things that aren’t risquĂ©,” Alicia says. “There is some violence in the book, because it’s a dystopian novel and has people trying to survive. But, I kept out profanity and sexual content.”

Alicia has been encouraged by reviews and the response to The Roar so far. She says book bloggers from around the world – from Denmark, India, South Africa, and the Philippines – have contacted her, wanting to read and review her novel.

“That’s been really neat,” she says. “It makes the world a bit smaller.”

The reviews on Amazon.com include this one by Maddy, who says:

“The Roar was a novel that sucked me in before I even started with a unique and captivating concept, took me through twists and turns and then left me wanting more. The characters were interesting and relatable, the story held my attention as I held my breath, cried, and laughed throughout, and the post apocalyptic world painted was one like no other. This book will please fans of post apocalyptic novels with slight nods to The Hunger Games and Divergent. You won’t be disappointed.”

As for those noises in Wesley Chapel? Alicia still hears them from time to time. While the most popular explanation seems to be they are from military exercises from MacDill Air Force Base, Alicia insists that just doesn’t make sense.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s a good explanation,” she says.

You can read more reviews or get your own copy of the book by searching “The Roar by A.M. White” at Amazon.com.

Saaya Named A Finalist In National American Miss Florida Pageant

Saaya Felder
Saaya Felder

By Christen Caporali

Six year-old Wesley Chapel resident Saaya Felder has been chosen as a state finalist for the National American Miss Florida Pageant that will be held in Orlando on July 8-9. She will be competing for the title of Miss Princess Florida in the 4-6 age division.

The pageant, which will be held at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Hotel, is for girls ages 4-18 in five different age divisions. Contestants will compete in four overall categories, including formal wear modeling, personal introduction, interview and community service projects. They also have the opportunity to compete in optional contests like Top Model Search, Talent, Actress, etc.

“We learned about the National American Miss Pageant from my sister-in-law, whose two daughters competed for Virginia in 2015,” says Nisha Sharma-Felder, Saaya’s mother. “The pageant is all about confidence and showing inner beauty, so they thought Saaya would be a perfect candidate.”

Through the National American Miss referral program, Saaya received an invitation in the mail to come to try-outs, which included an interview and a photo shoot. She had never competed in a pageant before and Saaya’s family was thrilled to find out that she had been chosen as a finalist.

“We had such a great experience with National American Miss,” Nisha says. “We are going to try and do it every year from now on.”

Saaya’s easiness around the cameras and with her photo shoot did not come as a surprise, as she has been modeling for the Benz Modeling Agency in Tampa since she was only a year old. According to Nisha, she loves to “work it” for the camera.

Saaya says her favorite part about the pageant was meeting the other girls, getting to dress up and model for the judges, and the photo shoot. Her favorite activities outside of modeling include t-ball, tennis, piano and swimming, as well as spending time with her family and friends.

In addition to the National American Miss Florida pageant, Saaya will also compete in the optional Casual Wear and Most Photogenic contests. 

According to Steven Roddy, founder of ThePageantPlanet.com, the National American Miss Pageant System is by far the largest in the nation, beating out Miss America and Miss United States by a long shot. National American Miss places an emphasis on the importance of gaining self-confidence and learning new skills, such as good attitudes about competition, as well as setting and achieving personal goals. It is dedicated to celebrating America’s greatness and encouraging its future leaders while equipping them with the real-world skills they will need to make their dreams come true. The program awards hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships and prizes to recognize and assist the development of young ladies.

If she wins Miss Princess Florida, Saaya will receive a $1,000 cash award, the official crown and banner, a bouquet of roses, a VIP day for 2 at Disneyland and the opportunity to compete in the National American Miss pageant at Disneyland in California on November 19-25. She also will tour Hollywood, and have the chance to represent Florida for the entire year.

For more information about the National American Miss Program, please visit NAMiss.com.