Editorial: Musings About Jameis Winston, The Rotary’s Duck Derby & WCNT-tv!

Jameis Winston

As I reported in a new commentary segment on WCNT-tv that you can watch now on YouTube and Facebook, I was fortunate to be invited by the University Area Community Development Center (CDC) on N. 22nd St. in the University of South Florida area of Tampa to see Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston (photo, right), who literally spent the better part of an entire afternoon hanging out with the families who live near the CDC.

About a month before the NFL draft, Jameis was asked by his barber, who owns the Who’s Nexxt Barber Shop on E. Fletcher Ave., to make an appearance at a family barbecue event at the Center and not only did he attend — along with his mom — he spent the better part of a warm, humid April afternoon posing for pictures and signing one autograph for literally every one of the 200-300 people who attended. In fact, he didn’t sit down to eat a burger until everyone in the crowd had 2-3 minutes of his complete attention.

And, Jameis didn’t just sign and pose, he interacted with as many of the kids and their families as possible — even when more than one attendee asked him to sign a Dallas Cowboys jersey. For example, when the Bucs’ talented young QB signed a pair of cleats, he’d tell the kid wearing the cleats that they, “better get results from these. I want touchdowns or pancake blocks with these. I don’t just put my name on anything and not expect results.” His genuine smile and warmth made everyone who attended the event feel like they were his good friend.

In other words, even though I (and my older son Jared) graduated from Florida and Jameis (and my younger son Jake) graduated from FSU, I am a bigger Jameis Winston fan today than I was when the Bucs took him with the first overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.

And, with the addition of former Philadelphia and Washington WR DeSean Jackson before the draft, and top picks O.J. Howard and Justin Evans in the 2017 NFL Draft (which was still ongoing at our press time), it appears that the Bucs are serious about improving the talent around their leader and I don’t blame them.

Jameis is one superstar athlete who shines, even when the camera isn’t on him. I expect bigger things from him and the Bucs this season and even if that somehow doesn’t happen (which I doubt), I know it won’t be because of a lack of effort on the part of this future superstar QB.

And, Speaking Of WCNT-tv…

The big news is that not only we have modified the format for WCNT-tv — which now has had a reach of more than 600,000 people and all 21 episodes released to date have been viewed more than 200,000 times on Facebook and 100,000 times on YouTube — the show is now 100-percent owned by yours truly, which means there is even more we can do to promote your business — in these pages, on our WCNeighborhoodNews.com website and on our WCNT-tv YouTube and Facebook pages.

Because we found that most of the viewers weren’t watching the full episodes when they were released as much as they were the individual segments from each episode, we decided to no longer air full episodes. Instead, our News, Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) Featured Business, Neighborhood Dining News and Entertainment Calendar segments will each be released individually. For our Episode 21, the News and Entertainment segments were released on April 21, while the Dining (about Little Italy’s Family Restaurant & Catering, see ad on pg. 50) and WCCC Featured Business (about the Palms Pharmacy in Tampa Palms) were released on April 28.

With yours truly now setting the prices for WCNT-tv, it’s more affordable than ever for you to advertise in these pages, on our website and for your business to be a WCCC Featured Business on WCNT-tv!

In other words, email ads@wcnt-tv.com or call 910-2575 today to get more info about our new bundle and to get your WCNT-tv segment scheduled!

That’s Just Ducky…

Congratulations to the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel Noon, which will host its second annual Duck Derby on Sunday, May 21, beginning at 1 p.m. This year’s family-friendly Derby will kick off from the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Hall at 4220 Land O’Lakes Blvd. (U.S. Hwy. 41) and will again feature food, fun and those cute rubber duckies racing to win prizes for attendees and raise money to benefit Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco’s K-9 Association.

For more info about the Duck Derby, see the ad on pg. 17, visit the Club any Wed. at noon at Quail Hollow Country Club or visit WCRotary.org/Duck-Derby.

Valedictorian Is Just One Impressive Accomplishment For This WCH Senior

Wesley Chapel High valedictorian Samantha Politano is congratulated by Pasco County school superintendent Kurt Browning and School Board member Cynthia Armstrong as Politano receives one of several scholarships.

When Samantha Politano steps on to the stage to speak to Wesley Chapel High’s graduating class of 2017 on May 26, it will be the culmination of a dream she’s had since the third grade, when the letter “A” first appeared on her report card.

It was at that time — when she saw not just one, but all As on that report card — that she says she became determined to always get straight As, and to become her class valedictorian. And now, she’s done it.

With a weighted GPA of 4.77, she has the privilege of the title, and the responsibility of making the speech.

“I’m really excited about it,” Samantha says, “I’ve been thinking about it since third grade, so I feel like it’s a lot of pressure.”

At the same time she’s receiving her high school diploma, she’s also earning her Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree from Pasco Hernando State College, thanks to dual enrollment classes she’s been taking for the last three years. She’ll be recognized as an “honors graduate” for maintaining a 4.0 GPA in her college classes when she walks across the stage at that graduation ceremony.

While she’s been busy studying, doing her homework and keeping her grades up, Samantha also has been committed to extracurricular activities as an officer in seven organizations. She’s not only student body president at WCH, she’s also vice president of the PHSC chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.

Samantha also received the Girl Scouts Gold Award, the highest award given by that organization. When she earned it in 2016, she was the only Gold Award recipient in Pasco County that year. She says she was an active Girl Scout for 12 years, and the project to earn the award was to make Wells Rd. — where Wesley Chapel Elementary, Weightman Middle and Wesley Chapel High schools are located — safer.

Currently, Samantha is planning to attend Florida State University in Tallahassee, where she’ll be in the Honors College.

“My parents never went to college, so I’ve always dreamed of going to college,” she says. “When I started at Wesley Chapel Elementary, I thought that was college.”

Samantha says her parents’ story is an inspiration to her. She looks up to her mom, who she says is, “so organized and gets everything done without getting distracted; she motivates me.”

She also says that her dad’s hands are a reminder of why she works so hard to be successful. “Dad used to be a gas fitter and he had to work hard, digging deep holes,” she says. “His hands are so rough. I want to work hard mentally so my family and I don’t have to work hard with our hands.”

Samantha is still on the waiting list at both Harvard and Yale, and should find out by the end of May if she’ll be accepted into either of those Ivy League universities. If she does end up at FSU, she has earned so many scholarships that she will have the cost of her education covered, and then some. She earned a prestigious scholarship for students who have overcome significant adversity, called the Horatio Alger Scholarship. She also was named a national semi-finalist from the Elks National Foundation for a “most valuable student” award, plus she was awarded scholarships from the Mary and Bob Sierra Family Foundation, the Florida PTA, Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative and from FSU.

Ultimately, she says she hopes to become a lawyer. “It’s unfair that lawyers charge so much and that low-income families can’t afford a lawyer,” Samantha explains. “I’d like to advocate for low-income families and help them.”

Because her scholarships will cover four years of education, “I’ll probably take my time,” she says. “Because I already have my A.A., it would be too easy to just do one major.” She’s planning to study both English and Biology, following a track for marine biology, and thinks she might study abroad.

Samantha says that, to apply for law school, she can have any degree, so her choice to study marine biology is purely for fun and the experience of learning more about something she loves. “I won’t be using that as a lawyer,” she says. “I’m just passionate about it. It’s going to be really enjoyable. I think more people should do things just because they enjoy them.”

Cypress Creek High Kicks Off Spring Football With A Handful Of Hopefuls

Head coach Mike Johnson (left) goes over a drill with some players at the second practice of the spring.

There may be no harder job in high school sports than being a football coach for a brand new school. Typically, you have no senior class to lean on, you have to build entirely new offensive and defensive units from scratch and you are, almost certainly, facing a debut season in which you will be lucky to win even one game.

That job will be even harder for Cypress Creek Middle/High School first-year head coach Mike Johnson.

At the first practice of the school’s first spring football session — where coaches will put in their offensive and defensive formations and unearth the leaders and identity of the team for the upcoming season, which starts in August —the Coyotes attracted two players.

The second day, there were five. Johnson said he wasn’t sure if anyone else would be showing up.

Because there is no place to practice yet at Cypress Creek, which is still under construction and opens in the fall, the five players — Kyle Cantwell, Kiaus Collins, Tim Ford, Devin Morris and Dylan Nagore — showed up the first week to train on an open field behind Weightman Middle School.

Dylan Nagore receives blocking instruction. The Coyotes will play their first season of high school football this fall.

Although it may have looked more like friends working out on their own than a football team, the future Coyotes earnestly dashed between orange cones, worked on their back-pedals and polished their blocking techniques in near silence under the watchful eye of Johnson and five assistant coaches.

“It’s tough being in the situation we are in,’’ Johnson said, alluding to the fact that many, if not most, of his future players are currently going through spring drills just a few hundred yards away at Wesley Chapel High (WCH), and still others were at Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) practicing with the Bulls.

Therein lies Johnson’s predicament.

After a long, hotly-contested process that rezoned many of the students at WCH and WRH for the fall, a large number of parents and students are unhappy about having to change schools for a number of reasons. Leaving some of the better academic and extra curricular programs at their current schools is one sore spot.

The same goes for football players. Many now living in the Cypress Creek attendance zone are most likely hopefully awaiting school choice assignments in order to stay with their current teams, rather than become a Coyote.

The timing for Cypress Creek football also couldn’t be any worse — Wesley Chapel is coming off a 7-2 season, its best since 2004, while Wiregrass Ranch won a school record seven games and made the playoffs for the first time since 2010.

“It’s tough on a lot of people,’’ Johnson said. “But we are happy with what we have out here and what we are doing.”

That positive approach is shared by the handful of Coyotes, who despite leaving successful programs for one sure to take its lumps in the fall, are currently receiving what amounts to 1-on-1 football training

Ford, a skills position player for WRH the past two years, says that Cypress Creek offers a fresh start for him.

“It’s a good environment so far,’’ he said. “I like the coaches, they are all real nice.”

And Nagore, a guard for the WRH junior varsity last year before getting called up to varsity later in the season, is attacking the challenge.

“I was mad at first,’’ said Nagore, who also happens to be the sophomore class president at Wiregrass Ranch. “It was hard at first moving from a great program to one just starting out. But, you have to be optimistic and make the best of it. It’s nice being the start of something.”

Other than a few footballs and cones and a rope ladder for running speed drills, Cypress Creek High doesn’t even have any equipment yet. The players won’t do any contact drills, and it will be impossible, for now, to put in any plays.

Johnson, however, hopes all that changes when school choice comes out and his future roster arrives, and he begins a summer-long weight training program — if the new school can complete it in time.

Until then, he will continue to coach whoever shows up as he prepares for the first season.

“I still look at this optimistically,’’ Johnson says. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for myself and the players coming out. And, for a lot of kids, I think it offers a fresh start.”

Wiregrass Ranch High Boys Tennis Falls In State Championship Final

The Wiregrass Ranch High tennis team poses with the state runner-up from last week’s Class 4A state championships in Altamonte Springs.

The Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) boys tennis team, arguably the most successful athletic program in Pasco County the past few seasons, fell just short of winning a third State tennis championship in five seasons.

The Bulls, champions in 2014 and 2015, fell to Parkland Stoneman Douglas High 4-1 in the Class 4A championship match on April 27 in Altamonte Springs. Noah Makarome, who was undefeated in his previous two singles matches, and Destiny Okungbowa were both playing their first sets when the match was called after Douglas clinched the title with their fourth win (out of seven lines).

Josh Abrams, the Bulls No. 5 singles player, pulled out the only victory for WRH in the final by defeating Jabari Cole 6-1, 2-6, 11-9, to finish 3-0 on the week.

The Bulls fell behind quickly when Douglas captured both doubles matches in convincing straight sets.

Wiregrass Ranch, which is 111-2 in head-to-head matches since 2010, during which time it hasn’t lost a Pasco County match, had to battle hard to reach the finals.

In the state quarterfinals April 26, it defeated Fleming Island 4-1, as Makarome won 6-4, 6-1, at No. 1 singles, Jared and Josh Abrams picked up wins at Nos. 4 and 5 singles and Kanishkh Ramesh  and Okungbowa won at No. 2 doubles with a 4-6, 6-4, 10-2 victory.

The semifinals, played earlier on the same day as the finals, saw the Bulls defeat Tampa’s George Steinbrenner High  4-2 with the same combination of winners.

Makarome, who has signed to play at the University of Pennsylvania next year, defeated Nicholas Cary 6-3, 6-1, at No. 1 singles, and the Abrams brothers both won their singles matches, with Jared winning 6-4, 6-0, at No. 4, and Josh winning 6-0, 6-0, at No. 5.

Ramesh and Okungbowa won at No. 2 doubles 6-4, 6-3. The title was the first for the Douglas High tennis team.

MAP: Wiregrass Ranch Present and Future

The Neighborhood News recently spoke with Wiregrass Ranch developer and owner JD Porter about his family’s philosophy in developing the land that has been owned by his family for more than seven decades, and some of the things that are coming to Wiregrass Ranch in the future. Here’s our story on Porter, and below is the map with descriptions of how Wiregrass Ranch might look in a few years.

1. TRANSPORTATION

Pasco County Public Transportation

JD Porter takes great pride in his family’s foresight. They paid $25 of $30-million to build out six lanes of S.R. 56 in front of the Shops at Wiregrass. “I give my uncles and dad a lot of credit,” Porter says. “Do it right the first time, it’s usually a lot cheaper and a lot more effective.”

And, while light rail may never become a reality, Wiregrass Ranch is ready for it. Porter says he doesn’t see it happening until the drive to Tampa takes people 2.5 hours. But, with so much traffic heading the opposite way, north from the University of South Florida area into Wiregrass Ranch, Porter has dedicated 3.5 miles of transportation right of way through the DRI, starting at FHWC, winding past the mall and Raymond James and up Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. towards the future town center.

“If not light rail, then rapid bus,’’ Porter says. Another touch: although they cost an extra $300-million or so, Porter says roundabouts are being built on Wiregrass Ranch Blvd.

2. ADULT LIVING

There are no over-55 active adult communities in sight — the nearest one to Wesley Chapel is still Tampa Bay Golf and Country Club on S.R. 52 in San Antonio — but Porter hopes to change that with Valencia, an 850-unit single-family residential development scheduled to begin construction later this year. In fact, he sounds downright excited to do so.

“We have a young demographic, and they are going to want their parents close to them,’’ Porter says. “We want Wiregrass Ranch to be family friendly.”

Porter also notes that having an A-rated adult community (and he says Wiregrass Ranch’s will be A+) has long been an integral part of his development plans.

3. OTHER RESIDENTIAL

Persimmon Park will be a 340-unit single-family development with villas and townhomes, and will be located within walking distance to the development’s town center. It will be located just south of Chancey Rd. and west of Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. and is currently in permitting, but Porter says he has a number of builders already lined up. And, while many developers use many builders, Porter said he likes to rely on a small group, which currently includes Lennar, CalAtlantic and GL Homes.

4. PHASE II OF THE SHOPS AT WIREGRASS MALL

Not much new to report here, as Shops at Wiregrass general manager Greg Lennars says the mall is still looking for those “perfect fits.” He said that a handful of green grocers have expressed interest in being one of the anchors of the new site, and better offers roll in every week, but no decision has been made.

Securing a movie theater for the project — which has yet to break ground and continues to wait on permitting — is ongoing. Altis is being built right behind it. The four-story apartment complex is a $60-million project, and is expected to open sometime in 2018, with 392 units. It is part of the Porters’ effort to begin to grow the residential area around Wiregrass Ranch as new businesses move in.

5. TOWN CENTER

Porter is not fond of the town center concept as it has been developed in most places — a Publix and a few other stores — but his team has huge plans for the center he envisions and for which he has set aside 146 acres right in the middle of Wiregrass Ranch.

“Bigger than downtown Winter Park, bigger than downtown Tampa, really,’’ says Scott Sheridan. “It will truly redefine what a downtown is.”

Porter doesn’t see the town center as Wesley Chapel’s downtown, or even Pasco County’s downtown. What he envisions is “Northern Tampa Bay’s downtown.” He says he is content to let the area around it develop as Raymond James, Persimmon Park, Estancia and The Arbors mature.

“If we did it now, it would be great, but it wouldn’t meet our standards,’’ he says. Porter adds that a performing arts center might be a good anchor, but also has seen 2-3 other proposals he likes even better. “I look at it as being what Buckhead is to Atlanta,’’ he says.

6. ATHLETIC COMPLEX

The Porters donated 138 acres to Pasco County for a park, and then watched as the county failed to close any deals to do something with the land. “It sat there for eight years,’’ Porter says, and he has expressed frustration with the progress of that land in the past, calling it a nightmare. But RADDsports out of Sarasota has won the bid to build an indoor athletic complex with some outdoor fields, and while not exactly what Porter had in mind, he seems more hopeful. “I think we all feel things are moving in the right direction,” he says.

7. MEDICAL

When Sheridan and Porter look down the road, they definitely see more medical industry coming to Wiregrass Ranch.

Florida Medical Clinic just north of S.R. 56 on Bruce B. Downs opened recently, and next to that construction is ongoing on the $3-million, three-story 16,000-sq.-ft. Lismark Medical Office (photo), which will be located between the Florida Medical Clinic and FHWC. And, NTBH is expanding, too.