Great American Teach-In another "Pride"-filled event

The Great American Teach-In (GATI) isn’t just a day Pride Elementary school principal Cindy Land uses to squeeze in a few speakers for students to listen to and gawk at, a day for kids to see the uniforms their parents wear to work or to pet a few animals.

For Land, it’s always been about something bigger.

“I think it excites the kids about their future careers,” Land said, “and it’s just a great way to get your community involved.”

That may explain why Pride rolls out the red carpet with a hot breakfast and a catered lunch for its GATI guests, which this year numbered more than 100.

From firemen to artists, television anchors to local politicians — with a good number of furry critters thrown in between — the Great American Teach-In appears to have been another success not only at Pride, but all around New Tampa.

At Chiles Elementary in Tampa Palms, the guests who came speak to students about their careers included photographers, cooks, physical therapists, hair stylists, authors, experts on Chinese culture and USF cross country head coach Dena Reif.

At Liberty Middle School, also in Tampa Palms, the USF Sun Dolls appeared, along with a comic book artist, commercial pilot and others.

At Pride, there seemed to be almost every job imaginable represented, including Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan, who has participated at Pride for 10 straight years.

“The 5th grade kids do really well with that, because government is what they are learning right now,’’ Land said.

There were also nurses, doctors, hot air balloons and the always popular animal rescues and certified therapy dogs.

Julie Van Acker, who works for Organicgirl, made healthy green smoothies for the kids in her class, while Kristen Gefre from Busch Gardens showed her kids a screech owl named Emmett and a baby american alligator named River.

The three-page handout with all of the guests and their teaching times was like a treasure map for the Pride students, who have been treated to a number of famous guests in recent years, including former Tampa Bay Bucs coach Tony Dungy.

At Pride, it’s getting bigger and bigger every year.

“It’s one of our largest events that we hold here at Pride,’’ Land said. “We contact everyone the prior spring, and any contacts we make throughout the year, we are consistently sending emails to them. We kind of eyeball the date we expect it to be and go from there. We love to have the community involved.”