Qvita Offers Both Medical & Cosmetic Services In One Location!

Helping maintain optimal health on the inside and providing services to help you look better on the outside are the ways that Peggy Demetriou, ARNP, FNP-BC, takes care of her patients at Qvita Health & Wellness, located across Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC), in the Windfair Professional Center.

Peggy Demetriou, ARNP, FNP-BC (far right), leads the staff (Katherine Sneesby, Ashley Rae Negron, Doris Chavez) at QVita Health & Wellness off Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in Wesley Chapel, where primary care medicine and specialized skin care services are offered in one convenient location.

As a Board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP), Demetriou offers primary care medical services for patients ages five-years and older, including diagnosis and treatment of acute illnesses like the flu and injuries, as well as referrals to specialists and follow-up management of chronic conditions such as diabetes. According to Demetriou, if one of her patients is ailing, she and her team (photo) are committed to seeing them as soon as

possible to ensure a speedy recovery.

“We’ll see our current patients the same day if they’re sick,” says Demetriou, who earned her Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Nursing (BSN) degree in 1998, from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “If they’re sick today, they’re going to be seen today.”

Avoiding illness in the first place is ideal, and Qvita offers preventive care through wellness checkups (including school and Department of Transportation physicals) and health counseling focused on the individual needs of patients, such as enlightening a teenager about the nutritional benefits of a balanced diet or assisting adults with managing their use of prescription drugs. Demetriou says having a candid conversation

is a key element of the relationship she has with her patients.

“We’re going over the lifestyle of that patient,” she says, adding that medical services like genetic testing are available to facilitate diagnoses and determine treatment options for every patient.

Maintaining a body weight that’s appropriate and comfortable for an active lifestyle can be an elusive goal, but managing weight loss through non-surgical medical weight loss treatment options is one way that Qvita helps patients get more out of their lives. Demetriou says that these options range from prescription medications and/or herbal supplements to procedures like lipotropic (fat burning) injections of nutrients such as choline, that release a body’s stored fat by stimulating the metabolic processing of it.

Cosmetic Services Too!
Qvita Health & Wellness extends its services beyond supporting daily health needs by providing non-surgical cosmetic options, including wrinkle-reducing injectables such as Botox and Xeomin, as well as a complete line of Juvederm filler products.

Demetriou says that tne advantage of receiving cosmetic treatments and services at a nurse practitioner-owned clinic is the access to medical grade products such as Latisse, an FDA-approved prescription treatment that grows eyelashes for patients who are unhappy with the length or volume of their lashes. Skin-care products from companies such as Obagi Medical, SkinMedica and NeoCutis also are available. Patients looking for a non-surgical “face lift” can consider the Ultherapy approach, which is an FDA-approved method of lifting skin on areas such as the neck and chin using non-invasive ultrasound technology.

According to Demetriou, providing quality medical and cosmetic services is about providing a complete spectrum of options for people who are interested in feeling and looking their best.

“They complement each other,” she says. “As patients’ health and conditions improve on the inside, they want to look good on the outside, too.” Demetriou adds that cosmetic clients often bring to light their medical concerns while visiting Qvita, as well.

Demetriou also says that some of the treatments and services available at Qvita have both medical and cosmetic benefits. Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy involves separating platelets and plasma from a patient’s blood sample to create a solution that can be used to help heal joint and ligament problems, as well as rejuvenate skin.

Also available are aesthetic services, such as dermaplaning, where a surgical blade is very gently scraped across the skin’s surface to remove debris such as dead cells, leaving a refreshed look.

At Qvita, this work is handled by Ashley Negron, who has a clinical skincare diploma from the American Institute of Beauty and is licensed by the State of Florida Board of Cosmetology as a registered facial specialist. Negron says Qvita’s cosmetic services use products not widely available at places like chain beauty supply stores.

“All of the products we use are medical grade,” says Negron.

A Holistic Approach
Committed to promoting good health and fitness from a holistic perspective, Demetriou also teams up with her physician husband Nektarios Demetriou, D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathy), to offer patients their own line of physician-formulated nutritional supplements, such as Qvita Premium Activated B-Complex, Premier Multi-Vitamin and Ultimate Joint Support. According to the Qvita website, the once-a-day supplements “are designed to be natural, convenient to use, and are completely free from artificial fillers, flavors, or colors.”

Peggy also spreads the word about good health to the general public through her guest appearances on Tampa Bay-area radio and television programs. Viewers of the WFTS-TV program, “Tampa Bay’s Morning Blend” (10 a.m. weekdays), often see her hosting topical health segments. Demetriou says her next segment will air sometime in September and will be announced on Qvita’s social media platforms for people who want to watch or record it.

Social media also is where you can keep up with specials on cosmetic services and big events, like the practice’s two-year anniversary in December. Office manager Katherine Sneesby, who helped open Qvita Health & Wellness, says the practice’s growth stems from a commitment to both medical and cosmetic clients.

“We’ve watched it (Qvita) grow because we’re trying to make sure everybody gets the best treatment possible,” Sneesby says.

That approach to delivering treatments and services has led to a 5-Star Google rating (as of our deadline) from 18 reviews. Among the reviewers is Samantha Kanyer, who writes of her experience with Qvita:
“Unbelievably clean, best customer service I’ve ever had and Peggy could not be more amazing!! Would recommend for anyone!!”

According to Demetriou, what patients and clients experience when they visit Qvita Health & Wellness begins from within — the people who work there.

“I think there’s a passion driving us to do what we’re doing,” she says, proudly.

Qvita Health & Wellness is located at 2734 Windguard Cir., Suite 101, in Wesley Chapel. You can learn more, such as insurance acceptance (including Medicare) by visiting online at QvitaHealthandWellness.com or by calling (813) 501-4130. Or, see the ad on page 10 of this issue.

PROtential Sports Can Help Unlock Your Child’s Potential On & Off The Field

Tony and Nyree Bland know what it takes to achieve success at the highest levels of athletic competition, and they have been sharing that knowledge with young people in communities throughout New Tampa and Wesley Chapel for more than a dozen years.

PROtential Sports campers stretch before breaking off into teams for flag football. (Photo: Gavin Olsen)

“It’s about being the best you can be and having integrity,” says Nyree.
That’s the foundation of the New Tampa couple’s youth sports training company, PROtential Sports, where the stated mission is “Teaching Life Through Sports.”

Achieving high standards of performance through hard work and fair play is what the Blands credit for their own personal and professional successes, on and off the fields of play.

Nyree was ranked as the number-one junior tennis player in North Carolina before a knee injury curtailed her professional tennis aspirations. Tony was a wide receiver for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings for four years, including the team’s historic 16-victory season in 1998, when he played behind NFL Hall of Famers Cris Carter and Randy Moss.

Passing on the insights and lessons from their own sports and life experiences is the goal of every after-school instructional sports program and summer camp the Blands offer.“We’re trying to teach them how to be good people, as well as being good athletes,” says Nyree.

Their venture into the business side of athletics came about in 2003, when Tony participated in a youth football camp with then-Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Brad Johnson (who was also a teammate of Tony’s at Minnesota) and former Bucs running back Michael Pittman.

That experience brought home Tony’s own football beginning, as a 14-year-old playing in a youth football league and then catching passes at Pinellas Park High. His focused dedication to athletic achievement became part of his overall lifestyle, including academics, and he earned a scholarship to Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, where he majored in political science.

PROtential district manager Julie Garretson is another lifelong athlete who aspired to a career in physical education and now oversees many of the day-to-day operations of PROtential Sports. Since the youth activities are community-oriented, that means developing relationships with the activity and lifestyle directors in local communities like The Ridge at Wiregrass Ranch in Wesley Chapel and Heritage Isles, and stopping by when the children are on-site to check on things.

So Many Locations!
According to Garretson, PROtential Sports’ after-school instructional sports programs for students ages 5-12 years old are located at Club Tampa Palms, Arbor Greene, Heritage Isles, Grand Hampton and Cory Lake Isles in New Tampa. While previously only available to residents, the Cory Lake Isles location is now open to everyone.

PROtential sports summer campers work on agility drills at Grand Hampton, one of five sites that host after-school instructional sports programs for students ages 5-12 in New Tampa. (Photo: Gavin Olsen)

In Wesley Chapel, PROtential has been running summer camps and after-school instructional sports programs at Seven Oaks and Meadow Pointe IV, and this summer has added The Ridge.

“We are so happy to be in The Ridge,” Nyree says, adding that the summer programs have been a big hit in the bustling new community. “It’s just a beautiful subdivision, the amenities are great, the staff is amazing and the residents coming to PROtential have been wonderful.”

Being able to operate in the new communities popping up in Wesley Chapel is a treat for Nyree and Tony. Developments like The Ridge grow into long-time relationships, like at Heritage Isles, where PROtential is in its 16th year of operations.
“Anytime you have a chance to grow with a new development, it’s a blessing,” Nyree says.

PROtential also offers the added convenience of transportation, which is extremely helpful for families where both parents work, especially during the school year. Children can be transported from school back to their communities in many cases, and are provided with exercise and positive team-building skills that they can’t find at home playing Fortnite.

“We pick up from all the local schools,” says Garretson. “We do two to three sports rotations a day and try to hit each major sport twice a week.”

Besides getting a chance to learn about and play a variety of sports, like baseball, flag football, golf, tennis and soccer, kids participating in a PROtential Sports after-school instructional sports program also learn the principles of teamwork and sportsmanship.

“We want the kids to always put their best foot forward,” Garretson says, adding that instilling a solid work ethic and sense of compassion in young people — whatever their athletic goals may be — will serve them well in the future. And, she says that’s important for the children to understand.

Nyree adds that while PROtential places a strong emphasis on athletic development, it balances that with an equal dose of character building. When former PROtential participants who went onto become college athletes come back to help the younger generation at their summer camps, Nyree knows that incorporating lessons about integrity, responsibility and compassion at PROtential have paid off.

“We want to make great athletes and great people,” she says. “We are devout Christians, and this is our mission in life.”
There are about 20 coaches working directly with children at PROtential. Experience in sports is a requirement, but according to Garretson, they need more to meet PROtential’s standards by also being able to pass on athletic and life skills.

“(Our instructors) should be teachers,” Julie says. “They are 50-percent life coaches and 50-percent sports coaches.”
One of PROtential’s coaches is Brooks Lovely, who says he has been playing sports since he was 3-years-old. Brooks was an offensive lineman at Maryville College in Maryville, TN, and he also was a football coach at Robinson High in Tampa before signing up with PROtential.

“We try to make a positive impact on their lives every day,” Brooks says. “We teach them what we learned in our lives through sports, like the importance of teamwork and communication.”

He adds that part of the job sometimes involves helping kids in the after-school instructional sports programs with their homework and instilling a positive attitude about getting good grades.
“(We tell the kids that they need to learn to like school,” he says.

Coach Devonn Polk, a graduate of Wharton High in New Tampa who played tight end for the Wildcats, can easily relate to the kids he’s responsible for at PROtential Sports. To him, you’re never too young to learn a sense of responsibility and he says PROtential Sports offers a way to do just that.

“We teach them not just how to play sports, but how to be good leaders,” the Heritage Isles resident says.
The lessons that New Tampa resident Sandra Ferris says her son Alexavier has learned through PROtential Sports makes the program a winner in her view.

“It’s gratifying to watch my son learn a variety of sporting techniques while gaining lifelong leadership and sportsmanship skills,” Ferris says. “I firmly believe that Alexavier will learn to exemplify PROtential Sports’ motto by developing an appreciation for teamwork, perseverance and consistency throughout his adolescence into adulthood.”

NFL Flag Football, Too!
Now that the summer programs have ended, PROtential Sports has begun shifting gears as it fields inquiries about its after-school instructional sports programs. After-school sports programs cost $68 per week (or $295 a month) per child.
If you pay online, use coupon code AS1819 to drop the price to $58/$255.

It’s also the time of year when interest in football is renewed. For kids who want to compete in organized, limited-contact flag football in a professionally-run league, PROtential Sports offers NFL Flag Football in both the fall and the spring.
The NFL Flag Football program operates under a license granted by the National Football League. It’s a 6-on-6 game, which is known for exciting, low-contact playmaking on the gridiron.

Currently in its second year, PROtential’s NFL Travel Flag Football League — which offers more of a competitive experience — also continues to be a success, including a second-place finish in a national tournament held at Lakewood Ranch.
“That’s Tony’s baby,” Nyree jokes.

The New Stuff
PROtential Sports is adding a golf academy at Heritage Isles Golf Club each day from 4 p.m.-6 p.m., and Tony also is starting new middle school leagues this fall.

Geared towards athletes who may not be ready to get playing time on teams with seventh and eighth graders, PROtential also will begin offering leagues in a handful of sports to be determined, like tennis, basketball, soccer and others.

Teams, which will play and practice each day from 4 p.m.-6 p.m., will represent their communities. So, a team from The Ridge might travel to Grand Hampton for a soccer match, or Meadow Pointe IV might take on Cory Lake Isles in a tennis contest.
Because many sixth graders can’t compete against bigger and more experienced schoolmates, they can often lose an entire season of playing while they wait their turns. The Blands aren’t looking to compete against middle school sports teams at area schools, but are hoping to help sixth graders in particular lay the foundation for future athletic success at school.

“We want to get kids ready,” Nyree says. “And, of course, not just for sports.”

More information about PROtential Sports’ NFL Flag Football, after-school instructional sports programs, sports leagues and camps is available at PROtentialSports.com or by calling (813)-843-9460. Also, see the ad on pg. 35 of this issue for more information.

Bricks & Minifigs Brings The Joy Of Legos To The Shops At Wiregrass

Adam Smyk (above) owns the Bricks & Minifigs store at the Shops of Wiregrass, where patrons can buy, sell and trade Lego blocks and kits.

To the uninitiated, a business called Bricks & Minifigs might suggest a shop where you can buy fine masonry and, perhaps, Ficus carica saplings, but to those in the know, the national chain’s Shops at Wiregrass lifestyle center location (across from Buckle on Paseo Dr.) is the go-to destination for serious devotees of all-things Lego.

It’s a place to buy hard-to-find, gently used Lego model building kits (many of them from collectible retired lines) and original creations ready for display, as well as loose pieces such as interlocking bricks, character figures and a variety of accessories.

According to the Lego company’s Wikipedia entry, about 600 billion of the bricks and related pieces have been manufactured by the Billund, Denmark-based company since 1949, and franchise owner Adam Smyk says there’s no reason any of the blocks should ever end up n a landfill.

“You never want to throw Legos away,” says Smyk, who specializes in buying, selling and trading those random blocks.
Over the more than six decades that Legos have been on store shelves, their cross-generational popularity has remained strong enough that Smyk embarked upon a second career as a Bricks & Minifigs franchisee after serving 20 years in the U.S. Navy. He says he learned firsthand that the value of these toys lies in the experiences created by diving into a pile of the primary-color plastic blocks and creating something.

“When the kids were young and I’d come home from deployment, I’d use Legos as a way to re-connect with them,” he says.
Smyk, who retired from the Navy as a Senior Chief Electrician’s Mate, says he became acquainted with Bricks & Minifigs by shopping at a store in Hawaii while he was stationed at Pearl Harbor. “There was a store there I loved taking my kids to,” he says.

Bricks & Minifigs stores are something of a rarity, with only 38 located throughout the U.S. Smyk has the only such store in Florida.
(Note-Bricks & Minifigs has no formal licensing relationship with The Lego Group.)

Merchandise sold at Bricks & Minifigs includes a mix of assembled and unassembled verified-to-be-complete kits representing a cross-section of licensed themes, such as the “Star Wars” series.

Smyk says that some of the merchandise in his store can cost hundreds of dollars, but there’s plenty to attract customers who are on much stricter budgets, such as display cases full of assembled kits, many of them priced well under $50 (with a large selection under $20), and an extensive line of minifigures (including the popular “Ninjago” series) selling for less than $10.

For fans with big projects on their agendas and who are interested in volume purchases, there are tables full of blocks and parts to scoop up, as well as a design-your-own minifigure (minifig) station for customizing Lego characters.

Smyk is building the business partly on the premise that his personal experience with Legos is shared by other families, a point that he says is often validated in the course of conducting daily commerce.

“We had a family from Memphis, Tennessee, on vacation in Orlando that came all the way over to our store because what they like to do as a family is spread the bricks out and build something together,” Smyk says.

Whether it’s rebuilding a retired Lego Bionicle or Castle set, or manipulating bricks into a personal creation, Legos can supply plenty of indoor recreation during the hot summer days ahead, as well as during power outages that are sometimes part of the season as well. They also can be part of life’s special moments, like birthday parties.

For those who want to celebrate the Lego way, Bricks & Minifigs offers a party space and plenty of Lego pieces to do so. The cost is $175 for a 90-minute party. The venue does not serve food, but does provide plastic utensils for customers who bring their own and — most important, according to Smyk — “we take care of the cleanup.” He says that one of the biggest party attractions is when guests build their own Lego cars and race them on the store’s Lego Derby track.

Smyk’s enterprise involves his family, with adult son Daniel and his girlfriend Jenny Fraley working there, as well as his two younger, elementary-school-age sons, who occasionally help out when they aren’t in school.

For Fraley, providing a good customer experience for everyone who visits is paramount.
“It’s a personal joy of mine, trying to find a piece they’re looking for,” she says.

Fraley and Smyk say Legos have a wide appeal, and attract customers of all ages to the store.

“A lot of our adult customers enjoy them for the relaxation,” Smyk says. “People come in and say, ‘This is my childhood.’”

Thomas Annitto, 18, says he has found some merit in Smyk’s assessment of Legos as more than just a kids’ toy.

“I’ve always played with Legos since I was a little kid,” Annitto says. “This store is the coolest place ever. It’s perfect for little kids and big kids.”

Running his shop, however, is more than just playing around with toys for Smyk. It’s a business in a competitive market and for Smyk, that entrepreneurial lesson sank in when he was searching for a storefront for his shop.

A Pinellas County mall tenancy abruptly ended, and a Brandon location fell through. He says his family business has found a good home among the merchants at The Shops at Wiregrass.

Smyk and his family moved to the Tampa Bay area after he retired from the Navy two years ago. When they researched where on the mainland to move to from Hawaii, the answer was clear to them.

“All the magazines like Forbes and Money listed Tampa among their best places to live,” says Smyk. So, he and his family moved to the area without having previously set foot here. They recently moved to Tampa Palms from a community in southern Hillsborough County.

Smyk opened his Shops at Wiregrass location in March, and it has proven to be a regional customer magnet as a shopping destination. In addition to the aforementioned family from Memphis, the five-star Facebook testimonial by Lakeland resident Harold Joe Strickland Jr. speaks to the business’ regional appeal.

“It was over on hour drive from Lakeland,” Strickland Jr. wrote, “but well worth the drive.”

While a lot of his customers appreciate the distinctive products Bricks & Minifigs offers, Smyk says his used inventory offers great value.
“It’s all good as new,” he says, “but a cheaper cost because it’s used.”

Whether someone is buying, selling or trading a rare, limited edition set or looking for a deal on a bulk order of Lego bricks, the store’s objective is the same, according to Fraley.

“I like to see a smile on someone’s face when they walk out the door,” he says.

Bricks & Minifigs is located at 28210 Paseo Dr., Suite 150. You can learn more, including up-to-date information about new arrivals and special deals, by searching for “Bricks and Minifigs, Tampa” on Facebook, or by visiting BricksandMinifigs.com/store/tampa-florida. You also can call (813) 994-7171 or see the ad on pg. 28 of this issue.

The North Tampa Law Group Offers Legal Help For Your Family

Attorney Brian Arrighi is the managing partner of the NorthTampa Law Group, located in the Cypress Glen Professional Park in Wesley Chapel.

Dealing with routine legal issues, such as creating a will or selling a home, is part of daily life and the attorneys of North Tampa Law Group, located in the Cypress Glen Professional Park, about one mile east of the I-75 exit at S.R. 56 (behind MINI of Wesley Chapel), are ready to help clients seeking legal assistance.

The firm was established in 2014 and attorneys Brian Arrighi (the managing partner) and Laurel Ackley each possess a decade or more of legal experience in areas that routinely affect families, such as real estate transactions, estate planning, probate proceedings, divorce, bankruptcy and other family law cases.

Arrighi says, however, that the North Tampa Law Group does not handle criminal or personal injury cases.

Ackley and Arrighi each earned their Juris Doctor (J.D.) degrees from Stetson University College of Law in St. Petersburg, after earning undergraduate degrees from the University of Florida in Gainesville. Both lawyers are licensed to practice in the courts of the State of Florida and the U.S. District Court, Southern and Middle Districts of Florida.

Ackley also is licensed to practice in North Carolina.

With the active real estate market in the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel area, there are lots of deals being made, including a lot of “For Sale By Owner” transactions. Arrighi says that having an attorney involved can be a worthwhile expense.

“The misconception is that it’s more expensive to get a lawyer involved and that’s not always the case,” he says. “There are a lot of issues that can arise during a transaction.”

One of the problems Arrighi cites is the inability to clear a property’s title, due to an existing judgment against a seller, something that can sometimes be negotiated to a lower settlement price to clear the title if a lawyer is involved in the process.

He also says that it can save valuable time if an attorney is reviewing a transaction and finds a potential problem.

“We see it right away and get working on it,” he says, adding that using North Tampa Law Group to handle a real estate closing does not necessarily increase the cost of a transaction. “Our fees are very competitive compared to a standard title agent.”

Estate Planning & Family Law

Estate planning is a legal area where it can be beneficial to pay attention to the different options so that assets can be managed and distributed according to the client’s wishes — all with minimal cost.

A will is the basic document many people use to direct the distribution of their assets, but it involves a sometimes lengthy and expensive court process known as “probate.” North Tampa Law Group handles probate cases and Arrighi says it’s a good idea to consider all of the options available to minimize court involvement.

Brian Arrighi

“For estate planning, your goal when you’re working with a client is to avoid the probate process entirely,” he says. “If you have a proper estate plan, you can have it set up using something like a trust to automatically pass the assets to your beneficiaries.”

In addition to asset distribution, Arrighi says considering real-life factors, like long-term health care and guardianship, also can be part of estate planning.

Sometimes life presents challenges with legal consequences, such as financial problems that result in a need to consider bankruptcy or a marriage that may be trending towards divorce. The North Tampa Law Group can help you work through what can be difficult, related legal processes involving issues like child custody, enforcement actions and even domestic violence injunctions.

Arrighi says that the breadth of services North Tampa Law Group provides offers convenience to the firm’s clients, whose legal needs may encompass more than one practice area.

“We’re really an all-inclusive kind of place for your typical family in the New Tampa area,” Arrighi says. “There’s really a lot we can help you with. A lot of our clients are very relieved to find out it was not as expensive a process as they thought and it wasn’t as difficult as they thought.”    

Laurel Ackley

Clients who have expressed their satisfaction with services they received from North Tampa Law Group include Scott Radtke, who awarded 5 stars on a Google online review.

“I have not always had the best luck dealing with attorneys, but Brian made the experience great,” Radtke wrote. “The staff was courteous and professional. He was knowledgeable of the subject matter and answered all of our questions. He was very reasonably priced and was also right on time for my appointment. I am extremely pleased with the North Tampa Law Group.  They are my new go-to attorneys!”

Arrighi says that communicating effectively with clients is an important part of the firm’s success. “I think we do a really great job of explaining things in simple terms and making the complicated simple to understand,” he says.

Document Preparation, Too

One way the North Tampa Law Group helps people who may not be able to afford the full legal representation that retaining a lawyer provides is by offering some services — such as document preparation— without coming on as attorney of record.

Arrighi says there are a lot of resources available for people who want to be their own legal advocate, and that North Tampa Legal Group can assist in these cases, too, also reducing your legal costs.

“We do offer services that are the nuts and bolts of legal advice that can really help with the process, without spending too much money,” he says, adding that the initial free consultation is a good way prospective clients willing to do some of the legal “lifting” themselves can begin the process of getting their day in court. 

A law firm is operated much like any other business and Arrighi says the North Tampa Law Group’s move to Wesley Chapel from the Tampa Palms Professional Center more than three years ago was influenced by a need to be accessible to a growing client base.

“We work with a lot of homeowners and deal with personal legal issues,” he says. “With the growth in Wesley Chapel and Land O’ Lakes, it’s more convenient to be in that area.”

The North Tampa Law Group is located at 26852 Tanic Dr., Suite 102, in Wesley Chapel. To set an online evaluation of your case, visit NorthTampaLawGroup.com or make an appointment for a free initial consultation at (813) 518-7411.

Wesley Chapel Elementary Odyssey of The Mind Team To Defend Its World Title

Wesley Chapel Elementary’s Odyssey of the Mind (OM) team is known as the 2017 World Champion elementary school team in the extracurricular academic activity that is a combination of technology and performance art. The WCE team gets to defend its title this weekend.

If you ask someone to name a world championship team from Wesley Chapel, the first thought might be the U.S. women’s national ice hockey team that trained at Florida Hospital Center Ice before winning the Gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea earlier this year. 

But, for those who follow competitive mind games, the Wesley Chapel Elementary Odyssey of the Mind (OM) team is famous for winning the 2017 World Champion elementary school team in the extracurricular academic activity that is a combination of technology and performance art. According to the OM website (OdysseyOfThemind.com), OM is the “largest creative problem-solving competition in the world!”

Teams of students compete in grade-appropriate divisions to solve problems that require building and using a vehicle they can ride on while completing a triathlon of feats that display mechanical prowess and dexterity, such as jousting, curling and navigating a course in two directions.

The students compete from prepared routines they create, corresponding to a rubrik of requirements, such as a multiplication problem or something more spontaneous — like being asked unexpectedly to answer a question like “name a tree.”

It is a production that for the WCE team, known as “JJAMSSS” (the name is derived from the first initial of the name of each team member), combines a bit of pirate-speak and a boat that turns into a sea monster with a learning platform for science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) knowledge.

“The dynamic of this team is incredible,” says Joelisa Sherman, a parent serving as the team publicist. “They have truly learned the meaning of teamwork through perseverance, hard work, and a lot of creative thinking.”

Of the seven team members, six are fifth-grade students and one is in the third grade. Three of them are returning veterans from the 2017 World Championship competition that took first place at the OM World Finals at Michigan State University in Lansing.

Among them is Sam Cappelluti, who says that while performing as the lead sea monster can be good preparation for a possible career in life science, he really enjoys the time with like-minded students.

“I like thinking creatively and having fun with my friends,” Sam says.

Also adding championship experience to this year’s team is fifth-grader Jason Sherman, who says the atmosphere at the Odyssey World competition is not too unlike other big events, whether in education or sports.

“You develop great relationships with friends and there’s a lot of things to do there,” Jason says.

Mina Melaika is the third member of the team who competed for WCES last year, and she says it truly is an international event. “You go to a dorm and meet friends from Japan and trade pins and stuff.”

Third-grader Jadyn Sherman, Jason’s sister, says she enjoys crafts and finds the OM competition a good fit for her artistic skills.

“I saw the creativity in it and I like to make stuff,” Jadyn says, adding that participating in OM is “a really cool way to hang out with my brother (Jason).”

Anna Gust is a fifth-grader who says she appreciates the close-knit nature of her team and that she wants to “learn more stuff about inventing because, when I grow up, I want to invent stuff.”

The storytelling aspects of OM competition is of particular interest to fifth-grade student Samarth Muralidhara, who also says he’s finding an outlet for his curiosity about how things work.

“I like to see people laugh at my jokes and I love to do the pirate voice,” he says.

A new member of the team who brings about four years of experience is Sean Donahue, who has been participating in OM for four years. He has high expectations for the World Title defense, which will take place at Iowa State University in Ames, May 23-26.

“I’m especially excited for the Worlds, to meet new people and brainstorm,” he says.

Parents who are serving as coaches for the team are Jackie and Sergio Cappelluti, Sandy Gust and Elena Donahue.

The WCES team earned the right to compete at the World Finals by placing first in the Gulf Coast Regional and Florida State-level competitions earlier this year.