District 3 Hillsborough County School Board member Jessica Vaughn (left) and Superintendent of Schools Addison Davis congratulate Tampa Palms Elementary teacher Sonya Kelly for being one of five Teacher of the Year finalists for the entire Hillsborough District.
Sonya Kelly was taken by surprise on December 7, when Hillsborough County Superintendent of Schools Addison Davis and an entourage of school officials filled her third grade classroom at Tampa Palms Elementary with cheers.
They were there to announce that out of 15,000 teachers countywide, Kelly was chosen as one of five finalists for Hillsborough County’s Teacher of the Year.
How did she feel in that moment?
“A little bit overwhelmed, honestly, and kind of shocked because I just didn’t see it coming,” she said, as she choked back tears. “It’s a huge honor.”
Kelly has been teaching in Hillsborough County public schools for the past 12 years. She was selected by her peers at Tampa Palms Elementary (TPE) as the school’s Teacher of the Year and became one of 228 nominees for the District-wide title.
She did not win — the Teacher of the Year was Laura Widerberg, Biology Teacher at Armwood High — but just being a finalist was a buig accomplishment.
“Mrs. Kelly is so deserving of this recognition,” said TPE principal Maryann Lippek. “She makes a lasting difference in the lives of her students. She believes in all of her students and helps them to believe in themselves.”
Of the five county finalists for Teacher of the Year, the five finalists for the Ida S. Baker Diversity Educator of the Year, and the three finalists for Instructional Support Employee of the Year, Kelly was the only one chosen from any of New Tampa’s public schools.
Kelly’s principal says she sets an example for other teachers.
“Her dedication and commitment to education is inspiring,” Lippek said. “Tampa Palms Elementary is very proud of her!”
While she appreciates the accolades, Kelly notes that they are not the most important thing to her.
“I know I am truly making a difference in the lives of my students and I am honored that my colleagues have recognized me for Teacher of the Year at my [school],” she says. “It’s an incredible moment to be celebrated by my peers, but the true gift comes from the gratitude in the eyes of my students.”
The other Teachers of the Year from their respective New Tampa schools are:
Joann Ortiz Ramos (center) is congratulated by Pasco Superintendent of Schools Kurt Browning (left) and Cypress Creek Middle School principal Tim Light after being chosen as Pasco’s SRP of the Year.
When Pasco County Superintendent of Schools Kurt Browning walked into a mostly empty Cypress Creek Middle School cafeteria in November, Joann Ortiz Ramos stopped cleaning tables to jump up and down and exclaim, “Oh, you gotta be kidding!”
Ramos knew immediately that Browning was there to surprise her with the news that she was chosen as Pasco County’s School Related Personnel of the Year award winner.
The award recognizes one non-instructional employee in Pasco County Public Schools for his or her outstanding and significant contributions they make to their school and to the district.
The fact that Ramos was cleaning tables is fitting. She was chosen for the honor because she is constantly going above and beyond her job responsibilities and doing things that are completely outside of her role as a discipline instructional assistant at the school.
Cypress Creek Middle School principal Tim Light says Ramos’ job is to handle student discipline that does not require the intervention of an administrator.
“She does the minor stuff, and there’s a lot more of that than the major stuff,” Light said. Ramos reviews referrals, ensures that every student receives due process, and then assigns consequences if warranted. She also brings certain offenses to the administrative team and supervises both detentions and Saturday school.
Her job most definitely is not cleaning tables in the cafeteria, yet that’s where she was found when the superintendent came looking for her.
“We are so proud of you,” Browning said. “Thanks for what you do.”
Light said the superintendent couldn’t have chosen a better candidate to represent Pasco County Schools as a nominee for the state’s award.
SRP winners from every county in Florida — including Ramos — are nominated by their superintendents for the Florida Department of Education award program, which chooses one statewide winner and four finalists.
“It speaks volumes to the job she does that she was chosen,” Light said. “Joann is the epitome of who warrants this prestigious award. She lives and breathes her job, and she’s also at every after-school event, at every school dance and sporting event, always helping out. I’ve never seen anyone work as hard as she does. She’s very deserving.”
As a volunteer, Ramos serves as the unofficial leader of the school’s ABC program, which provides meals, clothing, school supplies and hygiene products to students in need. Light said Ramos never hesitates to assist a family at a moment’s notice, whether it’s providing them with these items or acting as a translator.
She has been in her current role for three years and started her career with Pasco County Schools five years ago.
“There is no mistaking Joann’s love for her students, peers, school and community,” Browning added in his nomination letter.
The State education award winners will be announced in March.
JoLynn Warner, the faculty advisor for the Wiregrass Ranch High Key Club, delivers gifts for families to the Lacoochee Elementary student services team this holiday season. (Far left is Mrs. David, school social worker, then Nancy Montoya, guidance counselor, and far right is Dr. Mazzone, school psychologist.
As a long-time member of Kiwanis International, Martha Vaguener knows the value the organization can bring to a community.
That’s why she has helped start the Kiwanis Club of Wesley Chapel and serves as its treasurer, after serving as the president at the Zephyrhills Kiwanis Club for nine years, before it closed several years ago.
She says the Wesley Chapel club officially chartered in April 2020 and has the support of a sponsoring club in Carrollwood, but says that making a go of a service organization during a pandemic — where opportunities for service have looked very different — has been challenging.
However, it is happening.
“The whole point of Kiwanis is to change the world one child and one community at a time,” says Martha.
Kiwanis International is a service organization with more than 550,000 members in 80 countries and geographic areas, including members of all ages, from K-Kids Clubs to high school Key Clubs to Kiwanis Clubs. It was founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan, as the Supreme Lodge Benevolent Order of Brothers, and changed its name to Kiwanis a year later. The name “Kiwanis” comes from an American Indian expression, “Nunc Kee-wanis,” which means, “We trade.” While it originally focused on business networking, it became focused on service in 1919.
Kiwanis clubs globally host nearly 150,000 service projects each year.
Kiwanis has clubs for kids of all ages, including Key Clubs for high school students. Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) has a Key Club with more than 100 members.
For the holidays, both the Wesley Chapel Kiwanis Club and WRH Key Club adopted families from the underprivileged Lacoochee Elementary in Dade City.
Key Club sponsor JoLynn Warner says her students were inspired by Martha’s stories of how the Zephyrhills Kiwanis Club’s past charitable efforts have helped the school, such as how attendance increased drastically in winter months one year because the club provided shoes for the children, allowing them to get to school in colder weather.
“My students can’t even imagine not being able to go to school because they don’t have shoes to wear,” JoLynn explains, “so they’re excited to help.”
While JoLynn oversaw the collection of toys, clothes and other items from students to benefit the families the WRH Key Club adopted, Martha, who serves as a Key Club advisor, took a group of Key Club members shopping to help her choose the items that would go to the families the Kiwanis Club adopted.
“It helps to develop community awareness, develop citizenship and do good in the community,” Martha explains.
The partnership benefits both groups, as adults in Kiwanis Club support the students’ efforts — such as in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, which will be coming up in early 2022 — and the students support the causes of the adult club as they grow into people who value giving back to their community.
“When we improve the lives of kids,” Martha explains, “we improve the lives of families, as well.” Martha says the Wesley Chapel Kiwanis Club currently has about 10 members and wants to grow. The Kiwanis Club of Wesley Chapel meets the second and fourth Tuesday of every month at 6:30 p.m. at the Seven Oaks clubhouse, although the club will not meet on Dec. 28.
To learn more about getting involved in Wesley Chapel Kiwanis Club, email Martha Vaguener at mvaguener@aol.com or call her at (813) 362-5799.
Heritage Elementary School gifted class science teacher Jean Josephson had an idea to plant a beautiful butterfly garden at her school, but needed some helping hands to bring that project to life.
She got more than she bargained for when she reached out through a friend to Scouts BSA (formerly called the Boy Scouts of America) Troop 148, which meets at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church on Cross Creek Blvd., just down the street from the school.
That’s when she connected with Isaac VanMeter, a senior at Wharton High, who is on track to become an Eagle Scout and was thinking about ideas for a project to help him reach his goal.
The butterfly garden project seemed like a perfect fit.
“I had other ideas, but I really like helping with the environment,” says Isaac, who adds that the school beautification aspect appealed to him, as well. “Having a really nice-looking school is good for students, and it’s great for the entire school to have a garden to play in and learn in.”
Jean says Isaac took her idea and ran with it.
“He did a really, really good job,” she says. “It really exceeded my expectations. I thought I would have to do more planning and directing, but he took control of the whole project.”
While the school already had a vegetable garden and a small butterfly garden, it also had a butterfly mural and space for a much bigger garden to be used for instructional purposes, such as studying the life cycle of butterflies.
Teachers bring students out to the garden to release butterflies raised in the classroom, or to watch worms or bees. They use a curriculum from a nonprofit educational organization called “Agriculture in the Classroom” to bring the lessons to life.
Jean explains that some resources for which plants would work in the garden and how to plant it came from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), but Isaac did the fundraising to pay for it and did additional research, making the final selections for what would go in the garden and how it would be laid out.
He brought a team of Scouts out for a workday to make it all happen.
“The soil was so bad that they had to build it up with about seven yards of soil,” explains Jean, “Then, they replaced the edging, put the plants in, mulched the garden, gave it a good watering, and they also mulched the whole courtyard. It was really great.”
Isaac’s next steps are to finish his paperwork and the last three of the 21 required merit badges before his 18th birthday in January. Then, he’ll go before a Board of Review to make his case for why he should be awarded the rank of Eagle Scout.
“This is a big accomplishment,” Isaac says, “something I’ve been working toward for six years.”
Before and after.
Isaac completed the project during his first season playing varsity football, while his team went on a playoff run. He decided to try football his senior year, in addition to competing for Wharton in lacrosse and track and field — throwing discus, javelin and shotput — in previous years.
After graduation, he plans to go to college on a Florida Bright Futures Scholarship — likely at the University of Central Florida in Orlando — and major in finance.
“I really think the whole process of (Scouts) BSA has changed me to be more of a leader and have that mindset of how I can help encourage everyone around me,” he says. “The project taught me how everyone can come together to accomplish things.”
He says he’s pleased with the way the garden turned out and is looking forward to seeing how the plants grow and fill in the garden over time.
Jean says the teachers and the entire school community are thrilled with the opportunities they see for learning in the new garden.
“Everybody is so impressed,” she says. “I can’t wait until it all grows up.”
Pastor Svend Wilbekin says the diversity in New Tampa is one of the things that has helped make Lifesong Church in Tampa Palms successful
It was just a little more than five years ago when Pastor Svend Wilbekin opened the doors at Lifesong Church in Tampa Palms for the first time.
It was so unlikely, he says, that there’s no explanation for it unless God ordained it.
That was November 5, 2016, when Svend was sent from a church in Gainesville called The Rock, where he had served on staff for 20 years as youth pastor, college pastor and young adult pastor. He felt the experience led him to start a new church in New Tampa.
He says most churches these days don’t launch with fewer than 50 people, but his had only nine. And, the really unheard of thing? They started in a building that they already owned.
“God supernaturally blessed us to purchase a building right before we had our first service,” he explains. When Svend tried to find a place to rent, such as a high school, everywhere he looked was already leased. He started looking at what was available to buy and was shocked to find a building for sale that would work for the fledgling church.
That began frantic efforts to get the building ready, in addition to all of the details of putting together the very first service, while Svend’s wife Katy organized a picnic for all the friends and family who were coming to support them on launch day.
“A lot of families in Tampa Palms saw the bounce house and the food,” he says, and learned about the new church in the neighborhood. He says a full-page ad in the Neighborhood News hit mailboxes the day before the first service and, “It was a great way to introduce ourselves to the community.”
Five years later, Lifesong Church is an important part of New Tampa, as it continues to grow and welcome new people into its ministries.
“The vision of our church is to love out loud,” says Pastor Svend. “If you visit, you’ll hear that terminology. Our heart is to love everybody who walks through our doors.”
He says Lifesong members also are “out” loving the community, like through their homeless ministry.
“We noticed that within the homeless community, food is provided, some shelter is provided, and a lot of services, but what wasn’t being provided were relationships,” he explains. “We started going downtown with nothing but ourselves and our time. We’ve been doing that and made great relationships.”
The church offers life groups where people encourage each other, too. There is a group for women and one where men are challenged to be better husbands and fathers. Every year, the church offers a course to help couples strengthen their marriages, overcome obstacles, and live more fulfilling lives with their spouses.
Svend and his wife, Katy, who now live in Meadow Pointe, are parents to three sons, who all grew up in Gainesville.
Their oldest son, Scottie, had a remarkable career playing college basketball at the University of Florida, where he was named SEC Player of the Year in 2014. He was a star player on a team that went undefeated in the SEC and beat perennial powerhouse Kentucky at home to win the SEC championship in a run his dad calls “magical.” Scottie currently plays professional basketball in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Middle son Mitchell played basketball at Wake Forest and currently plays for the Greensboro Swarm, an NBA G League (the NBA’s official minor leage organization) team affiliated with the Charlotte Hornets.
The Wilbekins’ youngest son Andrew will graduate with a Ph.D. degree in Physical Therapy in May from Husson University in Bangor, ME.
“What’s beautiful about that is they’ve all graduated from college and they all love the Lord,” says Svend. “Where they’re at now really blesses us.”
The transition from living in Gainesville, where everyone knew how to pronounce their last name — thanks to their famous son — to the New Tampa area also has been a blessing for Svend and Katy.
“We absolutely love New Tampa,” he says. “It’s the most incredible community. We love so much about it — we love the restaurants, I love the golf courses. It’s very diverse.”
As an interracial couple, the community’s diversity is important to the Wilbekins and a goal for their church is to “build a community of believers that looks like heaven,” Svend says, embracing all ages, nationalities and skin colors.
Sunday Morning Services
Lifesong Church meets Sunday mornings at 10 a.m., and Svend says that’s where the “song” part of the church shines.
“We have anointed musicians and instrumentalists ushering in the presence of God through the use of music,” he explains. “We have a full band with guitars, drums, keyboards and vocalists singing contemporary music.”
He says the Covid-19 pandemic has been one of the most challenging seasons he’s ever experienced as a pastor.
“We shifted to an online service, and we’ve grown in that area, which has helped us expand our reach,” he explains. “But now, we have an online community as well as an attending community. It’s been neat to see.”
Melissa Choe and her husband Jacob have been attending Lifesong Church in person for about a year with their daughter Melody.
They’re one of the families that found Lifesong online and watched from home before deciding to attend in person.
“I really like the community aspect of Lifesong,” says Melissa. “Everyone is very welcoming and there are opportunities to get plugged in and get involved.”
While Melissa and her husband serve on Lifesong’s Worship Team, her daughter loves Lifesong Kids.
“She’s always saying, ‘Can I go to my church?’ and ‘I love my church,’” says Katy. “I love that (children’s director) Julie (Nash) is really mindful of not making it your parents’ church. They focus on teaching the children about the Bible, but in a fun and appropriate way.”
Svend says Julie offers a hands-on and age-appropriate version of church for kids. “It’s enjoyable, and they come away with the knowledge of God’s word in a practical manner,” he says.
Svend graduated the from University of Florida with a degree in political science. He went through a mentoring program at The Rock under the leadership of Pastor George Brantley to be trained and equipped as a pastor.
Of the experience of planting a church, he says, “It was harder than I thought, and more rewarding than I thought it would be. Seeing people become a community has really been a priceless and beautiful moment, and such a confirmation of what God put in my heart six years ago.”
Lifesong Church hosts its weekly service on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m., including a special Christmas Service on Sunday, December 19. The church is located at 6460 Tampa Palms Blvd., near Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club and Tampa Palms Elementary. For more information, visit LifeSongTampa.org.
