HOSA Team Places First In The State!

Congratulations go out to Strawberry Crest High sophomores — and New Tampa residents — Elizabeth Chettipally, Aditi Nair, Anika Prasad and Netra Vijay (photo), who placed first in their category at the Health Occupations Students of America (aka HOSA-Future Health Professionals) State Leadership Conference held at Orlando Apr. 13-16.

The girls of “Project Pink” will next be representing Florida at the HOSA National Leadership Conference in Atlanta in late June.

The quartet’s project was an attempt to increase breast cancer awareness in our local community and obviously, their presentation at the Conference was effective, as they placed first in the “Community Awareness — Teamwork” category.

Strawberry Crest High, located in Dover, has an International Baccalaureate (IB) program attended by many New Tampa residents and is one of 30 Florida high schools with more than 100 HOSA members. Several other Strawberry Crest students also won awards at the State Conference, including a “Creative Problem Solving” team that also took home first place honors. I apologize that I did not have all of the other winners’ full names at our press time, or I would have mentioned them here, too.

Congratulations To Wesley Chapel’s Top Of The Class Of 2023!

We wish we could congratulate every student graduating from Wesley Chapel’s three high schools, but we simply don’t have room to even list every name in these pages. Rather than just do our usual recognition of each school’s valedictorian and salutatorian, freelance correspondent Celeste McLaughlin aimed a little higher — or lower, in this case — as she actually got the top-10 students (with just a few exceptions) in the 2022-23 graduating classes of Cypress Creek, Wesley Chapel and Wiregrass Ranch high schools to provide some pretty terrific information about themselves for this article and photo spread. Congrats on a job well done, Celeste, and to all of those graduating at and near the top of their respective classes! Get ready to don those caps & gowns! — GN

Cypress Creek High

1. Anastasia Bogdatova 

(Co-Valedictorian/not pictured)

GPA: 4.7182

College planning to attend: University of South Florida

1. Sienna Silvest (Co-Valedictorian)

GPA: 4.7054

Clubs/Activities: Varsity weightlifting (captain). Varsity cheer (co-captain & team academic advisor). National Honor Society (NHS; secretary).

College planning to attend: University of Florida

Planned Major or Future Career: Geology & Sustainability Studies

Best thing about High School: Being involved in sports & senior activities like Powderpuff and Grad Bash.

2. Reagan Alapa (Co-Salutatorian)

GPA: 4.602

Clubs/Activities: Varsity & club softball, varsity weightlifting, National History Day Fair researcher, youth softball summer camp coach, NHS.

College planning to attend: University of Florida

Planned major or future career: Political Science

Best thing about high school: The freedom to define who you are as a person, the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them, time to figure out where my values and passions lie and opportunities to pursue those passions through a variety of extracurricular activities.

2. Sarah Nasreen Raza (Co-Salutatorian)

GPA: 4.602

Clubs/Activities: NHS, NEHS, Girl Scouts, volunteer at Moffitt Cancer Center, Radiant Hands, Feeding Tampa Bay

College planning to attend: University of South Florida

Planned major or future career: Biomedical Sciences

Best thing about high school: Dedication from my teachers, always ready to answer my questions and have their doors open for tutoring when I’m dealing with a difficult topic.

4. Brian Roof

GPA: 4.6019

Clubs/Activities: ASL Club, ASL Honor Society, NHS, volunteering at Wesley Chapel Elem.

College planning to attend: University of Florida

Planned Major: Engineering

Best thing about high school: Being able to make connections and friends that will last a lifetime and the unique ability to get involved with various clubs, communities, and activities. 

6. Advika Snigda Duggudurti (not pictured)

Clubs/Activities: Piano, including musical performance exams and theory exams conducted by Trinity College London. NHS (VP of service)

College planning to attend: University of South Florida 

Planned major or future career: Biomedical sciences/microbiology major, planning to attend med school in the future

Best thing about high school: My best friends who helped make happy memories with me. 

7. Gabriel M. Fernandez

GPA: 4.5686

Clubs/Activities: NHS, Tampa Bay United Recreational Soccer, volunteering, Phi Theta Kappa

College planning to attend: University of Florida

Planned major or future career: Nurse anesthetist

Best thing about high school: How I found myself & became independent.

8. Colin Mendoza

GPA: 4.549

Clubs/Activities: NHS

College planning to attend: University of Florida

Planned major or future career: Computer Science

Best thing about high school: Meeting new friends and talking to old ones.

9. Name: Madeleine Ward (not pictured)

GPA: 4.5313

Best thing about high school: Learned how to create decent study habits and conquer procrastination.

10. Nouri Clarke

GPA: 4.5196

Clubs/Activities: Robotics Club 

College planning to attend: University of Florida 

Planned major or future career: Computer Science 

Best thing about high school: Getting to make friends.

Wesley Chapel High

1. Julia (Faith) Olsen (Valedictorian)

GPA: 4.66

Clubs/Activities: NHS

College planning to attend: University of South Florida

Planned major or future career: Nursing

Best thing about high school: The teachers and staff!

2. Olivia Kawalya (Salutatorian)

GPA:  4.637

Clubs/Activities: Colorguard & Winterguard, African Student Association, NHS, Spanish NHS.

College planning to attend: Georgia Institute of Technology

Planned major or future career: Computer Science

Best thing about high school: All the time I spent and friends I made through Colorguard

3. Hannah Burkhart 

GPA:  4.630

Clubs/Activities: Colorguard/Winterguard

College planning to attend: University of Central Florida 

Planned major or future career: Optical or Photonics Engineering

Best thing about high school: Spending time with friends and laughing until we felt like we couldn’t breathe.

4. Alex Leon  

GPA:  4.58

Clubs/activities: NHS, NEHS, Envirothon, SNHS

College planning to attend: University of Central Florida 

Planned major or future career: Major in Communication Sciences & Disorders and Master’s degree in Speech & Language Pathologist

Best thing about high school: The clubs 

5. Alexis Simpson 

GPA: 4.57

Clubs/Activities: Clean Earth Club, National English Honor Society, NHS, Science National Honor Society, Spanish National Honor Society, Varsity Tennis, JV Cheer, Steering Class of 2023

College planning to attend: University of Florida

Planned major: Computer Science

Best thing about high school: Making new friends and exploring interests through clubs. 

6. Isabella Guzman

GPA: 4.57

Clubs/Activities: Founder of the Art & Gaming Club, NHS, NEHS, Best Buddies Club & Gay Straight Alliance. 

College planning to attend: University of Florida

Planned major or future career: I am majoring in Biology, following the pre-med track. I’m aiming for a future career in invasive cardiology. 

Best thing about high school: My friends! The experiences I’ve had alongside them have always brightened my day, providing me with many memories to forever cherish.

7. Wen Yang

GPA: 4.56

Clubs/Activities: Clean Earth Club, president. Science National Honor Society, president. NHS, historian. NEHS, Spanish NHS 

College planning to attend: University of Florida 

Planned major or future career: Biology

Best thing about high school: All of the relationships with classmates and teachers that are formed and being able to enjoy my teenage years with friends and people who helped make it enjoyable.

8. Samantha Tejerero

GPA: 4.55

Clubs/Activities: NHS

College planning to attend: University of South Florida 

Planned major or future career: Nursing

Best thing about high school: Prom and Homecoming dances 

9. Elizabeth Mays

GPA: 4.53

Clubs/Activities: Student Government, NHS, NEHS, tennis

College planning to attend: Florida Gulf Coast University

Major: Elementary Education, Master in speech pathology

Best thing about high school: The opportunity to do dual enrollment classes!

10. Preston Hammons

GPA: 4.51

Clubs/Activities: GSA, NHS, Science NHS, writing.

College planning to attend: Florida Institute of Technology

Planned major or future career: Biomedical Engineer

Best thing about high school: Progressing and developing through the years. Not only academically, but also socially and emotionally, meeting new friends, development of new passions and even learning itself.

Wiregrass Ranch High

1. Elizabeth “Ellie” Gage (Co-Valedictorian)

GPA: 4.783 

Clubs/Activities: Equestrian, independent animator, animal enthusiast 

College planning to attend: University of Florida

Planned major or future career: Undergrad in Zoology, hopefully followed by a DVM and a career as an exotic animal veterinarian. 

Best thing about high school: The opportunities it grants you. You get to learn so much about yourself and who you want to become.

1. Landyn Williams (Co-Valedictorian)

GPA: 4.7213

Clubs/Activities: Varsity cross country, varsity basketball, varsity track, NHS, Fellowship of Christian Athletes

College planning to attend: University of Central Florida

Planned major or future career: Biomedical Sciences/Doctor

Best thing about high school: Going to the State Championships with my cross country team. Surrounding myself with people who lift me up and inspire me has made the past four years incredible.

3. Marissa Adams

GPA: 4.6967

Clubs/Activities: NHS, Tri-M Music Honor Society, Computer Science Honor Society, Rho Kappa History Honor Society, Best Buddies, Chamber Orchestra/Principal’s Quartet, Varsity Tennis

College planning to attend: University of Florida

Planned Major/Future Career: Political Science

Best thing about high school: I have really enjoyed the friendships that I’ve made throughout high school. They have helped to balance out the rigor of my coursework and make high school a good experience.

4. Rebecca Rose Nieves 

GPA: 4.6667

Clubs/Activities: Basketball all four years of high school, Coach’s Award. Musician at church. Phi Theta Kappa. NHS, Legacy, National Hispanic recognition program.  

College planning to attend: University of South Florida 

Major/career: Biology. Plan to go to Medical School and become an anesthesiologist. 

Best thing about High School: Learning about myself and about who I want to be as a person. In high school you really are exposed to many different types of people and I was able to learn from them and become a better person because of it.

5. Ella Riddle

GPA: 4.6522

Clubs/Activities: Work at Sand Pine Elem.

College planning to attend: Nova Southeastern University

Planned major or future career: Marine Biology

Best thing about high school: Having the opportunity to succeed in many different ways.

6. Christian Rios

GPA: 4.6475

Clubs/Activities: Soccer, piano, science fair, chess

College planning to attend: University of Florida

Major: Architecture

Best thing about High School: When I got to pet a pony in freshman year.

7. Emaan Ahmed

GPA: 4.6452

Clubs/Activities: HOSA, Key Club, NHS, SADD club, Mu Alpha Theta, volunteering at AdventHealth

College planning to attend: University of Florida

Planned major or future career: Biology/Pre-med

Best thing about high school: Lifelong friends that make the high school experience so much better.

8. Ella Rivera 

GPA: 4.6316

Clubs/Activities: NHS, Mu Alpha Theta, CNA Program, SNHS, job as gymnastics coach 

College planning to attend: University of South Florida 

Major: Biomedical Sciences 

Best thing about high school: Finding my best friends. My best friend Rachel & I have gotten each other through high school. I don’t know what I would do without her.

9. Kate Niehoff

GPA: 4.625

Clubs/Activities: NHS (president). Earth Club (secretary). Class of 2023 Senator for 4 years, Key Club, Student Council, State Delegate for Florida Science and Engineering Fair 2023. Science NHS, Rho Kappa National Social Studies Honor Society, Event & Auction Manager for Uncork for a Cause.

College planning to attend: Florida State University

Planned major or future career: Double major in psychology & criminology

Best thing about high school: I’ve taken a lot of great classes that have challenged me and helped me grow into a stronger person. 

10. Megan Kelly

GPA: 4.6140

Clubs/Activities: School newspaper, photo editor. NEHS, secretary. NHS, Key Club, dual enrollment AA degree with 4.0 college GPA from PHSC.

College planning to attend: University of Florida

Planned major or future career: Accounting & Data Analytics 

Best thing about high school: Being so close to my friends and family, and I will definitely miss that when I go college. However, I am looking forward to growing independently in college while I pursue my academic goals, participate in clubs and volunteering, and build new relationships.

Former Saddlebrook GM To Open Community Café By June 15!

Former Saddlebrook GM Pat Ciaccio’s new ‘Passion Project’ will provide career opportunities for the developmentally disabled. (Photos and rendering by Charmaine George)

Pat Ciaccio says that before Saddlebrook Resort was sold last year to Mast Capital, it was providing a safe haven where intellectually and developmentally disabled adults could work and be accepted.

The former long-time Saddlebrook general manager says that all the years that he worked for the resort’s founder and owner Tom Dempsey, “were very good to me and my family and I knew that what I really wanted to do was give something back and do something to help people with special needs.”

Above is a rendering created by Neighborhood News multimedia specialist Charmaine George which superimposes over the current construction site what the various areas of the Community Café will resemble. 

Ciaccio says he was building on the good work Saddlebrook started when he came up with the idea for his new nonprofit passion project — which he calls the Community Café, located in the 3,200-sq.-ft. former Keeps Carpet Store building on S.R. 54, less than a half-mile west of Morris Bridge Rd. 

“The Community Café will create welcoming spaces and provide workforce training opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” Ciaccio says. “I know there are other businesses that hire the developmentally disabled, including Publix, but we want to do even more to help them. We want to train them so they can not only have a job, but actually move up to management positions. Nearly our entire staff of 30-35 employees (when it opens) will be people with these special needs who normally find it difficult to find a job.”

Raised in New Jersey, Ciaccio says his family background spans more than five generations of leaders in the hospitality industry. He says the Community Café will be home to a gourmet coffee bar and also will sell ice cream and smoothies (see rendering, right). The Café also will feature a retail shop selling T-shirts, coffee mugs and other branded merchandise. He says he has visited several other businesses around the country with similar concepts, including Rise & Nye’s in Sarasota. 

Pat Ciaccio outlines his vision for the Community Café’s event center.

And finally, there is an 1,100-sq.-ft. private event space that will feature artwork (that will be for sale, with all sales proceeds going to the artists) rotating quarterly by intellectually and developmentally disabled professional artists affiliated with Art4All. He says there will be entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights featuring performers with special needs. He adds that the event space will be available for use by community organizations.

Best of all, each area of the Community Café will have its own “team leader” among the “Shining Stars,” which is what all of the employees will be called. Only Ciaccio himself and the Café’s top management will not have special needs.  

The Shining Stars will deliver a high-quality food and beverage experience with exceptional guest service in a tranquil, family-oriented, decompressing, “Team Greater Than Me” environment.

Ciaccio says that his goal is to provide cohesive and inclusive workforce training that will offer advancement opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“We truly are looking to change the current narrative about special needs adults from awareness to education,” he says. “The narrative must be changed.” 

Ciaccio isn’t alone in his passion to help those with special needs. 

“I am in partnership with Katbrat Studios (which specializes in digital media and content creation), John Lombardo Coaching & Consulting and The Leyda Group (which specializes in leadership coaching and human resources consulting).

The Community Café also will be led and mentored by a five-person Board of Directors: Dr. Alexis Dempsey-Doyle, Jodi Gordon, Wasim Kayal, Seth Ravenna and Dr. Mohamad Saleh.

“We plan to connect the community through educational workshops and podcasts in the Café’s event center while providing an exceptional food and beverage experience,” Ciaccio says.

As though he’s not already busy enough, Ciaccio, Tom Dempsey and Erik and Seth Ravenna also are opening Johnny C’s Italian Eatery on Cross Creek Blvd. in New Tampa, in the former Precinct Pizza location. 

Get More Info On Apr. 18!

Although Ciaccio says he anticipates that the Community Café will open on or around June 15, he and his leadership team will host a News Conference that will be open to the entire local community, as well as the media. The event will be held on Tuesday April 18 (the day many of you will receive this issue in your mailbox), at 11 a.m., at the Hilton Garden Inn Tampa-Wesley Chapel (26640 Silver Maple Pkwy.). Ciaccio says he thanks Hilton Garden Inn GM Charlie Whiteacre for graciously agreeing to host this event.

“I also would like to thank all my partners and community members who already have reached out to lend support,” Ciaccio says. “It takes a village but together, I know that we can change the narrative!”

For more information, visit CommunityCafeFL.com.

New Tampa Will Help Decide City Council Runoffs Apr. 25!

Candidates on the April 25 City of Tampa City Council Runoff Election ballot include  (l.-r., above) Dr. Sonja P. Brookins vs. Alan Clendenin in District 1, Robin Lockett vs. Guido Maniscalco in District 2 and (below) Janet Cruz (left) vs. Lynn Hurtak (right) in District 3. 

In March, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor easily defeated a write-in opponent and New Tampa’s District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera was re-elected without opposition to serve four more years, but that doesn’t mean that New Tampa residents have no reason to go to the polls for the City of Tampa Runoff Election on Tuesday, April 25. 

In fact, Viera says that much more important than who you vote for is that you need to get out and vote. He says that no matter how hard he is willing to fight on City Council to fulfill — and fund —New Tampa’s needs, our community’s usually lower-than-the-rest-of-the-city voter turnout makes it harder for him to get things done. 

“New Tampa has traditionally been considered somewhat apathetic when it comes to voting and that does make it harder for me to get other Council members to support the needs of this community.”

The numbers bear out Viera’s claims of voter apathy. In the 2019 Municipal Election, which included a hotly contested race for Mayor, the citywide turnout was 20.56%, but in New Tampa’s 17 precincts, it was only 16.8%. In the Runoff Election in Apr. 2019, which included the mayoral runoff won by Mayor Castor over David Straz, the turnout was even higher — 23.2% citywide and a reasonable 18.5% across New Tampa’s 17 precincts.

In this year’s Municipal Election, where Castor faced only write-in candidate (and New Tampa resident) Belinda Noah (whose name did not appear on the ballot), the citywide turnout was only 13.65%, but the turnout in New Tampa’s 21 precincts was less than half of that, at only 6.5%.

Viera says that despite the fact that there are only three citywide City Council seats — Districts 1, 2 and 3 (plus the District 6 runoff between current Dist. 2 Council member Charlie Miranda and Hoyt Prindle) — being contested at this year’s Runoff Election, he expects a citywide turnout of about 12%. 

Viera says it would be great if New Tampa could beat that percentage at the runoff, and he says everyone should check out the campaign websites and social media pages of each of the six candidates shown on this page and cast votes for those who seem to best align with their own political philosophies.

Here’s a quick rundown of the three races in which New Tampa is eligible to vote:

District 1 — Dr. Sonja P. Brookins vs. Alan Clendenin

Dr. Brookins, a long-time educator, has served two years as an elected supervisor with the Hillsborough Soil & Water Conservation District and has been endorsed by the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Tampa Bay. 

Clendenin, who has served in multiple positions for Democratic committees (including first vice chair of the Florida Democratic Party), was a long-time air traffic control professional. He has been endorsed by the Tampa Bay Times, La Gaceta and Creative Loafing newspapers, the Tampa Police Benevolent Assn. and Tampa Firefighters 754 union, New Tampa’s State Rep. Fentrice Driskell, the Sierra Club and LGBTQ Victory Fund.

District 2 — Robin Lockett vs. Guido Maniscalco

Lockett is the former president of the Hillsborough Democratic Black Caucus who has been a regular advocate for vulnerable people at City Council meetings, as well as an organizer with the Florida Rising progressive social advocacy group. She has been endorsed by Creative Loafing.

Maniscalco, the two-term Dist. 6 Council member (and current vice chair) who is running in Dist. 2 because of term limits, has been endorsed by the Tampa Bay Times, the Greater Tampa Realtors, Tampa Firefighters 754, the Sierra Club and Equality Florida.

City of Tampa City Council Runoff Election District 3 Candidates Janet Cruz (left) vs. Lynn Hurtak (right) in District 3.
District 3 — Janet Cruz vs. Lynn Hurtak

Cruz, the former State Sen. who lost a tough race to Jay Collins in Nov., has been endorsed by the Tampa Bay Times, Mayor Castor and former Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

Hurtak, the Dist. 3 incumbent, has been endorsed by Creative Loafing, La Gaceta, Florida LGBTQ+, Florida Rising, the Tampa Bay Progressive Caucus and Muslims for Democracy & Fairness.

Local HOSA Students Promoting Breast Cancer Awareness

Health Occupations Students of America, aka HOSA-Future Health Professionals, is a global student-led organization that actively promotes career opportunities in the health industry, and four New Tampa-area residents who all attend Strawberry Crest High in Dover and participate in the school’s International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme have created “Project Pink” to raise awareness about breast cancer.

Strawberry Crest sophomores Elizabeth Chettipally, Aditi Nair, Anika Prasad, and Netra Vijay (photo) will participate in HOSA’s Community Awareness competition by focusing on breast cancer, which affects more than 250,000 women (killing about 42,000) each year in the U.S. alone.

“Our team first felt the urge to raise awareness for breast cancer when we saw how fiercely one of our team member’s family (members) fought against breast cancer,” Anika wrote in the Crest Critique. “Being females and students, we saw the lack of education and awareness of breast cancer in our community and decided to make a change.”

To begin their quest to raise community awareness of breast cancer, the four friends spoke to Archana Nair, RN, an advisor in the Breast Clinic at the Moffitt Cancer Center, and Shilpa Sachdev, MD, an internal medicine specialist in Wauchula, FL. They also met with Shreya Shivan, a student at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. 

“Through these discussions, our team realized that the subject of breast cancer is extremely personal, and a strong support system is needed by women survivors to reclaim feminine identity,” Anika wrote. 

In October — also known as Breast Cancer Awareness Month — the quartet began their efforts by staging a “Pink Out” (getting students at their school to wear pink, including the cheerleaders at the Strawberry Crest football game that night). They also participated in the Cory Lake Isles Unity Walk in November.

“I feel like that even though a lot of people know about breast cancer, when it comes to the facts, to the details, we’re all lacking,” Netra says. “There’s also a lot of stigmatization about breast cancer because, when you talk about someone’s breasts, it’s a very taboo topic in our society, so I feel like it’s something people need to know about before the diagnosis.” 

Anika adds, “We also want people to know that just because you’re diagnosed, it doesn’t mean it’s the end. We just want to spread hope to them.”

The group also will participate in Dr. Helene Robinson’s “Hugs from Heaven for Sister Warriors” breast cancer awareness podcast. Dr. Robinson is a faculty member at USF’s Sarasota-Manatee campus.

In addition, the friends recently hosted a HOPE Kit packing party (photo left), in partnership with the National Breast Cancer Foundation — with donated items, such as makeup, wrist bands, notebooks, travel mugs and other “goodies” — that will be mailed to women who are struggling with breast cancer across the country. 

Their school reposted the announcements the girls made on their Instagram about the packing party and also has allowed them to set up tables in the school’s library and talk with other students after school assemblies. They also were permitted to broadcast the “Pink Out” at the end-of-the-day announcements for a week before that event. The school’s Student Government Assn. and PTSA also helped spread the word about the girls’ efforts.

And, while there are more than 100 HOSA students at Strawberry Crest, the four friends are the only ones participating in the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign. They all will travel to Orlando April 13-16 to participate in the State of Florida Leadership Conference for HOSA, where they will make a presentation about their project. 

For more info, visit “Project Pink” on Instagram, “CrestProjectPink/Videos” on YouTube or schshosa.wixsite.com/projectpink.