Victoria (Tori) Bell is the third member of her family to earn class valedictorian honors at Wharton High.
For Wharton Highâs 2019 Valedictorian, Victoria âToriâ Bell, being at the very top of her class runs in the family.
Both of Toriâs older brothers, Earl and Jared, were also Wharton valedictorians. Earl is now serving in the military, and Jared is earning his undergraduate degree in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
âIt was always assumed that I would follow in their footsteps, but I never felt forced into it,â says Tori, 17, who earned a 9.01 GPA at Wharton by completing several Advanced Placement STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) courses while simultaneously earning an Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree from Hillsborough Community College.
Tori, a National Merit Scholar and member of the Mu Alpha Theta Mathematics Honor Society and the Science National Honor Society, received fully-financed offers from Florida Gulf Coast University and the University of South Florida, but had her heart set on attending UF.
âMy brothers both went there, and itâs always the school I wanted to go to,â said Tori, who was awarded the Benacquisto and Presidential Scholarship from UF, which will more than cover her full tuition and living expenses.
Tori says her recipe for success was, âconsistency and determination with measured doses of goofing off,â which she did by playing video games, going to the gym, and enjoying lots of movies and TV shows by herself and with friends.
âI absolutely love stories,â said Tori, whose favorites include the Enderâs Game series, Marvel comic book movies, and the British drama hit âKilling Eve.â
Tori also is an avid reader who has whiled away many an afternoon at the bookstore, reading Gillian Flynn, Emily Danforth and Agatha Christie.
Her parents, Ed and Diana Bell, teach math and language arts at Wharton; however, her mother says that Tori is very self-sufficient and never asked either of them for help with homework.
Tori plans to major in Accounting, although she says that career choice is not set in stone, and plans to minor in English at UF. Sheâs also looking forward to living in Gainesville, closer to her brother Jared.
âMy parents and family have been absolutely amazing, and I know I wouldnât be here without them,â she said.
Salutatorian Also Headed To UF
Whartonâs salutatorian Ashley Joseph, who came in just behind Victoria with an 8.41 GPA, was, like the valedictorian, determined for success from the beginning.
âMy parents taught me the importance of education from an early age,â says Ashley, 18, who took additional online and dual enrollment courses as a freshman and sophomore specifically to meet high school graduation requirements as soon as possible. âFrom there, I followed my passions and learned continuously.â
Ashley volunteers weekly in the emergency room at AdventHealth Tampa, interacting with patients and helping at the front desk, and works as a tutor at Kumon Math and Reading Center in New Tampa.
âMy goal is to become a doctor,â says Ashley, who also will attend UF. âThe ability to help others is extremely meaningful and rewarding (to me).â
Wharton Highâs 2019 graduation ceremony will be held at the Florida State Fairgrounds on U.S. 301 in Tampa on Thursday, May 30, at 12:30 p.m.
Of 48 teams that competed in the FIRST LEGO League State competition on April 6 in Delray Beach, a team of six fifth and sixth grade students from New Tampa, called Team TechnoWizards, took home first place and are on their way to competing for a national title.
The team consists of Pride Elementary fifth grade students Ayona Bagui, Dhruv Kulkarni, Naina Sethi and Nikhil Katiyar, along with sixth grade students Anika Prasad, who attends Benito Middle School, and Netra Vijay, who attends Williams Middle School.
The team has been working together for two years now, under the guidance and support of coach Sudhir Katiyar, who also Nikhilâs father, along with other parents of team members. Last year, Team TechnoWizards qualified to go to the State tournament, but didnât place at that competition.
This year, they placed second at the Florida-West Coast Regional competition in February, which qualified them to compete at State. At the State tournament, their improved performance landed them the first-place prize, outmatching all of their competition.
âThat happened because the team worked together in all aspects,â says Sudhir.
FIRST LEGO League teams use STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) as the basis for innovative learning and competition. FIRST also is an acronym that stands for âFor Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.â The theme for the 2018-19 season was âInto Orbit.â
The league uses LEGO Mindstorms robots as one part of its competition. Teams had to design, build and write programs to cause a robot to perform assigned tasks related to the theme.
More Than Just Robots
Robots are only part of the competition, though.
Teams also have to complete and are judged on a project. For this yearâs competition, the team members researched numerous topics regarding problems in space and chose one that was most important to them â the well-being of astronauts.
They created a prototype to depict possible solutions to prevent health hazards to the astronauts, like loneliness.
âThey are not judged just on the technical aspectsâ explains Sudhir. âThey are also judged on the FIRST core values, such as how did you resolve issues and conflicts within the team, and how did you solve problems when your coach wasnât around?â
FIRSTâs core values include discovery, innovation, impact, inclusion, teamwork, fun, gracious professionalism and cooperation.
Throughout the competition season, which runs concurrent with the school year, Team TechnoWizards also explored and served their community at the public library and in their schools, as well as for Feeding Tampa Bay, the Childrenâs Home Network, St. Josephâs Hospital, American Heart Association and an aerospace museum.
A field trip to NASA in Cape Canaveral gave the team a chance to meet with a real astronaut, and a trip to iFly Indoor Skydiving gave them a simulation of an experience in space.
Thanks to its win at the State level, Team TechnoWizards was invited to attend the FIRST LEGO League Razorback Invitational, a 72-team championship tournament that includes national and international teams.
It is being held this weekend on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville.
Like most schools, the Turner/Bartels K-8 (TBK8) School hasnât had enough money available to just give teachers to use in their classrooms.
Until now.
On March 26, the newly opened Burlington store in the Cypress Creek Town Center on the north side of S.R. 56 said hello to the local community it hopes to serve by presenting TBK8 principal Cindy Land with a $10,000 check during a school pep rally as part of the AdoptAClassroom.org program.
AdoptAClassroom.org provides teachers with an online marketplace of nearly 30 school specialty and office supply vendors where they can purchase the materials and tools they need at a discount.
Burlington makes a donation to a local school in each Grand Opening market to celebrate a new storeâs location.
âThey had one stipulation and that was that the money gets to the kids and the teachers, and it will,â said Land. âThereâs not many opportunities for them to have extra cash for their classroom and we want to make this available for everyone.â
Marcus Britt, an ESE Teacher at TBK8 the past five years, said he and most other teachers have had to dip into their own pockets at times to buy the supplies they need.
âDonations, like the one we received today, are incredibly valuable,â he said. âWeâre very thankful.â
As for his portion of the $10,000, Britt says he doesnât know exactly what heâll buy for his classroom but canât wait to find out.
âI still need to figure out how Iâm going to spend my portion of the funding,â he said. âBut no matter what, it will be well spent in a manner that directly affects the student experience.â
Land said it was the biggest donation the school, which opened in 2014, has ever received. Last year, the school received $1,000 from WFLA-TV Channel 8 for being picked as a School of The Week.
Wharton’s Tim Norwood and Rachel Welsh, 3rd place, Structural Design
TECH SAVVY STUDENTS: A number of students from Turner/Bartels K-8 School (TBK8) and Wharton High earned several awards from the Technology Student Association (TSA) statewide competition held in Orlando beginning in late February.
As in past years, the TBK8 team had a strong showing, taking second place in the state in the middle school division. Of the eight entries from Wharton that placed in the top ten in the high school division, one also made the top three.
Nathaniel Bostic and his wife Rebecca are co-advisors for TBK8âs chapter of TSA, which is a national organization made up of 250,000 middle and high school students in about 2,000 schools.
The Bostics say they will take 18 students to the TSA national competition, which will be held in June in Washington, D.C. They hope to be able to bring along the Wharton team, which is made up of a pair of the TBK8 TSA chapterâs alumni.
âItâs exciting for us to see our former students, now in ninth, tenth and eleventh grade,â says Nathaniel Bostic. âTheyâre coming back to work with our kids and mentor them, and also grow in their own projects.â
Find out more about the TSA chapter at TBK8 by visiting TBK8TSA.org.
Congratulations to the following students, all of whom placed in the top three in their respective categories:
TBK8 First-Place Finishers: Jake Dostal, Danielle Arrigio and Simon DuPriest for Bio Tech; Rajuta Kansara, Antra Sharma, Emily You and Sophie Tian for Childrenâs Stories; Riley Hall for Essays on Technology; Aubrey Glover, Sayeed Azam and Roman LaRock for Mechanical Engineering; Emily You and Sophie Tian, Technical Design.
TBK8 Second-Place Finishers: Aubrey Glover and Sayeed Azam for Challenging Technology Issues; Riley Hall and Ryan Hutchinson for Coding; Ashlynn Costello for Digital Photography; Alexis Cowles, Tyler McDowell, Abigail Welsh and Danielle Arrigio for Off the Grid.
TBK8 Third-Place Finishers: Ryan Hutchinson and Tyler Yee for Electrical Application; Sayeed Azam for Flight;
Nyasa Kumar, Danielle Arrigio, Kiara Torres and Arnav A. for Inventions and Innovations; Riley Hall, Julan Carvajal, Alonzo Reroma and Pranav Magaluru for Website Design.
Wharton Third-Place Finishers: Tim Norwood and Rachel Welsh, 3rd place, Structural Design.
LIBERTY SHINES AT FBLA:Students from Liberty Middle School (see photo, above) were award winners at the 2019 Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) State Leadership Conference, held in Orlando March 22-25.Â
Congratulations to Shreya Gullapalli (1st place, Business Etiquette), Uma Panchal (2nd, Business Etiquette), Amulya Ravipati (5th, Business Etiquette), John Madadha (3rd, Business Math and Financial Literacy), Destiny Nieves and Tanvi Chetal (4th, Community Service), Sai Aashrith Kossireddy (3rd, Elevator Speech), Kenzo Cogswell (3rd, Introduction to Business Communication), Keerthi Penumuchu (2nd, Keyboarding), Sofia Murrin (3rd, Keyboarding), Yana Kumar (4th, Keyboarding), Pavan Moturi (3rd, Multimedia & Website Design), Dante Boin (3rd, Spreadsheet) and Olivia Kurtz (4th, Spreadsheet).
Shreya Gullapalli, the schoolâs first-place finisher in Business Etiquette, will be recognized for her achievement at the Hillsborough County Public Schools School Board meeting in May. All of the winners named are eligible to attend FBLAâs National Leadership Conference in San Antonio, TX, this summer.
âWe are really proud of all of our chapter representatives, because from 24 competitors, 13 placed at the state level. One of our members placed first in Business Etiquette and she is eligible to attend nationals,â said Sofia Murrin, Chapter President, âand our entire chapter was inspired to continue with FBLA in high school and beyond.â
Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda, Inc., is the largest career student business organization in the world, with more than 230,000 members.
Clark Elementary fourth grader Harrison Shirey (left) and Chiles Elementary third grader Rohan Apte both earned Best of Fair at the February Hillsborough County Regional STEM Fair.
New Tampaâs elementary and middle schools once again had a strong showing at the 38th Annual Hillsborough County Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematic (STEM) Fair on March 6.
In fact, more than 50 students in New Tampa were recognized for their projects, including a pair of Best of Fair awards.
All students in Hillsborough County were allowed to submit a qualifying project in 13 major STEM subject areas. The top 27 winners advanced to the State STEM Fair, and the two best projects from Hillsborough County also will go on to compete in the International STEM Fair.
The Best of Fair winners were Chiles Elementary third-grader Rohan Apte and Clark Elementary fourth-grader Harrison Shirey.
Rohan won for his project entitled âCrash! Did it Break?: Do Seat Belts Matter?â His project involved crashing a LEGO car with eggs inside wearing (and some not wearing) rubber band seat belts.
Itâs not the first Best of Fair aware for the Apte household â Rohanâs sister Ria also won the award, in 2016, also when she was in the third grade.
Harrison won his Best of Fair award for his project âWhat Material Does Wi-Fi Travel Through?â
Heritage Elementary (l.-r.) third grader Logan Jones, fourth grader Isabella Pappalardo and third graders Emily Lara, Isabella Santiago and Dylan Farner all earned medals.
Local elementary schools earned 15 Superior scores, including four each by Clark and Turner/Bartels K-8 and three by Chiles and Tampa Palms.
In the older division, Liberty Middle Schoolâs Uma Panchal (âThe Vitamin C Integrity Projectâ), Ellie and Olivia Pliska (âThe Algae is Blooming: Does Synthetic or Organic Fertilizer Contribute more to Algae Growth?â) won first-place awards, while Wharton High took home seven top-3 finishes, including a first-place by Kylie Orihuela and Mackenzie Schaecher for âCopper Heals.â
The complete list of local winners are:
ELEMENTARY DIVISION GROUP PROJECTS 3rd GRADE Superior Magnetic Magic — Joel Madadha, Miles Shi, and Lucas Aguerreberry, Clark Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION ⢠GROUP PROJECTS ⢠THIRD GRADE PHYSICAL SCIENCE/MATTER Excellent Time for Dissolving Fun — Jeshwitha Avula and Pranjal Kot, Pride Elementary
Excellent Which bubble gum blows the biggest bubble: Super Bubble or Double Bubble? — Emily Lara and Isabella Santiago, Heritage Elementary
Superior How Does the Brand of Nail Polish affect How Long it Lasts? Isabella Baez and Sophia Sauer, Turner/Bartels K-8
Superior How Does Brain Dominance Affect Hand-Eye — Gal Lawrental Schori and Linney Kim, Chiles Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION ⢠GROUP PROJECTS ⢠FOURTH GRADE PHYSICAL SCIENCE/ENERGY Excellent Lightning Magnets — Archith Gaddam and Saisharat Yenka, Pride Elementary
Superior Energy From Garbage: How Much Methane Do Different Types of Food Scraps Produce? — Aayush Mehta and Anjali Mehta, Tampa Palms Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION ⢠GROUP PROJECTS ⢠FOURTH GRADE PHYSICAL SCIENCE/MATTER Excellent Dissolve the Bomb! — Ana Clara DeJesus, Zeina Mughrabi, and Madison Long, Pride Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION ⢠GROUP PROJECTS ⢠FIFTH GRADE EARTH/SPACE SCIENCE Superior Feeling Salty — Ethan Bahs and Morgan Aulet, Clark Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION ⢠GROUP PROJECTS ⢠FIFTH GRADE LIFE SCIENCE Outstanding Fantastic Fertilizer — Logan Andress and Chase Andress, Chiles Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION ⢠GROUP PROJECTS ⢠FIFTH GRADE PHYSICAL SCIENCE/ENERGY Superior Harnessing The Heat — Aditya Shukla and Aditi Shukla, Tampa Palms Elementary
Superior Flying Trains — Dev Parikh and Evan Stepanek, Turner/Bartels K-8
ELEMENTARY DIVISION ⢠GROUP PROJECTS ⢠FIFTH GRADE PHYICAL SCIENCE/MATTER Excellent Fear of Water: How Do Materials Stay Dry And Clean? — Eesha Venkatesh and Harini Iyer, Tampa Palms Elementary
Superior An Apple a Day…Keeps the Spoils Away — Danai Bernard, Anu Badiger, Jayone Heo, and Kanishka Mittal, Chiles Elementary
****INDIVIDUALS****
ELEMENTARY DIVISION ⢠INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS ⢠THIRD GRADE EARTH/SPACE SCIENCE Superior Looking to Kill an Oil Spill? — Ani Marsland-Pettit, Clark Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION ⢠INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS ⢠THIRD GRADE Superior Which Truss to Trust? — Nathaniel Bostic Jr., Turner/Bartels K-8
Excellent The Race To The Fizz Line: How Does The Temperature Of Water Affect How Fast A Bathbomb Dissolves? — Maanini Kuruganti, Tampa Palms Elementary
Excellent Stain, Stain, Go Away! — Dylan Farner, Heritage Elementary
Superior Absorbing Socks — Advay Joshi, Pride Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION ⢠INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS ⢠FOURTH GRADE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE Superior Right Vs Left — Rhea Varma, Tampa Palms Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION ⢠INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS ⢠FOURTH GRADE EARTH/SPACE SCIENCE Excellent Which is Better: Tap Vs Fountain Water? — Madison Fang, Chiles Elementary
Outstanding Alka-Seltzer Action — Frances McKoen, Hunters Green Elementary
Excellent Nail Nonsense! How Does the Brand of Nail Polish Affect How Long the Paint Takes to Dry? — Kacy Hauck, Turner/Bartels K-8
Superior Don’t Underestimate the Insulate — Andrew Feaster, Clark Elementary
3rd Grade Best of Fair Crash! Did it Break? : Do Seatbelts Matter? — Rohan Apte, Chiles Elementary
4th Grade Best of Fair What Material Does Wi-Fi Travel Through? Harrison Shirey, Clark Elementary
SECONDARY AWARDS
Elaine Feaster, Liberty Middle Title: Naturally Cool Memorial Award: Helen Johnson’s Award
Sarrah Abdulai & Olivia Giraldo, Wharton High Title: How Effectively Oysters Filter Different Types of Water Award(s): Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration
Alisha Bhatia, Freedom High Title: Similarities Between Humans and Animals in The Huntingtin (HTT) Gene Award(s): Big Cat Rescue
Elaine Feaster Liberty Title: Naturally Cool Award(s): Cardinal Roofing Broadcom
Zion Flavien, Wharton Title: Global Warming: The relation between chlorophyll production and a healthy Earth Award(s): American Meteorological Society
Uma Patel, Liberty Title: The Vitamin C Integrity Project. Award(s): Broadcom
Ellie & Olivia Pliska, Liberty Title: The Algae is Blooming: Does Synthetic or Organic Fertilizer Contribute more to Award(s): Broadcom
Junior Animal Sciences Awards 3rd: Lisa Maeda, Benito: Which Length of Electromagnetic Waves Repels Mosquitoes the Most?
Junior Biomedical and Health Sciences Awards 1st: Uma Panchal, Liberty: The Vitamin C Integrity Project
Junior Earth and Environmental Sciences Awards 1st: Ellie and Olivia Pliska, Liberty: The Algae is Blooming: Does Synthetic or Organic Fertilizer Contribute more to Algae Growth?
Junior Mathematics and Computational Sciences Awards 3rd: Osman Eksioglu, Liberty: Machine Learning and how it adapts
Senior Behavioral and Social Sciences Awards 2nd: Nicole Carlin, Genesis Dalcourt, & Maria Pinilla-Baquero, Freedom: How Does Music Impact Test Taking?
Senior Chemistry Awards 3rd: Yash Patel, Wharton: Using Banana Peels as Eco-friendly Supplements to Livestock feed
Senior Earth and Environmental Sciences Awards 2nd: Sarrah Abdulai & Olivia Giraldo, Wharton: How Effectively Oysters Filter Different Types of Water 3rd: Meghna Desai & Neelam Patel, Wharton: Is it Worth Paying for Water Bottles?
Senior Physics and Astronomy Awards 2nd: Laura Deloso, Wharton: Proving Acceleration Due to Gravity
Senior Plant Sciences Awards 2nd: Crystal Castro & Isabella Kim, Wharton: The Effects of Different Concentrations of IAA on Root Initiation 3rd: Sarah McInvale, Wharton: Radiation on Germination
Harsh Bagdy (right) with 9-year-old Sabian, who was the first to receive a donation from Harshâs 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Charity Health Resources.
When New Tampa resident Harsh Bagdy was in the fifth grade at Montessori Preparatory School, the place he loved the most was the soccer field â and it was in bad shape. More rocks and dirt than grass, it was too dangerous to play on.
So Harsh, whose father Ash had instilled in him a passion for giving back, decided to do something about it. Together, they rallied people in the community to raise $40,000 for a brand new field.
That was only the beginning. In seventh grade, Harsh secured enough money to build a new computer lab at Terrace Community Middle School. By his sophomore year at King High, he had founded his own nonprofit, Charity Health Resources, a 501(c)(3) that raises money to purchase quality wheelchairs, walkers, shower chairs and other devices for people without adequate health insurance.
âI see mobility as something we all take for granted,â said Harsh, whose mother Kavita Jain works as a physical therapist. He said she often tells him about the great need for mobility equipment she sees.
âItâs impossible to go out, have a job or do really anything if you arenât mobile, and if youâre worried about paying for food or housing, you canât do anything about it,â he said.
Harsh, 17, a first-generation American whose parents moved to Tampa from India 25 years ago and now a junior in high school, was honored by the Tampa Bay Lightning on January 19 as this seasonâs 25th Lightning Community Hero.
He received a $50,000 donation from the Lightning Foundation and the Lightning Community Heroes program. Half of the money will go towards his own education. He gave the other half to Metropolitan Ministries, an organization heâs been volunteering with since the sixth grade, and the one he turned to when establishing Charity Health Resources.
âI instantly connected with Metroâs outreach team, because we had something they couldnât easily provide and they could find people who needed it,â said Harsh.
Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Alex Killorn (left) and CEO Steve Griggs present Harsh Bagdy, the 25th Lightning Community Hero this season, with a check for $50,000.
A new partnership between Metropolitan Ministries and Charity Health Resources, made possible by Harshâs winnings, will put more members of the outreach team further into the community, allowing them to find mobility-challenged clients who are unable to travel to the main outreach center in Tampa Heights.
âBecause of Harsh, when our team meets someone in the community with a handicap or mobility challenge, we can just call him up and heâll fulfill the need,â said Metropolitan Ministriesâ president and CEO Tim Marks. âThatâs something we never could have done without him.â
Charity Health Resources, said Harsh, has made between 15-20 donations in its first year. Their first donation was a new wheelchair for a 9-year-old boy named Sabian with spina bifida. He was growing too big for his chair and too heavy for his mother and grandfather to carry around, but his insurance wouldnât pay for another wheelchair for two more years.
The chair that Charity Health Resources donated to him enabled him to return to riding around in his grandfatherâs car, spending time with his cousins and other family.
âI really enjoy hockey,â said Harsh, who attended the January 19 Lightning game against the San Jose Sharks as the teamâs guest of honor. âI see it as a faster-paced soccer game.â
When Harsh â who is enrolled in demanding International Baccalaureate (IB) classes at King and travels multiple weekends a month for debate competitions, and also is a Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) member â isnât at school or doing charity work, he still loves playing soccer and occasionally goes out for movies or dinner with his friends.
He’s hoping for admission into a prestigious business school to pursue his interests in business.
âBeing chosen for this award felt amazing, both for me and for the work Iâm doing,â Harsh said. âI may get the recognition for it, but the best part is that it allows me to spread my branches further and help people in areas I couldnât reach before.â
For more information about Charity Health Resources, visit charityhealthresources.org. For additional information about the Lightning Community Hero award, visit NHL.com/lightning/community/community-heroes.
