In-School Clubs Inspire Students At Liberty; MATHCOUNTS Team Makes States 

Liberty students can choose from more than 35 club options, which focus on interests such as art, calligraphy, board games, guitar, sports and science. Other clubs focus on community service or helping students to be the best versions of themselves.

Typical middle school clubs might involve the same group of high achievers joining in multiple groups to celebrate their successes, give back to their communities and start prepping their resumes for the inevitable, if still far-off, college applications.

At Liberty Middle School in Tampa Palms, however, clubs are designed to include all students, offered once a month as part of the school day.

Spanish teacher Katie Smith is the coordinator for Liberty’s clubs program. “The entire school is following the same schedule,” she says, “so all of the kids get to participate.”

She explains that the clubs were started to provide extra support for some students who may not have role models at home.

“We want to give them a chance to find people they can connect with, adults they don’t regularly interact with, or peers with similar interests,” says Smith. “We want them to make connections and have a reason why they like to come to school.”

Katie credits Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor, who attended Liberty (see story, pg. 1), with planting the seed that grew into the school’s clubs. She recalls him visiting Liberty a couple of years ago and telling the teachers how having opportunities to build relationships with people who cared about him made a huge difference in his life.

“He started a conversation about reaching those kids, and that’s where I got the idea,” Katie says.

Liberty students can choose from more than 35 club options, which may focus on interests such as art, calligraphy, board games, guitar, sports and science. Other clubs focus on community service or helping students to be the best versions of themselves.

One unique club is the “Gentlemen’s Club,” led by physical education teacher Bryan Erwine and school resource officer Victor Moreta. “They focus on what it means to be a man — a gentleman — and the power of believing in yourself and how you show yourself to the world,” Katie explains. “Some kids are hand-picked to be in that group because they show leadership potential and need a little coaxing. Once they’re in there, the two men running the group are amazing, so kids really want to connect with them.”

Students from the Rescue Me! Pet Club will visit the Humane Society of Tampa Bay on March 2. They were invited on the field trip after dropping off collected donations back in December.

Susan Stabile, a school counselor who co-sponsors the club, says her students are excited for their behind-the-scenes tour of the facility and that she hopes all 50 club members will attend. “We hope that our students will be lifelong animal advocates and inspire others as well,” Susan explains.

These kind of connections are exactly what Katie hopes the clubs will foster. She says she hopes to bring the community into the school to further enhance the goals of the clubs. “We’re trying to reach out to the community so people can see what’s going on and how the community can shape and empower these kids with their involvement.”

She adds, “It’s great to have teachers, but for some clubs, like our food club, is there a restaurant owner who wants to work with the kids? Are there athletes who want to help with our sports clubs?”

If you’d like to help in any way, email Katie Smith for more information at Kaitlyn.Smith@sdhc.k12.fl.us.

Liberty Middle School’s MATHCOUNTS team finished second out of 17 teams at the Regional competition on Feb. 2, earning the team a spot in the State competition, which will be held on Thursday, March 22, in Daytona Beach.

MATHCOUNTS Team Advances To States: Liberty Middle School’s MATHCOUNTS team finished second out of 17 teams at the Regional competition on Feb. 2, earning the team a spot in the State competition, which will be held on Thursday, March 22, in Daytona Beach.

“Liberty has been participating in MATHCOUNTS for the past 10 or so years,” says coach Melissa Grier, a Liberty math teacher. “We have advanced to the State competition the last three years straight and are known in MATHCOUNTS circles as the team to always beat.”

Eighth-grade student Charley Cheng also finished second overall in the individual competition. “He actually had the highest individual score but lost in a head-to-head competition with the second place finisher,” explains Melissa.

Charley and eighth grade student Derek Wu also were on last year’s team, which went to the States, too.

Seventh-grade student Shreya Gullapalli and sixth-grade student Vignesh Saravanan also are on the team.

“These kids are wonderful,” says Melissa. “They are incredibly humble and they all share a love for mathematics.”

The MATHCOUNTS team from Benito Middle School on Cross Creek Blvd. finished in sixth place, with Saanvi Prasad, a seventh-grader, earning the sixth highest individual finish.

NT/WC Reader Survey Results: Best Gym, Massage, Nail/Hair Salons

If you’ve never seen the amazing array of fitness equipment on the 2nd floor of the Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel Wellness Center, you owe it to yourself to take a tour.

Although we have many wonderful fitness facilities located in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, our Neighborhood News readers have voted the Health & Wellness Center inside the Wellness Plaza adjacent to (and owned by) the same Adventist Health Care System as Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel as their favorite.

And, who could blame them? Situated on the first and second floors of the Wellness Plaza, the 50,000-sq.-ft. facility includes two heated, indoor pools, a huge variety of cardio and strength equipment (including free weights), men’s and women’s saunas, a 1/9-mile indoor track and more than 100 group fitness classes, including Les Mills, Zumba, barre, hot yoga and indoor cycling. There’s even a circuit training area that allows you to get a full-body workout in just 30 minutes.

“It’s definitely the best gym I’ve ever belonged to,” I heard one satisfied female customer tell another. “I’ve lost 20 lbs. and I feel the best I’ve felt in years.”

With its convenient location on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., between S.R.s 56 and 54, the FHWC Health & Wellness Center is a short drive from I-75 and a visit for a tour is well worth the trip from anywhere in New Tampa, Wesley Chapel and beyond.

I recently took my second tour of the facility with Fatima, one of the enthusiastic front desk staffers, and, even though I live at least 12-15 minutes away and the membership prices aren’t cheap, Jannah and I are seriously considering joining because you can’t beat the variety of equipment and classes you get to use or the true community feeling you get any time you visit.

The Health & Wellness Center also has a great Fit Fresh café and smoothie bar that also sells nutritional supplements and healthy snacks for people on the go, a membership referral program (receive $20 in “Wellness Bucks” for each new membership you refer), a Fit Friends Kids Club which offers unlimited two-hours-per-day babysitting for 1-2 children for just $30 per month or $7 per hour child care, whether you’re a member of the facility or not.

Other fee-based services include personal training (although members get one free consultation with a certified personal trainer), small group training, licensed massage therapy, nutrition coaching (members also get one free nutrition assessment with a registered dietitian), swim lessons for adults and children, Pilates Reformer and more.

Memberships start at $57 per month or $684 for a one-time annual payment (save $114) and you can add a second family member, age 13 and over (living in the same household) for just $34 per month or $408 for a one-time annual payment.

The FHWC Health & Wellness Center (2700 Healing Way) is open Mon.-Fri., 5 a.m.-10 p.m. & 7 a.m.-7 p.m. on Sat. & Sun). For more info, visit FHWCwellness@ahss.org or call (813) 929-5252. — GN

 

FLY EAGLE FLY

Former Liberty Middle School standout Nelson Agholor celebrates a catch against the Washington Redskins last year. Photo by Keith Allison, Hanover, MD.

Liberty Middle School’s Joe Merritt remembers the best flag football player he ever coached scoring four touchdowns on four straight plays — and none of them counted.

It was overtime, against Benito he thinks, and his Liberty Eagles were on the 2-yard-line. His best player rushes for what Merritt says was a sure touchdown, before the refs ruled he was down at the 1.

On the next play, the same kid throws for a touchdown, but the refs said the receiver was out of bounds. And, the play after that, the very same kid lines up at wide receiver and catches a touchdown pass, although the ref said he didn’t land with his feet inbounds.

Twice. Seriously.

Years later, Merritt couldn’t help but remember that game as he sat and watched that same player, Nelson Agholor, catch nine passes for the other Eagles, of Philadelphia, in a thrilling Super Bowl win over favored New England.

Merritt has taught and coached the boys flag football team since Liberty opened, and his list of former players include Matt Patchan and Jordan Sherit (both of whom went on to the University of Florida in Gainesville out of high school), Matt’s brother Scott Patchan (currently at the University of Miami, FL) and Chaz Neal (who signed with Florida State University in Tallahassee on Feb. 7).

The night of the Super Bowl, however, was the first time Merritt says he had chills watching a former player, sitting on the couch at his parents’ house, jumping up and yelling every time Agholor grabbed a pass on his way to 84 yards receiving.

“It’s like you knew he was going to be a good athlete, but with each passing year, there was a new accolade that made you just feel happy for him,” said Merritt, who had Agholor in his sixth grade reading class. “He reached the pinnacle in high school, he reached the pinnacle in college, he was a first-round draft pick out of college, and he wins the Super Bowl? I mean, come on. That’s what every kid dreams of, holding up that Lombardi Trophy.”

A Humble Beginning…

Agholor, who was born in Nigeria, grew up in northeast Tampa, in the Suitcase City area near the University of South Florida. He attended Liberty from 2005-08, where he starred on both the football field and the basketball court. In fact, his overtime performance aside, some remember Agholor as a better basketball player initially than football.

“I didn’t see the talent as much in football as in basketball,” says Phil Lana, who taught Agholor in his sixth grade science class. “He was an incredible basketball player in middle school. I thought that would be what he ended up going to college for.”

Merritt agrees. “I thought his older brother Franklin was the better football player,” he says, laughing.

In previous stories written about him, Agholor has talked about avoiding the trouble that dogged many of the friends he grew up with in northeast Tampa. The temptation to take the wrong path when that fork in the road presented itself was hard for many to resist.

It was at Liberty, some teachers who remember him say, that Agholor had help in fighting those urges.

“Nelson was a bit of a knucklehead coming in here,” Merritt recalled. “There were some teachers that took him under their wing, to get him right. He was smart…great personality…athletic. And, we started preaching to him how far those things can take you in life.”

“He was a genuinely nice kid, very charismatic,” says Brendan Paul, who had Agholor in his seventh grade math class. “He definitely grew quite a bit throughout the time he was here. If you listen to his interviews, he talks a lot about being given opportunities and making the most of those opportunities, and he definitely made the most of his time here. Liberty got him on right track. He had a lot of teachers looking out for him.”

Agholor responded to the mentoring. As an eighth grader, he was one of the most popular kids in school, and was named one of Liberty’s Turnaround Achievement Award winners. “By the end of his eighth grade year, I remember seeing him as more of a leader than anything else,” Lana says. “He was already helping the younger kids then.”

After graduating from middle school, Agholor  went to Berkeley Prep, where he became one of Florida’s top football recruits as both a running back and a defensive back. He rushed for 4,732 yards in four seasons, and added 921 receiving yards, 12 interceptions and eight kickoff returns for touchdowns.

As a senior, Agholor  led the Bucs to the Class 3A State semifinals, rushing for 1,983 yards and 28 touchdowns, and won the Guy Toph award as Hillsborough County’s top high school football player. He chose the University of Southern California at Los Angeles from dozens of college suitors, where he blossomed as a wide receiver and caught 104 passes for 1,313 yards and 12 touchdowns as a junior.

That was enough to make Agholor the 20th overall pick of Philadelphia in the 2015 NFL draft.

“He was one of those kids that stayed in touch,” Paul says. “Before the draft, he visited and spent time with students in a mentoring group here. I had the opportunity to go to his very first game in Atlanta (with Lana), and we met up with him afterwards.”

Agholor disappointed during his first two pro seasons in Philly, before a breakout 2017 campaign that saw him catch 62 passes for 768 yards (more than his first two seasons combined) and 12 touchdowns. In the postseason, he was brilliant, including a 42-yard TD catch in the NFC Championship game. His nine catches in the Super Bowl were a career high.

Few were happier to see Agholor bounce back than his former Liberty mentors.

“It’s definitely surreal,” Paul says. “I think his career thus far just speaks volumes about who he is. He had two really rough years, and just turned it around. It’s just that attitude and effort he has.”

Lana, who is now the Director of Operations and logistics for the Atlanta Football Host Committee bringing the Super Bowl to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium next year, watched Agholor’s performance in person.

“It really added to the whole experience, knowing I was actually watching someone I knew playing in the game,” says Lana, who wasn’t shy about letting everyone know about Agholor’s days at Liberty.

“Pretty much everybody around me knew I had taught him in sixth grade,” Lana says. “I sat in a section heavy with Patriots’ fans, but they knew when I stood and cheered every time he caught a pass.”

Agholor comes back to Liberty a few times a year to preach to kids, many from the same rough-around-the-edges neighborhood he grew up in, the same message he was taught — make good choices, listen to your teachers and school administrators, and they will help you reach the goals that you strive for. His words will carry added weight, as a newly-minted Super Bowl champion. 

“The fact that he does come back, and does impact other kids and that’s something that’s important to him, that just tells you the kind of dude that he is, the kind of character he has,” Merritt says.

Agholor has purchased shoes, helmets and other equipment for kids who can’t afford them. He has given them his cell phone number and told them to text him if they need something, even just a little advice. Merritt says Agholor reaches out to kids that he sees a little of himself in, to do what he can.

It is that connection, more than a decade later, that makes it easy to cheer for Agholor, to tune in on Sundays and root for the former Liberty Eagle.

“The whole school is super proud of him,” Merritt says. “There’s a lot of pride that Nelson used to go here. The fact that he turned out to be great kid, and did great things, it’s just icing on the cake that he won a Super Bowl. When I watch, I still see that 12-year-old kid.”

NT/WC Reader Survey Results: Best Restaurant

Stonewood Tops List 

Operating partner Dave Rathbun (photo) says he is often amused when he sees people trying to leave his popular Stonewood Grill & Tavern after a meal, only to bump into a neighbor or someone they know and delaying their exit.

Those moments, as much as any other, are when Rathbun can smile and truly appreciate the success of his restaurant.

“We tried to create a culture where it feels like the ‘Cheers’ of New Tampa,’’ Rathbun says.

And indeed, for Rathbun, it is a place where everybody seems to know his name, because they keep coming back.

The friendly and welcoming atmosphere, the familiarity between the customers and Rathbun and his carefully selected staff (the folks he says “bring the place to life”), and a menu and bar area that almost never fail to deliver one of the best dining and imbibing experiences around are why, once again, Stonewood Grill & Tavern is the Neighborhood News “Best Restaurant in New Tampa & Wesley Chapel,” as voted on by our readers, for a second straight year.

Stonewood, a Tampa Palms staple since opening in September 2002, beat out Bonefish Grill and newcomer Noble Crust — the reader’s top pick for best new business (see list, on pg. 50) — which are both located in Wesley Chapel, for the top spot.

“It’s just an honor to have people vote for you,” Rathbun says. “I’m humbled by every vote.”

Despite a not-so-great location — Stonewood is tucked behind a 7-Eleven and McDonald’s on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., just north of Commerce Park Blvd. — it has thrived as an upscale family restaurant because, well, Rathbun is kind of like family. He has lived in North Tampa for more than 20 years, including Richmond Place the last 16 years. He knows most of his customers, and their kids, and where those kids go to school.

“It’s wonderful to work in the community where you live,” he says.

Stonewood, a small chain which has 10 locations statewide, is best known for its steaks and seafood. Rathbun says the restaurant receives all of its steaks from only three different plants in Iowa, and “it’s all Midwestern beef, aged for 28 days, then hand cut to our specs and cooked the way you want them.”

The restaurant has popular main dishes like delightful short ribs with butternut squash ravioli, hearty grilled rosemary and garlic lamb loin chops, tender oven-baked herb-encrusted grouper and cedar plank roasted salmon in an apricot mustard jalapeño glaze, to name a few.

Or, you can hunker down at Stonewood’s popular bar and order tavern wings or oak grilled shrimp or anything else from the full lunch or dinner menu.

“One of my customers once told me, ‘You know, I can come in here and have a real nice dinner and a bottle of wine with my wife and celebrate an event, or I can come in with my guys and have a burger and a beer at the bar and watch a basketball game,’” Rathbun says. “They love the flexibility.”

A new and improved lunch menu, plus weekday specials which can be ordered at the bar or at your table, also help keep people coming back.

For example, on Tuesdays, Stonewood offers specials on craft beer and craft burgers (see photo). Wine Down Wednesday features half-off discounts on almost a dozen wines, and Thursday is Stoli Martini night.

“We offer something for everyone, and I really like that I’ve been able make so many relationships with my customers over the years,” Rathbun says. “I’m glad so many people enjoy it.”

Stonewood Grill & Tavern is located at 17050 Palm Pointe Dr., Tampa Palms. For info, call (813) 978-0388 or visit StonewoodGrill.com.

Three New Hotels Add Heat To Wesley Chapel’s Business Climate

The six-story, 125-room Hilton Garden Inn on Silver Maple Pkwy. will open this summer. 

For years, Pasco County has grappled with attracting tourists and giving them a place to stay.

Florida Hospital Center Ice (FHCI) and a planned RADD Sports Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex, as well as the Tampa Premium Outlets (TPO), the Shops at Wiregrass mall, the massive “connected city” project and dozens of local restaurants will help take care of attracting visitors.

In a few months, a long-standing problem of finding beds for all of those visitors’ heads will be solved as well.

During the months of June and July, Wesley Chapel expects to see three new hotels open along the burgeoning S.R. 56 corridor, joining the Holiday Inn & Suites that opened last year next to FHCI (and the Hampton Inn & Suites, which has been open for many years).

“The two industries (tourism and hospitality) go hand in hand,” says Hope Allen, the CEO of the North Tampa Bay (formerly Greater Wesley Chapel) Chamber of Commerce. “It’s almost like you can’t have one without the other.”

Barring any weather delays, a six-story, 125-room Hilton Garden Inn on Silver Maple Pkwy., across S.R. 56 from FHCI, is scheduled to open in June, a 92-room Fairfield Inn & Suites is expected to open in June or July a few miles to the east (in the Wiregrass Ranch development), and the six-story, 132-room Hyatt Place Hotel & Convention Center will open in July at the Cypress Creek Town Center across from TPO.

The newest hotels have all been planned since late 2015.

The Hyatt Place Hotel & Convention Center

Impact Properties is building the Hyatt Place, and recently hosted a “topping off” event to show off its progress. Impact just began building the $24-million hotel last summer. The Hyatt Place will share the north side of S.R. 56 with a host of new restaurants and retailers (see story on page 6).

The conference center addition fills another area need, says District 2 Pasco County commissioner Mike Moore. “This is going to be a great development all around,” Moore said during the Hyatt Place event. “When you talk about a convention center, that has been something that has been a big need in Pasco County, especially on the east side. You won’t have a problem keeping it full.”

Impact president Dilip Kanji said he has had his eyes on the Cypress Creek location for years, patiently waiting for the right moment.

“I’ve been looking at Wesley Chapel since 2012,” Kanji says, citing the Cypress Creek Town Center’s permitting woes dating back to 2007. “If you remember, (our interest) goes back to the days when the mall was going to go there, the problems with the wetlands and the Army Corps of Engineers, all that stuff, so we just kept looking. But, Wesley Chapel has arrived, Pasco County has arrived, everyone wants to be here. We had an idea for what we wanted to do; we were just waiting for the right time.”

Kanji said his company also eyed the Shops at Wiregrass mall and Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel areas in Wiregrass, as well as the area near FHCI (where the Holiday Inn Express is today).

“There’s been the potential (for a hotel) in the area, but the place we always wanted to be was on that (the west) side of the interstate,” he said.

A Little History…

Impact Properties was founded in 1981, two years after Kanji, a biochemist at the time, visited San Francisco and stayed at a family-run hotel that he fell in love with. He decided, without the benefit of any business schooling or real estate courses, to enter the business.

Impact Properties president Dilip Kanji

“I never stepped in a lab again, and never looked back,” said Kanji, who works closely with brother and VP Nash Kanji, whom he describes as a construction “whiz.” They started with a small motel in Gainesville that Kanji says his attorney at the time joked was known as a “no-tell motel.” Since then, Impact Properties has grown into an award-winning development company, owning and managing more than 25 hotels, and was awarded the key to the City of Tampa by then-Mayor Dick Greco for developing the Hilton Garden Inn in Ybor City, the first hotel to be built in the historic district in more than 100 years.

Impact Properties currently owns a hotel in Gainesville, two in Jacksonville and two in Tampa, including The Westin on Westshore Blvd.

The company also is developing a hotel in Treasure Island, FL, in addition to the Wesley Chapel location, which Kanji says is one of the most coveted areas around.

Speaking Of Hot…

Kanji says people have asked him if he’s building his next hotel in downtown Tampa or St. Petersburg, and when he tells them no, they ask why, because those are the hot areas.

“I don’t even go where it’s already hot,” Kanji says. “We identify an emerging area, growth areas that are going to be hot. And, we get there first.”

He says that was his plan when he built a hotel in Brandon years ago, the first he says to do so on the old I-75 bypass. “The interchange wasn’t even working,” he says. “We identified where Brandon was going — it was the bedroom community of Tampa — and we identified that area as hot. We got there first. There were growing pains. We did not hit our numbers the first year or two. But, we said we will control the market.”

In the case of Wesley Chapel, however, Impact Properties will be entering a market that is already considered hot, and growing crowded quickly — landowner Bob Sierra said at the “topping” event that if the Hyatt Place is successful, Kanji has an option to build a second in the Cypress Creek Town center.

In addition to the three hotels set to open this summer, the RADD Sports Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex – which could open in spring of 2019 — will have a 120-room Marriott-branded Residence Inn on site, and the Brightwork Crossing development north of S.R. 54/56 and west of C.R. 54/Wesley Chapel Blvd. has stated plans in 2016 to build an unnamed hotel with up to 150 rooms on that site.

Also, plans were filed with the county in August for a proposed, also-unnamed  160,000-sq.-ft. hotel to be located behind the Walgreens at the S.R. 54 and Bruce B. Downs Blvd. intersection.

A report in 2016 by consultants analyzing the potential for a sports complex in Wesley Chapel pointed out the lack of hotel rooms in the area. And, while it still made a sizable economic impact (estimated at $3-million a year), it has been believed that one of the main beneficiaries of the DICK’s National Lacrosse Championships held at Wesley Chapel District Park the last several years were nearby Hillsborough County hotels, such as those in New Tampa, which took in 60-75 percent of the tournament’s teams and visitors.

While saturation may become an issue, the new hotels are anticipated to help the county’s tourism efforts and fill tax coffers. The county approved doubling its tourist tax, or bed tax, from 2 to 4 percent last year.

“What you’re seeing in Pasco County is quality,” Moore said. “There is a lot of time and effort put into these projects. We’ll be getting rooms filled, heads in beds…and we appreciate the help. It helps us grow, and helps us bring in additional profits to the county.”