Congratulations To New Tampa’s Award-Winning Seniors!

High school graduation is always an exciting time, and the 840 graduating seniors (combined) at New Tampa’s two high schools were celebrated as the year came to a close.

Freedom High held its annual “Red, White, and Blue” awards ceremony on April 17, where many of the school’s seniors were recognized for their academic achievements.

National Merit Scholarship Award finalists Britney Pun and Jessica Afiat were recognized, and the “Principal’s Patriot” award went to Vivian Ernst.

The Freedom PTSA also presented scholarships to Britney Pun, Lindsay Scherer, Olivia Pliska, and Kaitlyn Graulich. These scholarships are awarded to PTSA-member students who are headed to college, university, or vocational/technical school, and who are in good standing with the school’s office of Student Affairs, and have been recommended by their teacher, counselor or employer. They are chosen, in part, based on an essay they wrote as part of the application.

The PTSA also partnered with the Daisy Turner-Browne Scholarship Fund to award a scholarship to Alejandro Espinosa. This scholarship is awarded to a civic-minded graduating student who demonstrates academic excellence and a strong desire to pursue higher education despite personal and financial challenges.

The Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg honors one student as the Anne Frank Humanitarian award winner, recognizing a student for efforts to better the lives of people around them, whether in school or out. At Freedom, this year’s Anne Frank Humanitarian Award winner was Ishitha Panguluri. 

Outstanding scholar-athlete awards went to Alyssa De La Sala and John Purcell. 

The Picerne Family Foundation awarded scholarships to Wen Hui Chen, Elaine Feaster, Alexandria Dominique, and Lindsey Scherer. These scholarships are awarded to graduating students who are planning to attend college full time, have demonstrated civic leadership, community service, and are true “overachievers.” They are intended for deserving students who are pursuing a dream but need this support to realize their goals.

Local orthodontist Dr. Sam Jureyda of Radiance Orthodontics (see ad on page 5) also partnered with the PTSA to provide a scholarship to a senior who demonstrated commitment to serving the community. It was the first time this scholarship was offered at Freedom.

The Radiance Orthodontics Community Service Award went to Elaine Feaster (far left in photo above), who has been featured in these pages previously, for organizing book drives that collected thousands of books for underprivileged children. Elaine logged an impressive 449 service hours during her high school career.

Meanwhile, At Wharton…

Radiance Orthodontics also presented a Community Service Award to Wharton High’s Ariana Sawyer, who is pursuing a career in nursing and spent her high school years volunteering with Metropolitan Ministries, as well as for an organization that cares for foster children, at AdventHealth Tampa hospital, and at her school. This is the fifth year the Radiance Award has been presented to a Wharton senior.

Also at Wharton, AdventHealth partnered with the school’s PTSA to present a scholarship to Aubrey Glover to support his pursuit of a career as a Physician Assistant. Aubrey’s impressive resume includes taking dual enrollment classes, serving as a volunteer and a leader in extracurricular activities, plus working as a medical assistant to prepare for a career in the healthcare field. He plans to attend Florida State University in Tallahassee.

Wharton senior Jackson Raitt was honored for being a National Merit Scholarship Award finalist and the school’s Anne Frank Humanitarian award winner was Riley Hall.

The Wharton Athletic Boosters awarded scholarships to two students who maintained a 3.0 grade-point average while playing multiple sports. Award winners were Brett Brown, who was a varsity athlete in soccer, track and cross country, and Haleigh Self, who played basketball, softball and flag football.

The Wharton PTSA (photo of all four winners above right) awarded its top scholarship to Sunni Horton, who served on the school’s peer jury, Student Library Association, and National English Honor Society. She will attend Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, this fall to pursue a degree in public policy.  

The PTSA also awarded a scholarship to Chloe Kim, a leader in the school’s National Honor Society and student organizer with the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. She will attend USF this fall.

Another PTSA scholarship went to William Hineline. William served as president of the senior class, is an Eagle Scout, and excelled in several sports at Wharton. He will attend the University of Florida in Gainesville.

The final PTSA scholarship was awarded to Andrea Boknevitz, who served as both a drum major for the Wharton Marching Band and as commanding officer of the Wharton National Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC). She is attending Jacksonville University to study psychology and prepare for a career as a U.S. Navy officer.

Many other students were recognized at both schools for outstanding achievements throughout their high school careers.

Freedom High’s graduation is being held on May 30, at 8:30 a.m., for its 390 graduating seniors. Wharton High’s graduation ceremonies for its 450 graduating seniors will be held Thursday, June 1, at 3:30 p.m.

Congratulations To New Tampa’s Top Of The Class Of 2023!

We wish we could congratulate every student graduating from New Tampa’s two 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 both Freedom and Wharton 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

Freedom High

1. Sofia Murrin (Valedictorian) 

GPA: 8.2266

Clubs/Activities: Senior Class President, Scrubs Club President, HOSA President, Book Club President, Mu Alpha Theta VP, Science National Honor Society (NHS) VP, National Honor Society, Rho Kappa, Key Club, swim team, AP Capstone Diploma

College planning to attend: University of Notre Dame

Planned Major or Future Career: Double major in Biochemistry & Business to pursue a medical degree.

Best thing about High School: Life lessons I’ve learned along the way. I have learned countless lessons on friendship, the importance of diligence and perseverance, and the importance of good communication throughout these last four years that I believe shaped me into the person I am today and prepared me for my journey ahead.

2. Sienna Silvest (Salutatorian)

GPA: 8.0389

Clubs/Activities: HOSA President, Scrubs Club President, Book Club President, tutor for the nonprofit Learn To Be, volunteer volleyball coach at the YMCA, SGA

College planning to attend: University of Virginia

Planned Major or Future Career: Nursing or Psychology

Best thing about High School: Mr. Tillman’s class

3. Emma Stone

GPA: 8.0268

Clubs/Activities: Lacrosse, cross country, track & field, swim, basketball, Environmental Club, French Honor Society, FBLA, Mu Alpha Theta, Rho Kappa, Science National Honor Society (SNHS)

College planning to attend: United States Naval Academy

Planned major or future career: Naval Architecture

Best thing about high school: Mr. Tillman’s class

4. Olivia Kurtz

GPA: 7.8000

Clubs/Activities: Senior Class VP, Best Buddies President, FBLA President, Science National Honor Society President, Robotics President, Softball Captain, SGA, Mu Alpha Theta Historia, Girl Scouts (CEO advisory board, service area delegate)

College planning to attend: University of Florida

Planned major or future career: Mechanical Engineering

Best thing about high school: Mr. Tillman’s class

5. (tie) Jessica Afiat

GPA: 7.6800

Clubs/Activities: FBLA Officer, Mu Alpha Theta Treasurer, NHS, SNHS, Tri-M orchestra liaison, orchestra principal first violinist, swim team

College planning to attend: University of Florida

Planned Major: Chemical Engineering

Best thing about high school: Mr. Tillman’s class. 

5. (tie) Britney Pun 

GPA: 7.6800

Clubs/Activities: Track, lacrosse, swim, Key Club Webmaster/VP, FBLA VP, orchestra, Mu Alpha Theta, SNHS Historian, PTSA Board Campus Cleanup Lead

College planning to attend: University of Florida 

Best thing about high school: Mr. Tillman’s class. 

7. Arturo Zarrate

GPA: 7.5041

Clubs/Activities: Florida State Spanish Conference, NHS, SNHS, Spanish Honor Society, French Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, track & field, HOSA, Multicultural Club, Student Advisory Committee, Environmental Club

College planning to attend: University of Florida

Planned major or future career: Triple Major — Biochemistry, Philosophy & German

Best thing about high school: Learning how to reframe academic and social stress into new motivation to succeed.

8. Dylan Panganiban

GPA: 6.8800

Clubs/Activities: Key Club VP/President, Environmental Club, National Art Honor Society Secretary, NHS Historian/VP, Spirit Club, Varsity volleyball, swim, tennis

College planning to attend: University of Florida

Planned major or future career: I plan to pursue a career in computer science or PA Dermatology

Best thing about high school: Mr. Tillman’s class. 

9. Alyssa De La Sala

GPA: 6.8496

Clubs/Activities: Varsity flag football Captain, cross country Captain, track, varsity cheer, Allstar cheer, musical theater Class Senator, Key Club, Student Government Treasurer, NHS, Mu Alpha Theta, Best Buddies, FCA, Spirit Club President, Chess Club, SNHS, Kappa Phi Delta, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Interact Club, International Thespian Society, TriM Music Honor Society

College planning to attend: University of Florida, University of Tampa or Florida Southern College

Planned major or future career: Forensic Science

Best thing about high school: Spending time with all the people I’ve met who have helped shaped me into who I am today. I’ve loved having the opportunity to be a part of so many amazing things and creating memories that I’ll be able to share and look back on for years to come.

10. Katherine Moulton

GPA: 6.7833

Clubs/Activities: Spirit Club President, FCA, flag football, cross country Captain, track, Yearbook Editor-in-Chief

College planning to attend: University of Florida 

Planned major or future career: Finance

Best thing about high school: All of the laughs and strikes in Mr. Tillman’s class.

Wharton High

1. David Ascano (Valedictorian)

GPA: 7.5844

College Planning to Attend: University of Florida or Florida State University

2. Sammy Gillespie (Salutatorian)

GPA: 7.5775

College Planning to Attend: University of Florida

3. Liberty Sanford

GPA: 7.5073

College Planning to Attend: Florida Institute of Technology

4. Angela Anzalone Gimenez

GPA: 7.2592

5. Robert “Jackson” Raitt

GPA: 6.8800

College Planning to Attend: Marist College

6. Alessandro Anzalone

GPA: 6.8400

College Planning to Attend: University of Florida

7. Matthew Schwindler

GPA: 6.8282

College Planning to Attend: University of Florida

8. Suhani Rana

GPA: 6.7103

9. Peter Chandler

GPA: 6.6800

College Planning to Attend: University of Florida

10. Brett Brown

GPA: 6.6766

College Planning to Attend: University of Florida

We know there is a lot of additional information about the Freedom graduates than about those from Wharton. That was not our intent, but the information shown is all of the info we received from/about these Wharton students. — GN

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.

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.