The New Tampa Dance Theatre: Nearly Two Decades Of Dance &โ€ˆLife Lessons

By Bonnie Mason | September 14

New Tampa Dance Theater
New Tampa Dance Theater Performance

Dance has gained popularity in recent years with television shows like โ€œDancing with the Starsโ€ and โ€œSo You Think You Can Dance?โ€ attracting millions of viewers of all ages.

Dyane Elkins IronWing, the artistic director and owner of the New Tampa Dance Theatre (NTDT) on Cross Creek Blvd., also has made her mark through dance. Dyane and her staff of highly trained and experienced dance instructors have been teaching dance โ€” and life-lessons โ€” to New Tampa and Tampa Bay-area residents for the past 19 years.Continue reading

HCSD Launches School Lunch App

By Matt Wiley | September 14

The School Lunch app shows students a picture of whatโ€™s for lunch and provides the nutritional info.
The School Lunch app shows students a picture of whatโ€™s for lunch and provides the nutritional info.

The days of wondering what the lunch lady will be serving in the cafeteria on any given day are over for New Tampa students, as the Hillsborough County School District (HCSD) has launched a smartphone application that literally puts the menu into the hands (and pockets) of students.

According to HCSD, the app is called School Lunch by Nutrislice, which provides the menus of hundreds of schools nationwide (including schools in Wesley Chapel, too) by day and week. The app includes pictures of menu items, as well as nutrition information.Continue reading

Schenecker Trial Postponed Until April 2014

By Matt Wiley | September 11

The trial for Julie Schenecker, 52, the woman accused of murdering her teenage children in the familyโ€™s Tampa Palms home, has been postponed from October 2013 to April 2014, court records indicate.

Scheneckerโ€™s case, which was originally scheduled to begin on October 7 of this year, has been postponed until April 28, 2014. The case was postponed during a hearing on August 16, in which Hillsborough Circuit Judge Emmett Battles granted a motion from Scheneckerโ€™s lawyers for a continuance, to which the state did not object.

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New Tampa YMCA Donates School Supplies To Students In Need

By Matt Wiley | September 10

YMCA Donations, collected throughout the month of August, were distributed to children in need at Tampa Palms Elementary.
YMCA Donations, collected throughout the month of August, were distributed to children in need at Tampa Palms Elementary.

Heading back to school after summer vacation can be tough for students. Who wants to start doing homework again after so many days off? For many students, however, homework isnโ€™t among their biggest concerns. For families in need, heading back to school can be much more difficult, as a simple thing like school supplies can be tough to fit into the family budget.

To help ease the transition into a new school year, the New Tampa Family YMCA, located on Compton Dr. in Tampa Palms, decided to hold its second annual school supply drive to benefit the students of families that may have had a hard time purchasing necessary supplies for classes.Continue reading

New Tampa Teen To Tee Off At Pebble Beach During PGA Event

Terese Romeo, 16, practices her putting at the Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club.
Terese Romeo, 16, practices her putting at the Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club.

By Matt Wiley | September 14

Terese Romeo looks down at the tee box on the signature par-3 17th hole at Tampa Palms Golf & County Club. After judging the distance and deciding her plan of attack to stay out of the holeโ€™s large water hazard, she adjusts her stance, pulls her Ping club back, swings and watches her ball land safely on the green, just feet from the hole.

In just a few weeks, Romeo will be repeating the same process alongside a PGA Champions (formerly โ€œSenior PGAโ€) Tour pro and in front of an international audience on one of the countryโ€™s most prestigious courses, the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, CA.

At just 16 years old, Romeo, a Freedom High student and Tampa Palms resident, will be playing in front of the entire world during the 2013 Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, which will be held September 27-29 and televised on the Golf Channel.

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