Turner-Bartels Kindergarten Teacher Runner-Up For ‘Teacher Of The Year’

Kindergarten teacher Carrie Donatelli of Turner-Bartels K-8 School was a 2017 finalist for Hillsborough Teacher of the Year.

At the annual “Excellence in Education” awards banquet to be held February 28, Hillsborough County Public Schools announced the school district’s 2017 Teacher of the Year.

Although she did not win, one of this year’s six finalists was Carrie Donatelli, a kindergarten teacher at Turner/Bartels K-8 School in New Tampa.

“Just to be one of six finalists in Hillsborough County, which is one of the largest school districts in the country, is such a huge honor,” Donatelli said. “It’s very humbling.”

Donatelli has been teaching for 16 years, with the last four years being at Turner/Bartels. She says she loves teaching at the school because of its commitment to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), and she serves on the school’s technology committee, which is currently working to design “capstone projects” to determine what kids at each grade level should be able to do using technology.

“In kindergarten, it’s things like turning on the computer and logging on to websites,” Donatelli says. “But, by the eighth grade, these kids are doing some amazing things.”

Her supervisor is Turner-Bartels assistant principal Lara Barone.

“(Carrie) does great innovative things, different than what you would expect in a typical classroom,” Barone says. “She wants her kids to be citizens of the world, so her kids have Skyped with people around the world.”

Donatelli also uses technology to strengthen the bond between home and the classroom. For example, she posts pictures of her class to a private Instagram page. “It gives the parents a window into their kids’ class,” she says.

In fact, while it seems schools are increasingly focused on testing, and technology plays an integral part in Donatelli’s classroom, neither test results nor technology are what Donatelli says is her biggest goal.

“The most important thing is that my students know I care about them,” she says. “I’m here for them, whatever they need. My classroom is very structured and has high expectations, but it’s also very loving and caring.”

Clearly, her students feel the love. Barone says Donatelli is often requested as a teacher and Donatelli says she is now teaching younger siblings of previous students, and strives to maintain relationships with those families. In 2015, she was invited to a high school graduation for a girl who was in her very first kindergarten class. “It’s pretty cool to maintain those relationships,” she says.

Barone says that, in addition to Donatelli being a natural leader and someone who can always be counted on at the school level to go above and beyond, she also has shown a commitment to the next generation of educators.

“She is a great mentor to interns, and is able to mold and help shape some of our future teachers,” Barone says. “Her past intern is now a teacher in the classroom right next door to hers.”

Donatelli credits those around her, including Barone and her former-intern-turned-next-door-neighbor, for helping her students succeed in a great educational environment.

“I don’t do this job alone,” says Donatelli. “It’s an amazing school with amazing teachers. We collaborate well and work well together, and we’re all here for the kids.”

Cypress Point Community Church Unveils New Youth Center & ‘Dwelling Place’

Change was the subject of Youth Pastor Earl Henning’s first Sunday sermon in Cypress Point Community Church (CPCC)’s new youth center.

“We have changed buildings, stages, microphones and there’s an element of uncertainty,” Henning told the young congregation. As the church’s youth ministry gets used to its new home, known as “The Dwelling Place,” he reminded the Sunday service gathering at the center of what remains constant: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever.”

Cypress Point’s lead Pastor Dean Reule says that the 10,000-sq.-ft  Dwelling Place cost $1 million to build and sits beside the church’s main building, which can be accessed from Morris Bridge Rd., just north of Cross Creek Blvd.

There’s plenty at the youth center to interest young people in grades 7 to 12, such as room for basketball and volleyball, free-standing video games, snack bar, pool table, lounge area with cell phone-charging stations, rooms to meet in and special activities.

Reule notes that the new facility is the largest youth center in New Tampa, Wesley Chapel or Zephyrhills. He says the goal of The Dwelling Place is to provide a resource for young people.

“Many teens in the area are looking for something to do,” Reule says. “This generation has more discretionary time than any other generation and we want to stand in the gap and share our message with the teens of today and future generations.”

The nondenominational center will mainly be open for scheduled church activities at first, but there are plans to expand operating hours and community access in the next few months, possibly adding after-school hours a couple of days a week.

“We’re hoping we can open it up after school as a safe place to play basketball or do homework,” Henning says.

According to Reule, the new facility opens up new possibilities to serve the interests of its youngest members and neighbors.

“It’s a little bit of a blank canvas now,“ he says. “There are lots of ways for the church to engage the youth and be a positive impact on lives.”

The Dwelling Place is part of the student ministry at CPCC, which offers a variety of ongoing activities, such as movie nights, retreats, missions in the local community and beyond, as well as Sunday services promoted as, “Worth waking up for!”

One teenage church member who wakes up for Sunday services is Riley Denham, who anticipates good times in The Dwelling Place.

“It’s a fun place,” he says. “It has basketball and video games before services, and there’s a hang-out space where you can meet your friends.”

Riley’s father, Justin Denham, finds the facility uplifting.

“It’s a fun, friendly place where you can play some games and learn about Christ,” Justin says.

The new building is a visible indication of how much CPCC has grown since it consisted of a few families meeting in homes and rented spaces.

The center is the second phase of a three-part plan Reule and the church put together about five years ago.

The first phase successfully retired a $1 million debt on the main building. The third phase of the church’s plan is to remodel the main building to accommodate a counseling center.

The Dwelling Place of Cypress Point Community Church is located at 15820 Morris Bridge Rd. Learn more about it via social media at “The Dwelling Place at Cypress Point” on Facebook and on Twitter @dpnation1. The Dwelling Place website is DwellingPlaceYouth.com. Wednesday night services are held at 7 p.m. and Sunday services are at 9:30 a.m. & 11 a.m.

New Tampa Players Co-Founder Announces New Show & Master Theatre Class

Danny Zolli will give an Acting Master Class on Saturday, March 11, for the first 40 area performers to sign up.

There may be little news to report right now about the oft-delayed New Tampa Cultural Center, but one of the main beneficiaries of the proposed center is keeping busy.

Doug Wall, who founded the non-profit New Tampa Players (NTP) community theatre troupe that will one day call the cultural center home, has a number of projects scheduled that will keep the budding thespian communities in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel busy.

First, Wall is bringing in renowned Broadway star Danny Zolli to give an Acting Master Class as a fund raiser for NTP, at the troupe’s current home at the University Area Cultural Development Center (UACDC) on N. 22nd St., just south of Bearss Ave.

“We want to reach out to all of the thespians all over the Tampa Bay area,’’ Wall said.

Scheduled for Saturday, March 11, 2 p.m.-5 p.m., the class will allow area performers to learn from Zolli, who has been heralded for his enormous vocal range and is best known for his record-breaking number of productions as Jesus, Judas and Annas in more than 25 productions of the Broadway hit “Jesus Christ Superstar” throughout the world.

The cost for the class is $100, and the class will be limited to the first 40 that sign up.

“With a master class, you want to keep it small,’’ Wall says. “If you’re working on something, you can audition that piece so he can critique it and work with you on it. There will be pulled readings and improv, a lot of the things that go on in New York and Los Angeles that he’s bringing here.”

Except for the price – Wall says a similar class held in those cities would cost at least $350. “This is a great opportunity for people,’’ he says.

Zolli’s appearance at the UACDC coincides with the NTP’s own production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” which kicks off the troupe’s 2017 season and will be performed on Fri., Mar. 31, Sat., Apr. 1, Fri.-Sat., April 7-8, 8 p.m., and at 2 p.m. on Sat.-Sun, April 1-2, and Sat.-Sun., April 8-9.

Zolli will actually give two Master Classes, but Wall has reserved one for the NTP’s current “Jesus Christ Superstar” cast of 25 performers.

“As soon as we chose ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ as a show we wanted to produce, I reached out to Danny and said, ‘I would really like to do something special and (have our group) work with you in a workshop environment to understand the show like you do,’’ Wall says. “It means everything to our group and our production to work with Danny.”

Zolli starred as Jesus in the 30th anniversary concert of “Jesus Christ Superstar”, and, in the 25th anniversary North American Resurrection Tour of the show, he won critical acclaim for his portrayal of the high priest Annas.

ROCKTOPIA, TOO!

Wall is just as excited these days about a new venture of which he is the associate producer – “Rocktopia,” which might be best described as putting an opera, a Broadway play, a light show and a classic rock concert into a blender, with a dash of Mozart, Queen, Tchaikovsky and Pink Floyd.

Wall says it’s a brand new concept he has been working on with Rob Evan, a member of the multi-platinum selling rock band Trans-Siberian Orchestra and the developer of “Rocktopia.”

“You have a symphony orchestra, a rock band, rock singers, a gospel choir, a light show and a video show,’’ Wall said. “It’s a great concept.”

Wall says the “Rocktopia” group performed its first concert in June at the Hungarian State Opera House in Budapest for PBS-TV, featuring six vocalists, five rock musicians, the Hungarian Opera Choir and the 65-piece Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert aired in Cleveland during a telethon and helped raise more than $35,000; you can catch the concert on PBS on Thursday, March 8.

The first “Rocktopia” tour kicks off Tuesday, March 28, in Portland, ME, with concerts planned in 23 cities over 28 days.

“Rocktopia” is scheduled to appear at the STRAZ Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Tampa on Saturday, April 22.

“This is eight years in the making,’’ Wall says. “We’re hoping to take the same path  Trans-Siberian Orchestra took – they partnered with PBS, started in performing arts centers and graduated to stadium concerts.”

Two other projects Wall is hoping to bring back to the area are his “Broadway Comes To Tampa” (BCTT) dinner gala, and a two-week Broadway camp that he previously held at Hunter’s Green Country Club 2004-09.

That camp was called the “NTP Broadway Summer Camp,” but Wall says it will have a different name when it returns in 2018. Instead of a day camp, like it was before, the new camp will be a two-week overnight camp that Wall says he is hoping to hold at Saddlebrook Resort  & Spa in Wesley Chapel.

The camp will be open to actors from all over the southeast, and Wall hopes to provide scholarships to this unique program and to colleges with money raised by the BCTT, which was a fund raiser for the Masque Theatre in Temple Terrace in 2000-01 and for NTP from 2002-15.

“We’re still working out all the details,’’ Wall says about BCTT and the summer camp. “But we really want to bring them back.”

For more information about the upcoming performances by the NTP, visit New TampaPlayers.org or call 644-8285. For more info about “Rocktopia,” check out Rocktopia.com.

Lake Forest Could Have Company With New Development

Planners will be seeking permission on Monday, March 20, to rezone nearly 70 acres of land north and east of Lake Forest (see map below) for future development, according to county records.

Engineer Tim Powell of TSP Companies, Inc., on behalf of the land owner Giunta Group Ltd., has applied to rezone 69 acres of developable upland areas at the northeast corner of 42nd street and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd.

The meeting is scheduled to be held at 6 p.m. at the Hillsborough County Center at 601 E. Kennedy Blvd. in downtown Tampa.

The total acreage of the Giunta property is 641.95 acres, most of it protected wetlands.

Powell is seeking a change to planned development (PD) zoning for three island-like areas abutting Lake Forest in order to build a mixed-use (multi-family residential and commercial and office, or non-residential) development on the site.

The development, called The Reserve at Grand Cypress, would consist of 26,000-sq.ft. of commercial space, 149,000-sq.ft. of office space and 812 multi-family units.

Requests for rezoning hearings were originally scheduled for Dec. 19, Jan. 19 and Feb. 20, but were postponed each time as the site plan has undergone numerous revisions.

Powell wrote in his letter to Lake Forest property owners on Nov. 14 of last year that the property, “has undergone extensive preliminary environmental, civil and transportation engineering and planning for the past two years in anticipation of submitting the Planned Development (PD) site plan specific zoning.”

Lake Forest residents — primarily the 100 or so whose current homes are right on the boundary of the proposed Reserve at Grand Cypress — are expected to present their concerns at the rezoning meeting.

Those concerns, to name a few, are likely to include the impact of building such a large development on the local environment and wildlife, how construction will affect the way the water currently drains from the wetlands, the noise and the proximity of the new apartments to the existing homes, and a potential issue with school rezonings.

Most of the area is already zoned for Chiles Elementary in Tampa Palms, although that school is close to capacity.

Another concern is traffic. However, by the time any construction begins — Powell says it would be “multiple” years before ground is even broken on the project — Segment A of the BBD widening project, which currently is under construction, should be completed.

Some Lake Forest residents met with Powell on Feb. 2, where he presented the proposed plans.

Those residents responded with some of their desires, while hoping to schedule another meeting with Powell.

Local Prep Sports Notebook — High School Teams Excelling In Softball & Track

National Signing Day was Wednesday, Feb. 1. Signing to play college ball from Wharton were (l.-r.) volleyball player Allie Schneider (Florida College), softball player MacKenzie Allen (University of Tampa), and all-time volleyball kills leader Kathryn Attar.

Freedom coach Autum Hernandez knew coming into the 2017 softball season she was going to have to lean on her incoming freshmen this year, but she didn’t know the youngsters would come through so quickly.

Thanks to some clutch pitching and hitting from freshman Niyah Pope, the Patriots opened what should be an interesting season with a 6-5 win on Feb. 14 over traditional Tampa Bay power Riverview.

Pope pitched the last four innings, allowing just one hit and striking out four, to earn the win, and also contributed a base hit and two RBI for Freedom.

“If she keeps working hard, she is going to be very good,’’ said Hernandez, who guided the Patriots to the State championship game in 2013.

Hernandez has never started a season with so many young players. She only has 11 players on her roster, and five of them are freshman. She says once they adapt to the speed of the high school game, however, the Patriots could be contenders in Class 8A, District 4, which includes Wharton, Wiregrass Ranch and defending champion Strawberry Crest.

“We’re small, so we have to stay healthy,’’ she said.

The season-opening win was a confidence boost for her young players. The Patriots fell behind in the top of the second inning when the Sharks scored all five of their runs, but settled down and started coming back. They scored a run in the bottom of the second, and then added four in the bottom of the third to tie it up.

In the bottom of the seventh, Freedom loaded the bases and senior Gracie Seidel scored the winning run on an error, the ninth miscue of the game for the Sharks.

“We just put the ball in play and took advantage of their mistakes,’’ Hernandez said.

The Patriots may be young, but they do return a few key components, like Seidel, the senior centerfielder who batted .259 last season with five extra base hits, junior middle infielder Dallas O’Clair (.296 with a team-high 16 RBI) and infielder and leading hitter Lauren Hall, who batted .436 in 2016.

The Patriots will host rival Wharton on Thursday, March 9, 7 p.m.

Speaking of the Wildcats — who were 11-10 last season but advanced to the District championship game before falling in extra innings in a Regional quarterfinal loss to Ocala Forest — they return the bulk of their roster and opened their season in impressive fashion.

The Wildcats pounced on the Panthers of Plant for a 10-0 victory shortened after five innings due to the mercy rule.

Signing from Freedom were (l.-r.) football player Kalijahe Spann (Warner University), girls basketball player Megan Clark (Tennessee Tech) and golfer Tyler Bray (Maryville College).

TRACK OFF & RUNNING: Hillsborough High may have won the team titles at the New Tampa Preseason Classic on Feb. 9, but the tracksters from Wharton and Freedom both came away with some notable performances.

Wharton sophmore Nehemiah Rivers and his senior sister Bryanna both captured first-place in the 1,600-meter run. Nehemiah won his race in 4 minutes, 44 seconds, while Bryanna covered the four laps in 5:20.

Rivers was followed in her race by six of her teammates, as the Wildcats swept the top seven spots in the race. Senior Rania Samhouri was second in 5:24, and was followed by junior Rachel Lettiero, freshman Nia Rivers, sophomores Kayla McCullough and Amanda Blake, and senior Marin James.

Freshman Casey Pleune was second in the boys’ race behind Nehemiah Rivers in 4:46.

Wharton senior Aria Tate won the 100m hurdles in 14.70, more than two seconds ahead of the next closest finisher, and Lettiero won the 3200m race, with sophomores Amanda Brake and Nicolina Otero finishing in second and third, respectively. The Wharton boys picked up first-place finishes from senior Ryan Russell, who won the 400 hurdles in 50.50 seconds; Eric Jurgensmeyer, who won the 800 meters; and senior high jumper Justin Brown, who soared 5 feet, 8 inches.

Freedom junior Alejandro Michel won the 3,200-meter race in 10:36, 19 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, and Bryant Young tossed the discus 102 feet and 10.25 inches to win his event. Young’s throw was almost 16 feet further than anyone else.

Freedom’s Trent Burnett was a double winner, winning the 200m in 24.10 and with a long jump of 20 feet, 9 inches.