From Homecoming to field trips, the Covid-19 pandemic has stolen quite a bit of the typical senior year experience from the graduating class of 2021.
At Wharton High, senior Taryn Bartley was determined that it wouldnât steal the senior prom, too.
Taryn didnât know if her fellow classmates would even be interested in attending a prom planned by another student, so she took to Instagram and posted a poll asking Wharton seniors if they would go, where they would want the prom to be held, and how much they would be willing to spend on a ticket.
Taryn Bartley
âI got 144 responses to that survey,â she says, âand it snowballed from there.â
After touring a few venues, she chose The Italian Club in Ybor City and set the date for May 28. She drafted rules, like no alcohol and identification being required, and only sold tickets to students whose parents signed a form acknowledging the rules.
While school prom committees typically spend all year planning for the big day, Taryn had just 44 days from the day she posted the survey until the day the prom was held. Her mom Amy provided guidance and signed the contracts with vendors, and they benefited from Tarynâs older sisterâs experience, who helped plan the Wharton prom two years before.
Taryn knew she needed to sell at least 100 tickets to have enough money to rent the venue. An additional 40 tickets would allow her to hire a deejay.
She was told a typical Wharton prom often has about 300 or 350 students attending, so she was thrilled when she sold 201 tickets.
Then, her mom says, âShe worked really hard to spend all the money because she didnât want to make a profit.â
Taryn held the event the day after graduation. She didnât want any repercussions from the school for students who attended, and wanted to minimize the chance that anyone might have to quarantine due to exposure to Covid at the prom.
âIf I was the reason someone couldnât walk at graduation, I would have felt terrible,â Taryn says.
The night of the event, Tarynâs parents and a couple of other adults took over as chaperones so she could enjoy herself, going out to dinner in a party bus with friends.
But first, they gathered at the Hunterâs Green Captain Nathaniel Hunter Park with dozens of others, taking pictures as theyâve done for many other events over the years.
âWeâve all gone to school with most of these people our whole lives,â says Taryn. âWeâve added more people as you go on, but there are a lot of the same people, and it was really nice to have everyone together.â
Officially, Wharton did offer some activities to replace prom, so Taryn also was careful to include the schoolâs student-elected prom court in her event.
âOut of 10 members of the prom court, we had eight of them come to our prom,â she says. The two who were missing participated in a separate prom organized by different students and parents.
Taryn says that all of the hard work definitely was worth it. âI think it turned out great,â she says. âIt really came together like a last hurrah.â
With more than 1,000 homes scheduled to be built in the coming years in the sprawling K-Bar Ranch development in New Tampa, District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera has been keeping a close eye on the transportation issues already plaguing the community.
Whether itâs poorly marked roads, unsafe crosswalks or simply ways to get in and out of K-Bar Ranch, the infrastructure needs to keep pace.
By the end of this year, a number of improvements along K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. are expected to be completed.
The parkway itself is still under construction and less than half complete, but when completed, it will be the spine road of the growing community. At that point, it will run from the Kinnan St. entrance all the way east to Morris Bridge Rd., to an exit/entrance just a little north of the current entrance to the Easton Park subdivision.
Residents have complained about the lack of definitive striping on the completed portions of K-Bar Ranch Pkwy., resulting in some near-accidents. Two auto-related deaths, in 2012 and 2019, were both blamed on speeding.
Viera says he has experienced the concerns first-hand. After conducting one of his community meetings at K-Bar Ranch, Viera says a vehicle almost hit him on his way out.
âMe and my son were driving out on the same K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. residents had just been complaining about, and, lo and behold, I had to swerve out of the way of another car in what could have been a tragic accident,â Viera says.
Viera requested that the City of Tampa take immediate action. He also plans on holding a K-Bar Ranch workshop at a City Council meeting in September to address other issues related to public safety.
Improvements now planned for K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. include:
âą Departing Kinnan St. eastbound, the existing 30-mph speed limit signs will be upgraded with enhanced and more visible panels above.
âą Approaching Kinnan St. westbound, upgraded stop signs and bright sticks will be added.
âą Departing Hawk Valley Dr (private road) eastbound, adding a two-way traffic warning sign.
âą Departing Redwood Point Dr. east- and westbound, installing new 30-mph speed limit signs and with enhanced conspicuity panels above.
âą The skipping yellow center line along the original section of K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. will be updated with a double yellow center line and raised pavement markers.
âą Departing Laurel Vista Way (private road)/Wild Tamarind Dr. east- and westbound, new 30-mph speed limit signs and more visible panels above will be installed.
âą Approaching Paddock View Dr. eastbound, end-of-road marking signage (red diamonds) and an advanced T-intersection warning sign will be added, as well as a refreshing of all markings as needed and adding raised pavement markers.
âą Departing Paddock View Dr. westbound, new 30-mph speed limit signs will be installed with enhanced conspicuity panels above.
âIt is pivotal that the City of Tampa and local governments invest in the requisite infrastructure, roads and public safety systems, as a community grows,â Viera says. âK-Bar Ranch is a growing community and needs this constant attention. Transportation is pivotal.â
CONNECTION COMING: Another primary improvement along K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. will be a connection to Meadow Pointe Blvd. into Wesley Chapel. However, the developer, MI Homes, has targeted Dec. 31 as a completion date, although there are still some permitting issues to resolve that could stretch that completion date into 2022.
The Meadow Pointe Blvd. connection will be the only northbound way out of K-Bar Ranch (other than Morris Bridge Rd.) when K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. is completed.
The Meadow Pointe Blvd. connection is the consolation prize for those who wanted to see Kinnan St. in K-Bar and Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe connected to give residents on both sides of the border easier access and to reduce congestion on BBD.
But, as weâve reported previously, after years of negotiating with Hillsborough County, Pasco County commissioned a study that recommended connecting the roads only for emergency use, and instead agreed to connect K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. to Meadow Pointe Blvd. and Wyndfields Blvd. for vehicular traffic.
K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. is being constructed in segments, and once each road segment is completed, it will permit the developers to build more homes in that area.
Segment C, starting at the Kinnan St. entrance, is currently completed. Segment D, which is partially completed, will connect to the Meadow Pointe Blvd. extension, which also is under construction right now.
Segment F also is under construction, and will take the parkway almost to the westernmost part of Easton Park.
Completion is targeted for Dec. 31 for those segments.
The remaining segments to complete the parkway are pending permitting, meaning that completion will most likely not happen until 2022.
The new artificial field at Wharton is progressing nicely. (Photo: @WhartonWildcats)
Wharton High will be playing its football games this fall on a brand new artificial turf field, with construction expected to be completed by the end of July.
The Wildcats will debut the field for their regular season football home opener against rival Freedom High on August 27.
âOh yeah, they are excited about it,â says Whartonâs athletic director Eddie Henderson.
According to Henderson, Hillsborough County Public Schools is doing a rotation of 3-5 fields each summer, with the final goal being to install artificial turf at every public high school.
Last year, the first schools in the rotation â Sumner, Sickles and Hillsborough â had new fields put in. This summer, Steinbrenner, Lennard and Blake are getting new fields, along with Wharton. Each field costs roughly $2 million, but Henderson says the District will make up a lot of those costs with what it saves in maintenance and re-sodding.
âI think that there will be a lot of money saved over the long run,â Henderson says.
Plant High was the first county public school to put in an artificial turf field in 2010, after raising $600,000 for the project.
SPEAKING OF WILDCATS: Wharton recently wrapped up its spring season with a 14-0 loss in one half of play against Tampa Bay Tech, but second-year coach Mike Williams wasnât concerned about the score.
âThe spring is about evaluating our kids and seeing who is ready to move up to varsity,â Williams says. âAnd we liked what we saw.â
Although the Wildcats graduated all of their varsity quarterbacks, Williams was pleased with last yearâs junior varsity starter, Tyree Works, who handled all of the spring snaps. But, Works will have more competition in the fall from some promising freshmen and transfers. Williams is hoping to transition from a power-based offense to one featuring more perimeter passes to spread out the game.
With leading rusher Keith Morris and some key wide receiver transfers ready to beef up the offense, Williams expects to score more than the 19 points per game the team averaged last year.
Almost every defensive player is back, including a linebacking crew that could make an argument for being the best in Tampa Bay and includes All-Staters Daveon Crouch, who recently committed to Boston College, and Henry Griffith and second-team MaxPreps Freshman All-American Booker Pickett Jr.
The Wildcats went 7-2 in 2020 because the defense was top-flight, allowing only nine points per game and posting three shutouts.
âThis is going to be a big summer for a lot of the guys,â Williams says.
NUMBERS GAME AT FREEDOM: Freedom High, coming off a winless season, picked up an 8-7 jamboree win over King last month to wrap up spring football.
Quarterback Alex de la Cruz threw a touchdown pass to Greg Underwood Jr., and then found RJ Broadnax for the two-point conversion and the win.
De la Cruz will enter the fall as the starter, after promising freshman and last yearâs leading passer Taquawn Anthony said he would not be returning to Freedom.
The Patriots suffered a more serious blow when their best player, Robby Washington, transferred to Eagleâs Landing High in McDonough, GA. Washington led Freedom in rushing, receiving and touchdowns last year, and averaged more than 12 yards every time he touched the ball. He has offers from Alabama, Miami and Boston College.
Third-year coach Chris Short will continue trying to rebuild the Patriots, though only 22 players dressed out for the spring game and very few of them had any previous game experience.
He says a lot of players are waiting on paperwork, but admits that adequately filling a football roster for the upcoming fall season will be a tough chore.
âThe hardest thing Iâm dealing with right now is the same as when I was an assistant, and thatâs getting kids to come out,â Short says. âIâm hoping itâs a cyclical thing with us, but if we can get these kids signed up weâll be okay.â
Thereâs something about staring longingly out your window while tucked safely away inside during a pandemic that makes you notice that your drapes are looking a little dingy, or your shutters feel a little outdated, or the light coming in is really harsher than you originally thought.
That might explain why the phones at the Budget Blinds office of Wesley Chapelâs Mike and Adriane Wonderlin rarely stopped ringing this past year.
âTo be honest, business has never been better,â says Adriane. âPeople are in their homes, looking out their windows and getting sick of looking at the same thing all the time.â
But, thatâs not the only reason, Adriane adds. New homes are flying off the shelves, too, and many new owners are eager to put their own touch on their new residences.
âThereâs a lot of new construction going on, and they donât want the builderâs blinds,â Adriane says. âThey want something they had a choice in (to make) their homes more beautiful.â
Wesley Chapel residents Adriane and Mike Wonderlin own one of the top Budget Blinds franchises in the country.
The growth has led Adriane and Mike to expand. After working for Budget Blinds for nearly 10 years, the Lexington Oaks residents are now the owners of the Budget Blinds franchises in Greater Tampa, Brandon and Lakeland. Adriane says their territory, which stretches all the way north to San Antonio and south to Palmetto and includes showrooms on W. Fletcher Ave. (near I-275, two exits south of Wesley Chapelâs S.R. 56 exit) and in Riverview, covers nearly 90 zip codes.
The brisk business has not only led to having to hire more employees (they now have 30), but Budget Blinds has outgrown its Riverview showroom, which is being expanded. The showrooms are still closed to walk-in traffic, as Budget Blinds continues to take Covid precautions and a no-contact approach, with design consultants still wearing gloves, masks and booties when visiting their customersâ homes.
And, this summer, the Wonderlins will expand to Wesley Chapel.
Budget Blinds was one of the first businesses to sign a lease for a spot in the upcoming KRATE container park at The Grove. After a number of delays, they hope to be open sometime in June or July.
The container set-up will feature living spaces that show off the offerings at Budget Blinds (something similar to IKEAâs set-ups). There will be samples on hand and design consultants to assist in making your choices.
âIt will be like a mini-showroom,â Adriane says.
The new showroom also will utilize television monitors and iPads to help bring your ideas into focus. Itâs part of a move to a more digital approach, the Wonderlins say.
And, speaking of digital approaches, their Budget Blinds franchise also is beefing up its social media standing with a renewed focus on Instagram â @budgetblindsgreatertampa â where it is polling customers to determine what they like and teaming up with online influencers to bring the possibilities offered by Budget Blinds to life.
There is a variety of styles to choose from no matter what you are looking for â from best-selling brands like Signature Series, Enlightened Styles and Norman Shutters.
Blinds come in vinyl, wood, fabric, faux wood and aluminum. Shutter options range from real wood (in painted or stained) and also composite shutters that will not fade or warp.
If you prefer shades, you can choose from roller, pleated, Roman, cellular, woven wood, bamboo, sheer, solar and graphic, not to mention a variety of panels, valances and drapes.
Adriane says the most popular choices are plantation shutters, which is a huge part of Budget Blindsâ business, and treatments like Roman and roller shades remain a top seller. Adriane says after years of more simple and hard-lined window treatments, soft treatments also are growing again in popularity.
Features that continue to grow in popularity are motorization and automation.
Budget Blinds has a private label called Smart Home Collection by Budget Blinds, and it can be used with a variety of vendors.
âIf you found a certain fabric with one vendor, but for another room you want a different vendor, that system will work with both,â Mike says. âItâs a single platform that goes across multiple brands.â
Motorization is more pushing a button on a remote control or keypad, while automation is typically using an app on a phone to set times for the drapes or blinds to open and close. Scheduled correctly, you can be awakened in the morning by natural sunlight as your blackout shades gradually rise, or change the ambiance of your whole home after the sun has set, all with the press of a button or a voice command.
Both eliminate the need for unsightly (and sometimes dangerous) cords.
âItâs great for windows behind couches, especially if you have a conservation view,â Mike says. âPeople love not having to go (manually) raise the blinds on eight windows every morning. I even had a customer a few months ago (whose) teenage sons wouldnât wake up, so they set the timers on their blinds for 7 a.m.â
The technology gets better every year, Mike says, and sales of motorization/automation products are up 25 percent over the past three years.
About The Company
Budget Blinds was founded in 1992 in Orange County, CA, and has more than 1,000 franchises in the U.S. and Canada. The Wonderlinsâ franchise, which they purchased in 2018, was recently awarded Budget Blindsâ national Franchise of the Year for 2020, the franchiseâs third such honor since 2016.
The Wonderlins have a staff of 30 consultants, including installation manager Bill Tumelty, a U.S. Army veteran, and administrative manager Kristi Cicollelo.
Tumelty is one of a few military veterans working for the Wonderlins, who partner with Homes For Our Troops by providing and installing the window treatments in the homes of wounded veterans for free.
Whether youâre looking for improved aesthetics or smarter energy consumption â or, like many customers, a little bit of both â Budget Blinds can steer you in the right direction. And this summer, your journey to more elegant and convenient window treatments can start right in the new local mini-showroom at KRATE.
âWeâre excited about it,â Adriane says. âAnything you put in Wesley Chapel right now takes off. And, weâre local â itâs literally right in our backyard.â
The main Budget Blinds of Greater Tampa showroom is located at 1208 W. Fletcher Ave. The showroom hours are Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. To schedule a complimentary in-home consultation, call (813) 968-5050. For more info, visit BudgetBlinds.com/NorthTampa or see the ad on page 24.
New Tampa is at its best when it comes together to fight for important additions to the community, like the 2017 budget battle that led to an expansion of the New Tampa Rec Center.
Three Master of Social Work (MSW) students at Southeastern University in Lakeland hosted a New Tampa Town Hall meeting on Zoom, hoping to discuss the communityâs potential for growth.
The final verdict? To grow, you need to connect.
During the 40-minute Zoom call on May 4, presenters Darlene Starrette, Kyrin Backlund and Melissa Rice (a 20-year resident of New Tampa and the only member of her group that lives here) discussed the opportunities that New Tampa could partake in to increase community engagement. In addition, they held an open forum to hear from the 17 attendees present, including District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera.
âWhile New Tampa can feel like a disconnected place, residents have voices that matter and we would like to hear your voices,â Starrette said.
The Zoom call was part of a final project in the course âGeneralist Practice with Groups, Communities and Organizations.â The three students completed their first year in the Masterâs program and are currently beginning their summer internships. Next year, the students will start their final clinical year to earn their MSW degrees.
Rice was the one who suggested focusing on New Tampa for their final project. She described herself not as a social butterfly, but as someone who was interested in hearing from the people of her community.
âNew Tampa just isnât talked about much at all,â Rice said. âLiving here, I was very interested in other peopleâs perceptions of the community.â
Luis Viera
One of the main issues discussed during the meeting was the lack of interaction between New Tampa neighborhoods. Viera, who has long argued the same thing, said that New Tampa needed a better collective community identity.
âWe see ourselves as Tampa Palms, Hunterâs Green, Richmond Place, Cory Lake Isles, K-Bar Ranch, Grand Hampton, etc. and we donât see ourselves as New Tampa collectively,â Viera said.
During the Zoom call, a link was shared to a 42-page community engagement tool kit that covers the demographics of New Tampa, benefits of community engagement and survey results posted on the app Nextdoor. From the responses of 21 residents who took the survey, the lack of social and cultural events in New Tampa was highlighted as a priority.
âIn terms of its cohesiveness and community spirit, itâs not a town â itâs just a zip code,â said Priscilla Stephenson, a Tampa resident who participated in the meeting.
Rendering of the New Tampa Performing Arts Center.
The New Tampa Performing Arts Center (PAC), which has been 17 years in the making, also was a hot topic during the meeting. The team encouraged the Zoom call participants to email and voice their support for the vote occurring the next day. On May 5, the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners approved the construction contract of the PAC.
âIn our research, we found that there are a lot of benefits to engaging the community,â Backlund said, âincluding overall health, sense of belonging and social connectedness.â
Rice talked about how some members of the community wanted better transportation and more affordable housing. From her notes, she recorded that New Tampa residents also wanted to fill some of the open store fronts, build cultural bridges and have more restaurants in the area.
Although two of the three MSW students arenât residents of New Tampa, each member has worked towards a common goal of establishing New Tampaâs sense of community. Backlund suggested creating a Facebook page for the New Tampa area to keep the community discussion going.
While nearby Wesley Chapel has three robust community Facebook pages with nearly 60,000 total combined members, New Tampaâs busiest Facebook page, New Tampa Online Yardsale!, is mostly for selling household items.
âIâm just hoping that this isnât the end,â Backlund said. âOur goal is to get people on board and start to actually make some significant changes.â
The three MSW students want the residents of New Tampa to take pride in their community and to keep engaging through community events.
âItâs really up to the community to decide that this is a good thing for them and itâs something that they really want to do,â Starrette said.
