Once again, every school in Wesley Chapel but one received either an A or B grade from the state, including John Long Middle School (an A school for the 13th consecutive year, and Sand Pine Elementary (an A school for the 19th time in 21 years). Also, Wiregrass Elem. earned its first-ever A & the Union Park Academy charter school has received an A after its first full school year.
In Pasco County, learning doesnât stop when the bell rings at the end of the school day. From robotics to clay sculpting, and from Spanish to Zumba, students in several schools will again have access to innovative options after school that are fun and engaging, focused on skills the students want to acquire.
Two such pilot programs are being expanded onto three more Wesley Chapel campuses for the 2019-20 school year. Pasco Countyâs successful âExplorationsâ program for elementary school students will be offered at Seven Oaks Elementary and âBeyond The Bellâ for middle school students will be offered at both John Long and Thomas Weightman middle schools.
For parents of middle school students who previously did not have an on-campus option for care after school, Beyond The Bell brings a program that keeps kids active and engaged after the school bell rings. It was started in two Pasco County middle schools (Rushe and River Ridge) last year, both located outside of Wesley Chapel.
Beyond The Bell is a fee-based program that is available every day from the time school gets out (which may vary) until 6 p.m. âStudents get group tutoring by certified teachers, âtechno time,â where they work on projects or research, plus clubs, socialization and enrichment programs, which change every seven weeks,â says Carlotta Mathis, the Enrichment Specialist in Pasco Countyâs After School Enrichment Programs department. âThat enrichment is everything from hip-hop and jazz dance, to robotics, to life skills.â
She explains that a wide variety of life skills are taught, such as home economics, culinary skills, babysitting and even staying home alone, as well as economics and math, where students are taught basic banking, including how to write a check and balance a checkbook.
Each school will offer both physical activities, such as sports and dance, and life skill enrichments, plus STEAM activities such as robotics. Students will be offered all the different units at some point throughout the school year.
âOur pilot program went well and we had good numbers, (last year)â explains Mathis. âThere were relationships built with school staff and students, engaging activities going on all the time, and we felt like it was time for us to move it to the next level.â
Itâs Elementary, Too
While Beyond The Bell is expanding at the middle school level, Explorations is expanding to a new elementary school.
Explorations is a program that started at Wiregrass Elementary last year, giving students who did not need full-time care after school the opportunity to participate in a weekly enrichment class immediately after school, available four days each week.
Students attend just one or two afternoons per week and learn skills and topics that are asked for by families at the school. In fact, the idea to bring Explorations to Seven Oaks came from a parent.
Seven Oaks principal Shauntte Butcher says parent Senthil Sundaresan requested the program after hearing it was offered at Wiregrass. âHe wanted something really fun, that looks more like a club,â Butcher explains.
As working parents, she says Sundaresan and his wife were looking for more activities to be available on campus for students. Instead of picking children up from school, taking them to some kind of class, sport or enrichment activity, and then picking them up there, the Explorations program allows kids to enjoy a worthwhile activity and parents just one pick-up time and location.
â(Explorations) is a win-win for parents and students,â says Butcher. âItâs something fun after school and another learning activity that helps make children more well-rounded.â
She says students at Seven Oaks will be able to choose from a variety of after-school classes that will include dance, Spanish, cooking, sports, coding/robotics and Zumba. Each class lasts for seven weeks and the classes offered change each quarter.
While these programs are being expanded into three more Wesley Chapel schools, there is still more room for growth. Mathis is willing to expand her officeâs programs to other schools, if the principals want it and if surveys show that parents are interested.
To view all of the available programs and register for those that are currently open, including Explorations at Seven Oaks and Wiregrass elementary schools, plus Beyond The Bell at John Long and Weightman middle schools, visit Pasco County Schoolsâ department of After School Enrichment Programs (ASEP) at myASEP.com.
When the half-penny school sales tax referendum passed in Hillsborough County last year, the promise was that aged roofs and floors and playgrounds would be repaired, athletic tracks would be repaved and classrooms and fire evacuation systems being upgraded, just to name just a few much-needed enhancements.
But, what got Wharton High’s Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) president Kristie Scism most excited was much cooler than all those things.
âThe air conditioning,â Scism says. âIt may not be the best thing, but it was the one thing I was most excited about.â
Hillsborough County Public Schools announced last week that teams of workers have begun moving into the 21 schools that will receive an overhaul or replacement of their existing AC systems.
While every school in New Tampa except for Hunter’s Green and Tampa Palms elementaries is scheduled to get upgraded AC in years 1-5 of the school tax referendum, only Wharton High, Benito Middle School and Clark Elementary are among the 21 schools having the work done this summer.
Over the next 10 years, funds from the half-penny sales tax are expected to overhaul or replace the A/C systems at 203 schools, or about 20 each summer.
âIt’s pretty miserable when the A/C breaks,â Scism said, adding that it has been an all-too common occurrence at Wharton. âIt gets to be like a sauna in some rooms. It’s very hard (for students) to concentrate in those conditions.â
Intermittent air conditioning at times has also been a complaint of parents and teachers at Benito and Clark for years.
Although itâs now wrapping up its second year, the âfirstsâ keep on rolling in for Cypress Creek Middle/High School (CCMH).
And, the honor of being one of the most significant firsts at the school certainly belongs to Lucas Budd, Cypress Creekâs first-ever class valedictorian, who on Wednesday, June 5 at, 8 p.m. at the University of South Florida Yuengling Center, will give the first-ever valedictorian speech to the first graduating class of 226 students in CCMH history.
âI will have my box of Kleenex ready,â says his proud mother, Brenda.
It was Brenda who first learned that Lucas was the Cypress Creek valedictorian. When she got the call, she couldnât help but cry. Then she called to share the news with Lucas.
While Lucas knew his grades were going to put him near the top of the senior class, he was surprised by the news, but thrilled that his 4.577 weighted grade-point-average was No. 1 amongst the seniors.
Caitlin Scates was the 2019 class Salutatorian
âI wasnât expecting it,â Lucas says. âItâs an honor, and I take a lot of pride in being Cypress Creekâs first valedictorian. I was pretty happy when I found out.â
Lucas has always been a great student, and actually began high school at Wiregrass Ranch High, before the districtâs school borders were redrawn and he was zoned for Cypress Creek following his sophomore year.
Lucas never thought about being the valedictorian while he was at Wiregrass Ranch because he says the class ranks werenât really publicized.
During his first year at Cypress Creek, however, he knew he ranked fairly high.
âI had seen that I was in the, maybe, top 5, but I wasnât expecting to be valedictorian,â Lucas says. âI had never really thought about it, but of course every student who takes school serious would like to be valedictorian. I guess you could say itâs the ultimate goal.â
Thatâs why when other students would dodge the tougher classes, Lucas reveled in registering for them. âEveryone is capable of being the valedictorian,â Lucas says. âItâs just a matter of putting in the work. And sometimes, a little extra work.â
Lucas says he is proud of the way he balanced school with volunteering (more than 100 hours at St. Joseph Church) and his duties with club-related service involvement at school, which he says has positively impacted his view of community involvement.
âThat was a great experience,â he says. âThatâs one of the things I will remember most from high school.â
Academically, he is most proud of earning his Associateâs degree from Pasco Hernando State College (PHSC) as a dual enrollment student with a 4.0. He also has worked as a tutor at the PHSC Academic Success Center since last September, tutoring in English, Calculus, Biology, Statistics, Psychology, Chemistry, Anatomy and Physiology.
Lucas was awarded the National Hispanic Scholar by the College Board for scoring in the top 2.5 percent of high school juniors of Hispanis descent, and the National Merit Commended Scholar by the College Board for scoring in the top 3 percent of all juniors who took the PSAT as a junior.
Lucas spends his free time fishing in the lakes around the Stagecoach community he lives in, and particularly likes fishing for bass. The largest one heâs caught is 6-8 pounds, and when heâs not fishing, he is shooting hoops on the nearest basketball court.
A National Honor Society member at CCMH, and Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society at PHSC, Lucas will be attending the University of Florida in Gainesville in fall, where he hopes to study Biochemistry or Biomedical Engineering.
Brenda has taken great delight in listening to Lucas practice his valedictorian speech, which has been polished and is ready to go. She canât wait until he shares it with the rest of his class.
âItâs inspirational, and itâs positive,â she says. âThatâs just who he is.â
While the rest of her classmates were inside classrooms and sitting at their desks, Cypress Creek Middle/High (CCMH) seventh grader Rose Macapinlac was running in a dead sprint towards the schoolâs athletic fields.
When she reached her goal, she turned around and ran back, then attacked an obstacle course that included a four-foot-tall wall she had to drag herself over, hurdles she was required to leap, orange cones she zig-zagged around and a low crawl she slithered through before reaching a 100-pound dummy she had to drag across the grass.
And, that only marked the halfway point of the modified Physical Abilities Test (PAT) that is required for Florida Department of Law Enforcement Capitol Police.
âOnce they pull that dummy, thatâs when the legs turn to jelly,â said April Heuss, the teacher of CCMHâs criminal justice program, which she says she believes is the first of its kind in the state of Florida.
After a school year of teaching students things like proper radio procedures, teamwork, leadership and the importance of law enforcement, Heuss wrapped up the school year by putting her classes through the arduous demands of a simulated PAT, which has to be passed by prospective law enforcement officers.
Students in her classes had to exit a vehicle (in this case a golf cart) with a flashlight in hand, run 220 yards, complete an obstacle course, drag the dummy, do the obstacle course again, run 220 yards, dry-fire a plastic gun six times with each hand, and call in their report.
While law enforcement applicants have to complete their course in 6 minutes, 4 seconds, Cypress Creek students were wrapping up their modified course (with a 100-pound dummy compared to the 150 pounder dragged by law enforcement) in 3:30-5 minutes.
âGetting over the wall with a flashlight in my hands was the hardest,â said Rose. âMy legs hurt.â
Gabriel Linck was the fastest boy on the day, with a time of 3:35, running it twice with plans to do it again.
Anna Ritchie was the fastest girl, finishing in 4:03.
âThey are all wanting to see who got the best time, who is going to win,â Heuss said. âThis was supposed to be a one-day thing but the kids were so stoked and excited about it we decided to keep doing it for three days. They love it.â
