Cypress Creek seniors practice graduation on May 25. (Photo: @CCHSHowler)
Pasco County is opening the doors wide open to graduation.
Pasco County Schools announced on Wednesday that high school graduates will be allowed to invite additional guests and family members to outdoor graduations, and social distancing at the events will no longer be required. The decision was made after reviewing COVID-19 data in schools and in the community.
Masks are still required for indoor graduations, however.
Cypress Creek (June 2, 7 p.m.), Wesley Chapel (June 4, 7 p.m.) and Wiregrass Ranch (June 3, 7 p.m.) are all holding graduation ceremonies in their football stadiums.
Prior to Wednesday’s announcement, high school graduates in Pasco County had been limited to four guests each. Now, graduates can have two guests join them seated on the field, with additional guests seated in the bleachers. Availability of seating will vary due to the size of the venue.
After reviewing data from the Pasco Department of Health and in light of the CDCâs recent relaxing of mask guidance, Superintendent Kurt Browning determined that the potential for harm has been greatly reduced in recent weeks as the county’s seven-day positivity rate recently declined to 4.6 percent, the lowest rate in nearly six months.
âIt was our goal all along to make the graduation ceremonies as normal as possible, while recognizing our responsibility to protect the health and safety of all the graduates and guests,â said Superintendent Browning. âA lot has changed in recent weeks, and at this time we are confident that it is safe to remove those restrictions for our outdoor graduations.â
Construction of the New Tampa Performing Arts Center could begin on this barren lot in the next few months. (Photo: Charmaine George)
The New Tampa Players (NTP), a local acting troupe looking for a permanent home, recently finished a run of shows with a cast of just a handful of performers in a 2,000-sq.-ft. black box theater at the old University Mall.
Itâs not exactly what the group may have envisioned when it started nearly 20 years ago with the hope of a cultural center they could call home in the heart of New Tampa, but now, they can see a spotlight at the end of the tunnel.
Thanks in part to a public outpouring of support from many NTP and New Tampa community members, the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners voted 5-2 to approve a $7.3-million construction contract to build the long-awaited New Tampa Performing Arts Center (NTPAC).
âWe werenât 100 percent it would go through, but we are super happy it did,â said Nora Paine, a long-time member and current president of the NTP.
The vote is the biggest step yet for the project, which dates back to 2001, and was initially approved in 2014. Commissioner Ken Hagan, whose District 2 includes New Tampa, says a groundbreaking for the state-of-the-art, 20,000-sq.-ft. (expandable to 30,000 square feet) NTPAC should be scheduled in the next month or two.
Hagan would like to see the project, which is located in the Village at Hunterâs Lake development across Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. from the entrance to the Hunterâs Green community, completed by September of 2022.
âIâm ecstatic over the results,â Hagan says. âGood things come to those who wait. It only took 17 years, but we finally got over the finish line. The end result is that next year, New Tampa is going to have a first-class facility thatâs going to be a wonderful centerpiece for the entire community to enjoy.â
Ken Hagan
Hagan told the Neighborhood News that the construction contract has been awarded to Dunedin-based Bandes Construction, but that the Request for Proposals to operate the PAC hasnât yet happened.Â
Hagan told the Board he had received more than 140 emails in support of the NTPAC project. The handful of emails Hagan said he received in opposition to building it primarily dealt with traffic concerns.
Prior to the vote, more than a dozen speakers, including many NTP members, asked the commissioners to keep the PAC dream alive.
âA lot of us had concerns of (the project just being) small stores and another apartment complex,â said Hunterâs Green resident Rob Larsen. âWell, to our surprise, the Performing Arts Center was going to be the heart of this new center. And without it, it basically dies.â
District 63 State Rep. Fentrice Driskell sent an email of support, and Tampa City Council member Luis Viera, who represents New (and North) Tampa in District 7, weighed in as well, promising a commitment from the city to help pay some of the PACâs operating costs.
Joining Hagan in voting to award the construction contract were commissioners Harry Cohen, Stacy White, Kimberly Overman and Gwen Myers.
They all cited the promises made to New Tampa residents over the years and, as Hagan pointed out, the money to build the PAC was approved back in 2019 and has been waiting to be spent.
âPromises made, promises kept,â said Comm. Myers. âI hope no other community would go through 17 years waiting on a decision from our county.â
The New Tampa Players, performing “Little Mermaid”, may soon have a permanent home to put on its productions. (Photo: James Cass of Picture This of Palma Ceia)
Commissioners Mariella Smith and BCC chair Pat Kemp voted against awarding the construction contract.
Smith said she didnât believe the rights to operate the PAC once it was built should be awarded to the Manatee County-based Florida Cultural Group (FCG).
Kemp was critical of the PACâs location. She said it was a âlittle teeny place carved out of a massive parking lotâ and jammed between a strip mall and an apartment complex, both which financially benefited the developers and left the PACâs actual location as an afterthought.
âIt would just be a boondoggle for me to put an iconic building that you put up a lot of money for behind a strip mall and in front of a four-story apartment building,â Kemp said.
Following the construction vote, the commissioners addressed the concerns about FCG by voting unanimously for a Request for Proposals (RFP) to reopen the bidding process in order to find a group to handle the PAC operations.
Hagan says the county staff felt that FCG was the best organization to run the facility to get it to a net-zero operation, and that its extensive experience at fund raising and luring national acts would be an ideal fit.
âUnless thereâs another organization that weâre unaware of, our staff feels that at the end, after going through the RFP, it will likely be FCG again,â Hagan says. âWhoever it is, I just want them to be able to be effective and able to fund raise and bring in national acts.â
Hagan said he also will champion the creation of an additional local board, comprised of New Tampa residents, to support the facility and help with any other issues.
For more information about the New Tampa Players, visit NewTampaPlayers.org. The troupeâs latest project, âMotherhood Out Loud.â runs June 11-12 at 7:30 p.m., June 13 at 3 p.m., June 18-19 at 7:30 p.m. and June 20 at 3 p.m. at the Uptown Stage at the University Mall (2200 E. Fowler Ave.).
Zach Ehrhard (center), holding the District 7A-7 championship trophy, led the Wildcats to a 21-5 record and the playoffs en route to winning the Wade Boggs Athletic Achievement Award.
Wharton High shortstop Zach Ehrhard received the Wade Boggs Athletic Achievement Award May 19 in a ceremony at the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners meeting.
It is the second time in four years the award has been given to a Wharton player, with Zachâs brother Drew winning it in 2017. Drew went on to win a Division II national championship with the University of Tampa in 2019, and currently stars for the No. 14-ranked Spartans.
Zach, who will attend 21st-ranked (in Div. I) Oklahoma State University in Stillwater in the fall, led the Wildcats to a 21-5 record and a District 7A-7 title this season, batting .438 with 29 runs scored, 12 doubles, 3 home runs and 21 RBI. He finished his Wharton career with a .417 average.
The Wade Boggs Athletic Achievement Award, which was started in 2006, is named for Boggs, a Hall of Famer who also assists coach Scott Hoffman with the Wharton baseball team. The most notable winner of it is New York Met and last yearâs National League Rookie of the Year Pete Alonso, who received the award in 2013 after playing at Plant High.
Brooke Reif
DOUBLE BRONZE: The spring sports season is officially over, and Wharton cross country and track standout Brooke Reif made sure it ended with a couple of school records.Â
Running at the Florida High School Athletics Association Class 4A State championships on May 8, the junior set the Wharton High mark in the mile and 2-mile races. finishing third in both.
Reif ran the mile (1600 meters) race in a sterling time of 4 minutes, 57.58 seconds, becoming the first Wildcat girl to run a sub-5:00 mile. While she was seven seconds off the winning time, she was less than one second from finishing second.
In the 2-mile (3200-meter) race, Reif finished in 10:49.47. While eight seconds off the winning pace, she again bettered her school record, which she broke for the third time this season.
Reif also ran on Whartonâs 4×800 relay at state. The team finished 10th in the state by running 9:37.38.
Other top finishers:
âą Sophomore Serenity Brazell took 11th in the girls 400m in 58.32 seconds.
âą Senior Jared Hammill, who has signed with the University of Tampa, took 5th in the boys mile in 4:16.97, missing breaking Whartonâs school record by less than half a second.
âąSenior Tavis Wilson took 9th in the boys 100m in 11.07 seconds
âą Senior Illya Jackson took 11th in the boys pole vault, clearing 12â- 9.5â.
Tripp Merrell
SLOW AND STEADY: When coach Tripp Merrell took over the Freedom High baseball team in 2019, he knew a hard job awaited. But after a 6-15 record his first season, the Patriots wrapped up 2021 with a respectable 12-13 record, the most wins since the team went 15-10 in 2012.
Junior infielder Raul Olivera batted .430 and led the team in almost every category, including hits with 34, the most since Dane Moore had 35 in 2010.
The entire pitching staff was underclassmen, as well as the teamâs top five hitters. So Merrellâs rebuilding job appears to be headed in the right direction.
WRHâs Kovacs Takes A Well-Rounded Approach To School
Timothy Kovacsâ love of reading and writing â and hard work â led him to become the Wiregrass Ranch High Class of 2021 valedictorian. (Photo: Charmaine George)
Timothy Kovacs says he hasnât begun preparing the speech he will give to the Class of 2021 at graduation, but the Wiregrass Ranch High valedictorian isnât too worried. After all, he took a public speaking class as a requirement for his Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree from Pasco Hernando State College (PHSC) and passed his toughest test â singing the âBaby Sharkâ song while dancing in front of a class of 30 students.
He says it was terrible, and he lost coordination midway through the dance, but he is no longer leery of public speaking.
And he got an A, for effort.
âSo, if I can do that,â he says, âI hope I can present a speech in front of my classmates.â
Getting As is no problem for Kovacs, so it would be a surprise if he didnât nail his speech. The Bullsâ senior finished his high school career with a 4.71 weighted grade point average, and picked the University of Central Florida in Orlando over the University of Florida in Gainesville and the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill for college.
It wasnât easy, he says. He moved to Wesley Chapel from Orlando, where he attended Hagerty High as a freshman. There, he was No. 14 in a school of 4,000 students, and when he got to the smaller Wiregrass Ranch, he started his sophomore year in the top 3. While he says it hadnât crossed his mind before, it was at that point Kovacs decided to try to become his class valedictorian.
âIâve always found competition among my classmates ever since I was in the third grade,â Kovacs says. âI always wanted to get the highest grade, and when I didnât, I just studied harder.â
At Wiregrass Ranch, that entailed giving up every class (other than those that were graduation requirements) that wasnât an honors or AP course.
Last semester, he took nine classes, most of those at PHSC, sprinting across the academic finish line. His toughest challenge was the havoc caused by Covid.
âIt really mucked up my AP exams,â he says, especially in classes like AP Chemistry that arenât best suited for online study. Reviewing for exams was more difficult, and chemistry was not one of his better subjects.
âWhen chemistry went virtual…that put me in a more precarious spot than Iâve been in,â he added.
However, Kovacs, also a National Merit Scholarship Finalist, says it was just a matter of finding a way through the new challenges, and finding the positive in Covidâs disruptions by âturning lead into gold.â
Kovacs, who says his favorite class was AP computer science and whose hardest were chemistry and biology, is happy to be valedictorian, although he says it doesnât make him any smarter than anyone else. In fact, he says there are plenty of students who easily could have become valedictorian, but they chose to pursue music, sports or technology and didnât have as much time to put into school as he did.
Not that Kovacs is a one-dimensional bookworm. In fact, heâs something of a Renaissance man, who has dabbled in fencing, loves playing the guitar, is a devoted writer and published author who works for two magazines and has a deep interest in politics.
When he wants to relax, he plays his favorite songs from his childhood on his guitar â although he really wishes he had learned the piano as well â and had a story about the pandemic published in the literary magazine Unlimited Literature last summer.
Politics, though, is his passion.
âI love to read about how countries interact with each other, and why the world is the way that is,â he says. âItâs always such an interesting field to see how the decisions of government officials affect us in daily life. And, the results of diplomacy are fascinating. Itâs incredibly cool and I always have a blast learning about it.â
Now that the âBaby Sharkâ song has prepped Kovacs for his speech, he will tell his fellow classmates at graduation that after years of traveling the same road together, a million different paths now await them. Itâs a brave new world, and it doesnât matter where you are going as long as you are doing what you want to be doing.
Kovacs will be doing just that in college, where he will double major in computer science and political science at UCF. Where that leads him he doesnât know. He has multiple dreams â becoming a politician, an author or a software engineer are all among them â and is eager to see where his road takes him.
âMy goal right now is to go with the flow,â he says, âand make the most of whatever opportunities come my way.â
The Wiregrass Ranch High graduation ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, June 3, 7 p.m., at the schoolâs football stadium.
Olivia March has always been able to successfully balance work, friends, sports and academics, so the fact that she is the Wesley Chapel High Class of 2021 valedictorian isnât a big surprise.
But Oliviaâs greatest skill, other than managing her time, might be surrounding herself with the right friends, according to her mom Trish.
While she may not have been thinking about her daughter being her schoolâs valedictorian, it was in middle school that Trish says that she realized Olivia would definitely be near the top of her class.
âThe kids she hung around with were always taking the toughest classes,â Trish says. âWe knew that they were the kids who were going to succeed in high school.â
She was right. Olivia took the toughest classes, but still compiled a 4.71 weighted grade point average while at Wesley Chapel, tops in her class, and also earned an Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree from Pasco Hernando State College.
Next year, she will follow in her father Ronâs footsteps when she attends the University of Florida in Gainesville, choosing to be a Gator over schools like the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Clemson University in Clemson, SC, and Florida State University in Tallahassee. âI always knew I kind of wanted to go there,â she says of U-F.
Olivia edged out her friend Michelle Joo, the salutatorian who will attend Yale University in New Haven, CT. To Trishâs point, Olivia and Michelle were friends and study partners at Wesley Chapel. They were sitting together at lunch when it was announced that Olivia was the valedictorian.
âThey came out with cake and flowers,â Olivia says. âIt was exciting. We werenât really thinking about it, so it was a surprise. Weâve had classes together since freshman year and have been friends throughout high school, and it was a healthy competition. I think we were both happy for each other.â
It was during a field trip in the seventh grade at Weightman Middle School that Trish says she was struck by her daughterâs ability to surround herself with the right friends. She now holds that ability, an under-appreciated quality, in the highest regard.
âOlivia was a Montessori kid, and we were a little nervous about bringing her into the traditional school setting,â Trish says. âIt was funny, on that field trip, I just thought âshe is good at choosing friends.â I saw all the kids she had to pick from, and who she chose, and I thought, âO.K., those are good choices.â I had never thought about that before that day.â
Olivia found out she was in the mix for valedictorian prior to her junior year, which would end up being disrupted by Covid.
When she knew she had a chance to be No. 1 in her class, it was the first time she started thinking about it. But, since she had already registered for four dual enrollment classes â which helped boost her GPA â before finding out she was in the top 4, there wasnât much she could change when it came to her course load.
âSo, I just kept doing what I was doing,â she says. âI just followed the steps I was already planning to follow.â
However, Covid threw a wrench in those steps. Taking classes online, especially math, required a lot more time and were more difficult to schedule. Because she also works as a lifeguard at the Epperson Ranch lagoon, her time management skills were put to the test.
She had honed those skills her first three years at Wesley Chapel while competing in athletics, which only seemed normal in a family where mom (a court reporter) trains at Crossfit and dad (a Pasco County Sheriffâs Office deputy) is one of the better local tennis players in the area.
While she was challenging herself academically, Olivia competed for the Wildcats in volleyball, track, cross country, weightlifting and tennis. She was named as one of Wesley Chapelâs Athletes of the Year her freshman and sophomore years.
Olivia is looking forward to her speech to her classmates at graduation. So is Trish, who expects to burst with pride, and Ron, who Trish is predicting will shed a few tears.
While Olivia hasnât written it yet, she say the speech will focus on what the future holds for the 2021 graduates.
For Olivia, that is enrolling at Florida and finding her way to a career. She isnât sure what she wants to do just yet â nothing science or medical related, however â but will minor in business, because she thinks itâs good to have.
âOther than that,â she says, âIâm wide open, and looking forward to it.â
The Wesley Chapel High graduation is scheduled for Friday, June 4, 7 p.m. at the schoolâs football stadium.
