Wesley Chapel’s Teachers of the Year!

The Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News congratulates this year’s Pasco County Teacher of the Year and School-Related Personnel of the Year nominees at Wesley Chapel’s 14 elementary, middle and high schools. The District-wide winners will be announced in January 2019.

DOUBLE BRANCH ELEMENTARY
TEACHER OF THE YEAR: James Collins
SCHOOL-RELATED PERSONNEL OF THE YEAR: Denise Sherwood

 

 

 

 

SEVEN OAKS ELEMENTARY
TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Juli Garcia
SCHOOL-RELATED PERSONNEL: Michele Rizzo

 

WESLEY CHAPEL HIGH
TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Meagan Cipolla
SCHOOL-RELATED PERSONNEL: Delroy Lewis

 

 

 

 

 

 

QUAIL HOLLOW ELEMENTARY
TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Karen Holbrook
SCHOOL-RELATED PERSONNEL: Christine Woods

 

 

 

 

 

 

CYPRESS CREEK MIDDLE/HIGH
TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Margaret Peacock
SCHOOL-RELATED PERSONNEL: Dorian Ray

 

 

 

WESLEY CHAPEL ELEMENTARY
TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Julie Hoffman
SCHOOL-RELATED PERSONNEL: Sharon Thomas

 

 

 

 

 

 

WIREGRASS RANCH HIGH
TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Jessica Diepholz
SCHOOL-RELATED PERSONNEL: Tammy Hoover

 

 

 

 

 

(8) JOHN LONG MIDDLE SCHOOL
TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Erik Carlson
SCHOOL-RELATED PERSONNEL: Margie Villafane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW RIVER ELEMENTARY
TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Melissa Moline
SCHOOL-RELATED PERSONNEL: Carrie Humphries

 

 

 

 

 

 

VETERANS ELEMENTARY
TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Corie Coleman
SCHOOL-RELATED PERSONNEL: Robert Cox

 

 

 

 

WEIGHTMAN MIDDLE SCHOOL
TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Donald Scott
SCHOOL-RELATED PERSONNEL: Kathy Falco

 

 

 

SAND PINE ELEMENTARY
TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Jeannette Mandell
SCHOOL-RELATED PERSONNEL: Jeannine Lehmann

 

 

 

 

 

 

WIREGRASS RANCH ELEMENTARY
TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Chandra Henry
SCHOOL-RELATED PERSONNEL: Stephanie Steinmetz

 

 

 

 

 

 

WATERGRASS ELEMENTARY
TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Lauren Turner
SCHOOL-RELATED PERSONNEL: Rose Cozzolino-Smith

Local Schools Produce Award Winners

Clark Teacher Named Hillsborough’s Reading Teacher Of The Year!

The Hillsborough County Literacy Association (HCLA) has named Christy Gupta its Reading Teacher of the Year for all Hillsborough County schools.
Gupta is a fifth grade teacher at Clark Elementary in West Meadows, teaching English Language Arts (ELA). She was nominated for the award by the school’s principal, Paulette English, and assistant principal, Nicole Libby.

English says that Gupta is an engaging and dynamic teacher who supports many students outside of her classroom with school-wide programs, such as online Twitter book studies with other teachers.

In class, English says Gupta is creative and motivating, such as when she recently turned her classroom into an operating room to teach her students about “text features” using a “surgery” theme.

“We see that in the early grades a lot,” says English, “but we don’t always see teachers as engaging and making learning fun at the fifth grade level.”

New Tampa Schools Take Home PTA Prizes

Congratulations to the local schools, staff, parents and students who have received awards from the Hillsborough County Council Parent Teacher Association (PTA) for outstanding programs and efforts at their schools during the 2017-18 school year. Of 42 awards given throughout the county in elementary, middle, and high school divisions, 10 were taken home by New Tampa schools, including:

Elementary Schools:
• Education: Hunter’s Green Elementary, SMART Super Heroes

Middle Schools:
• Advocacy: Benito Middle School, Junior Blue Crew
• Family Involvement: Benito Middle School, School Beautification
• Health & Safety: Benito Middle School, Red Ribbon Week
• Local Unit Instructional: Liberty Middle School, Brendan Paul
• Local Unit Non-Instructional: Benito Middle School, Sharon Hineline
• Principal of the Year: Liberty Middle School, James Ammirati

High Schools:
• Outstanding High School Senior: Wharton High, Rachel Hineline
• PTSA President of the Year: Freedom High, Jeanine Ernst
• Volunteer of the Year: Wharton High, Michele Echols

Freedom Student Wins
‘All In For CF’ Scholarship
Freedom High senior Kira Taylor is one of 80 people nationwide to be awarded an “All In For CF” college scholarship for the upcoming academic year.
The $5,000 scholarship was awarded by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Kira is a gifted musician and community activist,” said a Vertex representative. “She also happens to be living with cystic fibrosis.”
Kira will attend Hillsborough Community College this fall and is working toward an Associate of Arts degree. She then hopes to pursue a career in special education.

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.”

Veterans Elementary teacher named county’s best

Rob Patterson moves from desk to desk around his fifth-grade math classroom at Veterans Elementary.

One girl says she is confused, and he jokes, “that’s okay, it’s your birthday.” He remembered.

He refers to another student by his nickname, and bounces around to help others on a fractions problem in an easy, soft-spoken style, often admiring his students’ handiwork.

On Jan. 27, at its S.T.A.R. (Staff That Are Remarkable) awards event at the Wesley Chapel High Center for the Performing Arts, the Pasco Education Foundation named Patterson the 2017 Pasco County Teacher of the Year.

He seems almost embarrassed by the attention. Patterson, 46, insists he is no different than any other teacher, and added there are so many more just as deserving.

But, what might have earned him his designation more than anything else is his connection with his students, which is evident as he glides between the maze of desks in his classroom.

“What makes me successful is my relationship with the kids,’’ Patterson says. “I invest time to know them, I integrate them into problems, I interact with them.”

He remembers little things, like birthdays, and tries to know his students’ favorite football team, or what dance class they might be taking, or how many siblings they have.

Making that connection is why, 10 years ago, Patterson first decided to start working on becoming a teacher.

“It was the best career decision I could have made,’’ he says.

At the time, he was on the road making good money as a customer service representative. But, he was away from his children, Jacob, now 13, and Peyton, 17.

And, he admitted that he was missing something. It turned out to be the joy he got impacting young kids, which he did while teaching golf in his earlier days as an assistant pro at Northdale Country Club in Carrollwood and at the TPC (Tournament Players Club) Tampa Bay in Lutz.

It was while still working as a customer service rep that Patterson started taking education classes at the University of South Florida (USF) in his spare time. He sat in on classes with students young enough to be his kids. Little by little, he moved closer to what he really wanted to do.

“I chose elementary school at an early age for kids,’’ Patterson says. “I like this age. I think its important get to kids early, to make an impact early. That definitely helps them later on.”

After completing his B.S. in Elementary Education degree at USF and teaching one year in Hillsborough County, Patterson joined Veterans Elementary in 2009.

He says that although he has learned a lot from the women teachers he has worked with, he relishes his role as the rare male elementary school teacher, especially when it comes to the boys. That means high-fives here and there, sports talk and even fantasy football discussions over lunch.

“This is where I need to be,” Patterson said. “I need to be in education. I just have a love for kids. This is my happy place.”

Wesley Chapel’s Teachers of the Year by school

Wesley Chapel High School: Helen Mester

Wiregrass Ranch High School: Mathew Simmons

Thomas E. Weightman Middle School: J. Franklin Britton, III

Dr. John Long Middle School: Jessica Beagle

Double Branch Elementary School: Deborah Torres

New River Elementary School: Jolene Furman

Quail Hollow Elementary School: Lora Darby

Sand Pine Elementary School: Tamara Perugini

Seven Oaks Elementary School: Stephanie Huff

Veterans Elementary School: Robert Patterson

Watergrass Elementary School: Heather Kiefer

Wesley Chapel Elementary School: Christina Salerno

Wiregrass Elementary School: Stephanie Hodges