In the agenda on October 6th, for the meeting of the School Board of Hillsborough County, issue 5.05 will be discussed, which is to approve the agreement for technical services for the Homeless Education and Literacy Project (HELP).
HELP is a grant-funded program intended to facilitate homeless students’ access to education in accordance with the provisions of the McKinney-Vento act.
The program will be put in to action by all district sites serving homeless students and families. The target audience of this program is the 2,026 students identified as homeless in 2008-09. The grant budget for the program is $125,000 and there was an evaluation budget of $6,000.
If approved, the grant will start on October 6th, 2009 and end on December 31st, 2010. The plans to run the program will be to complete interviews, meet with program managers and social workers, collect and analyze student data, write status reports and annual reports for the program, and coordinate with grant writers on the proposal for 2010-2011.
The issue of whether or not this is a worthy program is what will be discussed at the county board meeting.
Showing posts with label By John Jacobs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label By John Jacobs. Show all posts
Monday, October 5, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Spartan Soldiers show Enthusiasm for ROTC Program
For students participating in the ROTC program, their days start at 5am every day of the week. They put on their PT (physical training) clothes, meet at the intramural field, and begin training. The morning exercises for ROTC students are much more than just a quick workout though. They start out doing pushups and sit ups, followed by a 4 mile run. For an average person a 4 mile run every morning could really slow down the rest of your day. Not for an ROTC cadet however.
Not only do these students have to deal with the physical aspect of ROTC, but there are also numerous classes that must be taken every week. Classes for the ROTC program include such topics as leadership, how to lead squad movements, learning attack formations, land navigation, and even a lab in plant park where cadets must be wearing their ACU’s (army combat uniform)
Not everyone can join ROTC however, there’s an intense screening process to make it into this elite group of students. There are two ways in which to enter the program. The first is being recruited from high school, you must show outstanding physical capabilities, and have at least a 2.8 GPA to be considered for the program. The second way to join is by applying once already in college. If you show an enthusiasm for the position and also fulfill the physical and scholarly requirements you can be accepted. Joining the ROTC is huge achievement as the government will then completely pay for tuition, room and board, school book purchases and on top of that $1200 a year and a monthly stipend starting at $300 all the way up to $500 if the student participates up through senior year.
The University of Tampa offers one of the most accomplished ROTC programs which rank among the top 95% in the country. There are currently around 118 male and female students in the ROTC program, and they seem to enjoy it and get a lot out of the program. When Sophomore Spencer Boyd was asked about what his experience has been like participating in over a year of the ROTC program he responded, “I love it. I’ve made a lot of strong connections with the other kids in the program, and I plan on making this my career when I graduate from college. I could see myself in the army for the next 20 years.” When asked how it affects his campus life by having to wake up so early and dealing with extra classes Spencer replied, “It really doesn’t take up too much of your time. Yea at first waking up at 5am is stressful, and some days you’ll wake up still sore from yesterday, but I’ve never once doubted myself or thought about giving up. “All said with a calm and confident tone.
When fellow cadet Courtney Tauscher was asked what it’s like being a female in a dominantly male program she responded, “I really just see it as a challenge. There’s only a few girls in the program with me so it kind of turns into a competition between us to see who’s the ‘best girl’. Like it seems like the guys don’t really expect as much out of us and think we get it easy because we have different PT tests and stuff, but we really want to show them we can do just as much as they can.”
If interested in the ROTC program, all information can be found in the ROTC building, located between the UT pool and Stadium Center.
Not only do these students have to deal with the physical aspect of ROTC, but there are also numerous classes that must be taken every week. Classes for the ROTC program include such topics as leadership, how to lead squad movements, learning attack formations, land navigation, and even a lab in plant park where cadets must be wearing their ACU’s (army combat uniform)
Not everyone can join ROTC however, there’s an intense screening process to make it into this elite group of students. There are two ways in which to enter the program. The first is being recruited from high school, you must show outstanding physical capabilities, and have at least a 2.8 GPA to be considered for the program. The second way to join is by applying once already in college. If you show an enthusiasm for the position and also fulfill the physical and scholarly requirements you can be accepted. Joining the ROTC is huge achievement as the government will then completely pay for tuition, room and board, school book purchases and on top of that $1200 a year and a monthly stipend starting at $300 all the way up to $500 if the student participates up through senior year.
The University of Tampa offers one of the most accomplished ROTC programs which rank among the top 95% in the country. There are currently around 118 male and female students in the ROTC program, and they seem to enjoy it and get a lot out of the program. When Sophomore Spencer Boyd was asked about what his experience has been like participating in over a year of the ROTC program he responded, “I love it. I’ve made a lot of strong connections with the other kids in the program, and I plan on making this my career when I graduate from college. I could see myself in the army for the next 20 years.” When asked how it affects his campus life by having to wake up so early and dealing with extra classes Spencer replied, “It really doesn’t take up too much of your time. Yea at first waking up at 5am is stressful, and some days you’ll wake up still sore from yesterday, but I’ve never once doubted myself or thought about giving up. “All said with a calm and confident tone.
When fellow cadet Courtney Tauscher was asked what it’s like being a female in a dominantly male program she responded, “I really just see it as a challenge. There’s only a few girls in the program with me so it kind of turns into a competition between us to see who’s the ‘best girl’. Like it seems like the guys don’t really expect as much out of us and think we get it easy because we have different PT tests and stuff, but we really want to show them we can do just as much as they can.”
If interested in the ROTC program, all information can be found in the ROTC building, located between the UT pool and Stadium Center.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Men's Club Crew Team: Unnoticed but not Untalented
For most students their first classes start around mid afternoon and a few as early as 7am, but for the crew team, the days start at 6 in the morning. Monday through Thursday crew practices start at 6am, which consists of a short warm-up on an ergo meter, then they row on the Hillsborough river for about an hour and a half up to Davis island and back. The varsity crew team doesn’t get much attention, as it’s a small organization totaling at only 8 people (including the coxswain). In fact, the men’s crew team didn’t even exist until last year when Jeanette Nicewinter, who was the novice coach, organized the program.
In a school with a varsity team for almost every sport, and a very strong baseball program, the men’s crew team is unnoticed, as few students even know the team exists. The men’s crew team isn’t even classified on the UT athletics website! If it weren’t for the men on the crew team spreading the word, no one would ever know it existed.
But even though the men’s crew team may go unnoticed, they have already achieved a strong reputation among the crew world. At last year’s F.I.R.A. (Florida Intercollegiate Rowing Association) Championship the UT men’s crew team came in third place, beating out Emery Riddle University, Central Florida, University of Florida, Georgia Tech, University of Southern Florida, and Stetson University. Coming in third place for first time ever competing in a state wide tournament is a very impressive accomplishment.
When asked what it’s like to be part of the crew team, junior Matt Rossetti responded, “It’s really physically demanding. Like, it’s really hard, and the waking up at 6am every morning doesn’t help. I’m sore after practicing every day, and sometimes we even need to go “erg” (using the ergo meter) some nights after practice. I’m basically killing myself every day.” A response like that doesn’t make the crew team very appealing, so I followed with the question “Why do you do it then?” and Rossetti simply responded, “Why does anyone do anything?”
Sophomore, Ben Wood is the Coxswain for the men’s crew team, which is the person who sits at the front of the boat, steering it, and calling out how fast the team should be rowing, keeping everyone on beat, and monitoring how close to other boats they are. When asked what that job is like Wood responded, “I’m basically the brains of the boat. Imagine a car and the rowers are the engine, and I’m the car computer, making sure everything’s working in sync and efficiently. It’s kind of stressful, because if I mess up it affects the whole boat, and that’s a lot of pressure on me to do everything right.”
With the teams rigorous training schedule and the confidence from placing third in last year’s F.I.R.A. championship, the team is confident on its capabilities to continue to do well this year in upcoming events. The team’s first big race of the year is “The Stetson Sprints” on February 27, in Deland Florida. There are 5 other matches in the year, which the team will hope to dominate. Although the men’s crew team may not be well known, the 8 people on the team take their sport very seriously. No other sport in UT requires athletes to wake up at 6am four days of the week.
In a school with a varsity team for almost every sport, and a very strong baseball program, the men’s crew team is unnoticed, as few students even know the team exists. The men’s crew team isn’t even classified on the UT athletics website! If it weren’t for the men on the crew team spreading the word, no one would ever know it existed.
But even though the men’s crew team may go unnoticed, they have already achieved a strong reputation among the crew world. At last year’s F.I.R.A. (Florida Intercollegiate Rowing Association) Championship the UT men’s crew team came in third place, beating out Emery Riddle University, Central Florida, University of Florida, Georgia Tech, University of Southern Florida, and Stetson University. Coming in third place for first time ever competing in a state wide tournament is a very impressive accomplishment.
When asked what it’s like to be part of the crew team, junior Matt Rossetti responded, “It’s really physically demanding. Like, it’s really hard, and the waking up at 6am every morning doesn’t help. I’m sore after practicing every day, and sometimes we even need to go “erg” (using the ergo meter) some nights after practice. I’m basically killing myself every day.” A response like that doesn’t make the crew team very appealing, so I followed with the question “Why do you do it then?” and Rossetti simply responded, “Why does anyone do anything?”
Sophomore, Ben Wood is the Coxswain for the men’s crew team, which is the person who sits at the front of the boat, steering it, and calling out how fast the team should be rowing, keeping everyone on beat, and monitoring how close to other boats they are. When asked what that job is like Wood responded, “I’m basically the brains of the boat. Imagine a car and the rowers are the engine, and I’m the car computer, making sure everything’s working in sync and efficiently. It’s kind of stressful, because if I mess up it affects the whole boat, and that’s a lot of pressure on me to do everything right.”
With the teams rigorous training schedule and the confidence from placing third in last year’s F.I.R.A. championship, the team is confident on its capabilities to continue to do well this year in upcoming events. The team’s first big race of the year is “The Stetson Sprints” on February 27, in Deland Florida. There are 5 other matches in the year, which the team will hope to dominate. Although the men’s crew team may not be well known, the 8 people on the team take their sport very seriously. No other sport in UT requires athletes to wake up at 6am four days of the week.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Obama's Speech Sparks more Controversy than Motivation in America
In President Obama’s speech to the American school children given on Tuesday, September 8th from Wakefield High school in Arlington Virginia, Obama immediately starts off the speech being very personable and relatable to the audience of school children. He even starts off with a sense of humor to lighten the mood saying, “some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed a bit longer this morning.” He keeps the mood light, understanding that all kids probably wish they didn’t really need to go to school but the time has come to head back to school or move on to a new school and understands kids are nervous about this. He even throws in a short personal story about growing up in Indonesia and having to wake up every morning at 4:30 to get “extra lessons” from his mother before he went off to school.
Obama then starts to address the students on a more serious note stating that he’s talked a lot about the governments responsibilities, schools and principals responsibilities for supporting children, parents responsibilities, but when it really comes down to it it’s the students responsibility to make the most of their education. He then goes off on an inspiring note saying, “Every single one of you has something your good at.” Making kids realize they do have something to offer the world no matter what it is, and whatever they want to do, they’ll need an education to do it. Obama goes straight to the point stating, “You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.” He goes on touching on how the current students are the future of America, so even if you don’t want to learn for yourself, it matters for the future of our country, and states how every single child in America somehow effects the state of our nation, and some students will grow up to do great things like cure cancer or AIDS. He continues to inspire students to work as hard as they can and find the motivation to do well in school and further their education. He mentions a few specific students with inspiring success stories from around the United States and how any obstacle can be overcome. He addresses the fact that sometimes it’s not that easy to do well and it takes hard work but believes in all the students of America and that every child has the potential to succeed. He finishes up the speech reiterating once again that every student needs to “get serious this year” and put forth their best efforts to succeed in school.
In CNN’s coverage of Obama’s speech, they explain how much controversy has arisen from disapproving parents whose children were forced to watch the speech during school hours. These angry parents are claiming that the president’s message should be heard on a voluntary basis, whereas if their child didn’t want to watch the speech they shouldn’t have had to. Some viewed the speech as Obama forcing his views on the students when in reality he claims it’s just a “pep talk” to motivate students to work harder and try the best they can. In a poll done by CNN, it shows that Obama’s leadership is dividing the nation as 90% of democrats approve of Obama, and 85% of people from any other party do not approve of his presidency. When sophomore Joe Beaudoin was asked about what he thought of Obama’s speech he responded, “I don’t see what the big deal is. All he did was try to motivate students to work harder. He didn’t say anything crazy or controversial that should get anybody upset. People just love to overreact.” When another sophomore TJ Rotanelli was asked the same question about his thoughts on Obama’s speech he responded, “Once I saw Obama on the TV I changed the channel. I don’t really care what he has to say about how I should be educated, and kids shouldn’t have been forced to watch it either.” So Obama’s innocent “back to school” speech has actually done the opposite of what it was meant to do. Instead of calming parents down and trying to help them reach their children, it’s just divided the nation even further between conservatives and liberals over the roll the President should play in their children’s lives.
Obama then starts to address the students on a more serious note stating that he’s talked a lot about the governments responsibilities, schools and principals responsibilities for supporting children, parents responsibilities, but when it really comes down to it it’s the students responsibility to make the most of their education. He then goes off on an inspiring note saying, “Every single one of you has something your good at.” Making kids realize they do have something to offer the world no matter what it is, and whatever they want to do, they’ll need an education to do it. Obama goes straight to the point stating, “You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.” He goes on touching on how the current students are the future of America, so even if you don’t want to learn for yourself, it matters for the future of our country, and states how every single child in America somehow effects the state of our nation, and some students will grow up to do great things like cure cancer or AIDS. He continues to inspire students to work as hard as they can and find the motivation to do well in school and further their education. He mentions a few specific students with inspiring success stories from around the United States and how any obstacle can be overcome. He addresses the fact that sometimes it’s not that easy to do well and it takes hard work but believes in all the students of America and that every child has the potential to succeed. He finishes up the speech reiterating once again that every student needs to “get serious this year” and put forth their best efforts to succeed in school.
In CNN’s coverage of Obama’s speech, they explain how much controversy has arisen from disapproving parents whose children were forced to watch the speech during school hours. These angry parents are claiming that the president’s message should be heard on a voluntary basis, whereas if their child didn’t want to watch the speech they shouldn’t have had to. Some viewed the speech as Obama forcing his views on the students when in reality he claims it’s just a “pep talk” to motivate students to work harder and try the best they can. In a poll done by CNN, it shows that Obama’s leadership is dividing the nation as 90% of democrats approve of Obama, and 85% of people from any other party do not approve of his presidency. When sophomore Joe Beaudoin was asked about what he thought of Obama’s speech he responded, “I don’t see what the big deal is. All he did was try to motivate students to work harder. He didn’t say anything crazy or controversial that should get anybody upset. People just love to overreact.” When another sophomore TJ Rotanelli was asked the same question about his thoughts on Obama’s speech he responded, “Once I saw Obama on the TV I changed the channel. I don’t really care what he has to say about how I should be educated, and kids shouldn’t have been forced to watch it either.” So Obama’s innocent “back to school” speech has actually done the opposite of what it was meant to do. Instead of calming parents down and trying to help them reach their children, it’s just divided the nation even further between conservatives and liberals over the roll the President should play in their children’s lives.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Students at UT Still Manage to Enjoy College Football even Without a Team
Ever since the University of Tampa dropped their football program in 1974, students have had to look further than their own campus to get their fix of college football. Not many students fully understand the history of the UT football program, or even that one existed but it was actually successful program which was the home to many great players and coaches. Two years after the University of Tampa was founded in 1931, the school started their football program and played 38 seasons until dropping the program in 1974. The university started off playing other small college teams until the early 50’s when the Spartans started to have winning records and began competing against nationally ranked teams such as University of Miami and Florida University. The UT football program had its ups and downs, having the program dropped for years at a time due to World War II and budget problems. In 1967 alumni and UT athletics fans started up the Sword and Shield organization which raised around $140,000 to build a new football stadium. The University of Tampa went on to play in this stadium for the next 7 years and even won the Orange Bowl in 1970, before finishing their final season in 1974.
So with no football program at the University of Tampa how do students get their fix of college football? Another college located in Tampa, the University of Southern Florida, is home to a division one football program and plays all of their home games in the Tampa Bay Bucs stadium located only a few miles from UT’s campus, giving students the option to go to any one of those games to enjoy a college football game and get that feeling to be surrounded by other students all cheering for their schools team. There’s also the option of following any number of college football teams on TV. Numerous NCAA football games are played on ESPN, CBS, NBC and FOX all the time, giving students the ability to easily follow a college football program. Or if a fan wants to go even further than just watching a game, all college football teams have their own websites linked to their schools site, with summaries of games from the night before and interviews with player and news for the future of that team. To find out more of which of these things students on campus chose to do I randomly asked a few students on campus. When sophomore Chris Mitchell was asked how he gets his fix of college football he responded, “I don’t really watch that much college football. When I was choosing which college it didn’t really matter to me whether or not the school had a big football team or anything. So for me, yea I don’t really care about college football.” To some students football isn’t a big deal, so it really doesn’t affect them at all. When sophomore Eric Zeltner was asked how he got his fix of college football he responded, “I watch a lot of ESPN and follow a few college teams I grew up liking. I know USF has a team, but it’s really not the same at all if UT had a team. Even though the stadium is so close it’s kind of like it could be our team, but it’s different.” When asked the same question on how he gets his college football fix, Junior Brent Colbourn said, “I’ve been to a USF game before with a few friends which was cool, but I mostly watch NFL games. On Sundays I’ll go out with a few kids I met on campus that like the same team as me (New York Giants) and watch it at a bar or something.” Among the students I asked there wasn’t a huge concern that the University of Tampa doesn’t have a football team, which was probably why they ended up at the school. Attending any college should be for more than its sports teams, which is obvious among the students questioned.
For students that come to Tampa after playing high school football and still have the need to play, the athletics department has intramural flag football. Although intramural football does not come close to replacing a varsity football program, it still offers the same basic experience of playing structured football on a team. Through all these different options for students to get their fill of college football whether it’s through watching it on TV, following it online, attending another universities football game, or just playing in an intramural league with your friends, getting the college football experience can still be attained even with the absence of a UT varsity football program.
Sources: http://www.tampabayfootball.net/, http://www.ut.edu/
So with no football program at the University of Tampa how do students get their fix of college football? Another college located in Tampa, the University of Southern Florida, is home to a division one football program and plays all of their home games in the Tampa Bay Bucs stadium located only a few miles from UT’s campus, giving students the option to go to any one of those games to enjoy a college football game and get that feeling to be surrounded by other students all cheering for their schools team. There’s also the option of following any number of college football teams on TV. Numerous NCAA football games are played on ESPN, CBS, NBC and FOX all the time, giving students the ability to easily follow a college football program. Or if a fan wants to go even further than just watching a game, all college football teams have their own websites linked to their schools site, with summaries of games from the night before and interviews with player and news for the future of that team. To find out more of which of these things students on campus chose to do I randomly asked a few students on campus. When sophomore Chris Mitchell was asked how he gets his fix of college football he responded, “I don’t really watch that much college football. When I was choosing which college it didn’t really matter to me whether or not the school had a big football team or anything. So for me, yea I don’t really care about college football.” To some students football isn’t a big deal, so it really doesn’t affect them at all. When sophomore Eric Zeltner was asked how he got his fix of college football he responded, “I watch a lot of ESPN and follow a few college teams I grew up liking. I know USF has a team, but it’s really not the same at all if UT had a team. Even though the stadium is so close it’s kind of like it could be our team, but it’s different.” When asked the same question on how he gets his college football fix, Junior Brent Colbourn said, “I’ve been to a USF game before with a few friends which was cool, but I mostly watch NFL games. On Sundays I’ll go out with a few kids I met on campus that like the same team as me (New York Giants) and watch it at a bar or something.” Among the students I asked there wasn’t a huge concern that the University of Tampa doesn’t have a football team, which was probably why they ended up at the school. Attending any college should be for more than its sports teams, which is obvious among the students questioned.
For students that come to Tampa after playing high school football and still have the need to play, the athletics department has intramural flag football. Although intramural football does not come close to replacing a varsity football program, it still offers the same basic experience of playing structured football on a team. Through all these different options for students to get their fill of college football whether it’s through watching it on TV, following it online, attending another universities football game, or just playing in an intramural league with your friends, getting the college football experience can still be attained even with the absence of a UT varsity football program.
Sources: http://www.tampabayfootball.net/, http://www.ut.edu/
Monday, August 31, 2009
Matt "Livin the Dream" Hockenjos
Matt Hockenjos spent his summer in his hometown of Downington Pennsylvania, where he was a lifeguard at random pools around town and mostly just hung out. Over the summer Matt saw the movie “The Hangover” and was surprised by how much he liked it. To sum up how he felt about the movie, Matt said “I didn’t think it was going to happen, but it happened.” He came back down to Tampa 2 weeks before class started and has been cleaning his friend’s pool and “enjoying Tampa”. Matt ended up going to the University of Tampa because he was recruited to run on the cross country team and at the young age of twenty is currently retired and fully enjoying the time off. Matt currently lives in Straz and classified his status at Tampa as “Juniorish”, as he’s only 4 credits away from being an official Junior. In Matt’s free time he likes to run, take pictures, listen to music (specifically Reggae and R&B) and has a job off campus as a track coach at Tampa Prep. He likes going out on weekends to Jerk Hut , The Hut, Pizza Hut and Taco Hut. Basically Matt is just a fan of anyplace with the word “Hut” in it. Matt said his life goal is to simply “be happy” or to “live the dream” and claims that he’s making progress on achieving this goal.
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