New Tampa student heading to Spain to study abroad

This school year, New Tampa resident Schuyler Robinson will attend his senior year at School Year Abroad’s school in Zaragoza, Spain. He will study with about 60 other students in an academically rigorous high school and second-language immersion program while living with a Spanish host family.

Schuyler’s sense of adventure was honed from an early age, listening to his parents’ tales of traveling and studying abroad.

“I’ve always been fascinated reading about and exploring foreign cultures," Schuyler said.

Find out who is coming to Hillsborough County

Want to find out what the impact of all more than 17 million tourists is? Check out the unveiling of the Hillsborough County Visitor Impact Study at 3 p.m. today (March 19) at the Museum of Science and Industry, 4801 E Fowler Ave. For more information here is the e-mail about the event:

Officials share ideas on rail lines with Tampa council

From the Times:

By Janet Zink

TAMPA — City Council members got a rundown Thursday on regional rail plans.

Bob Clifford, executive director of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority, told the board that residents consistently say they want an alternative to cars. But the need for rail goes beyond mobility, Clifford said.

"At the end of the day, it's about economic development," he said, noting that construction typically sprouts around transit stations.

At a meeting today, Mayor Pam Iorio is scheduled to present her plan for a rail line that would run from New Tampa to Tampa International Airport, serving as the first leg of a system connecting Wesley Chapel to St. Petersburg.

Hillsborough planners estimate the 31-mile Tampa line would cost $2.1-billion, or $70-million a mile. Iorio hopes the County Commission will ask voters in 2010 to consider a sales tax to help pay for it.

In the past, commissioners have rejected the idea. But Clifford said attitudes have changed.

City Council member Tom Scott, a former county commissioner, said he thinks commissioners will approve the referendum. But rail backers will have to work hard to persuade voters to tax themselves, Scott said.

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Greetings from Beijing

Liberty Middle School eighth-grader Janet Shear traveled to China this past summer to visit her grandparents. She was kind enough to share her story and photos with Bruce B. Blog:

Looking down from the sky, you see a large garden, covering an area of 273 hectares. The northern end of this garden is rounded, like a semicircle. The southern end is a square. In this magnificent place, are famous buildings such as the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the Echo Wall, and the Circular Mound Altar. The grounds are shaded by ancient cypress and pine trees. All these pieces form the beautiful Temple of Heaven.

Located in Beijing, this extensive garden was built in 1420, during the reign of Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty. This was built so the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties could come here to offer sacrifices to heaven and pray for good harvests. Beliefs like “circular sky,” “square earth,” “blue heaven,” and “yellow earth” are clearly reflected here.

This summer I got the chance to witness this divine and mystical place. The beauty of this place is indescribable.

When I entered the Temple of Heaven, I heard and saw energetic musicians playing traditional Chinese instruments, giving the place a lively feel. As my mom, sister and I walked on, we saw some retired men and women dancing traditional dances. We looked up toward the distance and saw a big cone-shaped roof with layers, blue and gold. We had arrived at the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. Around it are three rings of stairs, made of marble balustrade. Inside the building, on columns, walls, and roofs, were carvings of phoenixes, dragons and clouds. Every part of the building was built after much thought, such as having four columns of the four seasons. Here, the emperors prayed to the gods and made their offerings. This building is a symbol often used to represent China.

Coach: Powell's heroics were no surprise

When Wharton football coach David Mitchell talks to others about former Wildcats football star Josh Powell, he uses the same line. "I always tell everyone, 'I will have to make an appointment to see him someday,'" Mitchell said. "He's going to be that important.”

Because of that, Mitchell was not surprised to hear that Powell, a linebacker who in February signed to play for Army, reportedly was somewhat of a hero during a boating accident in Mexico. While Powell was celebrating his recent graduation from Wharton with friends from Wharton and Freedom on a 75-foot catamaran Saturday (Wharton tennis and soccer star Alex Bartholomew also was on the ship), the boat began to sink.

"Everybody just started panicking," Powell told Times reporter Thomas Kaplan. "People started yelling and screaming, 'The boat's sinking! The boat's sinking!' "

Mitchell has not yet spoken with Powell, who along with the other Tampa teens arrived home Monday night. But some of his assistants have.

"(Powell) was the last guy off the boat," Mitchell said. "He was so busy helping everybody else that he was the last one off. He was showing his West Point mentality. I'm very proud of that young man."

--KEITH NIEBUHR

Wharton, Freedom students fear for lives as boat sinks

Seniors at Wharton High School, top from left, Josh Powell, 18, and Brian David, 17; and, middle from left, Jackie Filippi, 18, Allison French, 17, and Brittney Smith, 18; and bottom from left, Saya Arakawa, 18, Kierslyn Kujawa, 17, and Terri Trovato, 18, returned safely to Tampa after their ordeal on a sinking boat in Mexico. [Photo by John Pendygraft, Times]

Kierslyn Kujawa and her friends yearned to jump off the second deck of their catamaran as they headed out from Cancun on a trip celebrating their recent graduation from Wharton High School.

But the ship's crew told them it was a safety hazard, that they would get in trouble if they jumped, so Kujawa, 17, and her friends decided against it.

Until their boat began to sink. Then they had no choice.

Some two-dozen graduates from Wharton and Freedom high schools returned Monday as survivors of a shipwreck — one that left an 18-year-old Texas girl on life support.

"I don't think at first any of us realized what the extent of this was," Kujawa said Tuesday, now safe and sound back home. "It was kind of like, 'Okay, now we all get to jump off the second deck!' "

The teens departed for Cancun on June 2 for a vacation before most of them head off to college at the end of the summer. On Saturday, they boarded a 75-foot catamaran with almost 100 other teenagers for a snorkeling trip.

Professor to describe African AIDs epidemic

A University of South Florida professor who consults with several African governments about the AIDS epidemic is to speak at the Feb. 13 meeting of the Kiwanis Club of New Tampa.

John Daly is a USF professor of public administration. He and his wife Debra, who also will address the Kiwanians, have traveled extensively in Africa.
The club's meeting will be at 11:45 a.m. at Tampa Palms Golf and Country Club. Lunch costs $13. For more information, email Kiwanis Club of New Tampa at info@newtampakiwanis.org.