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Let's Twirl Gets French Twist

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By BARBARA ROUTEN

Tribune correspondent

Published: August 13, 2008

RIVERVIEW - Two French exchange students from the international student exchange program Echanges Culturels Internationaux, Sandy Promonet, 15, and Lauren Seynaeve, 14, found common ground recently with local girls who like to twirl batons.

The girls, who have been best friends since childhood in Oyannax in Ain, France, joined June Bryan's Let's Twirl students July 22 at the Winthrop Pole Barn.

Sponsored by Jerry and Julie Hurley of Tampa, the girls "enjoyed a morning of fun, friendship and twirling," Bryan said. "The language barrier was no problem when it came to elbow rolls, turns, neck rolls, toss illusions and flashbacks. It was quite an experience to see the two countries coming together for the sport of twirling!"

Lauren has been an enthusiastic member of a twirling team for four years, training with a coach three or four times per week, her mother, Karine Seynaeve, wrote in an e-mail interview from her home in France.

"Her team won first place in the French championships three years in a row," Karine Seynaeve wrote in her native French. "This year, she decided to form a duo with Sandy."

How did she and her husband, Patrick, feel about their daughter spending the summer so far from home?

Karine Seynaeve said they were anxious, but the Hurleys were marvelous and put them at ease - in part by graciously letting Lauren call home often. The Seynaeves considered this trip to be an opportunity of a lifetime for Lauren, who will get together with the other students in their ECI group for a reunion every year.

Lauren "returned home thrilled and delighted as much with her trip abroad as with her host family," Karine Seynaeve wrote, and she is "ready to go back."

Lauren and Sandy twirled with Bryan's group the day before Let's Twirl members headed to the 2008 American Athletic Union Junior Olympic Games, held July 23 to Aug. 2 in Detroit. The troupe won the National Baton Twirling Championship for the fifth year in a row.

Registration for Let's Twirl classes is open for new students. Classes run from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. and 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. Wednesdays beginning Aug. 27 at the Winthrop Pole Barn, 11349 Bloomingdale Ave. Students age 4 through college with all levels of experience mingle in each class.

For details about registration and classes, go to www.letstwirl.net or contact Bryan at (813) 653-2199 or SBryan01@tampabay.rr.com.

Congressional Update Open To All

The Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce invites the public to its 2008 Congressional Update Luncheon at noon Aug. 20 at the Winthrop Barn Theater, 11349 Bloomingdale Ave.

U.S. Reps. Adam Putnam and Gus Bilirakis have been invited to give an overview of issues being discussed in Washington, particularly among members of the committees they serve on. They also will discuss the impact of those issues on local schools, businesses, health care and quality of life. A question-and-answer period will follow.

Registration for the luncheon costs $18 for chamber members, $23 for nonmembers. Corporate tables of eight cost $170 for members, $210 for nonmembers.

To register or find out more, go to www.brandonchamber.com or contact Allison Braden at (813) 689-1221, ext. 36, or abraden@brandonchamber .com.

Contact Braden at least 48 hours before the luncheon if special accommodations are needed.

Home School Group Plans For Fall

BRANDON - The Brandon Home School Fellowship group will hold a fall planning meeting Aug. 21 at Center Place Fine Arts and Civic Association, 619 Vonderburg Drive. Newcomers are invited to arrive at 6:30 p.m., current members at 7 p.m.

New board members will be introduced. They are Michele Roberts, chairwoman; Dana Cook, co-chairwoman; Nancy Bergman, contact coordinator; Betsy Roses, Web site coordinator; Kendy Barrios, welcome committee coordinator; and Wendy Kruse, service area coordinator.

The 17-year-old Brandon Home School Fellowship includes members from the greater Brandon area, as well as Lithia, Plant City, Lutz and Tampa. It is "a support group of multiple Christian denominations that share in a love of home education," Roberts said.

"You do not have to be a Christian to join our group," according to the group's Web site, www.brandonhome schoolfellowship.org.

"In a nut shell," Roberts said, "this is our annual membership sign-up evening, and parents who may be on the fence about home education can come and see what BHSF can offer. ..."

Among the activities and events offered throughout the year are field trips; weekly physical education; an art, history and science fair; holiday parties; and a year-end promotion ceremony.

The group also provides parents with information about the Florida Parent Educators Association, a statewide home-school organization, and the Home Education Foundation, which lobbies in support of home schooling and related issues.

Representatives from Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, 4-H and dance, music and cooking schools will be at the meeting.

Yearly membership fees are $40 per family if paid by Aug. 21, $45 per family after that.

For information, go to www.brandonhomeschool fellowship.org.

Area Youth Invited To Join New Choir

BRANDON - Students in sixth through 12th grade who enjoy singing are invited to join a new youth choir called One Voice directed by choir founder Carol Abbott, music and arts director at Celebration Church in Valrico.

Kimberly Lee, pianist at Celebration Church, accompanies the vocalists. Rehearsals began Monday and are held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Mondays at 733 B Lumsden Road W., Brandon, inside Oak Park Plaza.

Each choir member pays a yearly $50 charge for music and books and a $35 monthly fee. Students can register by e-mail by writing to Abbott at cma.sings@gmail.com.

Organist To Perform Musical Melange

BRANDON - Cathy Blanchard, regional manager for Central Music and a board member of the St. Petersburg American Guild of Organists, will perform a church organ concert at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Brandon Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 1221 Victoria St., Brandon.

She will play a melange of classical music and Gospel and traditional and contemporary hymns.

Send news and photos of community interest to Barbara Routen at The Tampa Tribune, 505 W. Robertson St., Brandon FL 33511, call (813) 657-4531 or e-mail neighbors@tampabay.rr.com.

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