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Bloomingdale High Cadets Are Winners

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By BARBARA ROUTEN

Tribune correspondent

Published: January 21, 2009

BRANDON - The Veterans of Foreign Wars sponsored an annual drill meet for about 400 Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps cadets from 24 schools Dec. 13 at Brandon High School. Bloomingdale High School cadets were the overall winners.

Local VFW posts, the Army, Navy and Marine Corps recruiting stations in Brandon, U.S. Central Command, Special Operations Command and Army Medical Command supplied the volunteer judges.

Cadets represented Bayshore, Bloomingdale, Hillsborough, Mulberry, Gibbs, Newsome, Alonso, Dixie M. Hollins, Williston, Lake Weir, West Port, Palmetto, Sarasota's Riverview, Plant City, Bell, Winter Haven, East Bay, Lake Wales, Sarasota, Brandon, Zephyrhills, Desoto and Durant high schools and the Sarasota Military Academy.

In the following categories, the schools that won each event were:
Color Guard Male/Mixed: first place, Sarasota Military Academy; second, Bayshore; third, Hillsborough. Color Guard Female: first, Hillsborough; second, Bloomingdale; third, Palmetto. Armed Squad: first, Palmetto; second, Mulberry; third, Durant. Unarmed Squad: first, Brandon; second, Sarasota Military Academy; third, Mulberry. Armed Platoon: first, Sarasota Military Academy; second, Mulberry; third, Palmetto. Unarmed Platoon: tied for first place, Hillsborough and Sarasota Military Academy; third, Mulberry. Squad Exhibition: first, Bloomingdale; second, Sarasota Military Academy; third, Sarasota's Riverview. Platoon Exhibition: first, Newsome; second, Zephyrhills; third, Bloomingdale.

Bloomingdale garnered the most points overall from all of the categories. Mulberry, only 20 points behind, came in second, and Sarasota Military Academy came in third. Zephyrhills and Williston were next.

Matthew Stephanson, a cadet from the Brandon JROTC, said "It was one of the best drill meets we have attended all year."

Cadet Kayla Morton, also of Brandon, whose unarmed platoon did not place, said, "We tried our best. I guess we need more practice ... ."

"It was a great meet, lots of tough competition," said Lt. Col. Guy Walsh, the senior Army instructor for the Brandon program. "There is no other place where you can see all these cadets, over 400 of them, exhibit such good sportsmanship."

Brandon '86 Rotary Donates To Charities

VALRICO - On Dec. 19, Brandon '86 Rotary Club presented checks totaling more than $25,000 to nine area organizations.

They included the I Am HOPE Cafe, which serves the homeless, hungry and needy; Cair Flight, Inc., part of the Air Care Alliance that transports people for needed medical care or be reunited with their families; Young Life, a Christian ministry that helps teens; Campo Family YMCA; the Emergency Care Help Organization, which provides food and clothing to those in crisis; Everyday Blessings, which places orphans in permanent homes; New Horizons, which provides housing and programs for developmentally disabled men and women; and the Brandon Outreach Clinic, which provides medical visits and health care for the uninsured.

In a matching-grant partnership with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Florida, the club gave $10,000 to the Brandon Outreach Clinic, which "saw about 1,800 people and provided over 4,200 prescriptions in 2007," said Stephen Parks, president and medical director of the clinic.

Rotary International unites professional and business leaders around the world to encourage peace, goodwill, ethical standards and works of service. Brandon '86 Rotary meets at 7 a.m. Fridays at Buckhorn Springs Golf & Country Club, 2721 S. Miller Road. For information, call (813) 664-6881 or visit www.brandon86rotary.org.

BarlowGirl In Concert

BarlowGirl, an award-winning Christian rock band made up of three sisters from Elgin, Ill., will perform at 7 p.m. Friday, March 6, in the sanctuary of St. Andrew's United Methodist Church, 3315 Bryan Road.

Rebecca, Alyssa and Lauren Barlow and their message of living chastely and not giving up one's ideals under peer pressure first became known via a 2002 release called "Barlow Girls" by Superchick, a Chicago-based Christian pop rock band.

Since then, BarlowGirl has won many fans with such songs as "Never Alone" and "I Need You to Love Me."

Proceeds will benefit the Steppin' Stone Farm in Lithia, a residential group home that uses Christian principles to teach at-risk teenage girls to take responsibility for themselves and change their destinies.

Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 day of show and available at www.steppinstonfarm .eventbrite.com. Guests may contribute directly to Steppin' Stone Farm by bringing gift cards for Lowe's Home Improvement and the Home Depot to the concert.

For details, visit www .StAndrewsBrandon.org or call Brenda Bazemore of Breakthrough Student Ministriesat (813) 689-6849, ext. 217.

Christian Writers Meet At Alternate Location

TAMPA - The Brandon Christian Writers will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday in a conference room at Bissett McGrath Properties, 2210 U.S. 301 S., instead of at their usual meeting place.

Video clips will be shown from the October Hillsborough Inspirational Writers Workshop, which was presented by authors Debora M. Coty and Ruth Carmichael Ellinger, who also serves as president of the Brandon Christian Writers. Writers will be asked to share their writing goals for the new year and discuss ways to reach them.

Contact Ellinger at writer@ruthellinger.com.

Kiwi Club Meets In Tampa

TAMPA - The Florida Gulf Coast Chapter of the Kiwi Club will meet for lunch at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at The Cheesecake Factory at the Bay Street entrance to International Plaza, 2223 N. West Shore Blvd.

Any active or former flight attendant for American Airlines or former flight attendant for Trans World Airlines may attend. Club members and alumni of TWA Clipped Wings International raise funds for Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Wings Foundation, which serves ill and disabled flight attendants.

For information or reservations, call Nan Dorsey at (813) 633-8132.

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

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