Santa, elves visit local elementary school

This Week
MBER 13, 2012 • ISSU
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RUSKIN, FLORIDA 33570
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Santa Claus
received a
warm welcome
at Wimauma
Elementary School.
He arrived at the
school using
a Hillsborough
County fire truck as
a sleigh. Awaiting
the children in the
auditorium was a
room full of smiles
from dozens of
volunteers and
mounds of items,
from sweet treats
to necessities
including
toothbrushes,
mittens and hats.
Mitch Traphagen Photo
Mitch Traphagen Photos
Morgan Bernard, a 14-year-old musician, performing with her band
at the Orpheum in Ybor City on Friday night. The performance was
part of an event to celebrate the release of her new CD, “Give It
All”.
A girl, a guitar, a rising star
■■ By MITCH TRAPHAGEN
mitch@riverviewcurrent.com
T
he first thing you notice
about Morgan Bernard is
not the studded boots, it’s
not that she’s an adorably cute
young woman, it’s not
the driving rock ’n roll
rhythm laid down by
her band just before
she takes the stage, it’s
not even her boundless
talent. What you’ll first
notice about Bernard
happens before she even
straps on her electric
guitar and walks up
to her center stage
microphone. What
you’ll notice, what everyone
immediately noticed during her
CD release party at the Orpheum
in Ybor City on Friday night,
was her presence. In the seconds
it took to walk across the stage,
grab her guitar and start singing,
she made her presence known.
Morgan Bernard has “It”; the
mysterious, inexplicable, yet
entirely recognizable feature of
someone who is going to go places
few people will reach. Bernard, a
girl from Gibsonton, is destined to
be a star.
Bernard and her band rocked the
Orpheum on Friday night as part
of a performance for the release of
her new CD entitled “Give It All.”
By Sunday, she was rocking out in
a theater in Nashville, Tennessee.
Her presence, her talent, her music
are taking her places and that
is not mere happenstance. She
decided at the age of 10 what she
wanted to do. Now, at only 14, it
is already coming to fruition. At
an age when many of her peers
still struggle to avoid putting their
clothes on inside out, Bernard
is fronting a rock band. Only 14
years old and she looks equally at
home with her guitar on stage as
she does running around laughing,
pre-show, with her friends and
Nathalie, her band’s young
drummer — doing all the things
teenage girls do. But when she gets
on stage, the teenage girl becomes
a serious musician. She literally
takes the stage and owns it.
XX See RISING STAR, page 23
Santa, elves visit local elementary school
■■ By Mitch Traphagen
mitch@riverviewcurrent.com
W
hen Santa arrived at
Wimauma Elementary
school using a Hillsborough
County fire truck as a sleigh, some
of the younger children were so
excited, so much in disbelief at the
happy sight, they had to cover their
eyes. But as exciting as that was,
if there was a cause for disbelief,
it was awaiting the children in the
school’s auditorium.
Inside that room was a scene that
would bring a tear of joy to the
eyes of the most jaded and cynical
among us. In the auditorium, an
organization of companies and
more than a dozen volunteers had
come together to make Christmas
special for hundreds of children,
some of whom are from families
barely able to afford the basic
necessities, let alone Christmas
presents. More than a dozen people
put aside their own obligations
and deadlines for a day to become
elves and to bring joy to children
in the magical way that only elves
can. It all happened on a December
morning.
The spirit of Christmas isn’t
found in the gifts; it is found in the
love and generosity that inspire the
giving of gifts. On that, the more
than 600 children of Wimauma
Elementary were immersed in the
spirit, with love and generosity on
such a rare scale that it could not
be missed. On Dec. 4, members of
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walked around the room packed
full of everything from treats to
necessities, most piled high on
the Frozen and Refrigerated Foods
of Central Florida Association
were certainly inspired. After class
photos with Santa, the children
XX See SANTA IN WIMAUMA, page 12
HCC earns
USDA
grant for
hydroponics
farm
■■ By PENNY FLETCHER
penny@observernews.net
RUSKIN — Karen
Lewandowski said going
to school saved her life.
PENNY FLETCHER PHOTO
Every day, while
A grant will double the hydroponics
a Hospice patient
growing area at Hillsborough Commuundergoing radiation and
nity College campus in Ruskin and beusing a walker or cane,
come part of its earth science course.
friends drove her back and
forth to classes at Hillsborough Community College.
Most of the staff wasn’t aware of her grave condition until she was
doing much, much better and decided to share her story.
But because going to school was what kept her going during her
hardest of times, she wanted to give something back.
When she did, it benefited many besides those at HCC.
“Thanks to the can-do attitude and pro-active work of Phi Theta
Kappa (PTK) honor society Vice President Karen Lewandowski and
Professor Karen Boosinger, HCC-SouthShore students will soon
XX See HYDROPONICS AT HCC, page 22
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