Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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For the second time in three years, $2.5 million of Polk State College’s recurring operational budget – more than 5 percent of the College’s total budget – is at risk of veto and the College is requesting the community’s support to protect these funds to ensure the Polk State JD Alexander Center, Polk State’s Lake Wales Campus, may continue to serve southeast Polk County with quality higher education and workforce training. The 2019 Legislative Session concluded May 4 with...
Thirteen area residents completed their 9-month program June 6 and became graduates of Leadership Lake Wales Class 23. After enjoying a pasta dinner at the American Legion at Eagle Ridge Mall, the classmates talked about learning many new things about Lake Wales and forming bonds that will last well into the future. The Leadership Lake Wales group held an opening retreat in September and a closing retreat in May and met monthly for a daylong session devoted to a particular top...
Overcoming significant challenges of language and poverty, the Lake Wales Charter Schools maintained or improved their 2019 school grades released July 11 by the Florida Department of Education. "We are very, very proud of their improvement and success, of the work that's being done," said charter schools Superintendent Jesse Jackson. "What we have done over the years is try to build a system for success. . . create a structure. Personalities come and go, but we're building a...
Passion, drive, and follow through are items we don't always see today. To find them in one person is even less likely. Now, add strong Christian values, continually advocating for the agriculture mission, and an unflappable desire to educate the next generation of agriculture student, and you have Justin Sharpless. A few months ago, the opportunity arose to sit down and discuss his history with Warner University, his love of agriculture, and his faith. His thoughts are...
Jonathan White says his baseball career was cut short because he put his career in the hands of others his entire life. He accepted that coaches told him he wasn't a starting player because he wasn't good enough. He was a standout player in local leagues, regularly featured in the Sports section of the local newspaper. At age 10, he was invited to play in Cooperstown, NY with the best baseball players in the world. Despite two years sitting the bench in high school his senior...
Polk State College President Angela Garcia Falconetti and Florida Polytechnic University President Randy Avent will sign an articulation agreement establishing the first seamless pathway for students from Polk County's state college to the leading institution of engineering and applied sciences. The event will be held Tuesday, July 16, at 11:30 a.m. in LLC 2188 on the Polk State Lakeland Campus, located at 3425 Winter Lake Road in Lakeland. Polk State and Florida Poly have...
New Bok North Academy Principal Donna Drisdom learned at an early age, from two teachers at Mulberry High School, a philosophy that continues to serve her well even today. "It's looking at the smaller things to understand the larger things is how they would put it," meaning, look deeper than the surface to find the root cause, Drisdom said of the influential instructors, Carolyn Williams and Kathy Langford. "I just kind of took that with me." Drisdom was named to her Lake...
"Electrifying" is how Lake Wales resident Elizabeth "Bet" Tucker described the Orlando rally Tuesday, June 18 to kick off the 2020 re-election campaign of President Donald Trump. It was only 50 miles away but she and friend Teresa Burr from Winter Haven stayed at an Orlando hotel because of the long day planned. They woke up very early Tuesday and were in line at the Amway Center by 7 a.m., a full 13 hours before the president was scheduled to speak. "It was my first rally...
Polk State College is celebrating the preservation of funding for the Polk State JD Alexander Center, the College's Lake Wales Campus, and the College's success in securing recurring operational support during the 2019 Legislative Session. Governor Ron DeSantis signed the 2019-2020 state budget Friday, which includes the $2.5 million-line item titled Polk State College Access to Academic and Workforce Programs used to staff and operate the Lake Wales Campus. The College was al...
To demonstrate the flaws in current Florida law regarding emotional support animals, state Rep. Sam Killebrew said he paid a fee online and registered his stuffed baboon named Ophelia. He wasn't able to get the lax law toughened this year but he did call attention to how easy it is, especially for apartment and condo dwellers, to circumvent the rules. That was just one issue East Polk County business leaders heard about as they gathered for breakfast Thursday, June 13 to learn...
Florida Senate Minority Leader Audrey Gibson fired up members of the Lake Wales NAACP Saturday June 15 with a rousing call to be bold, to vote and to make sure others vote. The Jacksonville Democrat was keynote speaker for Branch 5109's 46th Annual Freedom Fund Banquet. Gibson has been in the Florida Legislature since 2002, the first eight years as a Representative, and the last eight as a Senator. Since it was Father's Day weekend, Gibson brought her dad, Ernest Gibson, to...
Maria Tovar just achieved two major milestones: she obtained her high school equivalency diploma (GED) and became the 100th person to accomplish that goal with the help of the Lake Wales Family Literacy Academy. Cleaning houses for a living and taking care of her 5- and 8-year-old children kept her so busy that there were times she thought about quitting. She dropped out of Lake Wales High School her junior year and wasn't sure she would ever be able to earn a GED or go to...
Osubi Craig, a multi-talented higher education administrator, traditional African percussionist and arts advocate, joins the University of Florida College of the Arts as its inaugural director of a new center focused on arts, migration and entrepreneurship. (Before becoming a special assistant to the president of Virginia State University, Craig served as director of arts and cultural affairs for Polk State College in charge of the Lake Wales campus.) The new center, which wil...
City of Lake Wales officials continue to restrict access to the condemned 1929 Seminole Hotel in downtown Lake Wales to the frustration of developer Ray Brown. A code enforcement officer and three police officers met Brown at the site Tuesday, April 30 and threatened him with arrest for trespassing if he entered the hotel building. Brown says he has a contract to purchase the hotel and notarized permission to enter by the current owner. Brown was there Tuesday to meet senior...
About 100 business and community leaders, elected officials and educators gathered Thursday morning, May 16, to rally support for continued funding of the Lake Wales J.D. Alexander Center of Polk State College. Rather than include $2.5 million for the Lake Wales campus in its regular budget, the Florida Legislature placed it as a separate line item, making it subject to a potential veto by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Polk State President Angela Garcia Falconetti reminded the crowd that...
The Polk County History Center continues its Race and Culture Lecture Series by hosting "An Evening of Jazz and Multicolored Memories" from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 18. The evening's festivities will open with a program offered by Bartow's Community Relations Committee (CRC) to commemorate the 154th anniversary of Florida's Emancipation Proclamation, which was first read May 20, 1865, 11 days after the end of the Civil War and two years after the proclamation was issued by...
Lake Wales' busy downtown Alexander Center of Polk State College is again facing possible closure, according to College President Angela Garcia Falconetti. The crisis is due to the failure of the Legislature to include funds for the campus in the general budget. Instead they have once again been listed as a separate line item, tempting a gubernatorial veto of the funds. "It is critical for the College to receive these funds," Falconetti said in a prepared statement. "For many...
Andy Oguntola, director of the Polk State College J.D. Alexander Center, was presented with the Community Leadership Award at the Thursday, May 9 annual awards gala of the Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Council. Past winner Brian Marbutt of Citizens Bank and Trust presented the award and announced to the crowd that Oguntola had recently completed his doctorate in higher education leadership. Oguntola started out by thanking "Jesus Christ, my Lord...
The Lake Wales Family Literacy Academy was recognized as the Community Service Organization of the Year at the May 9 Annual Awards Gala of the Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Council. Academy Board Member, longtime tutor and volunteer Howard Kay presented the award to founders Deming Cowles and Gail Crum and also praised the volunteers and staff: "They're so selfless, they truly deserve this award. Kay announced that just this week two more adults...
Three individuals, two businesses and one service organization will be honored Thursday, May 7 at the annual fundraising gala hosted by the Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Council. The event theme is "Feeling Groovy," and many attendees are expected to dress in costumes from the 1970s. The event is scheduled from 6-9 p.m. in the Lake Ashton Banquet Hall. Tickets are $75 for individuals and $1,000 for a table of 8. Other sponsorship levels are...
The historic Seminole Hotel in Lake Wales is in "good condition and solid enough to restore," according to Architect Darrin Engel, who has more than 30 years' experience in historic building restoration. A senior project manager with REG Architects of West Palm Beach, Engel did a walkthrough assessment April 30 along with his assistant, Brian Lara. "I've been in some very dangerous buildings that do require care but that is not one of them," Engel said. "I was comfortable...
Lake Wales Family Literacy Academy friends and volunteers celebrated founders Deming Cowles and Gail Crum at a dinner Friday night, April 26. The Lake Wales High School orchestra, directed by teacher Meg Smith, performed a special concert for the event, closing with "You Raise Me Up," as a tribute to what Cowles and Crum do for others. Howard Kay, a longtime academy volunteer and board member, praised the commitment of Cowles and Crum: "I never dreamed of all the families...
Jim Davis is well known for rigorously training highly-skilled professionals for Central Florida fire departments, and that includes instilling in firefighters the importance of honor. After 42 years in the fire service, 30 years as a part-time fire instructor at Ridge Technical College, and nearly a decade as a Polk State Fire Science Technology Coordinator, Davis continues to pass on his traits of respect and selflessness in addition to the technical skills individuals need...
Three former professional athletes, a coach who won two state titles, and one of the program's most ardent supporters make up the inaugural class for the newly-created Highlander Hall of Fame. Pro football players Lorenzo Hampton and Buford Long, along with pro baseball player Pat Borders, softball coach Nancy Denton, and "The Voice of the Highlanders" Richard "Dick" Howell will be inducted May 4 during a dinner ceremony at Lake Wales Country Club. "The Highlander Booster...
While some of the world's finest pilots demonstrated their skills at the 45th Annual Sun 'n Fun Fly-in & Expo in Lakeland a contingent of teenagers gathered nearby rebuilding a wing and tuning up a jet engine. Babson Park's Jackson Gerard and his friends in the Lakeland Aeroclub hosted hundreds of visitors to the Fly-in, including officials from the Federal Aviation Administration who were interested in meeting the next generation of aviators. Sixteen-year-old Gerard is in...
