MacDill Happenings

The State of Florida requires school physicals and immunizations for certain grades.  If you want a free school physical or need immunizations, then Hillsborough County Public Schools is sponsoring free physicals and immunizations so that no child will have to miss a day of school.  The first day of school in Hillsborough County is 18 Aug!  Free school physicals are for any school-aged (K-12) child entering Florida schools for the first time. No sports, Head Start or Child Care physicals will be available. Make sure you bring a copy of your child’s immunization record.  Walk-ins are welcome at some locations, but most require appointments.  Locations are spread throughout the Tampa area. Click here for specific locations.

$5 Day is today, 20 Jul,  from 9:30 am to 5 pm at Lowry Park Zoo.  If you want to ride some of the attractions, then it is an extra couple of dollars per attraction.  For the admission fee, you get to see the over 2,000 animals at the Zoo and enjoy the great Tampa weather!  Parking is always free, but it could fill up fast due to the discount admission.  If you can’t park at the zoo entrance, then you might have to find nearby parking by driving north of the Zoo. Remember to bring sunscreen and also maybe an umbrella, because you never know about Florida weather. The Zoo is located right off of I-275 in the northern part of Tampa.

Today the Rays play the Blue Jays at Tropicana Stadium with a early than normal 6:10pm.  The reason for the early start is the 1990′s MC Hammer concert after the game.  Ticket prices start at only $9!  Remember to buy tickets early because if you buy tickets within 5 hours of game time you have to pay an additional $2!  The Rays are in the middle of a Cinderella season with only 1/2 game behind first place Red Sox before the All-Star game!  With solid pitching, great defense and timely hitting, the Rays have made themselves a contender for the post season for the first time ever! After the game, it’s Hammer time!  His hits during the 90′s including  “U Can’t Touch This,” “Too Legit to Quit” and “Here Comes the Hammer” ruled the airwaves.  Besides the concert, the first 10,000 fans get a Rays LED Flashlight Keychain.  Cars with 4 fans or more get free parking at the stadium, a $10 savings.

If you looking for some great movies this weekend, then you don’t have to go any further than the MacDill AFB Movie Theater.  Movies only cost $4 for adults and $2 for children 12-5 yrs old.  The cost of a medium popcorn and soft drink is only $6.  Admission and refreshments is over 50% cheaper on base when compared to costs out in Tampa.   This Friday at 7pm is ”INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL“ starring Harrison Ford and Karen Allen. This movie is rated PG-13 for adventure violence and scary images.  The run time of the movie is 123 minutes. In 1957, Indiana Jones is thrust back in action, venturing into the jungles of South America in a race against Soviet agents to find the mystical Crystal Skull.  On Saturday at 7pm  watch “IRON MAN” starring Robert Downey Jr., and Terrence Howard. This movie is rated PG13 for intense sci-fi action/violence, and suggestive content.  The run time of the movie is 129 minutes. Tony Stark is a billionaire industrialist and genius inventor who is kidnapped and forced to build a devastating weapon. Instead, using his intelligence and ingenuity, Tony builds a high-tech suit of armor and escapes captivity. When he uncovers a nefarious plot with global implications, he dons his powerful armor and vows to protect the world as Iron Man.

All anime fans get ready for Florida’s largest anime convention, Metrocon,  which starts this Friday and runs until Sunday.  Metrocon is a weekend-long celebration of the numerous facets of Japanese popular entertainment from anime (Japanese animation), manga (Japanese comics), J-pop and J-Rock (Japanese pop and rock music, performed by “idols”) to cosplay (costume design and performance) and video games.  There will be panels, guests, social events, costume and cosplay competitions, gaming areas, and much more! The Tampa Convention Center will be hosting the convention. The Convention Center is located at W. Platt and N. Franklin along roads near the Center.  There is also a parking structure one block east of the Center at Channelside Dr and Morgan St right next to the St Pete Times Forum.  Weekend passes for adults is $55 and for children (6-12) is $25.  Daily passes for children (6-12) is $10.  Daily passes for adults on Friday or Sunday is $25.  A daily pass for an adult on Saturday is $30.

In order to qualify for a Florida Bright Futures Academic Scholarship, high school students are still required to accumulate 75 hours of community service.  However for students that graudate in 2011 or 2012, those 75 hours must be used to identify a social problem that interests him or her, develop a plan for his or her personal involvement in addressing the problem, and through papers or other presentations, evaluate and reflect upon his or her experience.  The new structure is intended to bring integrity back and service to social issues to the system that previously had very broad volunteer service guidelines.  The Florida Bright Futures Scholarship program is a great way to help you pay for your student’s college costs.  Depending on your student’s GPA and community service hours, tuition at a Florida public university or vocational school can be paid from 75% to 100% of the total cost!  The key to remember is that your student has to have a certain minimum GPA in college to renew the scholarship each year.

School supplies vary from teacher to teacher.  However, if you want to get a jump on buying school supplies before the big rush during the first week of school, then you can probably count on requiring a few basic items like line school paper, wide or college depending on the grade, pencils, pens, colored pens, glue stick, and erasers.  Sales are already starting.   Some Hillsborough County Schools list their recommended supplies on their websites.  Some local stores, like Wal Mart, may have some schools recommend supplies.  There is still plenty of time for your child to finish up recommend summer reading list books.  These reading lists will help your child get a good start in school and keep their minds active during the summer.  You can check out the availability of books at your local library to help save a you a few dollars.  Remember the first day of school in Hillsborough County is 18 August!

New students to Pinellas County Schools will be assigned to a close-to-home school on a space-available basis. A close-to-home school is based on such factors as proximity, program capacity and feeder patterns from one school level to another. To register, just follow these steps:
1. Visit any district high school that will have additional staff on hand to meet your needs in order to get a User I.D. and password. Bring a state-issued photo I.D. with you. Bring proof of address (i.e. utility bill for power, water or cable, rental agreement or lease) to verify address entered into the computer. During the summer, hours of operation may vary, so call before going to the school.
2. Use the Student Reservation System at the high school or on your home computer at www.pcsb.org to reserve a seat at a school.
3. Visit your assigned school before the reservation expiration date, Aug. 21, to deliver the required documents.
Required documents:
-Birth certificate or other proof of identity/age.
-Proof of residency.
-Child’s Social Security Number.
-Child’s most recent report card
-Florida Certificate of Immunization.
-Physical examination certificate.

Come out and enjoy the Open Summer Art Show and Reception today from 2pm to 5pm at the New Tampa Regional Library.  The show and reception features traditional and contemporary paintings and fine art photography on display for show and sale, live music, refreshments, awards and more. The New Tampa area is made up of the Tampa Palms, Hunter’s Green, Cross Creek, Pebble Creek, and Meadow Pointe residential communities, as well as the Hidden River Corporate Park and USAA. New Tampa is centered on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard which is named after the late traffic engineer and Assistant Hillsborough County Administrator. The 25,000 square foot library, the largest single-story library in the Hillsborough County Library system, is located between Hunters Green Elementary School and Lewis Benito Middle School.  The library is surrounded by a wide walkway, much of which overlooks a small lake. The library has several community meeting rooms, accomodating up to 100 people, for community use and for library programs. The library hosts a wide variety of educational and recreational programs including lectures, adult book discussions and computer training sessions. Children’s programs are also available, such as Toddler Time, Story Time, puppet shows and other activities. Quiet study rooms are available for individual or group study.

7-Eleven celebrates its 81st birthday July 11 Friday with free Slurpees in 7.11-oz retro-styled cups!  Seems like there is a 7-Eleven on every corner, so you should not have problem finding!  Just make sure you ask at the store to see if they are participating in the celebration.   The free stuff doesn’t end with 7-Eleven.  Stop by Chick-fil-A on this Friday to pick up some free chicken on Cow Appreciation Day! But there is a catch. You have to dress up like a cow from head to toe! If you do dress up then you get a free combo meal any time of day. If you come in partly dressed like a cow, then you get a free entree.  If you’re not sure how to partially dress up like a cow, then click here for ideas.  Chick-fil-A restaurants are located all over the Tampa Bay area.