MacDill Happenings

School has justed start but there are some important dates for students attending Hillsborough County Public Schools. Open House Dates are coming up for Middle and Elementary schools! On Monday 15 Sept, Middle schools are having an open house. On Thursday 18 Sept, Elementary schools are having an open house. Take the opportunity to find out what your child is doing in school, meet the teacher and what you can do help your child during the early formative school years. Your child will have the specific times. There are 4 nights during Septemeber for College Night Dates. On Monday 22 Sept, Sickles High School will host College Night. The following night on 23 Sept Plant High School will host. On 24 Sept, Brandon High School will host. Finally on 25 Sept, Chamberlain High School will host the last night. Come and listen to various college counsolers and more importantly learn about financial aid! It also that time of year for ACT and SAT testing! For the ACT, the maximum number of points is 36. For Bright Futures 28 point is required for Florida Academic Scholars Award (FAS), 20 points for Florida Medallion Scholars Award (FMS) and 17 English/ 18 Reading/ 19 Math is required for Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars Award (GSV). For the SAT the maximum number of points is 2400. For Bright Futures, 1270 is required for Florida Academic Scholars Award (FAS) on Verbal/Math, 970 is required for Florida Medallion Scholars Award (FMS) on Verbal/Math and 440 Verbal/ 440 Math is required for Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars Award (GSV). Start studying now!

The Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Tampa is having a Homeschool Open House on 25 August from 9am to 5pm. The Homeschool Educators Open House offers free self-guided tours of over 450 hands-on MOSI exhibits including Disasterville featuring Bay News 9 WeatherQuest, The Amazing You, Kids In Charge! The Children’s Science Center and The Saunders Planetarium. Highlights include a preview of MOSI’s Homeschool Education programs for the 2009-2010 school year, science demonstrations throughout the day and a 20% discount on MOSI memberships with on-site registration. Guests will also receive discount admission into ANIMATION featuring Cartoon Network and the IMAX Dome Theatre. MOSI is one of a handful of museums in the world to display one of the largest articulated dinosaurs ever discovered. Sauropods were the colossus of their age, some tipping the scales at a full forty tons. The sauropods that occupy MOSI’s lobby reach three stories with a total combined length of approximately 150 feet. Experience a Gulf Coast Hurricane and get ready for the upcoming hurricane season. The BioWorks Butterfly Garden is an engineered ecosystem that emulates how natural wetlands clean water as an alternative to current wastewater treatment techniques. BioWorks houses a free flying butterfly garden that is home to thousands of butterflies each year, an animal husbandry laboratory where guests can watch the butterfly life cycle from egg to adult, extensive outdoor gardens, and two ponds. Kids In Charge! The Children’s Science Center at MOSI is uniquely designedspace for children twelve and under. Based on cutting-edge theories about learningand skill building, Kids In Charge! emphasizes the value of learning through playby bringing together science, creative thinking and inspire the imagination. If you get tired or hungry and want a break, visit the Red Baron cafe for a tasty meal or a refreshing drink. At the end of the day, there is a large selection of sounviers available at the MOSI store. MOSI is located on the north side to Tampa right across the street from the University of South Florida and near Busch Gardens and is about a 30 min drive from MacDill AFB. Parking is always free at MOSI!

The first day of school for Hillsborough County Public Schools is 25 August! If this is your first year in the Tampa, it is probably a lot sooner than you are used to. The school year ends on 10 June 2010. The last day of the school year for high school seniors is 1 June. Everyone is probably getting ready to have some end of summer fun and maybe a trip, but remember there a few things that need to done before school. Don’t forget about the possible requirements of school physicals, shots and school records if you are enrolling in Hillsborough schools for the first time. Even if you are currently enrolled, you may still need physicals or shots! The MacDill AFB Clinic has a walk-in shot clinic everyday, so you don’t need appointment. But physicals requires an appointment at MacDill AFB. To make an appointment for the MacDill AFB Clinic, you can call 828-CARE (2273). There are plenty of enrollment options for Hillsborough schools. Your neighborhood school will be posting enrollment dates and times on the information board in front of the school. If you student has to taking a bus to school, then make sure know the times and pickup locations. Busing can be confusing! Don’t forget to plan to buy school supplies!

The 14th Annual “Back to School Bash” continues today from noon to 4pm at the Tampa Convention Center. This fun filled event provides the opportunity to enjoy interactive exhibits, live family entertainment and sample free lunch treats. More importantly, this event can start getting the kids charged up to go back to school! Remember the first day of school for Hillsborough County Public Schools is 25 August, just over 2 quick weeks away! Learn about swim safety tips. Look into tutoring programs for your children. There will be information available to learn how to plan financially for your children’s college education now! It’s never too early to plan for college! The first 100 paid tickets each day receive a free packback. Check out the free bead making! There will be a character parade. Kids will love the free face painting and the bounce house. Radio Disney will be there with free giveaways! You can receive a free bicycle helmet to get ready for the new school year. There will be a petting zoo. Tickets cost $9 for an adults. Kids 12 and under are free with a paying adult. There is a limit of 3 kids per paying adult.  The Tampa Convention Center is located in downtown Tampa along the Hillsborough River. There is plenty of parking at the Center and nearby.

Today from 9am to noon the 7th Annual FishHawk Area Networking Group Back to School Festival will take place at the FishHawk Youth Sports Complex on FishHawk Blvd. Admission is free but $10 worth of new school supplies or a $10 cash donation is requested that will be used to benefit the YMCA migrant children effort. The support raised last year helped more than 400 children. There will be more than 80 local business booths, 10 restaurants, live music, safety demonstrations and exhibits from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, free giveaways, and door prizes. For you Transformer fans, a 2010 Yellow Bumblebee Camaro will be available for a test drive! Along with other restaurants, Chick-fil-A, Lake Brandon Village, Formaggio’s Pizzeria will be providing free tasty food samples! Located within a 40 minute drive to downtown Tampa and MacDill AFB, FishHawk Ranch is a unique community with walking and biking paths throughout the neighborhood. You’ll find shops and grocery stores all around the neighborhood for your shopping convience with a wide variety of restaurants for every taste. Top rated elementary, middle and high school are nearby with a new sports park close to Randall Middle School. Hillsborough Area Rapid Transit also offers express bus service to MacDill AFB from FishHawk Ranch. MacDill AFB also provides free monthly bus passes to military and civilian

Hillsborough Community College Brandon Campus is hosting a week long Robotics Camp from 20-24 July. The cost is $50 and is for ages 11-14 years. Students will learn how to reconfigure the Lego Mindstorm Robots, program them to follow specific command be part of “robotic team challenges”, learn how to program and operate CNC (Computer Numerical Controlled) equipment at the USF Engineering Labs and examine careers in modern manufacturing. In addition, they will also be sharpening their skills in math, in physics and in the application of scientific principles and new technologies. Campers must bring their own lunch and snacks daily. The camp runs 8 am to 4 pm each day. HCC Brandon Campus is located at 10414 E Columbus Drive, Tampa. For more information call (813) 259-6581. HCC has 4 main campuses, 2 satellite locations and an online eCampus. Campuses are located in Brandon, Ybor City, in Tampa near Raymond James stadium and in Plant City. Satellite locations are at MacDill AFB and SouthShore. HCC, the 9th largest community college system in Florida, is over 40 years old and has a little over 21,000 enrolled students. Graduate with an Associate of Arts Degree and you are guaranteed admission as a junior to any state university and to many private colleges.

If you’re new to the Tampa area and you will enroll your child in a Hillsborough County Public School, then the Summer Reading List is available help prepare your child for classes.  If your child is already enrolled in a local school, then the summer reading list will help step right back into the swing of things when school starts.  Remember the first day of school is 25 August!  Reading is key to learning. Reading challenges the mind and opens up the imagination and expands horizons.  Reading can be for fun and at the same teach critical thinking and promote new understandings. Reading increases a child’s vocabulary.  Reading is just a good thing to do!  There are reading list for elementary, middle and high school students.  With the 25th of August just around the corner, now is good time to plan for shots and physicals, if required.   

To help students keep reading during the summer, the MacDill AFB Library along with MacDill AFB Youth programs is sponsoring the “Novel Idea for Teens/Tweens” reading program from 11 Jun – 13 Aug. Stop by the MacDill AFB Library for more information and to register. The grand prize is an iPod shuffle! The program is open to students affiliated with the MacDill AFB community ages 11-18 or in grades 6th through 12th. Books must be selected from the High School & Middle School Summer Reading Lists for Hillsborough County Public Schools. Books from both reading lists are available at the base library for check-out. In order to check-out a book from the library, the participant or their Sponsor must have a valid base library card. Participants mus read 7 books from the approved reading lists and be able to answer a couple of questions about the books they have read. Each participant who successfully completes the program will receive a prize and will be entered into a drawing to win the Grand Prize—an iPod shuffle!

This is week is graduation week for Hillsborough County Public Schools. Although those graduating seniors may not be thinking about freshman year in college, Borders bookstore in Tampa can help you get ready for college. In a couple of months from now, those new college freshmen will be wondering where the summer went. Whether freshmen are staying at home or going to college in another town, freshmen year is going to be a shock. They are going to be on their own when they get to campus. It is going to be a lot bigger than a high school campus and professors are going to expect you to be responsible. You’ll have a wide range of ages in class and some will be freshmen and some may be upper classmen. Freshmen are going to have a lot of freedom that they did not have in high school. Learning how to manage time, study time and fun time, is important to succeeding in college. Freshmen need to start out on the right foot. Jeff Karon will give a presentation called “The Five Secret Strategies for Succeeding in Your First College Semester.” Karon not only will instruct students how to survive college, but share key tips that will bring success. His presentation is at Borders, 909 N Dale Mabry Highway, Thursday at 7 pm is free and open to the public.

It that time of the year again! Hillsborough County Public high schools actually started their graduations on Thursday and Friday, but there are still plenty of graduations that will take place this week. There are two locations that are used for graduation venues: the Florida State Fair Grounds Expo Hall and the USF Sun Dome. The advantages for each venue is the large parking lots available and the easy of accessibility. The State Fair, located off of the intersection of 301 and MKL Blvd, is right off of I-4 and just west of I-75. Parking lot access can be made off of 301 or MLK. The USF Sun Dome off of Folwer Ave and is west of I-75 and east of I-275 with huge parking lots. There will be two ceremonies each day, one starting 3pm and one starting at 7pm. Graduations can take up to 3 hours so be aware of that if you are attending a 7pm ceremony, because you may run into traffic. At the State Fair on 1 Jun at 3pm, Brandon High graduates, then at 7pm Lennard High graduates. At the Sun Dome on 1 Jun at 3pm, Freedom High graduates, then at 7pm Middleton High graduates. At the State Fair on 2 Jun at 3pm, Robinson High graduates, then at 7pm Spoto High graduates. At the Sun Dome on 2 Jun at 3pm, Armwood High graduates, then at 7pm Chamberlain High graduates. At the State Fair on 3 Jun at 3pm, Tampa Bay Tech High graduates, then at 7pm Blake High graduates. At the Sun Dome on 3 Jun at 3pm, Leto High graduates, then at 7pm Bloomingdale High graduates. At the State Fair on 4 Jun at 3pm, Riverview High graduates, then at 7pm Adult Education graduates. At the Sun Dome on 1 Jun at 3pm, Wharton High graduates, then at 7pm HIllsborough High graduates.