Inside:
Volume 21 Issue 8
Check Out Our 2013 Summer Camp Guide!
April 13, 2013
See pages 18-19!
The Direct-Mail News Magazines Serving New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Since 1993! THIS INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY NEWS MAGAZINE IS DIRECTLY MAILED TO: WESLEY CHAPEL: Aberdeen • Belle Chase • Brookside • Chapel Pines • Country Walk • Lexington Oaks • Meadow Pointe • New River • Northwood • Pinewalk • Pine Ridge • Saddlebrook • Saddleridge Estates • Saddlewood • Seven Oaks • The Lakes at Northwood • The Villages of Wesley Chapel • Wesley Pointe • Westbrook Estates • Williamsburg NEW TAMPA: Arbor Greene • Cory Lake Isles • Cross Creek • Easton Park • Grand Hampton • Heritage Isles • Hunter’s Green • Hunter’s Key • K-Bar Ranch • Lake Forest • Live Oak Preserve • Pebble Creek • Richmond Place • Tampa Palms • The Hammocks • West Meadows
Back On Schedule — PHCC Porter Campus To Open In January 2014 By Bonnie Mason Wesley Chapel residents soon will have a college to call their own. Pasco-Hernando Community College (PHCC) is nearing completion of its fifth full-service campus — the PHCC Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, located on Mansfield Blvd. at S.R. 56, adjacent to Wiregrass Ranch High. Although heavy rains saturated the site and led to delays in construction, the work that began in late 2011 is now moving forward smoothly and the multi-story urban-design campus is on schedule to open for classes by Jan. 2014. A design committee comprised of PHCC administrators, faculty, staff and students provided guidance to Florida Architects, Inc., and Skanska USA Building, Inc., the project designer and construction manager, respectively. The result is an overall design unlike any of the other PHCC campuses. The Porter Campus — named for the Porter family, which donated the 60 acres of land on which the campus is being built, and is the developer of the Wiregrass Ranch community — is being built with the future student in mind. It features a four– story classroom building linked by a plaza to a separate two-story library building and an also-separate administration building, all of which are being built above a three-story parking garage.
“We’re building this way because the Porters, when they donated the land, indicated that they really wanted this campus to have that ‘urban feel’ because of the businesses that are going to be coming in (to the area) and the type of structures that we anticipate being around us,” Ken Burdzinski, PHCC’s vice president of administration and finance said at a recent meeting of the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) Economic Development Committee at Amer. Consulting Engineers.
Programs For Success
In addition to traditional general education classes that prepare students for career and university transfer opportunities once they earn their Associate degree, the Porter Campus reportedly will dedicate two floors solely to health care programs, which will offer the latest interactive teaching and simulation technology available. Beginning in August of 2014, PHCC also will launch its first two Bachelor degree programs in science and nursing (BSN) and applied science (BAS), with a major in management and supervision, which should appeal to students looking to get into business professions. PHCC currently is awaiting approval from the state legislature to change its name, for which it already is collecting input from the community on its website at PHCC.edu.
Progress can be seen on the construction of the new Pasco-Hernando Community College Porter Campus, which currently is scheduled to open for classes in January 2014. Photo: Matt Wiley
PHCC’s business and workforce training career programs also are said to be an important feature at the new campus. Both health and business programs will train students for lucrative technology and medical careers which have high job growth expectation. Although program development has begun, the final determination of programs that will be available at the Porter Campus require approval by PHCC’s District Board of Trustees and its accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
Partnering For Programs
It is customary for PHCC to develop strong community partnerships with area hospitals and businesses near all of its campuses, and the Porter Campus is no different. Although details regarding the development of academic programs with university partners, local businesses and other community partners are not yet available, relationships are being developed and led by Dr. Randy Stovall, provost of the PHCC East Campus
See “PHCC” on page 9.
Despite Threatening Weather, Taste Of New Tampa Rocks Primrose Park! TM
NEIGHBORHOOD MAGAZINE!
Crash Closes I-75 Lanes For 12 Hours, Kinnan/Mansfield Talks Hit Roadblock, Business Features On Insurance New Tampa, Kids R Kids Of Meadow Pointe & More!!
Shen Yun Returns To Tampa Bay, Wesley Chapel Residents Start Brewery, Full Circle Pizza Offers Quality Family Dining & More Neighborhood Nibbles & Biz Bytes!
Pages 1-24
Pages 25-56
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn enjoys a slice of Full Circle Pizza at the Taste of New Tampa.
ECRWSS
NEWS, BUSINESS, SPORTS & EDUCATION UPDATES
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID TAMPA FL PERMIT 2801
Also Inside This Issue!
prizes by a panel of judges that included two personal chefs. This year’s Taste also featured an outstanding “Battle of the Bands,” which was won by a funk-rock band called Nervous Energy, which was rewarded with a $500 cash prize. The event also was visited by Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who sampled some of the food and also touted the city’s new New Tampa Blvd. Gateway Bridge, which literally let people cut their travel time to the Taste in half. The Primrose School also offered a great play area for the kids in attendance and the park proved to be an outstanding location. For more info about this year’s Taste, visit WCNeighborhoodNews. com to view our Taste wrapup video.
Dated Material Please Rush!
Although the forecast for the 20th annual Taste of New TampaTM on March 24 called for about a 70-percent chance of rain — and despite winds that gusted to 30 miles per hour — the New Tampa Chamber of Commerce that co-hosted the event with the
Primrose School of Tampa Palms in the adjacent Primrose Park was happy with just the few sprinkles of rain that fell throughout the day. An estimated crowd of about 3,000 people attended this year’s Taste and got to sample tastes of cuisine from nearly 20 restaurants, several of which were awarded
Postal Customer
By Bonnie Mason