Bloomingdale/FishHawk
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May 2018 Volume 17, Issue 5 Ph: 657-2418 1 5
Y E A R S
O F
P U B L I S H I N G
Randall Students Head To Odyssey Of The Mind World Championships In Iowa
By Kate Quesada
C O M M U N I T Y
N E W S
County’s Newest Fire Station #44 Opens For Service With Ribbon Cutting
By Kate Quesada was donated to Hillsborough County by Newland Communities. The station is staffed 24-hour with a crew of nine working in shifts of three and took a call for a kitchen fire
FishHawk area residents are safer this month after the much anticipated official opening of Hillsborough County Fire Station Number 44 on FishHawk Blvd. between Moasic Dr. and Bell Shoals Rd. on Thursday, April 5. Hillsborough County Fire Station Number 44 opened on Fire rescue perFishHawk Blvd. last month. Top: VPK students from Kids ‘R’ sonnel, community Kids were invited to participate in the opening of the new fire station. representatives and residents attended a Continued on Page 5 ceremony which included a ribbon cutting, officially declaring the station open to help the public. In This “FishHawk residents can rest Issue easy now that station 44 is active,” said County Commissioner Stacy White, speaking at the opening cereCOUNTY PARKSTO IMPROVE .............PG 4 mony. “I am proud to have this new PURPLE HEART RECIPIENT .................PG 7 station in my district.” The station, which was completACTIVE SHOOTER WORKSHOP...........PG 9 ed with a $2.9 million budget, is HCSO MEET & GREET ......................PG 10 10,000 sq. ft., including a refueling facility, safe room, modern living PUBLIC SCHOOL BUDGET.................PG 12 quarters, a climate controlled bunker PRODUCE CO‐OP .............................PG 13 gear room and three bays housing a new fire engine. HONORED SHERIFF GEE...................PG 16 Construction costs were funded through impact fees, general revenue READ MORE LOCAL NEWS ONLINE funds and Public Safety Improvement www.ospreyobserver.com Bond Project Funds. The two-acre lot
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ance. Students are not allowed help from adults; they have a strict budget and must construct sets and costumes. They also write their own script for the play. The Spontaneous Round involves the students Randall Middle School students Blake Bole, Kayla Purifoy, Bradley solving a quesCarlson, Findlay Hartman, Leela Walbolt, John Annett and Kaylee Matteis are heading to the World Championship Odyssey of the Mind tion or problem competition in Iowa this month. during a short Seven seventh grade students from time, typically four to eight minutes, and Randall Middle School are heading to they are judged on creativity and quick Iowa this month with an exciting task thinking. ahead of them. The students make up To prepare for the competitions, the the school’s Odyssey of the Mind team team meets twice a week for months in and they recently won the state competiadvance. tion and a ticket to the world champi“The competition encourages taking onships at Iowa State University from a different approach to a problem,” said May 24-27. Hartman. “Kids that love STEM (science, The Randall students are the only technology, engineering and mathematgroup from Hillsborough County invited to ics) would love Odyssey of the Mind.” the championships where they will comThe team is working hard to raise pete against approximately 850 teams almost $10,000 to fund the trip to Iowa for from around the world. the world championships and would According to Co-coach Erin Hartman, appreciate the community support with Odyssey of the Mind events are creative fundraising and donations. problem solving competitions made up of “These kids have worked so hard for two parts: Performance and the the past seven months,” said Hartman. Spontaneous Round. “Last year we were not able to attend the “During the Performance section, the world championship due to funding, but students are given a problem to solve this year we told them if they could win and the solution must be presented in an again at states, we would take them all eight minute play,” said Hartman. the way. They are extremely talented, For example, during the state comcompetitive and super creative.” petition, the students were asked to build To contribute, visit a vehicle that could travel forward and www.gofundme.com/hy2ece-odyssey-ofbackward and they had to joust and curl the-mind-world-finals. For information, email while on the vehicle during the performHartman at erin@admechanics.com.
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The Osprey Observer has a Geocache - a hidden object found by means of GPS coordinates and recently Starling residents Thompson, Hallie, and Caroline Peacock found it in the Hawk Park area. Find it for yourself at www.geocaching.com/geocache/GCKH60_osprey-observer-cache
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