Academy Prep St. Petersburg (APSP) sixth grade students tested the water in Midtown St. Petersburg to check for the presence of lead in the water. They made a few discoveries and wrote a water conservation article in Steam Magazine and broadcasted their reports.
“Lead is severely dangerous. It is dangerous because it can hurt people in many ways. For many adults, lead can cause high blood pressure and memory problems (“Lead Poisoning and Health,” 2016) For children, this can cause behavior disorders, effects on brain development, anemia, and hypertension (“Lead Poisoning and Health,” 2016). Lead can be found in paint and water. It is dangerous when found in the water because people cook and drink the water. Water needs to be clean because that’s the main resource and used to keep people healthy and hydrated.”
GULFPORT — When voters go to the polls on Tuesday, they will decide whether to reward two City Council incumbents with another two-year term.
One incumbent has drawn token opposition. The other has drawn a crowd.
Linda Bailey filed to run in Ward 2 in November, then essentially disappeared. She did not attend two candidate forums and did not respond to questionnaires that the Tampa Bay Times and a community weekly paper sent to candidates. In an interview, she said she is running just to give people “another name” on the ballot.
That suggests clear sailing for incumbent Christine Anne Brown, a community activist and teacher who is seeking a third term in Ward 2, which covers the southeast quarter of the city.
In Ward 4, however, incumbent Michael Fridovich has three opponents. They all criticize him for poorly representing the district, which stretches across the city’s northeast quadrant.
Although candidates must live in the districts they seek to represent, voting is citywide.
Written by University of South Florida St. Petersburg journalism and mass communications students, Ryan Callihan, Tyler Gillespie and Devin Rodriguez, this article was published in the Tampa Bay Times.
Story by Nikki Sawyer. Edited by Tamiracle Williams.
Andrea Perez is a master’s student studying Journalism and Media Studies at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg (USFSP). Perez was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She moved to the Florida not too long ago to further her education.
Perez has had a passion for writing and telling stories ever since she was a little girl. However, being a journalist was not always in her life plan. Book publishing was Perez’s original career path, but in high school she noticed the difficulties of this industry. Meanwhile, newspapers and journalism sparked her interest.
Most teenagers do not spend time reading newspapers, but Perez was different. She spent countless hours reading newspaper in her free time.
“I found that giving out stories for people to learn about their communities and things that are going on in society was really important,” she said.
Andrea Perez
Perez had already unveiled her love for community journalism. Next, was to get herself into the field and start working on becoming a professional journalist. Her journalistic journey started years ago in high school. While attending high school she began taking photographs for the school’s yearbook.
“That was a type of photojournalism [to me],” she said.
Doing work for the school’s yearbook was nice and fulfilling at the time, but that was just the start of Perez’s journalism career . Once completing high school, Perez found herself at Universidad del Sagrado Corazon in San Juan, studying journalism. There, she worked with various publications covering different campus activities.
Perez’s passion continued to grow more and more. Taking photos and learning how to be a journalist from her classes simply was not enough for the twenty-three year old. On her own merit, she decided she needed to do more creatively as a journalist and let her unique passion bloom.
At university, she developed an online news blog for students on campus called “La Bicicleta.”
“It actually started with the big question. – Why don’t we have a news blog as students who practice journalism?” she said. “So, me and another group of people started asking for permission [to create one].”
“We had many hours of trying to figure out how we can make it happen. It was very difficult; we took almost two years to actually make it an official website for our campus,” she said. “It was a great experience for us and for other students [who] wanted to [practice] journalism on campus.”
While the blog is a passion project of hers, photography and journalism are even larger passions. Perez is experienced and skilled behind the lens, but doesn’t consider herself to be an expert.
“I am highly interested in journalism and even though I know the basics, I want to get better at it because I really love photojournalism,” she said.
Unlike other students in the USFSP’s journalism programs , Perez said the most she has done is interviewing.
“I’d say that I’m really good at getting that information and building a solid relationship with whoever it is that I’m interviewing for my story,” she said.
Another keen interest for Perez is documentaries. While she lacks in experience, she is really looking forward to learning more about them.
Tentatively, Perez would enjoy learning more about community journalism and engaging in the Midtown (St. Petersburg) community. She said the community aspect of journalism is mainly why she selected this master’s program above many, many others.
“What I would want to be able to actually do and complete is to go back to Puerto Rico and create a sort of news blog for students, special aid for students that don’t really have the benefits and opportunities to go and do internships with local news agencies, because that’s really difficult to do in Puerto Rico,” she said.
Luckily, Perez has faced no challenges in her work with NNB thus far. Her first assignment went swimmingly, with the exception of some pesky clouds getting in the way of her camera lens. She’s interested in learning more about a project in which students worked with Academy Prep to test local tap water for the presence of lead and seeing how she can contribute to it.
Story by Andrea Perez. Edited by Alyssa Fedorovich.
If you’re sitting across from 22-year-old Nicole Sawyer, in a classroom, or a café in downtown St. Petersburg, and ask her to talk about herself, you’ll be surprised and honestly, quite enthralled.
Although Nicole is currently seeking a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Media Studies, from the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg, she has also been training as a professional wrestler since 2014.
“Wrestling is my true passion and what I hope to do with my life. I work around the state wrestling and usually my weekends consist of traveling from one end of the state to the other,” expresses Nicole.
As she tackles with journalism assignments, Nicole still manages to train four days a week at the Tampa Bay Pro Wrestling ring owned by Jay Lethal, a former trainer and professional wrestling champion. She adds, with a matter-of-fact tone and relaxed attitude, that a typical day for her consists of classes, assignments, training, and wrestling shows.
The balance she’s able to maintain in her daily life allows her to continue developing journalism skills. Last semester she worked for The Crow’s Nest as a writer, and was even asked to write a profile on herself, which the undergrad describes as one of her favorite on-campus assignments.
“It was cool to kind of explain my story to people, because it’s almost like having two lives. Being a college student, and then being a professional athlete, so it was cool to explain that the two worlds come together,” she explained with a candid smile.
Her passion also comes with responsibilities. While being interviewed, Nicole holds poise that gives away discipline.
As a newly Neighborhood News Bureau (NNB) reporter, Nicole expects to learn more about Midtown. She’s particularly interested in working on a story regarding food accessibility issues the community of Midtown could be facing, following the decision Wal-Mart made to close down one of its stores, located on 22nd Street South.
She realizes that her journalistic intention, combined with the knowledge she has obtained so far from reading “St. Petersburg’s Historical African American Neighborhoods” makes her enjoy NNB very much.
“I’m learning about an entire race and culture with a significant background that as someone foreign to the area, I didn’t even know was a thing,” the Palm Harbor resident adds.
Nicole also want others to learn what she is learning in NNB. “I’d like my fellow classmates and friends to get to know more about Midtown, given what I’ve learned already. I feel it’s a very stigmatized area with no real reason to be such,” she said. “I’d like my friends to know it’s a perfectly fine area with nothing to worry about. To educate yourselves on a significant history is important and crucial to our development as individuals and as a society,” Nicole added.
This semester you’ll find the longtime athlete reporting on social issues, and still arriving on time for her classes. It’s possible that weekly training enhances speed walking. Just ask Nicole.
Avery Speagle was born in the small town of Flowery Branch, Georgia with a population of nearly 1,000 people.
Growing up, Speagle was challenged with a constant change of scenery due to his father’s security business which travelled all around Georgia and later to Florida. He has seen the inside of eight different classrooms in his 23 years of life.
Speagle claims that his most unwelcome obstacle with this constant change, was the ability to develop friendships. To his credit, this never hindered his involvement and passion for team sports and social opportunities which included, wrestling, cross country, and weight lifting among others. He was later challenged with the tearing of his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) which halted his ability to run.
Speagle joined theatre as well, and was often chosen to be in the ensemble that carried the actresses around because of his strength. This did not exclude him from gaining a leading role as the main alien in a show called, “Twitch” which was performed at Pinellas Park High School.
Speagle feels that he is equipped for a career in the field of mass communications because of his experience with speaking in front of large crowds due to his theatre involvement. He eventually published stories in the esteemed Midtown newspaper “The Weekly Challenger.” He has also done work for his media and elections class at the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa where his professor, Robert Hooker was a large influence on him.
“He actually helped me to publish five stories so that makes me feel more confident in my writing.” said Speagle.
After taking a news editing course with Professor Bernardo Motta, Speagle quickly realized his goal in life.
“I want to host a show like Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, but I realized I just don’t want to be an opinion and I don’t want to spread fake news. I want it to be educational but in an unconventional sense.” he said.
Speagle is prepared to make a splash in this new form of news and he even has a back up plan if all else fails.
“If I ever did have a fall back I actually would like to be a traditional style teacher,” said Speagle.
Recently, Speagle set out on his first assignment for Neighborhood News Bureau (NNB), where he attended a Martin Luther King day event which hosted a fun day for foster children.
Unfortunately, Speagle was misinformed about what the event actually entailed, and was directed by the wrong person over a series of phone calls. He quickly proved his persistence when he set out to do an observation project instead where he attended the Mercy Keepers Food Pantry in Midtown. Speagle’s time at the food pantry allowed him to reflect on what he saw.
“They open two times a week and they actually ran out of cans for the week before they could open for the second time. It definitely impacted me.” said Speagle.
Speagle believes that this course will bring him the opportunity to help the community and help him to gain the experience to know that he is making a difference for the people.
After reading the first part of the book, “African American Neighborhoods,” Speagle retained that there is a vast history he did not know about in St. Petersburg’s Midtown.
Speagle had this to say about his takeaways from the book, “I guess what I learned the most about it is just how much we think integration is supposed to be a good thing but when put in the wrong hands integration can destroy communities not help it.”
The 5000 Role Models of Gibbs High School are providing a biweekly car wash to raise funds for their college tour to Miami, Fla. The program is a dropout prevention, mentoring program that is committed to minority male achievement. The car wash services are available from 12 to 5 p.m. every other Sunday. They had their first car wash on Feb. 5 with the next car wash happening this Sunday.
Coordinator, Javaris Green, hopes they can continue this fundraiser so the students can have opportunities to visit more college campuses. One school on that list is the University of South Florida’s St. Petersburg campus. The date is to be determined, but Green hopes the community will come out to support the young men and help them have a rich college-tour experience.
Partnered with No Limit Detailing, they are offering interior services (cleaning, leather conditioning, carpet shampooing, and wheel and tire care) and exterior services (wash, polish and wax). The charge is $10 per car and $15 per truck. Donations are always welcome. The car wash is located at 534 28th St. South St. Petersburg, FL, 33712. The contact number is 727.648.8540.
Among the different communities and organizations located in the St. Petersburg, Florida, area, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 16, was a day filled with celebrations, parades and service. Neighborhood News Bureau students covered these different events throughout the day with a few of the students getting their coverage published in The Weekly Challenger.
To view the entire coverage from the Neighborhood News Bureau students in The Weekly Challenger, click the link below.
A bleached-blonde woman sat down in barber Dale Jones’s chair for a free fade on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Hair by Ahsile.
“I wish people would say ‘Happy MLK Day,” Jones said as his clippers buzzed, “like they do ‘Merry Christmas’.”
Barber Dale Jones cuts hair for free as part of Hair by Ahsile’s MLK Day of Service, in St. Petersburg, Fla.
For the past ten years, the shop has offered no-charge services for the homeless community as part of its MLK Day of Service. This year, the event’s “day of pampering” included washes, cuts, and manicures to go along with free food and clothes.
Jones has worked at Hair by Ahsile for a little over a year. The shop at 844 49th Street North in St. Petersburg, Fla. is his family. Literally.
“My aunt owns the shop,” he said. “My uncle is in here, my cousin, another aunt.”
Jones will turn 37 this week and has two days off after MLK day. He’s looking forward to some fun.
“Every year I turn passed 25, the year they say we don’t make it out of the hood,” he said. “We celebrate.”
Friends for over 40 years
Pastor Deborah Hill became friends with Brenda Gilbert in the sixth grade. In the years after their high school graduation, Hill
Brenda Gilbert, owner of Hair by Ahsile in St. Petersburg, Fla., cuts hair as Pastor Deborah Hill looks on. The two have been friends for over 40 years.
left for the military.
After 20 years of service, she came back to the St. Pete area and quickly re-connected with Gilbert.
“Our visions are similar,” said Hill. “We both have a passion for helping those who are disadvantaged.”
By noon on Hair by Ahsile’s MLK Day of Service, Hill’s New Hope of Glory Ministries church van had picked up four loads of 15 people from various homeless shelters.
“When people can’t get their hair done – it does something to them,” she said. “The fact they’re able to receive the service makes a difference.”
Throughout the day, Hill and other volunteers filled multiple roles: ran desk, shampooed, and served food.
“On this day, you fit in where you can,” Hill said. “Everybody has to pull up their sleeves and work together.”
Inner beauty
Pastor Anthony Jones shampoos Carol Kapelke’s hair during the MLK Day of Service in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Pastor Anthony Jones helped Carol Kapelke out of her wheelchair and into the shampoo station. As he began to massage her temples, Kapelke touched a scar on her forehead.
“This is from surgery,” she said, “and this – this is from last night. I fell on the concrete.”
Kapelke closed her eyes.
“I look like an old woman,” she said. “All I see is the lines.”
As soon as the words left Kapelke’s mouth, Pastor Deborah Hill – at the nearby shampoo station – turned to her.
“You’re beautiful,” she said. “That’s just you telling yourself that you’re not.”
Hill leaned closer to Kapelke.
“Say I am beautiful,” she said. “Say I am somebody.”
Kapelke’s voice, quiet at first, grew louder.
“I am beautiful,” she said. “I am somebody.”
Moving to Florida
Dawn Herman, 54, always knew she wanted to become a graphic designer. In the 1990s, she went to one of the first Macintosh
Dawn Herman gets her hair cut by Phylicia McQueen as the stylist’s daughters Anilah and Angalee talk to them at Hair by Ahsile, in St. Petersburg, Fla.
training schools in Atlanta, Georgia. Herman worked at a big printing company after that then moved around the country with her Air Force husband.
The couple ended up in Mississippi, and Herman worked for ten years as a graphic designer at a university. Then, she went through a divorce and decided to move to Florida.
Eventually, she said, she found work in the art department at a newspaper.
“We went through a lot of changes with the internet,” she said. “They thought they could save a lot of money outsourcing work.”
As newspapers around the country re-worked business plans, Herman said she got fired in 2012.
“It really threw me for a loop,” she said. “I lost everything – my job, my house, my car. Everything went to hell in a handbasket.”
Herman had no family in Florida and nowhere to go. She ended up on the street.
“It can happen to anybody, honey,” she said. “It’s one paycheck. It’s so quick.”
Herman found a spot in Pinellas Hope tent city for the homeless. Herman, who has back issues, has had difficulty finding work and is currently applying for disability.
But she has hope.
“Today is the happiest I’ve been in a long time,” she said after she got her hair done. “To be out with regular people doing regular things. It’s a good day.”
Tyna Middleton, the Enoch Davis Center Senior Advisory Council Secretary, and Virginia Scott shared a hug before Scott gave the event history. Scott is the president of the St. Petersburg Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Organization, Inc. She has been part of the organization since this event began 32 years ago.
The Martin Luther King Jr. High School Essay Contest bring students from various high schools to participate, and Scott emphasized how important it is for these students.
“The youth are contributing to the community and society,” Scott said. “These students want to do it; they want to make it good.”
She also said that this is an important event because of the kind of how the general public can act.
“All of the years are about young people beginning to serve,” Scott said. “To become more of an individual in a society where you follow your peers.”
Contribution to society
At the 32nd Annual MLK Essay Contest, Virginia Scott, President of the St. Petersburg Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Organization Inc., spoke to the attendees about the history of the event.
Scott has been involved since the very beginning and enjoys to hear what the students write every year.
“The youth are contributing to the community and society,” Scott said. “These students want to do it; they want to make it good.”
The event is hosted by the Enoch Davis Center and is sponsored by a few other groups such as the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
First speech
Deondrick Harper delivered his speech first. He is in 10th grade at Gibbs High School and was unsure at first.
“It went pretty good,” Harper said. “I was nervous at first, but after I got some of my essay out I felt more comfortable.”
Harper wrote his piece on which Martin Luther King Jr. techniques society can use for peace and justice. He covered recent police brutality and how he thinks we are closer to eliminating racism than we think.
Harper noticed that what he thought was most important about this contest in the community.
“We’re letting people know what is going on in the world, it is the most important win or lose,” Harper said.
Harper was awarded honorable mention at the end of the night and $25.
Life of a hero
Aysiah Pagan, a sophomore at Gibbs High school, presented second. “I was nervous because of stage fright but I think it went well,” she said.
Pagan wrote her essay on how love should be our race, and peace be our religion.
“We’re remembering what MLK did and what he died for, we’re remembering to have love in this world,” Pagan said.
She was awarded third place for her essay and given $75.
First prize
Daniela Pepe, a ninth grader from Gibbs High School, was the third student to present her essay for the MLK High School Essay Contest.
Pepe spoke about how silence is poison to a good cause. She was trying something different.
“I am used to singing at school, but not public speaking, so it’s a new experience,” Pepe said.
Pepe thinks this local essay contest is doing good things.
“Everyone that writes this essay is trying to resolve the conflict,” Pepe said.
Pepe received first place in the essay contest and won $200. She also won two tickets to sit at the annual MLK Leadership Breakfast, Monday.
Tyna Middleton and Virginia Scott share a hug before Scott speaks about the history of the MLK Essay Contest. Middleton is the Enoch Davis Center Senior Advisory Council Secretary, and Scott is President of the St. Petersburg Dr. Martin Luther King Commemorative Org. Inc.
Daniela Pepe, a freshman from Gibbs High School, read her essay at the Annual Martin Luther King Essay Contest, Thursday, Jan. 12.
Aysiah Pagan, a sophomore at Gibbs High school, presented her essay at the 32nd Annual Martin Luther King Essay Contest, Jan. 12.
Deondrick Harper, a sophomore from Gibbs High School, read his essay to the judges and guests at the Enoch Davis Center, for the Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest on Jan. 12.
Virginia Scott, President of the St. Petersburg Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Organization Inc., speaking about the history of the 32nd Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Essay contest.
The St. Petersburg Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority hosted a screening of the film “Hidden Figures” Friday night in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Following a red carpet entrance and photo opportunity, the theater at Cobb Luxury 10 at Tyrone Mall, in St. Petersburg, Florida, was filled with local girls and women from the community. Introducing the film, which tells the true story of three black women who worked on the main projects for NASA during the 1960s, were several guest speakers.
All of the guests work in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and encouraged the young women in attendance to reach for the seemingly impossible.
Though the theater was a bustling scene permeated with laughter, the event addressed other issues currently presented to young black women.
“No matter what they face, they can overcome sexism, racism – whatever it is – and be whatever they want to be,” said the event’s master of ceremonies, Loretta Thompson.
Speakers at the Delta Sigma Theta event included pharmacists, software engineers, and robotics educators – all black women who encouraged local girls from the St. Petersburg, Fla., community to pursue their education and explore the possibilities of an STEM-related career.
Attendees were treated to a red carpet and professional photo opportunities before the “Hidden Figures” screening at the Cobb Luxury 10 Theatre, located near Tyrone Mall in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Girls relaxed in the Cobb Luxury 10 Theatre in St. Petersburg, Fla., awaiting the “Hidden Figures” screening. The event, made possible by an MLK Day of Service grant, gave local girls of all ages the star treatment and invited them to consider opportunities of STEM.
