Student Artists Show How To Make
Every Drop Count

South Florida is surrounded by water. And with summer, comes the rainy season. But while it’s one of the wettest areas of the country, with more than 50 inches of rainfall a year, there’s always the danger of drought conditions.

Conserving our water supply year-round is key, and elementary and middle school students in Wellington and across the state are being recognized for turning their water conservation ideas into award-winning works of art through the Drop Savers poster contest.

“This is an educational component of our water conservation effort,” Wellington Utilities Director Shannon LaRocque explained.

The Drop Savers poster contest is an effort by the Florida Statewide American Waterworks Association. Students are encouraged to create posters depicting water conservation and awareness.

A panel of judges base the winners on message, creativity and originality. First-place winners move up to the state level of the competition. In all, 195 students from four local schools participated this spring. Eight of the winners were from Panther Run Elementary School and Wellington Landings Middle School. The Wellington Village Council recognized them in March, while the posters helped promote April as Water Conservation Month.

“It’s starting that education at a young age, so it becomes habitual through life,” LaRocque said.

Last year was the first time that Wellington participated in the contest. Then a third-grader, Grace Bostwick from Panther Run won at the state level. Her artwork is now part of a special calendar.

This year, five students from Panther Run took top honors at the local level.

At the elementary level, fourth-grader Gabriella Pedicino took first place in Division 3, which is comprised of fourth-grades and fifth-graders. Paige Albert, a fifth-grader, took second. Returning first-place contest winner Lauren Allen, a fifth-grader, took third this time.

In Division 2, which encompasses students in second and third grades, Maibelin Fernandez, a second-grader at Panther Run, took second place, while Wilmide Derastel, a third-grader, won first place in her division.

“I drew a water drop that’s sad,” Derastel explained. “The letters are dry with no water, like land. I think water makes the world a better place to live in, because we use water for many things. If you waste less water, it’ll make the world a better place.”

That’s a lesson that’s close to the heart of her mother, Fabiola Gene. Gene is from Haiti, where she said clean drinking water is hard to come by.

“You see kids drinking dirty water. It’s sad. I remind my daughter not to waste water,” Gene said.

Panther Run has been recognized as a “Green School of Quality” for two years in a row for its conservation efforts. Principal Edilia De La Vega said that the school puts a big focus on teaching students about conservation and taking care of the environment. It also has Earth Club lead by teacher Tracy LaBrosse, the school’s “green ambassador.”

“One of the things we added this year, because of an abundance of water bottles coming on campus, is refillable water stations into the water fountains,” De La Vega said. “That was a wonderful resource, as well as to teach the kids the importance of refilling their water bottles, and not just using and getting rid of plastic ones.”

The school has two water stations. One in the cafeteria and one outside. “When they go out to PE, they always have their water, so they can refill it right there, and it’s filtered,” she said.

Wellington Landings Middle School is also working hard to teach the importance of conservation with separate recycling bins throughout the campus.

“I think the number-one thing this generation needs to focus on is conservation of water, our environment and making sure that we’re not being wasteful,” Principal Blake Bennett said. “We do a recycling program with bins and community-based instruction for students in our self-contained special education program. Students in the program are in charge of recycling and picking up recycling bins.”

Blake said that she is very proud of her school’s three students who placed in the Drop Savers contest for Division 4, which is comprised of sixth-graders through eighth-graders, including Deseray Johnson, an eighth-grader who placed first. Another eighth-grader, Lilly Paulitz, came in second place, while sixth grader Ciana Han placed third.

“I drew ways to save water inside droplets. Like short showers and planting plants that don’t require a lot of water,” Han said. “I pay more attention now, and I’m more aware of our water and not wasting it.”

All eight local winners attribute their art teachers for inspiring them. Art teacher Lyda Barrera, who just retired from Panther Run, and Ashlan Sheesley from Wellington Landings, both guided the students on their art posters for this contest, where the primary goal was making water conservation a way of life.

Information Technology Among Choice Programs At Wellington Middle Schools

The School District of Palm Beach County is an A-rated district committed to providing students a world-class education — and for more than 50,000 students, that means participating in the impressive array of choice and career programs.

Throughout their school careers, students have the opportunity to immerse themselves in relevant career-oriented classes, custom-tailoring their education to their future career paths in the performing and visual arts, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math), the International Baccalaureate program, JROTC, dual language and more.

The school district features a 90 percent graduation rate, and that rate approaches nearly 100 percent for students in choice programs. Students self-select the programs that interest them, with eligibility criteria that may be based on grades and a lottery process. Enrollees in the programs must maintain a minimum grade point average in order to remain with the track.

Several choice academies are located in Wellington’s middle schools. All three — Emerald Cove, Polo Park and Wellington Landings — offer the popular pre-information technology program. Wellington Landings also offers a fine arts choice program, while Polo Park also features pre-engineering.

Students enrolled in the pre-information technology program are exposed to a variety of different IT and computer-science-related concepts in grades six through eight, including: project management and job-readiness skills, computers and logic, web development, design, HTML coding, CSS and JavaScript, cloud computing and social networking.

The pre-information technology programs also allow for middle school students to earn industry certifications. Approximately 90 percent of district middle school students taking one of two exams earn the industry certification.

Students are able to distinguish themselves by successfully obtaining these industry certifications that can be added to their resume for work, college applications and career readiness, explained Dr. Jeraline Johnson, director of choice and career options programs for the school district.

The academies provide a variety of hands-on learning experiences that meet student interests and engage them in preparation for college and career with opportunities for job shadowing, internships, project-based learning and on-the-job training. Students can also participate in various clubs and organizations that provide even more hands-on activities and competition, Johnson added.

Johnson said that the benefits of participation in the program courses include improved academic achievement and increased scholarship opportunities; higher attendance and graduation rates; greater parental and community involvement; specialized teaching staff providing themed-based education; and advanced technical training for career readiness and success.

Sandra Wesson, manager of choice programs for the school district, said that succeeding in a choice program is often a marker for future success.

“Students in Palm Beach County have equitable opportunities to participate in one of more than 300 choice and career programs that meet their interests, best prepare them for making informed decisions leading to future success in both college and career, and encourage them to be contributing members of their communities,” she said.

About 90 students participate in the pre-information technology choice program at Emerald Cove Middle School each semester, Principal Dr. Eugina Smith Feaman said.

“In the program, students matriculate through three pre-IT elective classes,” Feaman said. “This includes Information & Communication Technology Essentials in sixth grade, which introduces students to computer science as a vehicle for problem solving, communication and personal expression. It focuses on the visible aspects of computing and computer science, and encourages students to see where computer science exists around them and how they can engage with it as a tool for exploration and expression.”

In the seventh grade, the students learn the Fundamentals of Web Design and Software, and in eighth grade, they take the Emerging Technologies Course, which prepares them for Computer for College and Careers (CCC) course taught on the high school level, Feaman added.

Students learn digital literacy, which includes proficiency with computers in the exploration and utilization of databases, the internet, spreadsheets, presentations, applications, management of personal information and e-mail, word processing, document manipulation, and the integration of these programs using software that meets industry standards.

At Emerald Cove, completing the program often leads the students to matriculate into Palm Beach Central High School’s Web & Digital Design Academy, Feaman explained.

Craig Corsentino is in charge of the two choice programs at Polo Park Middle School. The pre-information technology and the pre-engineering programs each have about 150 students.

“We chose to do these two programs because we want our students to be prepared for the future. Information technology and engineering careers are currently expanding and are expected to continue to do so in the next 20 years,” Corsentino said. “The pre-information technology program is a computer-based program where students will learn how to code, work with apps and learn about the different careers and technologies that will exist in the future.”

The pre-engineering program, meanwhile, is a hands-on program that allows students to explore several different aspects of engineering, from aerospace to science in technology.

“Students love both programs and enjoy utilizing the different technologies that Polo Park has to offer, from our 3-D printer to our drones, robots and much more,” Corsentino said. “Many of our students go on to succeed at Palm Beach Central, Wellington, Suncoast and many of the other fantastic high schools that our district has to offer.”

Wellington Landings Middle School Principal Blake Bennett has found that the pre-information technology students are very engaged in the subject matter.

“Students love the classes and are excited to earn industry certifications,” she said. “We also add in pieces like Photoshop, robotics, etc., and the students love learning those tools and applications.”

Bennett is also proud that her school offers more high school credit classes than any other middle school in the county.

“The pre-information technology academy offers an innovative learning environment focused on computers, technology and communications over the course of three years,” Bennett said. “The sixth-grade year is a semester course designed to help students develop speed and accuracy by learning the touch operation of alphanumeric/keyboard characters. Students will also get a basic understanding of word processing using the Microsoft Word software program.”

Bennett continued that the seventh-grade class is a full-year course with an emphasis on web design. Students in this class have the opportunity to earn the CIW Site Design Associate certification. “In the eighth grade, academy students will take a high school credit, year-long course that teaches foundational knowledge of web technology used throughout the business world,” Bennett said.

The majority of graduates have indicated that the school district’s choice programs are positive experiences that prepared them for their future goals, with many indicating that they plan to pursue employment or post-secondary studies directly related to the area of study they were enrolled in.

For additional information about these programs, visit www.palmbeachschools.org/choiceprograms or contact the schools individually.

Maggie Hill: From Wyoming Cowgirl To Wellington Champion

Like many girls, Maggie Hill has been crazy about horses from an early age. But unlike many kids competing on the A-show circuit, the talented 15-year old didn’t come from an equestrian family or start showing in Lead Line or Short Stirrup at the Winter Equestrian Festival.

Hill’s career in the saddle didn’t start in Wellington, where she now lives with her parents and sister Ellie, along with rescue dogs Piper and Riley, and two cats named Hersey and Riley. It started thousands of miles away, in Jackson Hole, Wyo., in a western saddle with a paint Quarter Horse.

Today Hill competes against the best junior riders in the country and has ridden to numerous victories, including the Large Junior Hunters (15 and under) Championship at the prestigious Devon Horse Show.

“I started riding in Wyoming when I was 5 years old at a western barn,” recalled Hill, who attends the Oxbridge Academy of the Palm Beaches.

Jackson Hole might be an outdoorsy person’s paradise, but it is lacking when it comes to show jumping. “When I was old enough, I joined 4-H and competed at the county fair,” Hill said. “I competed in in-hand classes, western pleasure, reining competitions, even barrels and poles. I loved riding and wanted to progress, but my mom made me wear a helmet. Everyone else wore cowboy hats, and it was embarrassing! My mom encouraged me to try English, where everyone has to wear a helmet.”

So, at the age of 8, she changed disciplines, joined the Pony Club, and competed in both eventing and dressage. Her parents, Tom Hill, the founder and CEO of Summit Materials, and her mother Jane, have always been supportive of her equestrian aspirations.

“In Wyoming, the horse world is very different from what you will find here in Wellington and on the circuit,” Hill said. “There is no such thing as ‘full service’ in Wyoming. You did all the work yourself, grooming, caring for the horses, feeding them, and tacking up, which wasn’t easy because a western saddle is really heavy! There was no coddling either. If you fell off, the trainer would check to make sure you weren’t hurt and then tell us to ‘cowgirl up’ and not cry.”

Winters could be brutal, and by November, the farm would be under eight feet of snow. The family decided to board the horses south of Jackson Hole and trailer to a public arena a couple times a week to ride.

“You would have to use a hammer to break ice off of the handles to open the trailer door,” Hill remembered. “We’d share the ring with cowboys and rodeo folks. There were no jumps, but there were team penning cows waiting for the next arena session, and my horse hated them.”

She spent a few years participating in Pony Club activities and learned about being a good horseman. “It was a blast, but it was also hard work. We would go to rallies, and we’d be on our own for the tests. No one was allowed to help us, or even talk to us, over the two days when we were being judged,” Hill said. “It wasn’t just a test of our riding; it was all about horse care and horse management. The Pony Club, of which I am still a member, has a manual which is on my book shelf here in Wellington, and I refer to it whenever I have questions.”

When Hill was in fourth grade, the family purchased Randi, a Shire/Thoroughbred cross mare.

“It took at least six months to really grow into being able to ride her,” she said. “I did a bit of eventing with her, but transitioned to dressage because of her abilities. She had been competing at the Preliminary level and was a powerful and big mare.”

Hill was taking dressage lessons, but missed jumping, so her trainer Margie Boyd recommended her sister-in-law, famed hunter rider Liza Towell Boyd, and father-in-law, award-winning trainer Jack Towell of Finally Farm in South Carolina.

In 2015, Hill leased a horse named Nevada and started riding with Finally Farm. “I had to start all over really, and it was challenging and sometimes frustrating to have to relearn things,” she admitted. “There was so much I didn’t know. But I was really determined to make up for lost time and be competitive in the sport.”

Her first trip to Wellington was an eye-opener. “My grandparents used to live here, and they’d always mentioned going to the horse show, but it never happened. The first time I came to ride at WEF, it was surreal,” she said. “I was showing just in the back ring, and I was in awe of it all!”

The family rented a house at first, and Hill took online classes and worked with private tutors to keep up with her education. “I started in pre-children’s showing at Pony Island, where we were champion four weeks in a row, but I cried every day because I wanted to be doing the bigger classes,” she said.

Hill quickly worked her way up to the Children’s Hunter divisions, once again taking home the championship.

In 2017, Hill made the jump up to the 3’3” division, competing in the Junior Hunters, 15 and under. By the end of the circuit, she had enough points to qualify for the year-end indoor championships, winning top honors at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show and securing the year-end championship in the Southeast WCHR for 3’3” Juniors.

Wellington seemed to offer something for everyone in the family, so they decided to relocate and first purchased at the Equestrian Club Estates, adjacent to the showgrounds.

This past season, Hill moved up to the 3’6” division competing and winning in the Small Junior Hunters (15 and under) aboard O’Ryan and Large Junior Hunters (15 and under) with Cassanto, even qualifying to compete the 12-year-old Warmblood gelding under the lights in the WCHR Peter Wetherill Palm Beach Hunter Spectacular.

Since the family is now in Wellington for the school year, they are moving to Palm Beach Polo, which offers golf and tennis amenities as well. “I don’t like the cold and love the weather here,” Hill said. “Everything is so easy and beautiful — it is horse heaven. Everywhere you go, it’s all about horses, polo, dressage and show jumping. I actually have tried polo, and it’s harder than I thought.”

Her sister, who attends Saint Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, skates at the Skate Zone, while Hill is able to balance her school work while training consistently.

Most riders dream of ending up in the Dixon Oval at the Devon Horse Show, but it usually doesn’t happen the first time they compete. But that’s exactly what Hill did, winning the Large Junior Hunter (15 and under) Championship with Cassanto and earning the prestigious Martin F. Bucko Family Perpetual Trophy.

“As long as I can remember, I wanted to be a professional rider, even back when I was riding western,” Hill said. “Things have changed now, but my goal is the same. There is never a day that I don’t look forward to going to the barn.”

Travel Basketball Program Builds A Brand Of Winning In Wellington

Since 2002, the Wellington Wolves Travel Basketball Association has been providing a top-quality boys basketball program. Then, five years ago, Javatis Midget’s daughter, Jahnae, got involved and her father began coaching her fifth-grade girls team.

The first couple of years, the Wolves only had that single girls team. However, with Midget’s help, the program began to expand and improve. This year, the fifth-grade girls team are proud U.S. Amateur National Champions.

“I got involved because my daughter was interested in recreational basketball and someone suggested we get into the travel league,” Midget said. “I had about seven years of experience coaching then.”

It was a challenge early on.

“Most of the girls were in the fourth grade, but it’s hard to find competition younger than fifth grade, so they played up,” Midget recalled. “The first few years were very, very rocky, then we got more young ladies involved, and they started playing at a higher level. There was a large commitment from the coaches and the parents and the players.”

Through this hard work, the girls travel basketball program began to grow steadily.

“We started to develop some talent and attract some talent that had been going to towns as far away as Miami and Daytona to play. We started winning a few games,” Midget said.

Most of the current team has been together two years. “The coaches have learned a bit more, and the girls started buying-in,” he said. “That first year, the official record was 22 wins and three losses. We played in three tournaments, and we won one. I said, ‘Hey, we’ve got something here.’”

Midget still coaches the fifth-grade team, and his younger daughter, Jayla, is on it. Jahnae now plays on the ninth-grade team.

“Last year, the older team came in second and the younger team came in third, but there seemed to be improvement in every game,” Midget said. “This year, we had a tryout process and took a couple of new girls, and both my fifth-grade and ninth-grade teams won state, and the fifth-graders went to Tennessee and won the nationals.

The fifth-grade girls team includes: Ja’Niah Suprius, Sophia Vasquez, Alanna Beckman, Jayla Midget, Kiersten Henley, Julia Vasquez, Aubrey Beckham, Karolina Ramirez and Sophia Kateris.

The ninth-grade girls team, which started out as Midget’s first team, includes: Tyler DeBose, Ashley Thornton, Franaja Williams, Aspen Johnson, Ja’Niyah Eggeletion, Jahnae Midget, Lynzie Smikle, Christell Mentor and Kaela Swick.

“For the first couple of years, there was only the one girls team in the entire program,” Midget said. “It was a boys organization, but I kept working, along with a few others, to get more girls playing in it to build the brand for girls teams in Wellington. Our teams have professional uniforms that are second to none. Each player has the same shoes, the same socks, so they look sharp and professional. We win and lose with class.”

Midget complimented all the other coaches. “They are doing a tremendous job in building the brand for girls basketball in Wellington,” he said. “Hopefully, the teams will do well and get some college scholarships to help the parents out.”

Last year, seven players in the league received scholarship offers.

Some 60 girls competed this year, with the ninth-graders competing this summer in Kentucky. The seventh-grade girls also won at state. Next year, the Wolves will field seven grade-level girls teams.

“That’s huge growth,” Midget said. “I’m proud to have had a little bit of something to do with that growth.”

The boys unit, which fields twice as many teams as the girls side, won three state championships this year for the fifth-grade, seventh-grade and ninth-grade boys teams, with the seventh-grade team also winning the U.S. Amateur National Championship.

The certifying entities organize tournaments and live periods to provide prime opportunities to play in front of coaches, evaluators and collegiate scouts under authorized conditions. Players and parents never know just who might be watching.

Some of the organizations distinguish the different team groups based on age, grade level or year of graduation. “The groupings are all interchangeable,” Midget explained.

He believes that everything came together to create a year of championships.

“This year has been a phenomenal year for a lot of reasons, including that Wellington is a great place for kids to play, and the coaches treat them right,” Midget said. “It’s a good program with a really great president.”

That president is Chris Fratalia, who said that the league had 19 teams this year with more than 225 boys and girls participating in the Wellington Wolves program.

“It was established with the help of former Mayor Bob Margolis, who still acts as an advisor today, and it has an interlocal agreement to be the official basketball supplier for the village,” Fratalia said.

It also has the permission of the school district to use the high school and middle school courts, as well as the village’s basketball facilities. “That keeps costs down because we don’t have to pay gym fees,” Fratalia explained.

The athletes are able to learn life lessons through the program.

“There are 37 trained volunteer coaches. Most are current high school or assistant coaches and some college staff, but it’s not just about competing in basketball. We hire Perseverance Training every year. They have professional coaches,” Fratalia said. “We teach the kids, who do all their playing in indoor, air-conditioned gyms, about [everything from] fundamental ball handling, to a strong work ethic to achieve results, all the way to decision-making skills.”

Fratalia said that the association will be adding a “Council of Dads,” inspired by the book of the same name by Bruce Feiler.

“Rolling out in August, the association’s own council of 13 local businessmen have little interest in basketball but are key people who have a very strong interest in helping kids,” Fratalia explained. “The council will advise and mentor players on the SAT and ACT [tests], scholarships, and Sylvan and Huntington for tutoring.”

Participants learn how to be the best basketball player they can be, as well as get some lessons in how to be the best student, best athlete and best person they can be.

Of course, the Wellington Wolves Travel Basketball Association’s comprehensive campaign centers around youth basketball. It opens doors by providing players entrance to top tournaments.

At one annual event, about 1,000 college coaches and scouts watch some 9,000 student-athletes compete. “It doesn’t get much bigger than that,” Midget said.

For more information about the league, visit www.wellingtonwolves.com.

Young Elvis Tribute Artist Matt Stone Puts Heart And Soul In His Performances

Wellington teenager Matt Stone grew up watching the television show “Full House,” featuring John Stamos as the leather-jacket-wearing rock musician Jesse helping his brother-in-law raise three daughters. But never mind the girls — it was the music that captivated him.

Although Stone originally favored the music of Led Zeppelin, legendary rock ’n’ roll pioneer Elvis had always been “a character in my mind,” he explained. As he became more aware of the music and the legend, it became something he wanted to emulate.

When Stone, now 15, found a leather jacket upstairs at home and began singing “Hound Dog,” his career as a youthful Elvis tribute singer began.

He started off slowly, singing in the living room. Then there was that one time he broke into Elvis songs while reading Christmas books to senior citizens. “They loved it,” Stone recalled.

However, it was a fateful family trip to Memphis that included a visit to Elvis’ home Graceland in 2015 that really kicked it into high gear.

“I was out back at the guest house of the Graceland hotel,” Stone said. “My dad threw me in front of everybody, and I did a couple of songs. I made $80 in tips in 10 minutes!”

That’s when father and son knew they were onto something.

Stone started small, getting booked at the Brookdale senior living facility in Lake Worth. Today, he does so many shows for the chain that he can barely remember them all.

“There’s one in Palm Beach Gardens, two in Boynton… I love to see the folks smile,” he said. “Sometimes they don’t get that much out of their day. And it makes me smile, too, because I love to play.”

In late 2016, at Backstreets Neighborhood Bar & Grill’s open mic night, Stone played the rock classic “Stairway to Heaven,” along with some of the other music that had inspired him. They hired him. By April 2017, he was a professional.

“I started going to other places, and started doing Elvis shows,” said Stone, who uses a vintage Shure Super 55 mic, known as “the Elvis mic” for its similarity to the one used by “The King,” together with a portable PA system.

At Backstreets, he uses one of their guitars, but elsewhere, he’ll use one of his own. He has 14, but for Elvis shows, he uses the Epiphone EJ-200SCE. “I don’t recommend it,” Stone said. “It has been in and out of the shop so often that Guitar Center finally gave me a loaner and sent it back to the factory. It seems to have been OK since then, though.”

Stone has 140 backing tracks and more on his phone. An average one-hour show allows him to sing and play through 15 songs. In a classic Elvis move, he hands out leis. “They don’t fall off my neck like scarves, and they’re cheaper, too,” he explained.

His biggest challenge? “Well, it’s not booking the shows. My dad does that,” he said. “It’s that going to school kind of limits my time. School lets out 2:45 p.m., I get picked up at 3 p.m., and I have a gig at 3:30 p.m.”

So, will his parental chauffeur be buying him a car when he turns 16?

“I’ve saved enough money to buy my own car,” Stone said, matter-of-factly.

Money aside, the biggest compliment Stone has received came recently when he was approached after a show by a woman who had known Elvis in the 1950s, before the rock icon went into the U.S. Army.

“She was friends with one of his bodyguards, and she told me that, in different fields, I am better than Elvis,” Stone laughed. “There is nobody who is ever going to be better than Elvis.”

Stone’s favorite song is one Elvis did in the 1960s. “Elvis had declined a movie career, probably a mistake, and in 1968, he comes back dressed in black leather, and he jumps back into touring. Elvis didn’t write his own music, but if he really connected to a single song, really felt it, it was ‘If I Can Dream.’ That was the one, and that is my favorite.”

So, what does the future hold for Wellington’s young “Elvis?”

“My dad wants me, sometime in the future, to use all my inspiration from Elvis and the artists of the time to create my own show and my own sound — to effectively bring back that music,” Stone explained. “Music is going in a downward spiral. Machines are taking over the instruments. The machine doesn’t have a heart, so there’s no heart to the music, no soul. I want to put the heart and soul back into music.”

Although Stone doesn’t feel that recording a music CD would be cost-effective yet, he does have a couple of songs on iTunes and Spotify — or visit “Matt Stone: The Prince of Rock ’n’ Roll” on YouTube if you want to hear some of music’s missing heart and soul.