Page 10 - Florida Sentinel 2-9-16

Local
Deadline Extended For Teen
10th Annual African American
Business Competition
Read-In To Be Held At Sheehy
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
The Third Annual Teen Business Competition will take place on Friday, Febru- ary 19th, through Sunday, February 21st. And, Computer Mentors, Inc., has extended the deadline to allow student who wish to participate to en- roll in the program.
Ralph Smith, founder and CEO of Computer Men- tors Inc., said, “This gives teens a great way to explore entrepreneurship in a week- end filled with fun, learning, exploring, and hard work. We have extended the deadline to Friday, February 12th, to allow other students an op- portunity to participate.
The event, which is spon- sored by Connectwise, will be held at the Ybor City Campus of Hillsborough Community College.
“The Teen Business Com- petition is not only about the teens creating businesses. It is about acquiring skills needed to be successful in anything they choose to do. The learning outcomes re-
RALPH SMITH Founder, CEO of Computer Mentors, Inc.
volve around three core com- petencies —- collaboration, creative thinking and com- munication —- rooted in the fire challenges,” Smith said.
The competition is broken down in five stages: (1) The Big Idea, creative problem- solving; (2) Treasure Map, Concept Modeling; (3) Show Me The Money, Marketing and Creating Value; (4) MVP, Getting Feedback and learning from mistakes; and (5) The Pitch, organizing ideas and communicating clearly.
Ms. Ebone Cruz, local radio personality, will serve as the Mistress of Ceremony for the final competition match on Sunday.
Smith further said, “This year, will give away $8,000 in cash and prizes. Each teenager chosen to partici- pate in the competition will receive a iPad mini. There will also be cash awards for the winners and other prizes as well.”
The competition allows high school youngsters be- tween the ages of 14 and 18 a chance to create businesses, and acquire the skills needed to be successful. The compe- tition focuses on three areas of core competencies: collab- oration, creative thinking, and communication.
To participate in the com- petition, the teens must live in Hillsborough County, meet the age requirement; and be enrolled in high school.
Anyone interested in vol- unteering can contact Com- puter Mentors at (813) 236-1191; or register on the website at www.computer- mentors.org.
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
For the past 10 years, the Tampa Chapter of the Links, In- corporated has hosted the African-American Read-In at Paul L. Sheehy, M. D. Elemen- tary School. This year’s event is Friday, February 12th, starting at 7:30 a. m.
The Tampa Chapter’s African-American Read-In de- veloped out of the organiza- tion’s National Trends Initiative to have Black men to read books written by African-American authors to elementary children. Because of the success locally, the Read-In has continued each month during Black History Month.
Link Kay Andrews, cur- rent president of the Tampa Chapter, chaired the first Read- In, then Services To Youth facet chair, led by Link Sonja Gar- cia. There were about 30 read- ers that included elected officials Thomas Scott, Gwen Miller (the only female) and the husbands of Link members. There was a reader for each classroom.
Over the years, the Links have collected hundreds of books and donated them to the school’s Media Center and for every classroom to have its own library of books by African- American authors.
The chair and co-chair for the 2016 event are Links Phyl- lis Lee and Marsha Lewis Brown, who’ve chaired the successful event the past 2 years.
The uniqueness about the Read-In starts well before the day the readers gather in the classrooms.
“Our members pay the as- sessed amount for themselves and their guests for our Christ- mas party,” President An- drews explained. “So as not to tax our members so much, we ask the guests to bring an age- appropriate book written by an African-American author to the party as their gift,” she further explained. A list of suggested books is supplied.
Willam Weaver, Dr. Paul Sheehy, Jr., Ken Anthony and Bruce Taylor read to the students last year.
To keep up with technology, last year the Tampa Chapter of the Links set up an account with Amazon, which made the task much easier for guests to pur- chase their books. That elimi- nated the transporting of hundreds of books from the Christmas party site to the home of members. Guests or- dered their books on line and they were delivered directly to the home of a member.
From that point, Links Margrette Spears and Patri- cia Parker, who are neighbors, and their team took on the task of reading every book to insure that they’re age-appropriate for each classroom.
An active group of ladies, the Links mentor the 5th grade girls at Sheehy monthly. The Royal Jewels serve as hostesses for the Read-In. Starting in Jan- uary, the girls have been train- ing on how to greet the guests and direct the readers to their classrooms. Their book of eti- quette has gone home with them to continue sharpening their hostess mannerisms.
For 10 years, the Links have had the gratitude of McDonald’s Restaurant, which has provided breakfast food and drinks for the readers and the Royal Jew- els.
Among the 2016 readers are: Mayor Bob Buckhorn, City Council Chair Frank Reddick, County Commis- sion Chair Les Miller, Tampa Fire rescue Chief Tom Forward, Retired Phar- macist, Dr. John Scrivens, Dr. Paul Sheehy, and hus- bands of the Links, among oth- ers.
PAGE 10 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016