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‘Miss Howard W. Blake High:’ A 60th Celebration
First Lady Inspires Student To Launch Exercise Program
On Tuesday evening, April 19, 2016 at 7 P. M., the Princi- pal Jesse Salters, the faculty, and the student body at Howard W. Blake High School will celebrate the 60th An- niversary of the crowning of "Miss Howard W. Blake High" 2016.
The selection of the first queen, the late Marjorie Mayes, was patterned after the events and traditions of the previous high school for Tampa's Negro Americans – Don Thompson. The voca- tional high school closed in the spring of 1956 at 1309 Morgan Street after 11 years of exis- tence.
The very last student to be crowned "Miss Don Thomp- son," the regal Louise Rivers will be present to participate in this pageant's historical cele- bration.
Mr. J. MacDonald Thompson, a University of
DESTINY SMITH ...Contestant
Florida student and graduate of Tulane, was a socially prominent military veteran, businessman and Gasparilla King, who died three years prior to the opening of the school that bore his name. His enduring educational spirit lives on in the recitations of the official history of the formation of Howard W. Blake Junior- Senior High that had its begin- nings on Spruce Street in the fall of 1956, retaining Mr. U. R. Thomas as principal.
The new comprehensive high school rang the bells to begin its first classes, staffed by legends of their fields, a full two years after the death of Mr. Howard Wesley Blake, the long time principal of Booker T. Washington Jun- ior High School.
The reinstated ceremonies will feature three of the most academically and artistically skilled young ladies of the jun-
DESTINEE FILMORE ...Contestant
ior class.
They will be judged in sev-
eral categories including most photogenic, most congenial, and talent excellence. The con- testants have demonstrated superb public relations to school visitors, former queens, school board members, and in meeting Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn at City Hall ac- companied by Journalism In- structor and Pageant Coordinator, Mrs. Tameca Johnson assisted by a forever favorite, Delores Hodgins, "Miss Blake High" 1961.
The most popular and sec- ond "Miss Blake High" 1957, Patricia Beachum spon- sored the Annual Reception held on the mezzanine of the Don Thompson Theatre. There the contestants received chal- lenges and guidance knowl- edge from several of the original fourteen women to hold the title until 1971, the year of the infamous forced closing of the school.
Please join us in this mo- mentous honor for our collec- tive communities in purchasing tickets from JACKET PUBLICATIONS, the producers of the pageant at Blake High.
Bennett College Junior, Ka’la Hill is stretching her way to the top with her program “Bodies by Bella.” She was inspired to start the program by First Lady Michelle Obama.
Hill, who is from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, started this program as a way to encourage her fellow students to become more physically active and main- tain healthier lives.
On September 29, 2014, Hill scheduled her first “Bodies by Bella” class. At first, attendance was very inconsistent.
“I kept showing up, even if no one was there, but that gave me time to learn new things to con- tribute to my workouts,” she said.
This year, her class popular- ity has grown from 12 to 20 stu- dents in attendance.
Aside from just wanting to help her sisters, Hill attributes her inspiration for starting her program to First Lady Michelle Obama’s, Let’s Move Campaign. The First Lady’s campaign seeks to solve the epidemic of childhood obe- sity.
“I would love to get the chance to say thank you to the first lady for inspiring me and teaching me the importance of being physically active,” she said.
Hill is also grateful for the Bennett College experience she has had thus far. “Bennett taught me how to be a leader. The support of professors and the encouragement of my sisters
Ka’la Hill, during the Bod- ies by Bella Program
has helped get me where I am today.”
Now that Hill is a junior, she has been thinking about her plans after Bennett College. She wants to earn a master's degree in social work and start a com- munity-based program to target childhood obesity. She also wants to implement nutritional programs for low-income people.
Until then, she is focusing on how to continue fitness pro- grams for Bennett College. “By the time that I leave [Bennett], I would like to have several fitness programs in place for my sis- ters.”
She says that one of the most rewarding experiences from her program is when she hears her sisters say that they have lost weight or that they are seeing a difference.
“Bodies by Bella” is of- fered every Monday and Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m., in the Gym at Bennett Col- lege.
SHELBY RENFOE ...Contestant
His Integrity
Lord, I pray that You would make my husband a man of in- tegrity, according to Your stan- dards. Give him strength to say Yes when he should say Yes and courage to say No when he should say No. Enable him to stand for what he knows is right and not waver under pres- sure from the world. Don’t let him be a man who is always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:7). Give him, instead, a teachable spirit that is willing to listen to the voice of wisdom and grow in Your ways.
The integrity of the up- right will guide them, but the perversity of the un- faithful will destroy them. PROVEBS 11:3
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