Page 10 - Florida Sentinel 11-6-18

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Women Come To Tampa To Campaign For Andrew Gillum
Blake High Students Earn National Awards In Creative Writing
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
While former President Barack Obama fired up vot- ers Friday in Miami, his for- mer assistant was in Tampa Saturday stirring up cam- paign volunteers at a phone bank for Democratic guberna- torial candidate and Tallahas- see mayor Andrew Gillum.
Valerie Jarrett, who served in the White House during the entirety of the Obama Administration, pumped up Gillum to a group of about 50 gathered at Ybor City’s Swope Rodante Law Firm.
Florida needs a leader with a “strong moral com- pass” who understands that words matter and is “some- one we can believe in,” she said.
“We’re fighting hard for the soul of our country,” she said. “But the silver lining is people like Andrew Gillum.”
The Gillum campaign is pulling out all of the stops in the final stretch before Elec- tion Day, with big names like Obama and actress Niecy Nash stumping in South Florida and celebrities Eva Longoria and Common making appearances in Or- lando.
Last week Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders returned to Tampa to campaign on Gillum’s behalf, attracting a crowd of hundreds to the Uni- versity of South Florida.
He encouraged the audi- ence of mostly students to cast their votes for the mayor, who is part of the generation of leaders fighting racism, sexism, and religious bigotry.
“In 2018, we need to have the highest voter turnout,” he said. “If on Election Night, the
Former Assistant to President Barack Obama, Valerie Jar- rett, joined phone bank volunteers in Tampa on Saturday.
Mrs. Andrew Gillum (R. Jai Gillum) addressed those who attended Saturday’s rally. She is joined by, among other ‘Women for Gillum,’ U. S. Rep. Kathy Castor, State Rep.-Elect Dianne Hart and candidate Jane Castor.
In New York City: Mrs. Casey Curry, right, Director of Creative Writing at Blake High School, is shown with Mira- cle Ingram, a national winner in poetry from Durant High School; Elizabeth Brown, Supervisor of Secondary Lan- guage Arts, Hillsborough School Dis- trict; Noah Trevino, Blake High national winner; and Ashley Trowbridge.
guy on TV says voter turnout is really high you can turn the TV off because Andrew Gillum will be the next gov- ernor.”
The push to the polls comes on the eve of what could be a historical voter turnout for a midterm elec- tion, with nearly five million votes having already been cast, according to reports.
On Saturday, U. S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, cautioned against taking any- thing for granted and urged volunteers to fight for every vote.
“Florida elections are so
close,” she said. “Do not be- lieve the polls out there. What you’ve got to do is talk to folks...you’ve got to ask people have you voted? You’ve got to ask this question everywhere you go.”
Tallahassee’s first lady R. Jai Gillum, thanked the phone bank volunteers for “believing in something.” But she urged them to keep push- ing not just for her husband, but all Democratic candi- dates.
“We’ve got to help get all of our candidates elected,” she said.
Tampa resident and busi- ness owner, Mae Judge said Saturday she’s definitely cast- ing her vote for Gillum.
“He’s going to make his- tory,” she said. “He’s going to bring the state of Florida to- gether and the country to- gether. He’s going to make a good governor.”
USF student and first-time voter, Jordin Zapata, 20, said he’s also voting for Gillum.
“This isn’t a time for jokes, this is a time to stand up and vote,” he said. “If I’m going to fight for someone with my values, I’m going to support Democrats. Gillum supports a lot of things that I do.”
These Blake High stu- dents are three national winners of the Scholastic Art and Writing Contest. They are: Ashley Trow- bridge, Noah Trevino, and Kaitlyn McHugh.
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
Students in the Creative Writing Program at Howard W. Blake High School are per- forming well, while learning and earning regional and na- tional awards. Three national winners recently traveled to New York City for recognition on the stage at Carnegie Hall. The winners received medals and monetary gifts. They were accompanied by their teacher and parents.
The three winners partici- pated in the Scholastic Art and Writing Contest.
“This year was our biggest win to date,” stated Mrs. Cassandra (Casey) Curry, Director of the Creative Writ- ing Dept. at the fine arts mag- net school. “We earned over 45 regional gold keys and three national prizes,” she said.
The Scholastic Art and Writing Contest was founded in 1923 by Maurice R. Robinson. Each year stu- dents from all over the coun- try participate in this program. Winners of the pro- gram include some familiar names: Andy Warhol, Robert Redford, Truman Capote, Sylvia Plath and Marc Brown, writer of chil- dren’s books and creator of the TV show, Arthur. Brown was this year’s keynote speaker.
Having joined the staff at Blake 12 years ago, Mrs. Curry started her students to compete in 2006 and they have won larger prizes each year.
“These students are ener- gized and motivated by sev- eral things,” Mrs. Curry said.
“First, they are celebrated in a way that in many schools they have only seen athletes celebrated and they learn that artists can make a tremen- dous amount of money...
“Secondly, they see that they are not alone. There is comfort and community iun meeting so many other cre- ative students. They feel good about being different, being smart, creative, and maybe even nerds.
“Finally, they are encour- aged and empowered,” she said.
This year’s winners: Noah Trevino, a current 10th grader, won a g9old medal for Best In Grade For The Na- tion, which includes publica- tion in The Best In Teen Writing, published by Scholastic. He won $500 and the trip to New York.
The winning poem was ti- tled, “12 Steps on How to Bake a Cake,” based on the work of Wallace Stevens, a famous poet that Mrs. Curry teaches the students’ first year.
Ashley Trowbridge
won the silver medal for Sen- ior Portfolio for her collection of poetry entitled, “Tea Leaves.” She won $1,000 and the trip to New York.
Kaitlyn McHugh won gold medal for Fantasy Sci-Fi for her fiction, $500 and the trip.
“As their teacher, it was wonderful to see their hard work pay off and the pride their parents had in their suc- cess,” Mrs. Curry con- cluded.
The public is invited to the upcoming Fall Reading, which will be held on Thurs- day, November 15, 6:30 p. m. in the Don Thompson Theater at Blake.
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