Page 2 - Florida Sentinel 10-27-15 Edition

Features
Children’s Book Author, Educator Is Her School’s Ida S. Baker Winner
Her implementation of bully awareness and pre- vention presentations earned her the award.
A local Hillsborough County teacher and author, Cynthia Gadson, was nomi- nated and recognized at James Elementary School as their Ida S. Baker Diversity Educator of the Year recipient.
Cynthia Gadson was nominated by the majority of her peers at James Elementary School, Principal - Mrs. Pa- tricia Royal, Assistant Prin- cipals - Ms. Rosemarie Manhertz and Mrs. Caro- line Jenkins, on Tuesday, October 21, 2015.
October is National Bully- ing Awareness Month. Ms. Gadson has been instituting and presenting bullying aware- ness presentations using her latest book, “Big Bully Bob” during story times, and for programs throughout Hillsbor- ough County Schools and in neighboring communities since October 2013. The pre- sentations include: Bullying definition according to the FL Statue, components; types of bullying, such as verbal, social, physical, cyberbullying; and where to find responsible adults for help.
MS. CYNTHIA GADSON ...Author, Educator, Ida S. Baker diversity winner from James Elementary School
Recently, Ms. Gadson has made and incorporated a pledge song for student en- gagements in celebrating bully awareness and being bully- free. It is called, “Celebrate With Me To Be Bully-Free.”
Ms. Gadson, who is pas- sionate about stopping bully- ing among school children, has donated numerous books to students, teachers, and media centers in the hopes that dis- cussions of bullying issues con- tinue on.
Ms. Gadson has stated that it is her hope and efforts that at least one story leads to one discussion, one discussion leads to at least one redirec-
“BIG BULLY BOB”
...Ms. Gadson shares stories from this book
tion, and one redirection to at least one positive change. She believes that when it comes to bullying issues, silence can be- come a silent killer. Keep the discussions going!
Ms. Gadson will be at D’lites Emporium, 1906 S. Dale Mabry, Tampa (33629), 1-3 p. m. on Saturday, October 31, 2015 for a story time, book- signing event.
For more information on event schedules or book or- ders, you can contact Ms. Cynthia Gadson at cynthia.gadson@yahoo.com or Tate Publishing Company at 1- 888-361-9473.
DAACO Rep. Chosen As Health Forum Guest Speaker
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
For several months, Su- perintendent Charles Davis and the congregation of College Hill Church Of God In Christ, 6414 N. Diana Street, has served as the host for a monthly Health Forum. The forum takes place at 11 a.m., on the fourth Friday of the month. This month, it will be held on Friday, October 30th.
This month, Rev. L. C. Lepard will serve as the keynote speaker. Rev. Lep- ard currently serves as liaison between the DACCO (Drug Abuse Comprehensive Coordi- nating Office) Outreach De- partment and the community. His role is to educate and mo- tivate members of the commu- nity about the importance of testing for HIV and HCV sta- tus.
His goal is to obtain con- necting the person with the ill- ness with obtaining the services they are in need of re- ceiving.
DACCO is one of Florida’s largest community-based providers for Behavioral Health Services. Through its programs, DACCO addresses
REV. L. C. LEPARD
substance abuse and mental health issues. Their mission is to work for a drug-free com- munity, one person, one family at a time.
A Tampa native, Rev. Lepard attended the public schools of Hillsborough County. He earned his B. A. Degree from the University of Tampa, and was awarded his Master of Theology Degree from Christian Faith College.
The forum is free and open to the public. For additional information about the forum contact, David Snow, III, at (813) 493-5772, Coach Billy Reed, at (813) 744-4923, or Chester White, Jr., at (813) 327-2804.
Youth Organization Wants To Provide Free Computers
BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer
For more than two decades, Sanford Harper, Jr. has been trying to work with area youth through his Pure Poets Society and other youth programs.
Harper, also known as Dr. San Man, wants to target youth with families in need of a computer in an effort to put the technology in homes that otherwise couldn’t afford a com- puter.
“I’m launching a campaign called ‘Poetry With A Purpose’ to ask people with old or used laptop or tower computers to donate them for our computer mentor program where at risk youth learn to rebuild the computers so they can be redistributed to the winner of an annual poetry contest hosted by the Pure Poets Soci- ety.
“Anyone who wants to drop off an old com- puter can do so at 1704 1⁄2 7th Avenue, upstairs at Habibi’s Hookah, or at 1632 East 7th Av- enue.”
The Pure Poets Society is offering a county wide poetry competition targeting the at risk youth with the topic, “Wildlife Preservation versus Industrialization.”
“We have three age categories (6-11, 12-15 and 16-18) in hopes of giving away 9 desktop computers or notebooks for contestants that
Charles “Candyman” Coney, who works with one of the Pure Poets Society programs, and San- ford “Dr. San Man” Harper, Jr.
meet the requirements,” said Dr. San Man. All entries need to be turned in by Novem- ber 20th and submitted to purepoets@yahoo.com. Contestants may enter the contest through expression of poetry, essay, song, dance, and performing skits on
stage, or painting mosaic art portraits. “Encouraging the youth is our main prior-
ity,” said Dr. San Man.
“Our representatives are highly motivated
individuals seeking to make improvements within the urban community.”
For more information about the Pure Poets Society and the poetry competition, please call (813) 573-1869.
PAGE 2 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2015