Front porch: Student scholars named

By JANET ZINK
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 27, 2002

MAKING THE GRADE: Newland Communities, developer of the master-planned FishHawk Ranch and Covington Park, gets an A-plus for outreach efforts. The company recently announced this year's recipients of the Newland Scholarship for Higher Learning. University of South Florida graduate student Teresa Carrick and incoming freshman Jordan Pirkl each will receive $1,500.

A New Jersey native who lives in FishHawk Ranch, Carrick teaches fourth grade at St. Stevens Elementary School in Riverview. She plans to complete her master's degree in education by the summer of 2004 and to continue teaching in Hillsborough County.

Pirkl, a graduate of Riverview High School, will begin his first semester at USF this fall, pursuing business studies.

This is the second year for the Newland Scholarship for Higher Learning.

Available to community residents and families of Newland employees, the scholarship is awarded annually to a student with exceptional grades and leadership skills.

Both FishHawk Ranch and Covington Park are in southern Hillsborough County.

A REALLY GOOD SHOW: Nearly 70 Tampa Bay-area home builders in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties will show off their latest designs during the seventh annual Fall Festival of New Homes Oct. 5 through 20.

Sponsored by the Builders Association of Greater Tampa, the festival will feature homes in communities throughout the Tampa Bay area. This year's Festival Home is Nohl Crest Homes' Faversham design in Waterchase in northwest Hillsborough County.

The Faversham is a 3,942-square-foot, four-bedroom home with a second-floor bonus room. Nohl Crest Homes has been ranked in the top 2 percent of all home builders in the country by Professional Builder magazine, the nation's largest building-trades publication.

SALE AWAY: According to the most recent statistics from the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors, home sales in Hillsborough County are still way up in 2002. Nearly 9,000 homes were sold this year from January through July.

Last year, in the same period, about 6,800 homes were sold. Sales for July 2002 totaled 1,730; July 2001 totals were 1,712. Brandon is the busiest area, with 388 homes selling for an average price of $159,000.

South Tampa is the most expensive area, with 98 homes selling for an average price of $358,000. In New Tampa, 158 homes were sold for an average price of $230,000.

-- Write to Janet Zink in care of the St. Petersburg Times at 1000 N. Ashley Drive, Suite 700, Tampa, FL 33602; or by e-mail, janet.zink@gte.net.

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