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HIGH FIVES

In an effort to have fun, form bonds and create team-building skills, teachers at J.D. Floyd Elementary School recently participated in a kayaking trip on the Weeki Wachee River. Principal Marcia Austin organized the special environmental science event.

Even with the dark clouds and rain the morning of Aug. 2, 80 teachers braved the weather to participate.

As the morning skies slightly cleared, Mark Weaver, environmental specialist, led the teachers in 45 kayaks and canoes on a 7-mile trip from Buccaneer Bay to the Weeki Wachee Christian Camp.

After brief training on paddling techniques, they were off. The strong current pulled the crafts downstream.

Science teacher Patrick Kirchman and Helen Clemente from the guidance department turned the boating day into a snorkeling excursion through the 72-degree fresh waters. Swimming underwater and towing the canoe behind them, the two discovered schools of mullet, bass and pin fish. As they surfaced, they were greeted by blue herons, snowy egrets and a flipped kayak with a second-grade teacher underneath it.

Several teachers, whose abandoned kayaks were lined up offshore along the bank, discovered a cypress tree with a rope hanging from it. They took turns swinging from the rope and letting go 30 feet in the air, falling into more than 15 feet of water at the river's bend.

The teachers enjoyed the relaxation the day brought and agreed it was an excellent way to start the school year.

Rachel Siegel, 16, recently attended the National Youth Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. The program allows the nation's top students to participate in a variety of leadership activities and political simulations.

The conference, from July 19 to 29, was designed to instruct, enrich and enthuse promising students, preparing them for a lifetime of leadership with an unforgettable experience. Students get the opportunity to discuss current events and issues with top policymakers in Washington, analyze concepts and then put them to work.

Rachel and the other students were welcomed to the floor of the House of Representatives, an honor usually reserved for members of Congress and their special guests, by U.S. Representative Hilda Solis of California. Later, Rachel and many of the students toured the Supreme Court building.

Rachel represented District 5, of which Hernando County is a part, in the National Youth Leadership Council and had the pleasure of a personal meeting with U.S. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Crystal River.

Rachel is a junior at Springstead High School and the daughter of Gerald Siegel and Judith Turner.

Stephanie Barnett Sager, 30, of New York recently returned home from seven weeks of performing in Iowa at the Des Moines Metro Opera with the opera's apprentice artist program.

Sager performed in scenes from a number of operas, including I Pagliacci, Eugene Onegin (in Russian) and Anna Bolena. At the conclusion of the season, she was a featured soprano in the July 10 presentation of "Stars of Tomorrow" by the 40 apprentice artists and the opera's orchestra.

Sager sang as Marguerite in the trio from Act IV of Charles Gounod's Faust, and in the final scene of the evening she performed the role of Magda in the quartet from Act II of Giacomo Puccini's La Rondine. Sager also performed in the company's main stage shows: Madame Butterfly, Ariadne auf Naxos and Cenerentola.

In Hernando County earlier this year, Sager performed for a crowd of about 300 in an "Afternoon of Song" at Stage West Community Playhouse. The afternoon was sponsored by Capital City Trust Co., WWJB-AM 1450, th e Hensley Center, Doug and Laurie Sager and the law firm of Delzer, Coulter & Bell.

Sager is a 1992 graduate of Hernando High School and the daughter of Robert and Barbara Barnett of Brooksville.

Brooksville Mayor Mary A. Staib recently accepted a $130,000 grant award check from state Rep. David Russell, R-Brooksville, to launch the construction of the Good Neighbor Trail. The grant, part of the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program, will help build a 4,000-foot jogging and biking trail with footbridges across the Parson's Brook creek. City matching money will pay for a parking lot, restrooms and lighting. The trail will start in downtown Brooksville and stretch about 9 miles east toward the Withlacoochee State Trail. The first phase of construction, paving of the trail, is set to begin in 2007-08.

Members of Aripeka Elks Lodge 2520 in Hudson, under the direction of chairman Bill Tousignant, had their monthly blood bank drive in July, collecting 5 pints.

Also, the lodge, under the leadership of the Adopt-A-Road program chairman Bill Borrusch and six members, toiled in the hot sun clearing a 2-mile area of U.S. 19, collecting 20 bags of rubbish.

Under the leadership of Jeff Churchill, veteran chairman, volunteers cooked and served a hot roast pork dinner with all the trimmings to 200 veterans and staffers at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa. The food was donated by the lodge.

Volunteering at the dinner were Leo Jackson, John Byrne, Richard and Connie Morisett, Shirley Dayton, Gloria Ross, Betty Beam, Val Churchill, Mary Marek, Ethel Andes and Lorrie Fisher.

Pat Fennel, Central District veterans representative; Les Rothman, James A. Haley activities chairman, and Pete Liebelt, assistant, attended.

The lodge, with the assistance of the Elks National Foundation, sent 16 boys and three girls to the Florida Elks Youth Camp in Umatilla for a week.

The lodge, through its Bingo Charities, made the following donations: $250 to the Egypt Shrine Temple; $500 to the Florida Children's Youth Camp for Diabetes; $100 for entertainment at the Baldomero Lopez State Veterans Home in Land O'Lakes; $750 to the Alzheimer's Association, and $100 to the Girls Youth Soccer Team of West Pasco.

John Watson Jr. and his family presented the lodge with a plaque in appreciation for the lodge's donation that will allow him to attend the Boy Scout National Jamboree in 2005. He was selected 72nd out of 300 to attend this special event. Watson is working to attain his Eagle Scout badge.

The first East West Martial Arts summer picnic and tae kwon do demonstration took place onJuly 24. Students demonstrated their tae kwon do skills and enjoyed fellowship with their classmates, students from Naples and family members.

The demonstration was capped off with each student having the opportunity to use tae kwon do techniques to break boards.

Classes at East West Martial Arts are grouped not by age, but by skill and experience. This gives the younger students the opportunity to learn from higher-ranking belts and to develop positive role models.

Tae kwon do teaches children to focus and concentrate while developing their cognitive skills and self discipline. Master s Joseph Bolega and Penelope Bolega have high expectations of their students in all areas of their lives.

Tae kwon do is a martial art and self-defense sport that was officially established in the United States in 1974. The history of the sport dates back more than 2,000 years to Korea. It encourages students to stretch their physical, mental and philosophical abilities.