One local business investing in our youth

Seminole Elementary School students bowling with their
principal Nanette Grasso for receiving all A's on their
report card.

For the past 35 years the owners of Seminole Lanes have been giving back to Pinellas County elementary schools by opening up their bowling alley to free bowling for students in grades third through fifth making principals list or all A's on their report card.

Graci and me at
the bowling alley

Recently 65 kids from Seminole Elementary were treated to bowling at Seminole Lanes for making straight A's this past grading period. The students got to bowl with their new principal Nanette Grasso. My youngest daughter was one of the students invited to go bowling for her grades, so I helped chaperone the event. The kids had a blast bowling with their friends and were treated to pizza for lunch by the school's PTA. Not only did Seminole Lanes provide the bowling, but bus transportation to and from their school.

As a mom, it is encouraging to see companies like Seminole Lanes making a difference in the community and rewarding students who are doing well in school. What a great incentive to get students to strive for A's.

  

Kevin Krauss and Jerry Krauss,
owners of Seminole Lanes

 I have had the pleasure of knowing Jerry and Joan Krauss, the owners of Seminole Lanes. They are wonderful people and do so much for our community. They have owned Seminole Lanes for almost 60 years. It's a family business now being run by their son Kevin and grandson Cory. I am in awe of their generosity to schools and students. Jerry and Kevin have told me they enjoy introducing kids to this family sport by providing this opportunity to bowl with their principal during the school year. On a side note, Seminole Elementary has a special place in the Krauss' heart because all four of Jerry and Joan's kids attended Seminole Elementary.

Rewarding kids for straight A's isn't the only way Seminole Lanes honors students for their hard work. Each year they also host a Turnaround Achievement Award Breakfast for Pinellas County students who have achieved the most significant turnaround in his or her life nominated by their school principal or teacher. This event is organized by the Pinellas County Drop Out Prevention Department and is sponsored by the Krauss family. The turnaround can be anything from turning their grades around, their attitude around or overcoming substance dependence.

I had the opportunity to attend one of these breakfasts about two years ago and I was amazed at the students and their teachers and counselors who helped them turn their lives around to make better choices. What a gift the Krauss family provides to these students and their families by recognizing positive behavior.

This a family using their business to make a positive impact on our youth. As a parent and community member, I want to thank them for taking an interest in our children.   

  

Seminole Elementary School Centennial Celebration May 2, 2015

Seminole Elementary School is gearing up for their Centennial Celebration coming up on Saturday, May 2, 2015. In preparation of the big event, the Pinellas County School Board has been renovating the 100 year old building by putting a new roof on the building and restoring the inside with new walls, ceiling, fans and windows. The total cost of the renovations is more than $275,000. The school is also getting a new electronic billboard and a new historical marquee near the Centennial Building.

The Centennial Celebration will take place at the school, 10950 74th Avenue N. The event will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a ceremony at 1 p.m. with several of the former principals of the school including: Ernest Pierce, John Wuertz, Elaine Cutler and Bonnie Cangelosi. There will also be several dignitaries including Representative Larry Ahern and proclamations from Seminole Mayor Leslie Waters and Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long. 

 The day will be full of food, music, entertainment and activities for the kids including bounce houses, face painting and more.  There will also be tours of the historical Centennial Building. You will also be able to purchase bricks and Centennial shirts the day of the event.
The school invites the community to come out and celebrate 100 years of excellence at Seminole Elementary School. 

Seminole Elementary would like to extend a special thank you to our sponsors including: City of Seminole, Pinellas County School Board, Seminole Elementary PTA, Kiwanis Club of Seminole, Tampa Bay Newspapers Seminole Beacon, Gamble’s Carriage Cleaners, Trust Business Services, Seminole Garden Florist, Seminole Nurseries, McDonalds, Mathnasium of Largo, Seminole Lanes, Campbell’s Tutorial, Law Offices of DeLoach & Hofstra, P.A., All Children’s Guild-Seminole Largo, Whitman Family Foundation, Dr. Mary Jo Allman Brubaker, The R Club, Lunch Bunch, Seminole Chamber of Commerce, Seminole Rotary Club, VFW Post 9272, Sandy Hartmann-Keller Williams and Representative Larry Ahern. 

Date: Saturday, May 2, 2015
Time: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. special ceremony at 1 p.m.
Location: Seminole Elementary School, 10950 74th Ave. N. Seminole, FL 33772
For more information and photos of the renovations: Log onto www.Facebook.com/SeminoleElementary 

A Centennial School Celebration has big meaning to a mom and her kids

The school in 1919.

For the past few years, I’ve been wondering just how common it is to have your kids go to the same elementary school you went to when you were a kid? I never attended any of my parent‘s schools, not even to their college, which seems to be a little more popular these days.

Both of my two girls go to the same elementary school I went to when I was younger. When my oldest daughter started in kindergarten at the school, one of the teachers I had in fifth grade was still teaching there. When I went up to her to say hello, she teased me and said she was retiring because I made her feel old since my kids were now going to school there. She actually did retire the following year, so now there aren’t any of the teachers that were there when I was there. My older daughter does have one of the teachers both my two sisters had when they went to school there, which is pretty cool.  

The school today

The school I am talking about is Seminole Elementary School. If you live in Pinellas County you probably know someone who has gone to school there or has worked there. Next year the school will be one hundred years old, so thousands of students have walked the halls there.

The oldest part of the school, which was build in 1915 is the building located off of Park Boulevard. When I went to school there, the building was our cafeteria. Today the building is referred to as the centennial building and is used for the R Club, an afterschool program.

I always laugh because when I tell my youngest daughter a date like my birthday or when I graduated from high school it is in the 1900’s and she says to me, “you mean back in the nineteens?

I guess when your are born in the 2000’s, that was a long time ago.

It seems like yesterday though when I went to school at Seminole Elementary. I can remember how it was set up. Today, the students have art in what was once the office. The office today is one of the newer buildings on campus at the opposite end of the campus. Even with all the changes of some of the classrooms, my oldest daughter is in the same fifth grade classroom I was in when I was there.

What’s exciting is she will be graduating from the school the year of the centennial celebration. 

Of course, I somehow ended up on the centennial celebration planning committee, which is something I enjoy helping out with since I went there along with my siblings and now my kids go there.

We have a date for the event, which will be help on the school’s campus on Saturday, May 2, 2015.

The community is invited to attend the event. We want to reach out to prior students, teachers and administrators that were at Seminole Elementary.  We plan on having the entertainment made up of prior students. We are looking for food vendors and sponsors for our event.

If you want more information you can email the planning committee at SeminoleES100@gmail or look on www.facebook.com/seminoleelementary to get updates on the big day’s events. If interested in helping plan the event, meetings are held at Seminole Elementary School on the first Monday of the month at 3:15 p.m.

Since I started help plan for the centennial celebration, I am finding that more and more people in the community have gone to Seminole Elementary School, but not too many have gone there and their kids have gone there.