FREE • THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2024
VOLUME 11, NO. 45
WHO HELPED SELECT THE NEXT POLICE CHIEF OF PLANT CITY? DAVE HOOVER STAFF WRITER
The City of Plant City search for a new police chief drew 100 initial applicants. After the field was narrowed to the final five candidates, City Manager Bill McDaniel invited the public to a meet-and-greet event on Thursday, April 25 at Sadye Gibbs Martin Community Center.
“We do support our police here in Plant City,” said Arleathia Brown. “We have a group that goes to police meetings to make sure that things are being taken care of in our neighborhood. Chief Bradford is leaving, so I want to wish him well, and then I want to know who we are going to get in for the next nice, police chief we can work with.”
A LIST OF THE FIVE FINALISTS IS BELOW:
Richard Mills, Jr., oversees the Special Operations Division of the Tampa Police Department. Chiquita Thomas-Butler, Assistant Chief of Police, City of Miami, Florida. James McGrew, Assistant Chief of Police, Village of Tequesta, Florida. Justin Duralia, Supervisory Special Agent, Drug Enforcement Administration, Tampa. Joseph Centanni, Chief of Police, City of Watervliet, New York.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
PATHS FOR BRIGHT FUTURES
DAVE HOOVER
There were a lot of reasons for students to be excited about this Future Fair Hiring Event. Photo courtesy of Future Career Academy.
STAFF WRITER
Seniors regularly graduate from high school with no plan for their future, and they may spin their employment wheels for years without moving forward. Local businesses have indicated they would like to connect with young people when they are 18 rather than 25 to get them on their career paths early. To address these needs, and others, Yvonne Fry founded the Future Career Academy in Plant City in 2015. The Future Career Academy focuses on revealing to students in-demand jobs that offer longterm career growth and sustainable employment. The organization accomplishes this by cultivating relationships between
Hillsborough County Public Schools, and community and business partners. One of the unique things about the partnership between the schools, the companies, and the Future Career Academy is multiple times throughout the year Fry arranges meeting in which business leaders visit schools to meet with education officials to discuss job trends and current opportunities. These have been “super beneficial,” said Warren Brooks, Workforce Connections Officer for Hillsborough County Public Schools. “It is a great way for the business community to allow the Officers at schools know the growth and the things that are coming.”
Today, schools across Hillsborough County make use of curriculum developed by the Future Career Academy to teach students soft skills like how to dress and how to interview for jobs to better prepare them to gain good careers. The program was such a success it currently provides curriculum and programs to over 16,000 graduating seniors in all 32 high schools, career, and exceptional centers in Hillsborough County Public Schools. These schools, employment organizations, and businesses worked together to hold a Future Fair Hiring Event on Thursday, April 25 in Plant City. Busload after busload of students from Plant City High
School, Durant High School, Strawberry Crest High School and Simmons pulled up to the Trinkle Center on the Hillsborough Community College campus— 400 seniors in all. As lines of students walked into the building, they were greeted by a crowd of representatives from local businesses cheering, waving signs, and shaking pompoms. “The hiring partners are friendly, nice, and welcoming,” said Plant City High School senior Mikalah Maull, who is exploring career options in biology such as veterinary medicine.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 3