We celebrated our Littles that are graduating from high school with a ceremony at Sunken Gardens.
Bigs, Littles & their families celebrated the graduating class of 2018 this past week with a very special graduation ceremony at Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg, FL. This year, we had 85 Littles in our program who were graduating from high school with over 40 of the Littles in attendance at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay ceremony. Along with their Bigs and family, the event was a packed house with over 150 people there to show their support for our graduates.
The evening kicked off with a delicious spread of pasta, salad, and bread from Carrabba’s Italian Grill. As guests nibbled on their dinners, our guest speaker Bob Conigliaro of Caspers Corporation gave out words of wisdom for our graduates, reminding them that hard work and a positive attitude will lead to success. His words were so inspiring that many Bigs and family members said that they were also moved by his speech.
After the special guest speaker, Scholarship Committee member, Gerry Goldhammer, and our own Senior Vice President of Programs, Jennifer Libby, presented awards to the two Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay scholarship winners, Timia Fonville (Boca Ciega High School) and Kiara Stevens (Boca Ciega High School). Then our School-to-Work Coordinator, Dallas Ruffin, recognized our School-to-Work Scholarship winners who received their awards at our School-to-Work graduations earlier this month. Yonjer Suarez (A. P. Leto High School), Dalila Maceda (A. P. Leto High School), Sky Kinzinger (Clearwater High School), Jordan Curtiss (Clearwater High School), Tristan Trombley (Northeast High School), and Emily DaSilva (Northeast High School) were all recognized for their outstanding work and for being chosen as our School-to-Work scholarship recipients. Jennifer Libby also took the time to recognize Alexander Marcano (Clearwater High School), who was chosen to be one of only 20 Minor League Baseball Rising Star Students. Alexander was recognized at the Clearwater Thresher’s game on June 1st where he had the opportunity to throw the first pitch and was also awarded a scholarship.
Each graduate was called to the podium to be recognized for their achievements and receive a certificate from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay for graduating from high school and from our mentoring programs. They were each awarded a monogrammed pen and pencil set with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay logo, a token of remembrance for the special time spent with their Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
A special thank you to Caspers Corporation for sponsoring the event for the third year, Carrabba’s Italian Grill at Sunken Gardens for their generous dinner donation, and Winn-Dixie South Tampa for the beautiful cake.
View the photo album from the evening here.
