Performing Arts Announces its 40th Season

AVON PARK, Fla. – Sept. 27, 2023 – Croce Plays Croce, the national tour of the Broadway musical “Little Women,” and Piff the Magic Dragon highlight the 2023–24 season at the 1,460-seat Alan Jay Wildstein Center for the Performing Arts at South Florida State College (SFSC) in Avon Park. The season includes the MidFlorida Credit Union Artist Series with evening performances of national and international tours, the Lampe and Kiefer Hearing Aid Center Matinee Series, the Spiegel Chiropractic Syncopated Sundays Matinee Series, the AdventHealth Trending Now Series, and Young People’s Theater for elementary school students.

“The very popular Kaleidoscope Series returns with free performances of Holiday Traditions Around the World, USF Gospel Choir, and Bits n Pieces Puppet Theater with a delightful puppet performance of The Legend of Robin Hood,” said Cindy Garren, director of cultural performances at SFSC. All performances in the Kaleidoscope Series are free and open to the public and support is provided in part by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Subscription packages, which offer substantial discounts, are available for each series. “A subscription to the Artist Series starts at $165,” Garren said. “That’s less than $35 per show for world-class performances.”

Groups of 12 or more can save up to 50% on regular admission plus the group leader gets a free ticket. Group discounts vary by performance. Groups are recognized prior to the show from the stage.

Teacher Rush tickets are offered to local educators with a valid school ID on the day of show. “Discounts of 50% or more are extended to our teachers for specific performances,” Garren said. Discounted shows are posted on the website at sfscarts.org/box-office/teacher.

Teacher Rush tickets are not available online and must be purchased on the day of the show at the SFSC Box Office.

The MidFlorida Credit Union Artist Series includes: Croce Plays Croce; I’m Still Here starring Debbie Wileman in a salute to Judy Garland; The Johnny Cash Experience which is endorsed by the Cash family; Forever Tango; and the musical “Little Women.” The Artist Series is sponsored by Dr. Gale Obermayr and Dr. Michael Kirsch at Heartland Endodontics.

The AdventHealth Trending Now Series presents: the 60th anniversary tour of country/pop band Exile; Country Music Award winners Thompson Square in an acoustic performance; Rumours, a tribute to Fleetwood Mac; and The Brothers Doobie.

Spiegel Syncopated Sundays, which are held at the intimate 250-seat University Center at 3 p.m., will feature: The New Orleans Nighthawks; Hot Club SRQ; The Glynn Dryhurst Dixieland Band; and internationally acclaimed The Lynne Arriale Trio.

The Lampe and Kiefer Matinee Series stars Christian comedian Tim Lovelace, The Bronx Wanderers, The Nelson Brothers with their hit tribute “Ricky Nelson Remembered,” Portrait of Aretha, Always Olivia (an Olivia Newton John tribute), Super Duos, country acoustic An Afternoon in the Round, Daybreak: The Music of Barry Manilow, Yesterday: A Tribute to The Beatles, and Vivacity Radio Show, reminiscent of a 1930s radio program. The Matinee Series is sponsored by Dr. Gayle Obermayr and Dr. Michael Kirsch of Heartland Endodontics.

Special engagements include: A Christmas Carol ($15 children/student tickets are available), Piff the Magic Dragon, former Journey lead singer Steve Augeri, and Phil Dirt and the Dozers.

The Alan Jay Wildstein Center for the Performing Arts is supported by a grant from the Florida Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts. The Wildstein Center is located at 600 West College Drive in Avon Park on the SFSC Highlands Campus. Videos and information can be viewed online at sfscARTS.org. Tickets and subscriptions can be purchased online or by calling the SFSC Box Office at 863-784-7178. In-person window sales are not available at this time. The Box Office opens Monday, Oct. 23 at 11:30 a.m.

AVON PARK, Fla. – Sept. 25, 2023 – Angela Shope’s heart was in law enforcement but not in the traditional sense. Ultimately, she wanted to combine it with conservation and now she’s a law enforcement officer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

Shope graduated from South Florida State College (SFSC) with an Associate in Arts and an Associate in Science in Criminal Justice Technology in May 2021. She grew up in Lake Butler, a town in northeastern Florida with a population of approximately 2,000. It borders a lake and sits at the head of the 47-mile Palatka-Lake Butler State Trail.

Shope developed a passion for conservation at a young age, while helping her mother who worked in forestry at the Osceola National Forest. “I knew that I wanted to be a game warden from day one,” she said. “I knew that there was no other job better for me that combined all of my passions.”

Shope first approached an FWC recruiter when she was 18 years old and learned that she needed to be 20 before she could apply to the agency. Because working with the FWC was her dream job, she maintained contact with the recruiter.

In the meantime, Shope joined the local police department working as a dispatcher while she waited for the FWC application period to open up. “As a dispatcher, you sit and listen,” she said. “The police department would get calls for anything from a car accident to a robbery. I knew in my heart that I wanted to be out in the field helping.”

Shope’s application was accepted by the FWC in October 2022. The first four and a half months at FWC, applicants attend an academy, where they are trained to be law enforcement officers. “You have to learn how to be a cop,” said FWC Officer Ron Howard, who is the agency’s southwest region recruiter. “You learn what you can and cannot do, the rules, the regulations, the Florida statutes, the limits of your authority in Florida. Once you have that as your base, you take your test, you pass your state certification exam, and then you’re certified by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to be a law enforcement officer in Florida.”

The employees in training are, then, given their badge, their gun, and sent to six to seven months of training in Tallahassee. “That’s when we do the fun stuff,” Howard said, “like boating, fish and wildlife, off-road driving, man tracking, and everything that makes you a conservation officer.”

The list of responsibilities of a law enforcement officer with FWC seem endless. According to the agency website, some of those responsibilities are to enforce state and federal fisheries and wildlife laws, protect endangered species and habitat, enforce state and federal environmental laws, protect state lands and water quality, investigate fish and wildlife and environmental crimes, enforce boating rules and regulations, conduct boating accident investigations, investigate vessel theft and title fraud, respond to natural and man-made disasters, conduct search-and-rescue missions, and educate the public.

“FWC is a proactive agency rather than reactive,” Shope said. “I have the opportunity to travel to different places to do my job. My territory – Baker and Union counties – is land locked; therefore, my lieutenant allows me and the others on my squad to travel to work inshore saltwater. I can run the boat and do vessel stops, conduct safety inspections, and enforce Florida’s fresh and saltwater fish regulations. Within the agency, I have the opportunity to work details, like on holidays, and assist other states when disasters hit, such as for hurricane relief. The animals are a big part of my decision to join FWC rather than work in a more traditional law enforcement job. I have worked with a local biologist in capturing and rehabilitating a black bear. I got to set free a spotted whitetail fawn that someone was keeping in captivity.”

As would be expected, Shope’s workday is varied and exciting. “My day can go from zero to 100 from the moment I begin. One day I’m scheduled for training and the next I could be working with a biologist on an injured animal, serving a warrant, relocating an alligator, on a search-and-rescue mission, conducting vessel patrol, boating under the influence enforcement, public outreach, or patroling the national forest in my area by land or by helicopter.” 

Shope’s other passion is softball. In fact, she started as a center fielder for the SFSC Lady Panther Softball team, then played third base in her sophomore year. She brings her softball experience to her job.

“Sports changed me as a person,” Shope said. “Softball is a game, but it teaches you many life lessons – teamwork, leadership, juggling and balancing multiple tasks at once, friendship, and trust. While in college, Coach Carlos Falla [SFSC softball coach] would always tell us, ‘When we’re on the field, we’re going to work hard. You have to work hard to win, but we’re also there to have fun.’ It’s not all about winning, but having fun and learning those life lessons to carry into the future and have that toolbox; you can look back on your experience.”

Howard has said that Shope was an excellent candidate for FWC from the first time he met her. “She was assertive, she could talk to people, and she had all the other qualities that you’re looking for in an applicant,” he said. “I visit SFSC for recruiting from time to time and had seen Angela assisting an organization by passing out pizza. She didn’t have to be there, but she was giving back. People in the civil service sector are usually those who like to volunteer and help. She was into agriculture and she’s an athlete. We’re really big on fitness. It’s important to bring somebody in who’s going to pride themselves on staying fit and keeping up with and helping other officers. Angela is someone who can do that.”

Shope is proud and enthusiastic about the education she received at SFSC. “One thing I like about SFSC was coming from a small high school that had small class sizes and SFSC has small class sizes and instructors are encouraging and always willing to lend a helping hand,” said Shope. “The environment was just amazing, and you meet so many different people and have an opportunity to learn so many different things.”

When asked how she might encourage others to pursue an education, Shope acknowledged that people may have perceived barriers to attending college. “The first thing people think is ‘It’s too expensive’ or ‘I don’t know where to start,’” she said. “It’s overwhelming at first. But college can be affordable. I decided that I wanted to play softball, so I worked really hard to get my softball scholarship to play at SFSC. If you do well in high school, you can get academic scholarships.”

And Shope has a favorite saying: Endeavor to Persevere. “What it means to me,” she said, “is to pursue your dreams and always have another one. Don’t settle, and be aware of what you can do and what you can’t do. Always push yourself and believe in yourself.” 

South Florida State College (SFSC) and the University of South Florida (USF) announced the renewal of their partnership in the Fuse guaranteed admissions program. SFSC was one of eight Florida College System (FCS) institutions whose presidents were at USF in Tampa to add their signatures to the renewal contract on Thursday, Sept. 14.

Entering its eighth year, Fuse provides a seamless and timely degree path for students to transfer to USF. Students are guaranteed admission into specific majors at USF, provided they meet certain criteria.

“It’s rare to find the level of detail provided regarding prerequisites and course maps outlining semester-by-semester requirements at both the participating colleges and at USF, as well as the advising and support Fuse offers,” said Dr. Fai Howard, assistant dean of transition and academic growth at USF.
Students accepted into the Fuse program attend a special FSC/USF orientation in their first year to introduce them to the USF community and have access to resources from both institutions, including Fuse scholarships, advising, academic services, activities, and sporting events, while obtaining their associate degree. Since its creation, the Fuse program has graduated 667 participants and currently maintains a 97% retention rate among enrollees.

“The Fuse program partnership has been a wonderful vehicle for our Associate in Arts students to transfer to their major of choice at USF to pursue a bachelor’s degree,” said Dr. James Hawker, dean of arts and sciences at SFSC. “We have been working hard with our partner FCS institutions and USF to better serve our students and we have greatly increased SFSC student participation since we joined the program several years ago.”

Fuse was piloted in fall 2016 with 40 students starting at Hillsborough Community College and St. Petersburg College. The program has expanded to include: College of Central Florida, Pasco-Hernando State College, Polk State College, Santa Fe College, South Florida State College, and State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota.

For more information about the Fuse program at SFSC, visit southflorida.edu/current-students/transfer-opportunities.

AVON PARK, Fla. – Sept. 19, 2023 – Two exhibitions will open at the South Florida State College (SFSC) Museum of Florida Art and Culture (MOFAC) on Wednesday, Oct. 4.

On view in MOFAC’s main exhibition space is “Living with the Spirits of Tradition: African Art from the Betty Ford-Smith Collection.” Featuring over 60 works of traditional African art from the collection of Sebring, Fla. artist Betty Ford-Smith, visitors will find rare and finely crafted artworks from her collection of sculptures, masks, and other carved, cast, and beaded objects from various traditional artforms made by cultural groups throughout West and Central Africa.

“I can understand how someone might initially be surprised to see that there is an exhibition of traditional African art at the Museum of Florida Art and Culture,” said Anthony Record, MOFAC curator, “but the works in this show represent one of Central Florida’s major collections of art, developed by a Florida collector.”

These works represent a significant living and evolving aspect of the shared cultural heritage of many diverse populations in Florida. Artworks like the ones in “Living with the Spirits of Tradition” have had a massive impact on the development of modern art in Europe in the 20th century, and they continue to influence and inspire contemporary artists all over the world.

“This exhibition is a fraction of Betty’s collection,” Record said, “and represents a relatively small number of cultural groups in Africa, yet these artworks exhibit an incredible combination of visual inventiveness and technical skill. Walking through the exhibition, it’s not hard to see how these varied approaches to abstraction were such a major influence on Picasso, Matisse, and other artists considered to be among the most original and influential artists of the 20th century.”

“Living with the Spirits of Tradition: African Art from the Betty Ford-Smith Collection” is on view Wednesday, Oct. 4 through Friday, Nov. 17.

Opening the same day in the lower lobby galleries is “Hidden Divisions” by Tampa artist Andrés Ramírez. Consisting of large photographs taken from a propeller plane during downtime at his day job, Ramírez creates arresting images of sugar cane fires, workers in strawberry fields, surfers, boaters, and other subjects familiar to Floridians but seen from an unfamiliar perspective.

“His photographs can seem like colorful abstract paintings at first, but Ramírez has captured some amazing moments from 1,000 feet in the air,” Record said. “They allow us to see the surprising structure and the breathtaking scale of a lot of ordinary things that we drive by all the time.”

One photo depicts the baffling density of a community built along canals where everybody has waterfront property, and another reveals the uncanny emptiness of a planned community that was abandoned during the last housing crisis. “When you’re talking about Florida right now,” said Ramírez, “how can you not talk about housing?”

“Hidden Divisions” is on view Wednesday, Oct. 4 through Friday, Dec. 15.

Patrons can enjoy free refreshments at the reception for these exhibitions on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 12:30-2:30 p.m. at MOFAC. See more artwork and hear Ford-Smith and Ramírez speak about these exhibitions at https://www.youtube.com/@mofac_sfsc

MOFAC is located at 600 West College Drive in Avon Park. For more information about MOFAC or these exhibitions, call the Museum Office at 863-784-7130.

AVON PARK, Fla. – Sept. 14, 2023 – South Florida State College (SFSC) Library joins in the celebration of International Talk Like a Pirate Day on Tuesday, Sept. 19, from 7:30 a.m.-9 p.m.

The SFSC Library has celebrated the holiday for several years, offering an assortment of activities and prizes for attendees including bingo and composing a pirate tale.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day was started on a whim by John Baur and Mark Summers. The two men discovered that talking like stereotypical pirates during a poorly played game of racquetball made everything more fun. They decided to celebrate the holiday annually on Sept. 19. The holiday gained wider recognition when the Miami Herald’s Dave Barry wrote about it in his column. Baur and Summers had emailed Barry and encouraged him to highlight the holiday that they had created. The column was published in 2002, and Talk Like a Pirate Day has been celebrated internationally ever since.

SFSC Library’s celebration will be held in the Learning Resources Center (Building Y), on the SFSC Highlands Campus in Avon Park. Costumes are welcome.

For more information on the SFSC Library’s celebration, contact Lena Phelps, SFSC chair of library services, at PhelpsL@southflorida.edu or 863-784-7303.

AVON PARK, Fla. – Sept. 6, 2023 – On Friday, Sept. 1, the Walmart Foundation presented representatives of South Florida State College (SFSC) with a check in the amount of $1,500 to assist the College’s Adult Education program in its student recruitment and retention efforts in Hardee County. The grant presentation took place during the Re-Grand Opening Celebration at the Walmart in Wauchula, Fla.

“The 2021 U.S. Census Bureau indicates the enormous need for adult education in Hardee County — 23.8% of Hardee County adults (ages 25-64 years old) have less than a high school diploma compared to the state average of 11%, and 37.3% of Hardee citizens speak a language other than English in the home,” said Courtney Green, SFSC director of Adult Education and Technical Dual Enrollment. “Students enter our program with a strong desire to learn English or work toward passing GED® exams leading to a State of Florida High School Diploma. However, life challenges arise such as transportation issues, work schedules, or childcare which may interfere with their persistence to complete.   

“The funds provided by the Walmart Foundation may now be used to aid those who may need a few dollars for gas or for incentives to keep students motivated to continue attending class until they reach their end goal. We are thankful for the support and partnership with Walmart and the gracious donation to be able to assist the students we serve.”

SFSC’s Adult Education Department frequently celebrates student milestones, such as passing a GED® examination, advancing a level in English language proficiency, or earning their high school diploma. To keep students motivated to persist until completion, monthly drawings are held for students making progress toward their goals. Because some students experience transportation issues, a monthly drawing may be a gift card for gasoline. The funds from the Walmart Foundation will allow the department to purchase incentive items, pay for GED® exams, and other such items.   

The SFSC Adult Education program offers a GED® Prep program to assist students in developing the skills needed to pass the GED® exams that cover reading, writing, math, language, and science. Upon passing the four subject area tests of the GED® exam, students earn a State of Florida High School Diploma.

SFSC’s Adult Education English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program provides American English language instruction to foreign-born U.S. citizens and resident aliens who would like to communicate more effectively in English. Classes are offered for students at all levels and are offered during the morning, afternoon, and evening. Currently, ESOL classes are provided at all SFSC locations and at several off-campus sites. ESOL classes at SFSC also offer students the opportunity to learn job-related terminology.

Earlier this year, Walmart in Wauchula officially joined the SFSC Adult Education “Partners in Progress” coalition to promote education initiatives to their store associates and the community. Beginning in September and every other Saturday, representatives from SFSC Adult Education will visit Walmart’s Wauchula store to answer questions about Adult Basic Education, its GED® Prep program, and its English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program.

To learn more about the GED© Prep program or the ESOL program at SFSC, contact the Adult Education Department at 863-784-7441. For GED© Prep, visit the SFSC webpage at http://tinyurl.com/3d86682h and for the ESOL program, visit http://tinyurl.com/4bvnznvu.