Latest news with #ValenciaCollege
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Meet the Florida Puerto Rican Parade and Festival's scholarship winners
As part of the Florida Puerto Rican Parade and Festival, Channel 9 gives students a helping hand in their academic futures. This year, five students got $2,000 scholarships to advance their studies. They got these awards Thursday night at a parade gala hosted by Channel 9 anchor Kirstin Delgado. Here are this year's recipients: Deiyaliz Adorno is a freshman at Valencia College is studying creative writing and helps to use her words to inspire others. After graduating from Valencia College, she hopes to go to the University of Central Florida. Samuel Peña is graduating this year from St. Lucie West Centennial High School and will be going to barber school before heading to Indian River State College, then the University of Florida. He says he will use his scholarship money to invest in his future by studying business management and barber school. Cristina Villanueva is studying to be a nurse and will use her scholarship to accelerate her courses. She wants to get my certification and get experience as a phlebotomist while doing her nursing courses. She hopes to attend the University of Central Florida after graduating from Valencia College. Giovanna Chenalier is a 29-year-old Navy veteran attending Valencia College. She is waiting to hear back from several schools to see where she goes after graduating from Valencia. In the meantime, she says the scholarship money will help give her some stability while finding out her next move. Adriana Guzman goes to a science, technology, engineering and math school in Osceola County who hopes to get a degree in medicine. After learning about the scholarship with the Florida Puerto Rican Parade and Festival, she was really taken by the application process. She said the environmental impact in Puerto Rico were of particular interest since she's currently taking environmental science knows a lot about the topic. WFTV is the official broadcast partner for the Florida Puerto Rican Parade and Festival. It will be streamed live on air and online at starting at 11 a.m. Saturday. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Jones, Evans High seniors eligible for full-ride scholarships to Valencia
Jones High School seniors sat on the gymnasium bleachers Wednesday morning wondering why they were pulled from class. Then Vicki-Elaine Felder, an Orange County School Board member and Jones alum, came to a lectern set up on the gym floor and told them: They could go to Valencia College for free thanks to a new scholarship program. Students hollered, clapped and hugged one another. 'I know you have all worked so hard this year. You've already set your plans … for after graduation,' Felder said. 'This news may have you thinking twice.' Valencia and Orange County Public Schools also surprised seniors at Evans High School, telling students at both schools during morning at pep rallies that full-ride scholarships were available to any graduate who wanted to enroll at Valencia. Typically, two years at Valencia costs about $6,000. About 900 seniors from the two high schools, which serve mostly students from low-income families, are eligible for the new scholarships. Fananda Vorceus Saint Pierre, an 18-year-old Jones senior missed her college algebra class for the announcement and said she was mostly at a loss for words. She toured a Valencia campus the day before, she said, as she already planned to attend. Getting to go for free will help her family, who took out loans for her sister to go to Florida A&M University. 'Adding on more loans with that would have just been throwing us in a deeper hole,' she said. The scholarship was inspired by the Osceola Prosper program, which used federal COVID-19 relief funds to send Osceola County high school seniors to Valencia for free, according to a joint press release from Valencia and OCPS. Kathleen Plinske, the college's president, said she has been asked when something similar to Osceola Prosper would come to Orange County. Now, it's a reality for graduates from two Orange high schools. 'It's been a dream a long time in the making,' she said. Plinske said she expects Valencia to see an increase in enrollment from the scholarships, just as it did from the Osceola Prosper program. The college said private donations will cover the $1.2 million cost for the scholarships — the largest of which came from Lift Orlando, a non-profit that works to help the neighborhoods surrounding Camping World Stadium in Downtown Orlando. Jones High sits less than half a mile from the stadium. The scholarship program mimics a controversial one that former Orange County Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean tried to establish — and name after himself — last year using funds from the elections office. That prompted backlash from county officials who said Gilzean was not authorized to donate county money to scholarships for Evans and Jones seniors. Valencia later returned those funds and pep rallies planned for November were canceled. Lift Orlando President Eddy Moratin said in a statement Monday that 'the idea of a guaranteed path to Valencia College predates any recent headlines.' Moratin said he was inspired by the Osceola Prosper program and believes 'every student in Orange County should have similar opportunities.' Students can also use the scholarships toward traditional associate degree classes as well as career and technical training programs such as welding, commercial driving and construction. Jones and Evans seniors who want to take advantage of the scholarship need to apply to Valencia and register for a course no later than the spring 2026 term.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Orange elections chief hails $3 million recovery after spending scandal as a ‘victory for taxpayers'
Orange County Elections Supervisor Karen Castor Dentel said Wednesday more than $3 million in questionable gifts handed out by her predecessor has been returned in a 'victory for taxpayers' that will help shore up her office's budget. Glen Gilzean — appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to temporarily run the elections office — gave away the money to Valencia College and to several nonprofits for scholarships and voter-engagement efforts. Those moves angered county officials who said Gilzean distributed funds without proper approval that were needed for core election functions. Gilzean, who left the post in January, at one point wanted the scholarship program Valencia was to create with elections office money to be named after himself. Castor Dentel, a Democrat who won the election in November, said on Wednesday that Valencia had returned $2.1 million provided for the scholarship fund and that the Central Florida Foundation, which had been engaged to oversee voter-engagement initiatives, had sent back $864,500. The foundation, which received about $1.1 million, had already granted 12 organizations some of their funds, and those contracts for voter registration and other efforts will be fulfilled, Castor Dentel said. Previously, CareerSource Central Florida returned $1.9 million to the county that it had received from Gilzean, and it recently gave back another $275,000 to the elections office, Castor Dentel said. That money was provided to retrain temporary elections workers. 'These are dollars that we need to make sure we have the ability to run elections,' she said of the payments to nonprofits. 'We didn't have … excess funds to do this. We are still going to be behind even with this money returned.' County officials said Gilzean's overspending was so severe that it left the office in jeopardy of not meeting payroll, and late last year they voted to freeze spending for his office. Castor Dentel's team said they discovered 118 outstanding checks totaling more than $2 million and 100 unaccounted-for invoices totaling $700,000 on their first day, including debts to deputies, election workers and vendors essential to election security and operations. The office, Castor Dentel said, has 'worked tirelessly to pay down these debts.' Embattled Gilzean ends tenure as Orange elections chief Gilzean's administration spent 51% of the office's budget in a roughly two-month span, according to a report released by Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond. Though that spending coincided with the 2024 presidential election, Gilzean did not get the necessary approval from the county commissioners to exceed his allowed amounts, Diamond wrote. Mayor Jerry Demings has criticized the office's unauthorized payments as improper, arguing the county doesn't fund the elections office so it can fund nonprofits, but instead to run elections. Gilzean called the actions of Castor Dentel and Demings 'shameful and purely political' in a statement Wednesday. 'My commitment to my community is unwavering,' he said. 'Everything we did was rooted in increasing voter education and turnout. ' He accused the two Democrats of 'choosing to keep kids from better opportunities, hindering our community's progress, and suppressing voter engagement.' DeSantis appointed Gilzean, a close ally, to the office in March 2024 following longtime Democratic elections chief Bill Cowles' retirement. Gilzean opted not to run for reelection this fall, and Castor Dentel prevailed with solidly blue Orange County voters. Gilzean's dispute with county officials grew so heated that he filed suit, which he dismissed when he left office. Castor Dentel said her office is continuing to probe her predecessor's spending, including expenditures on 'self promotion' and advertising after the election that she said 'are hard to justify.' She declined to release more details on those expenses, adding that the review is ongoing. 'We're about ready to close the book on this chapter and move forward,' she said. 'I'm excited about that.'
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
State Sen. Geraldine Thompson dies at 76 after complications from knee surgery
State Sen. Geraldine Thompson, a long-time Central Florida lawmaker, died after complications from knee replacement surgery, her family announced late Thursday. Thompson, 76, a Democrat, served in the Florida Legislature for nearly all of the last 18 years. She was remembered as a trailblazer and civil rights icon, with many local politicians offering tributes after her family shared news of her death. Her family said she would be remembered for her achievements but also as their beloved matriarch. 'Senator Geraldine Thompson was so much more than a dedicated public servant and visionary leader,' the statement released by the Thompson family said. 'She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother whose love, wisdom and compassion shaped their lives and the lives of so many in their community and across the state.' Thompson was a former Valencia College administrator and the founder of the Wells'Built Museum of African American History and Culture in Orlando. She represented parts of Orlando and western Orange County in the Florida House from 2006 to 2012 and again from 2018 to 2022, while she served in the Florida Senate from 2012 to 2016 and from 2022 until her death. She had just been reelected in November. She worked for years to get the state's public schools to improve the teaching of Black history, pushed last year for the state to select Eatonville — the historically Black town in her district — as the site of a proposed Florida Black history museum, and spoke out in 2023 against the state's new African American history standards she argued offered school children a watered-down version of America's past. 'It's an attempt to whitewash our history,' she said after the standards were approved. Her longtime friend Linda Chapin, Orange County's first mayor, remembered Thompson's role in the Central Florida community dating back to the 1970s. 'It's important to remember, because Senator Thompson has been such a force in the last decades, that it was a difficult beginning,' Chapin said. '…Orange County did not integrate its schools until [the 70s] even though Brown v. Board of Education had passed considerably before that. So this was still a conservative community.' Chapin said Thompson was well known and admired for always speaking her convictions. 'You never wondered where she was. You never wondered if she was going to do something convenient or political,' she said. 'Geraldine spoke the truth as she saw it…She was almost always right.' State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, who served with Thompson in the Legislature, said she was inspired by the lawmaker when she met her while a student at the University of Central Florida. 'Whether it was reproductive rights, voter rights and fighting for Black history, she always just picked up that microphone with such grit and grace,' Eskamani said. U.S. Rep Maxwell Frost, D-Orlando, called Thompson a 'force' and a 'trailblazer' in a statement. 'For nearly 20 years in the Florida Legislature, she broke barriers and created opportunities, especially for Black and Brown communities and those too often overlooked. She paved the way for many, including myself, to step up and serve our communities,' he said. Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings remembered her as a 'tireless advocate for the underprivileged.' Senate President Ben Albritton, a Republican, shared news of her death in a letter to Senate colleagues. He said she was a 'force to be reckoned with,' a lawmaker known for her passion for education. Her 'watchful eye, cheerful smile, and thoughtful, well-researched, and spirted debate will be greatly missed,' he said. Thompson was born in New Orleans and moved to Florida as a young child, according to her biography on the Florida Senate's website. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Miami and a master's from Florida State University. She and her husband, Emerson, had three children and six grandchildren, the website said, and lived in Windermere.
