Fun School

Highgate Park : More local news and local events from in and around the Highgate Park Davenport area as at a Friendship Elementary in Deltona, children sing about multiplication in music class. When kids at Kissimmee's Boggy Creek Elementary go to gym, they practice counting money during a game of skipping and jumping.

Culinary-arts students at Apopka High School use math for recipes. They also explore the science behind bread making and how heat impacts ingredients.

In Florida's schools, teaching math and science is no longer the sole responsibility of math and science teachers. Principals are under intense pressure to boost test scores in both subjects, and so everybody on campus is taking on a bigger share of the instructional burden.

"We realize it takes everyone to help our children be successful," said Judi Winch, the principal of Westside Elementary in Daytona Beach, where youngsters hover over measurements and discuss angles and coordinates in art class and work on patterns and graphing in music.

Administrators say it makes perfect sense: The "fun" classes can help make tough concepts easier to understand. These teachers can also help kids see that math and science have real-life applications, that they're not just big words and numbers in books.

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Slow Disney

Highgate Park : More local news andlocal events from in and around the Highgate Park Davenport area as US consumers sent tepid signals to The Walt Disney Co. during the holiday quarter, as many of them still required discounts to step into theme parks and reduced spending on food, beverages and merchandise when they got there.

A nascent advertising recovery also had an uneven effect on the company, as ESPN benefited from higher ad revenue, while the ABC broadcast network suffered from fewer viewers and lower advertising rates. The Disney Channel, which doesn't run commercials, saw fees from cable and satellite operators grow.

"At this point we have limited visibility regarding the economy and its impact on our businesses," Chief Executive Bob Iger said on a conference call. "Thus we will continue to focus on controlling costs while creating great content and experiences and building our brands."

Disney is closely tethered to consumer confidence. Its theme parks, stores and movies are a good barometer of how freely people are spending their extra cash.

Disney said it earned $844 million in its fiscal first quarter, which ended Jan. 2, roughly flat compared with a year earlier. Revenue rose 1 percent to $9.74 billion. Although both measures beat analyst forecasts, shares were little changed in after-hours trading.

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Orlando Shakespeare

Highgate Park : More local news and local events from in and around the Highgate Park Davenport area as it’s fairy-tale time at Orlando Shakespeare, where director Jim Helsinger has taken a fanciful approach to All’s Well That Ends Well, a seldom-performed comedy that comes across as much more accessible — and a lot more fun — than its reputation suggests. The funny thing is that all the fairy-tale references, as comical as they are, seem like icing on a cake that’s pretty yummy all by itself.

Helsinger and associate director Thomas Ouellette deliver both the giddiness and the underlying darkness in Shakespeare’s tale of a young woman who goes to great lengths to get a young man who doesn’t deserve her until the end. And it’s that young man, a count named Bertram, who has proved problematic to centuries of All’s Well audiences. Helena, a servant to his mother, loves him madly, but Bertram scorns her. Only if you understand what actor Stafford Clark-Price makes abundantly clear — that the callow Bertram has some growing up to do — can you cheer on Helena’s quest.

At Orlando Shakes, it helps that Helena is played by Marni Penning, who was Beatrice in last season’s Much Ado About Nothing and Portia in The Merchant of Venice and is now also Ophelia in Hamlet. Penning is a wonderfully grounded actress, and if a character she plays wants to win a heartless young man, well, she probably knows what she’s doing.

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New Route

Highgate Park : More local news and local events from in and around the Highgate Park Davenport area as US Airways has launched a year-round service from Charlotte, North Carolina to Melbourne, Florida offering Melbourne customers the ability to connect to more than 125 domestic and international destinations.

All three daily flights will be operated by wholly owned US Airways Express carrier PSA Airlines, utilizing 70-seat Bombardier CRJ700 regional jets.

Jason Reisinger, director of express planning in US Airways, said: "We're thrilled to be returning to Orlando Melbourne International Airport. US Airways now offers Melbourne customers easy one-stop connections to hundreds of destinations and, conversely, offers the rest of the nation easy travel to the Sunshine State's Space Coast."

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Record Sales

Highgate Park : More local news and events from in and around the Highgate Park Davenport area as if the recent Mecum Auctions of Muscle Cars and More is any indication, the economic recession is in remission. According to the official numbers released by McCullough Public Relations sales increased a whopping 60% over 2008 numbers. The total gross sales (excluding buyer’s premium) for the four-day Kissimmee Auction were $25.6 million and a staggering 71% sell rate.

The top ten sales brought in $120,000 or more when the gavel dropped led by a boat, of all things, at $775,000 for a 1966 Riva Super Aquarama Series II Prototype. Leading the vehicle parade was a 1935 Auburn 851 Boattail Speedster coming in at $376,000.

“We hosted a packed house at our annual Kissimmee Auction, which grew immensely in both bidder registration and sales this year,” said President Dana Mecum. “Mecum continues to bring a wide variety of collectible vehicles – including boats and motorcycles – and vintage memorabilia to enthusiasts worldwide.”

More than 29,000 people flooded the Osceola Heritage Park just across from the Houston Astros spring training site in Kissimmee near Orlando and Walt Disney World. Celebrities such as the Allison Brothers, Bobby and Donnie, and Arnie Bestwick added to the event and if racing is in your blood there was plenty to see.

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Super Bowl Potter

Highgate Park : More local news and events from in and around the Highgate Park Davenport area as during Super Bowl XLIV, Universal Pictures ran a commercial for their Orlando-based theme park, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Unfortunately, the resort is still under construction for a Spring 2010 opening, so the 30-second spot is just a computer-generated version of the experience.

Some of the features of the park include Hogsmeade Station where the Hogwarts train arrives, Zonko’s shop of tricks and jokes, Honeydukes treat shop, the Three Broomstick’s and Hog’s Head pubs, an Owlery, Ollivander’s wand store, Dervish and Banges quidditch store, a roller coaster titled “Dragon Challenge,” and a family ride called “Flight of Hippogriff.”

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Best Troop

Highgate Park : More local news and events from in and around the Highgate Park Davenport area as For the second consecutive year, Boy Scout Troop No. 244 in Lady Lake has been named the state's best Scout troop by the Florida State American Legion.

"We are proud as we can be," Scoutmaster Grant Gore said. "The troop absolutely deserved the award; we have got a really good group of kids."

Selection for best Scout troop is based on competition from the more than 100 troops, said Sheldon Gotesky, charter organizational representative for American Legion Post 347 in Lady Lake, which recently presented the troop with a plaque commemorating the accomplishment.

Troop No. 244 also was recognized for its win by the Lady Lake town commissioners.

Gotesky said troops submit reports highlighting their accomplishments during the year to area Legion posts. Then, the posts forward reports to the Florida State American Legion.

Reports include such information as awards troops receive on camping outings, participation in Legion activities and activities in troops' communities, such as parades and food drives.

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Real Art

Highgate Park : More local news and events from in and around the Highgate Park Davenport area as the art work in the traveling exhibit "The New Reality: The Frontier of Realism in the 21st Century" at the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala gives viewers a snapshot of how Realism artists are approaching their art form today.

Each of the 65 contemporary paintings by 56 international artists looks at the state of Realism painting around the world and compares those artworks with their historical predecessors such as Vermeer's classic "Girl With a Pearl Earring" with Ellen Catherwood's "Girl With Piercings."

The juried show by the International Guild of Realism features an array of media including oil, acrylic, egg tempera, graphite and colored pencil. Each artist was asked to identify one historical painting that can be used by museum visitors to compare and contrast today's work with the pioneers of this art technique.

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Shuttle Away

Highgate Park : More local news and events from in and around the Highgate Park Davenport area as Jean-Jacques Dordain, European Space Agency director general, thanked NASA, the crew and the ground teams for "a very beautiful launch." Dordain said, "It was an important event. Even more important for us because the shuttle was full of European hardware."

Mike Moses, shuttle launch integration manager, said the count went unbelievably smooth. He commented how the weather constraints influenced the launch of space shuttle Endeavour and how happy he was that it all came together today. Docking is set for flight day three with three spacewalks planned to install the Tranquility node and then cupola permanently to the International Space Station. "This will be a good example of international partnerships and cooperation between the station crew and shuttle crew," said Moses.

"This was one of the smoothest countdowns ever," said Mike Leinbach, shuttle launch director. "The team was very, very energized going into the count."

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Mad About Disney

Highgate Park : More local news and local events from in and around the Highgate Park Davenport area as some people are so Disney-obsessed that they'll drive thousands of miles every year to visit the massive monument to Mickey Mouse, the character-driven theme park and commercial mecca known as Disney World.

Suzannah DiMarzio might be one of those people if she didn't live so close to Orlando. A mother of three in Wesley Chapel, DiMarzio is a Massachusetts native and former Disney World employee who says she has never kicked her Disney addiction - and has no plans to try.

In fact, she is now a proud member of the Walt Disney World Moms Panel, a group of more than 40 Disney- and social media-savvy moms who double as Disney-specific vacation experts, offering tips and advice to people planning a trip to the Magic Kingdom.

While DiMarzio's part-time position is unpaid, she does get park passes and received five days of training, with accommodations and dining paid by Disney. One of thousands of applicants, she will serve on the panel from April to June.

"I'm from Massachusetts, but I lived in Ocala when I was 10, so that's when I started going to Disney," she said. "We'd go every weekend. But then, we moved back to Massachusetts. In college, I decided I wanted to work for Disney."

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IBM At Disney

Highgate Park : More local news and events from in and around the Highgate Park Davenport area as A redesigned IBM exhibit called “Smarter Planet” opened on at Walt Disney World near Orlando.

“Smarter Planet is our way of describing what the possibilities are in the more intelligent, interconnected world,” said IBM spokesman Clint Roswell.

The “Smarter Planet” exhibit, located in the Innoventions pavilion of the Epcot theme park, offers park guests a peek at an energy efficient IBM data center that, according to IBM, reduces energy costs by up to 25 percent.

The data center will power the exhibit, service 200 clients outside of Disney property and donate unused computing capacity to the World Community Grid, which offers excess capacity to medical, humanitarian and environmental research projects, according to Roswell. Guests also will be invited to create avatars of themselves which become players in a video game based on IBM's history of computing achievements. Other kiosks ask guests to consider how technology can help solve complex world problems.

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Military Discount

Highgate Park : More local news and local events from in and around the Highgate Park Davenport area as Universal Orlando Resort has extended its Military Salute program, which offers active and retired military personnel a free 7-day base ticket to both of its Florida theme parks, Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure.

The pass, which is also valid at select Universal CityWalk clubs and venues, is good through March 26. The tickets are sold at participating Military ITT/ITR offices (177 outposts) and the Shades of Green Resort in Orlando.

Family members and friends of military also qualify for discounted passes, with reductions of up to $75. The pass typically costs $170.

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Woman Of The Year

Highgate Park : More local news and events from in and around the Highgate Park Davenport area as Marcia Lightsey of Lake Wales, whose family owns several Central Florida cattle ranches known for progressive environmental practices, has been honored as "Woman of the Year in Agriculture" for 2009.

The award, now in its 25th year, recognizes women who have made outstanding contributions to the industry. Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles H. Bronson will present the award Thursday during the opening-day luncheon at the Florida State Fair in Tampa.

For 12 generations the name Lightsey has been associated with cattle ranching. Since the 1850s, in Central Florida, there have been six generations who have worked the land. Marcia and husband Cary, along with Cary's brother Layne and wife Charlotte, manage more than 6,000 head of cattle on more than 32,000 acres in three Florida counties. The 7th and 8th generations are now learning the trade.

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Travel Spikes

Highgate Park : More local news and local events from in and around the Highgate Park Davenport area as following the successful launch of its first, North American theme park in 1999, Merlin entertainment’s LEGOLAND Florida is set to open in early 2011. This will be the fourth 'LEGOLAND' park to be built, mirroring the successful Danish, German, UK and Californian versions.

Travel pundits commented “After the news of Universal Orlando’s new Harry Potter experience hit the wire, we saw dramatic spikes in searches for tickets to Orlando. While investigating this, we saw a huge, unexplained spike in search traffic to the area on January 21st which didn’t seem to fit the trend. When your search traffic triples overnight, it tends to grab your attention. We then decided to look at what else happened in the area, or the news, that could explain the sudden interest.”

As it turns out, the official press release which announced the LEGOLAND Florida Resort project was released on the same day that search results to the region spiked to over 200% of their normal levels. Cheap flights search engines continued to see search results spike for 72 hours, before returning to more normal levels for the month.

LEGOLAND Florida Resort will take over the recently-closed Cypress Gardens and will include the well-known botanical gardens which made the area famous. The LEGOLAND plan includes over 50 rides and attractions, as well as a themed hotel and room for a second park. Overall, the project is expected to create over 1,000 jobs; helping improve the local job market and bringing in a boost to the local economy.

With the addition of LEGOLAND, Orlando continues to entice tourists to hop on cheap flights to Florida and rediscover their inner-child.

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