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Safer School Gets $20,000

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By RICH SHOPES

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 20, 2008

VALRICO - Bloomingdale High School is $20,000 richer thanks to a high-spirited student campaign to get teens to buckle up.

The school's student government took first place in a nationwide teen driving safety contest. Bloomingdale's effort edged out nine competitors, including Okeechobee High, the only other Florida school to reach the finals.

Members of the student government and their adviser, Candice Remmert, gathered around a phone last week to hear the results.

After finding out they won, "We were so loud a guidance counselor told us to hold it down because they had AP testing going on," Remmert said. "We were so excited."

Representatives from the National Organizations for Youth Safety and the Allstate Foundation will arrive Wednesday to present a $10,000 check to the school. Fred Lay, owner of the Teen Scene Driving Academy in Tampa, will present a matching $10,000 check.

The money will go toward the purchase of a $40,000 electronic billboard.

Laura Marchetti was selected as the Parent Activist of the Year for forming the Katie Marchetti Memorial Foundation after her 16-year-old daughter died in a car crash in 2006. She wasn't wearing a seat belt. The foundation urges teens to buckle up.

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or at rshopes@tampatrib.com.

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