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Schools Have Eclectic Guests

Tribune photo by FRED BELLET

Deana Valdez' second grade class at Lacoochee Elementary School let themselves go during a demonstration by Tribune photographer Fred Bellet, in back, of remote control photography during the Great American Teach-In.

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By RONNIE BLAIR rblair@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 20, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL - Bill Burnside's fascination with pigeons dates back six decades to the day his father caught two of the birds and brought them home.

"They fascinated me," Burnside said.

His enthusiasm never waned. These days Burnside, 66, owns more than 100 pigeons and is Florida representative of the National Pigeon Association.

"Every pigeon has it owns little personality, just like people," Burnside said Wednesday as he spoke to students at Long Middle School during the annual Great American Teach-In.

Pigeons were just one of the delights students were treated to for the teach-in. All across the county, business owners, parents and other community members talked about their careers or hobbies.

Firefighters, financial planners and cake decorators were among those who shared stories or demonstrated skills.

Technically, the teach-in takes place all week, but most of the presentations traditionally happen on Wednesday.

This was Burnside's second year in a row for the teach-in at Long Middle. Students who sat in on his presentation learned a little about pigeons and also got a history lesson.

Pigeons played an integral role in World War I and World War II, delivering messages and even carrying small cameras to take photographs over enemy territory.

"When the birds flew, everyone was taking potshots from the other side," Burnside said.

He took one of his pigeons out of its cage and let the students pass it around. The pigeon squirmed loose from one boy's hands and flew to the top of the dry-erase board, where Burnside easily retrieved it.

Meanwhile, nothing escaped in one of Long Middle's nearby portable classrooms.

Good thing, too.

Timothy Williams of Gatorland in Orlando had brought a 3-year-old alligator, a 3-month-old alligator, a tarantula, a corn snake, a scorpion, a boa constrictor and a Burmese python.

Actually, other than the older alligator that had its mouth taped shut, most of those creatures weren't as dangerous as they might appear. Schyler Warnstadt, 11, who swore she wasn't afraid of anything, got the chance to model the Chilean tarantula, which prowled around on her shoulder.

Kira Wenck, 11, did the same with the emperor scorpion, a species that hails from Africa.

The tarantula and the emperor scorpion aren't deadly. Williams likened their bite and sting to a bee sting.

Still, Williams warned the children against picking up just any wild creature they encounter, especially snakes. Most snakes aren't poisonous, but it's easy to mistakenly pick up one of those that is, he said.

Elsewhere, at Seven Oaks Elementary, Damon Oppenheimer, vice president of scouting for the New York Yankees, discussed how baseball teams look for talent.

At Veterans Elementary, a few sound designers stole the show with a demonstration of their new software, Prizm. Mike Felker and Bill Singleton showed off their 30-gigabyte library full of different sounds they use to make soundtracks and underscores for movies, television and video games.

"Prizm is an atmospheric construction synthesizer," Felker said. "When a movie is shot, all the sounds are not there except for the dialogue. That is when sound designers like us will go in after the fact and put the sounds in. The job of a sound designer is to listen to sounds and imagine what they could become."

Students at the school also learned what it is like to be in the Air Force from Capt. Michelle Moreno. Moreno told the students about all the different jobs she has had during her 21-year career.

"I love being in the military because I have been able to see so much of the world and because I was able to go to college," Moreno said.

Ryan Clements, general manager of the Skate Park of Tampa, taught the students to follow their dreams. He spent his time with the students teaching them that they didn't have to be professional athletes in order to be in that field.

"You can turn your fun hobby into a job," Clements said. "I was not good enough to be a professional skate boarder, but here I am in the business and loving it."

Keyword: Great American Teach-In for more photos. Reporter Suzanne M. Schmidt of In The Loop contributed to this article. Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218.

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