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Plant City High Is Kickin' It Old-School

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By MARILYN BROWN

mbrown@tampatrib.com

Published: March 22, 2009

TAMPA - When the Hillsborough County School Board named a new high school near Plant City "Strawberry Crest," a lot of people whooped and hollered.

Apparently, outsiders don't understand the significance of the strawberry here.

Or the pigs. Or the steers. Or the "redneck parking lot."

They all stand for prestige in Plant City, where you can't separate the close-knit community from the high school - or the high school from the strawberry.

"We see it as a common interest," Aaron Sykes, a 17-year-old junior, said of the strawberry. With a half-smile and a slight shrug, he added, "It's just what we do."

Few schools wear their history like Plant City High, where traditions echo back to the 1914 school on Collins Street. That, and the school's prominence in a small town where generations stay - or leave, then return, bring stability and weave a rich texture.

And the school with the John Deere tractor parked under its stadium serves as a showcase for the Chamber of Commerce, touting what Plant City has to offer.

The National FFA Organization chapter is the largest in Florida, with a growing roster of more national officers than any high school in the nation.

The school's Best Buddies Club, which pairs students with intellectual disabilities with mainstream student mentors, boasts the largest membership in the country.

During the Florida Strawberry Festival each year, the school usually produces the Strawberry Queen and her court, plants of grand-champion status and prize-winning beef for Publix Super Markets.

Of Hillsborough's 25 public high schools, Plant City High is most like Old Florida. The kids still say "ma'am" and "sir," mention often that they are blessed and praise their community.

"It's kind of a mellow town - everything's simpler here," said student Khadijah Simpson, 15.

Where else could high school girls find plastic headbands decorated with strawberries at the dollar store? Where else could a cottage industry that paints strawberries on jeans and T-shirts survive?

Such simple country living does have a hitch.

"The only problem - there's not a lot to do for teenagers," said Brittany Weathersbee, 15. "Movies, bowling and fast-food places, we got a lot of that."

Teens "walk around Wal-Mart if they can't find anyplace to go," said Pascale Lubbe, also 15.

Country Pride

Weathersbee reaffirmed a caveat heard from many students: "There is a lot of rednecks, not in a bad way."

Here, redneck is a good thing. Plant City High's "redneck parking lot" - the "R Lot" as students call it - has more trucks than other vehicles, but that's not a stigma.

The high school is a hub of activity, with more than two-dozen clubs and technical and vocational programs ranging from cosmetology to forestry and early childhood education. There's a preschool on campus, and a plant nursery that's open to the community.

"Other schools don't have as many classes like auto mechanics, carpentry," said Ricky Martinez, 15, who wants to become a carpenter.

The school has its share of academic achievers, including many in FFA. For the past three years, it was named one of the nation's 1,000 best high schools by Newsweek magazine for students' participation in Advanced Placement classes and exams.

Rodney Baker has served as the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office's school resource officer at Plant City High for six years. He lives in Plant City, so, "in a way, I never get away from the kids. I go to church with most all the kids."

He said there's some diversity among student cliques, but not much. And they get along.

"The Gothic kids sit together; the preppie kids sit together," Baker said. "The majority of the kids are still the country kids."

The school also has its share of fights and drugs, he said, but most of the time kids get in trouble "just running their mouth."

True To Your School

"This is still old-school," Baker said. "We're the last of the schools that has a town supporting them."

Other schools may struggle to raise money and get parents involved, but Plant City High never wants for anything.

When the orange grove behind the school needed to be cleared because the trees were diseased, "All I had to do was ask one of the fathers of a student in my class, and he was out here with bulldozers," said agriculture teacher Michael Paul.

"Alumni donate money to send our kids to state competition, pay for hotel rooms, anything we need," Paul said. "Businesses give us anything we need."

Paul is one of 53 staff members who are Plant City High grads. Like many of those, he was taught by some faculty he now works with.

Principal Colleen Richardson, who arrived at Plant City High in 1984 as a science teacher, taught most of her assistant principals.

"When you are a graduate of Plant City, you bring a lot of school spirit and support for the programs and activities," she said. "It's not unusual to see 20 members of the faculty supporting a drama production."

Students adopt the value of neighbors helping neighbors.

After feeding animals and mucking stalls before, during or after school and washing and blow-drying their 1,000-pound steers almost daily, they may stay up on a frigid night helping farmers water their strawberry plants.

"You know in Plant City if you need help, somebody will help you," said senior Bryant Tindle, 17, who has gathered with other students at Cork Hardware Store on such nights to swap stories, drink coffee and find out which farmers needed help.

Tindle, vice president of the school's FFA chapter, is among the many students involved in agricultural programs at Plant City High. He raises and shows a steer every year, is an honors student and works part time at a chemical fertilizer plant.

He said he has learned responsibility, speaking skills and life lessons through his work with FFA.
Best Buddies
Plant City High's Best Buddies program, started eight years ago by exceptional education teacher Sandy Denham, is the largest in the United States with 249 participants. That includes students with intellectual disabilities and their student mentors.

"It's all about building friendships," Denham said. "I can't teach them in class what they learn in the real world with their Best Buddies."

With ease, the teens befriend and care for student companions who may not talk or think precisely - and some who can't see or walk.

Senior Stacey Heckerman, 17, the club president, said she includes her buddy, Austen Hauff, 18, in activities with her friends and talks with him on the phone often. They have been buddies for four years.

"I just want to be involved in his life," she said. "He's a good friend to me."

The club has regular activities, but the members' favorite is the yearly trip to the strawberry festival.

This year, they visited livestock, made a DVD and downed strawberry shortcake before filing into a tent and taking their reserved seats in front of the stage for "The Dennis Lee Show. "

They sang, clapped and cheered as the Memphis singer introduced the club and said their visit was "the highlight of our year."

Change In The Air

As much as it reflects the past, Plant City natives say the community is changing - and the school along with it.

"Students are much more urban," said Jane Bender, an agriculture teacher and 1970 Plant City High graduate.

"This new 'sexting' they talk about, I am appalled by it. I can't believe it's going on," Bender said, referring to young people sending racy photos via text message. "Some of the conversations they have ... I would never think I would overhear that in a classroom setting, much less with teachers listening in."

More than technology and discretion have changed.

When Bender attended Plant City High, "girls weren't allowed to be in agriculture class," she said, even though her family farmed and she wanted to study agriculture.

Now, nearly all girls fill Bender's veterinary-assistant classes, where students wash and groom staff members' dogs at least once a month, earning donations for the program.

"Now the trend nationally in agriculture classes is mostly females," Bender said. "Things are changing."

Plant City High is headed for more change in August as growth in east Hillsborough brings in another high school.

In 1995, Durant High School opened east of Riverview, taking enough students to make room for the growing urban housing developments.

Plant City High's population is now 2,846, and there are 30 portable classrooms.

To ease crowding, the Hillsborough County School District bought 100 acres south of Interstate 4 and east of McIntosh Road to build high, middle and elementary schools, two of which will open in August. Construction of the middle school has been delayed.

Strawberry Crest High will take about 600 students from Plant City High's boundary. Those students probably will be a helpful influence, said Ray Clark, an agriculture teacher at Plant City High for 36 years until he retired in August.

"I think it will help the whole east Hillsborough County area, increase the awareness of agriculture," Clark said. "It will get more students, more parents involved."

As for the name Strawberry Crest, Clark said, "It's just fitting for them."

Reporter Marilyn Brown can be reached at (813) 259-8069.

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