Stars For A Day

WEEKI WACHEE - It was a day for just being a kid.
Last week, more than 100 students from Hernando County's STAR alternative education center piled onto school buses and arrived for a particularly special field trip: A day at Buccaneer Bay water park at Weeki Wachee Springs.
Closed to the public, the students played and laughed, shrieking as they jumped off a floating dock, slid down the park's slides into the cool water and tried to convince their principal, John Shepherd, to come in.
For just one day, the stigma of being "a kid from STAR" melted away. They proudly stamped the backs of their hands with "star" designs and chattered with friends, happy to be with their schoolmates and teachers.
Paid for through a mini-grant from the Hernando County Education Foundation, the field trip for students stemmed from the school's new positive rewards system, implemented this year.
The plan aims to eliminate stigmas and give positive rewards - such as prizes and points - for good behavior, said graphics arts and English teacher Jenele Firlik.
"We're looking to accentuate the positives and not the negatives, which is generally what they've heard their whole lives, either at home or at school," she said. "They're not used to (praise), and it's sad. Some of them have never heard a positive comment in their whole life."
It is modeled after a similar initiative used at the Renaissance Center, Citrus County's alternative school, and includes rewards for attendance, being on time, being ready for class, following policies, participation and a positive attitude.
Students are sent to the school as an alternative to suspension or expulsion from other district schools. But many of their offenses are as simple as bringing nail clippers or a butter knife to school, both of which are considered weapons by district standards, the teachers said.
"So often our kids are labeled, but the community doesn't know that these kids are so special," said their guidance counselor, Vicki Hughes. "We have so much invested in them, and them in us. I feel like they're my own."
Junior James "Meatball" Devito, 17, came to the school this year from Nature Coast, where his grades were all Ds and Fs and he constantly got in trouble for trying to make classmates laugh, or "continuous disruptive behavior."
With more individualized instruction and less distractions, his grades have now shot up to As and Bs, and he is no longer causing trouble in class. This has also greatly improved his home life, he said.
"Instead of school (officials) calling home and saying 'You're child's suspended,' they're calling home and saying I've been good in class and had a good day," he said.
After a month at the school, he was given the option of going back to Nature Coast, but decided to stay at STAR because he felt the smaller classes helped him keep his grades up.
"I'm more of the class clown, and there are fewer people to entertain (at STAR)," Devito to said. "I get to focus on my work more and not on making everyone laugh."
With classes such as "workplace essentials," many STAR students have jobs throughout the community at businesses such as JCPenney, Panera Bread and McDonald's.
"This is the only school where I see kids cry on the last day of school," Hughes said. "They become so successful here. Some actually request to stay."
This year, 25 seniors will graduate who voluntarily came to the school through the district's TOPS program. Students who will not have the 24 credits needed to graduate on time can opt to attend the STAR center instead, where they will earn a high school diploma as long as they pass the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test and General Education Development test.
Junior Jolyn Ayala, 17, only had six credits when she transferred to STAR in September from Springstead High School in Spring Hill.
"If it weren't for that program at STAR, I don't know where I'd be," she said.
Senior Laura Carifi, 17, transferred to the school in August from Central High. The youngest of five siblings, she will be the first in her family to graduate from high school.
She has already enlisted in the U.S. Army, a good option for the tuition and pay, she said.
"They're offering me a future," she added.
The field trip was arranged by the school's school resource officer, Hernando County Sheriff's Deputy Deena Groves, who spent 15 years working at Weeki Wachee Springs as a mermaid.
It was catered by Winn Dixie and offered at no cost to the kids, many of whom had never been to the water park, despite growing up in the area.
And no one could have been happier than the school's staff members, who spent the day relaxing with the students at the park.
"I haven't stopped smiling all day," Firlik said.