By Joy Boisselle
“Old” Neighborhoods Get New Names
On Saturday, June 14, the Bloomingdale Homeowners Association (BHA) and Bloomingdale Special Taxing District members, Hillsborough County Office of Neighborhood Relations Wanda Sloan, and residents of the newly designated neighborhoods, Fairway Park and Bloomingdale Pointe, attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the new neighborhood name designations. This program is the culmination of over 14 years of combined efforts of the BHA and the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners.
The Name Your Neighborhood Program began in 2004 when 10 neighborhoods consisting of 23 sections and 1,574 homes went unnamed as developers completed building and exited the neighborhoods. As one of the missions of the BHA is to foster neighborhood pride, identity and build a sense of community, the Name Your Neighborhood Program was born. Since 2004, the program has resulted in the following “by resident vote” named neighborhoods: Bloomingdale West, Spring Lake, Pine Oaks, Sandy Creek Manors, Cypress Reserve, Bloomingdale Trace, Stratford Trace, Augusta Village, and finally, Bloomingdale Pointe and Fairway Park.
2014 Scholarship Winner
The Bloomingdale Homeowners Association (BHA) congratulates Bloomingdale High School senior, Shannon Leahy, this year’s winner of the $2,000 Bloomingdale Community Scholarship in honor of former principal, B.J. Stelter. Chosen from a field of highly qualified applicants, Leahy received the award at the Tuesday, May 13 Board of Directors Meeting.
Presented by BHA Scholarship Committee Chairman, Daniel Berkowitz, he said, “This year the competition was fierce, and Shannon’s application was exceptional.”
Fourth in her class, Leahy boasted a 6.6055 weighted GPA, was selected as an AP Scholar with Distinction, and for membership in numerous scholastic honors societies; including the National Honor Society and the Science Honor Society. In addition, she was a student athlete, captaining the Bloomingdale High School Swim Team and competing with distinction throughout her high school career.
Not only dedicated to academics and athletics, Leahy amassed 193 community service hours, crediting her volunteer experiences for “shaping who I am today.” Her volunteer service included working with underprivileged children and those with special needs.
Leahy will enter the 2014 freshmen class at the University of Notre Dame where she will study biology with a long-term goal of pursuing a career in medical research. She thanked the board and community saying, “I appreciate that this is from the community where I live, and only offered to residents.”
Berkowitz added, “This scholarship is a great opportunity for students who live in our community. Our applicant pool is small because of this, but based on what we reviewed this year, the quality of young adults in our community is amazing.”
For more information about the Bloomingdale community, visit BloomingdaleHomeowners.com or e-mail bloomingdale.homeowners @gmail.com.
