Mayor Pam Iorio recently made a presentation that concerned young people – at a pivotal point in their lives. It had nothing to do with teenage curfews. Nor did it have anything to do with lobbying for state money for more juvenile detention facilities.
It had everything to do with saluting a group of youths on an incredible achievement. She was out at Armwood High School in Seffner to salute the nationally ranked Hawks on their back-to-back state football championships. It is unprecedented in Hillsborough County.
Two points.
First, these are kids who don’t require curfews – nor electronic monitoring devices. They are hard workers and they are winners – in the classroom and on the football field. They are black and they are white and they work as one.
And none of it happens by accident. Dedicated coaches can only do so much. Obviously, there is a lot of parental reinforcement. That’s often the key factor in who brings home a state championship trophy and who is fitted for a monitoring anklet.
The other point.
Isn’t it refreshing that these high school athletes, a number of whom live in the school’s satellite area in Tampa and commute to the suburbs — can transcend city-county limits to realize their potential? Hopefully, certain parochial politicians have noted it as well.