Kimberly Patterson's Latest Articles
Calling All Volunteers: Clean-Up Event Strives To Keep Tampa Beautiful
The city of Tampa will hold its Fifth Annual Clean City Day on Saturday, March 12. The event runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is filled with activities. Registered volunteers will be given a project and location to work.
LEGOLAND Florida Prepares To Hire 1,000 In Winter Haven
LEGOLAND Florida's near Winter Haven in Polk County plans to start interviewing potential employees in June in preparation for an October 2011 opening. The new theme park plans to fill 1,000 positions needed to support operations. "We have an entire park to fill," says Jackie Wallace a representative of LEGOLAND Florida. "From maintenance staff, to ticket takers at the front gate, to food and beverage workers, and retail staff for the shops we are really prepared to start filling out these positions."Wallace says that the company will start with hiring managers and supervisors first, and then will do a mass hiring in June. "All applications must be submitted through our website; once we pre-qualify candidates we will invite groups of applicants to our on-site assessment center," says Wallace. "We will bring in groups of applicants from 20-50 people at a time and watch people interact with each other, do some interviews, interactive games and assess how candidates interact. From there we go into a more formal interview process."For service positions, Wallace says the company is looking for a certain type of employee. "Our park is dedicated to families with children ages 2-12, so it is imperative that the folks we bring on board be very kid-centric," says Wallace. "Candidates don't need to have a theme park background, however it does help. While the core demographic audience of LEGOLAND is children, Wallace says the park caters to parents as well. "Our secondary target audience are adult fans who grew up with an affinity to the Lego brand, and are interested in introducing their children to Lego." Wallace says interested applicants can visit LEGOLAND Florida's Facebook page for updates and opportunities to interact with LEGOLAND representatives. Writer: Kimberly PattersonSource: Jackie Wallace, LEGOLAND Florida
USF “Speech Party” Helps Stutterers Connect
With the growing success of the Oscar nominated film The King's Speech, more awareness is being brought to stuttering and the ramifications it creates for people.For children and adults who struggle with stuttering, there will be an event on Feb. 26 hosted by the Tampa Bay chapter of the National Stuttering Association (NSA) along with the USF Speech Clinic known as a "Speech Party."The term "speech party" came from a child who previously attended the annual Youth Day for Children Who Stutter event. The purpose of the event is to elevate awareness as well as to show children and their care givers that they are in lots of good company. According to Nathan Maxfield, a USF assistant professor and speech-language pathologist, the event gives kids a chance to "normalize" their stuttering by meeting and spending time with other kids who stutter. "This event sets aside one day each year for kids who stutter to come together and spend time with each other without the fear associated with stuttering," says Maxfield. Maxfield says the event will include workshops for kids and for parents. Workshops for kids allow children to share their experiences, learn how to deal with bullying and explore their strengths beyond stuttering. The workshops for parents also give a platform to share experiences, as well as become educated on stuttering, coping strategies and modern-day speech therapy. According to Maxfield stuttering is highly treatable. "There is often an emotional component to stuttering, and events like the Youth Day, as well as self-help meetings for adults at USF go a long way in helping people cope with those emotional issues," he says. The Youth Day for Children Who Stutter event will be at USF's Marshall Center on Saturday, Feb. 26. Writer: Kimberly PattersonSource: Nathan Maxfield, University of South Florida
