Band of Mystery

The Felix Varela Band of Mystery went to Tampa, Florida this weekend to perform on Saturday 11/20/2010 at State Championships and accomplished many great things.

They won the Semi-Final event and were awarded Best Music and Best Percussion. I am honored by those awards which designate our program as having the highest level of music performing in our class in the State Competitive Circuit. This means our kiddies can play their instruments well and are able to perform literature at a high level.

The success at Semi-Finals Qualified the Band program for Finals that night at the Tropicana Dome in Tampa, Florida. This was the first time in the school's history that our band program makes it to Finals. Many spectators and schools were cheering for our Band of Mystery, as well as ALL of the other Miami-Dade Bands. Only 2 bands from Miami made it to Finals and Varela was one of them. At finals the students performed very well and ended up in third place for the State, even after some of our percussion instruments fell apart marching onto the field. This is all amazing when you consider there are hundreds of bands in Florida and our little band is one of the top ones.

Jon Kersten Memorial Scholarship Award

Felix Varela's Drum Major Anthony Williams, Senior, was awarded a Scholarship and Certificate. He received the Jon Kersten Memorial Scholarship Award for outstanding Musician. Only five students in the State received this Award and Anthony was one of them.

Congratulations to him for his hard work and dedication.

Region IV Rookie Teacher of the Year

Congratulations to Mr. Chris Illa, band director at Felix Varela Sr. High School for being named Region IV Rookie Teacher of the Year.

FDOT Public Hearing

This year there will be a new way to participate in the Florida Department of Transportation’s Work Program Public Hearing. It will be streamed online so interested persons will be able to participate by e-mailing or phoning in comments or questions.

Please help inform the public of this opportunity by
• posting the public hearing dates on your organization’s calendar
• e-mailing the attached electronic flier to your members or constituents and/or
• posting the attached e-flier on your website.

There will be a link to the Work Program on the FDOT construction website www.fdotmiamidade.com where viewers will be able to preregister beginning November 26 to participate online, and where all related materials will be available. Your opinion is important to the department. FDOT project managers will be on hand to hear your thoughts and answer your questions.

Those who attend the public hearing online will be able to view two-minute pre-recorded segments on major FDOT projects, as well as the live portion of the public hearing. Online participants will have the opportunity to submit questions or comments via e-mail or phone.

• Miami-Dade County Public Hearing
Thursday, December 2, 7 p.m.
FDOT District Six Auditorium
1000 NW 111th Ave., Miami

• Online Public Hearing can be viewed
Thursday, December 2, 7 p.m.
at www.fdotmiamidade.com/workprogram

• Monroe County Public Hearing
Wednesday, December 8, 6 p.m.
Marathon Government Center
2798 Overseas Highway, (Mile Marker 50), Marathon

Important News about Miami Dade College

 MDC’s admission application fee has been increased from $20 to $30 as of October 18, 2010.

 Students will be charged a $3 per credit beginning in the fall of 2011. This “access and parking” fee will automatically be included with tuition. For instance, a student taking 12 credits will be charged $36 that semester. All parking and access fees will go toward construction, the hiring of public safety patrols, parking attendants and operational expenses college wide.

 The Miami Culinary Institute, the first public program of its kind in South Florida will open its door in January, 2011. The eight-story building located at the Wolfson Campus includes a state-of-the-art food and wine demonstration kitchen, three floors of kitchen laboratories and fine dining restaurant overlooking the port of Miami. The program plans to have 100 students by January. Visit: www.miamidadeculinary.com

 New program for quicker degrees: The Wolfson Campus initiated two programs that will allow student to earn their associate degree in one year! Tracks are offered in information technology and business administration. The program is comprised of four-week classes, rather than the traditional 16 weeks. Classes are set up in a virtual and traditional way, where the course materials are delivered in face-to-face personal settings, as well as in online sessions. All the classes are mapped out before so that students completely understand and are fully aware of their responsibilities. Students are offered orientation, advisement and other sessions where they can discuss their concerns with faculty members and advisers. For more information contact:
~ Mr. Eugene “Chris” Kinnaird, Dept. Chairperson, (305) 237-3928, ekinnair@mdc.edu
~ Mr. Pierre Carrasquilla, Business Coordinator, (305) 237-3498, pcarrasq@mdc.edu

 Miami Book Fair International- eight days, more than 300 authors, hundreds of exhibitors an millions of books!!
November 14-21, 2010 Street Fair: Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 19, 20, 21. You are all invited!!!

UF Priority Deadline

The freshman application deadline is November 1. Please submit the completed online application at www.uf.edu no later than the end of the day (November 1st) to be considered on-time. Freshman applications received after November 1 will receive a decision on a space-available basis only.
Few students are admitted purely on academic merit. While the potential for academic success is a primary consideration, UF's comprehensive holistic application review also considers personal essays, academic awards, extracurricular activities, family background and home community. All information in the applicant's file, academic and non-academic, is considered in relation to the size and strength of the applicant pool for that class.

• Submit your online application, including essay and résumé sections, by November 1, no later than 12:00 am (midnight) Eastern Standard Time. Applications received after November 1 will receive a decision on a space-available basis only. www.uf.edu

• $30 application fee, submitted online or mailed by check or money order. If sending fee waiver, choose check or money order option and attach fee waiver.
• Arrange to have official high school transcripts sent to UF (please see Mrs. Pulido in Attendance)

• Arrange to have official ACT plus Writing and/or SAT scores sent directly to UF from the testing service (UF will accept SAT/ACT scores until December from the testing agency)

Posse Scholarship

Please congratulate the following Felix Varela students who were selected as Posse Scholarship finalists. Now they select 10 students after an interview with the university. If selected as a Posse Scholar they will receive a four-year, full-tuition, merit-leadership scholarship worth approximately $160,000.

This is a great accomplishment since they were chosen from over 900 nominated students.

Jessica Fernandez- Mount Holyoke College
Sohaib Ahmad-University of Pennsylvania
Fatimah Abdullahi-University of Pennsylvania