TAMPA - Guest speakers U.S. Marine Sgt. Rob Jones (Ret.) and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Susana Matta Valdivieso earned respect, admiration and standing ovations from athlete-scholars, their coaches, families and other guests at the sixth annual Heart of a Champion scholarship banquet sponsored by the Gries Family Foundation.
Financial investor/philanthropist Robert Gries Jr. selected one female and one male from 27 public and eight private Hillsborough County high schools, 70 students in all, to receive $1,000 scholarships based on personal essays discussing their career goals, their definition of "heart" and what one thing they would change if they were the president of the United States. Voter registration was also required. A video montage presented each student in action on the field, court, track, swimming pool or golf course.
"Marine DNA" gave Jones no choice, he said, but to turn tragedy into opportunity after a Taliban explosive device made him a double, above-the-knee amputee in July 2010. The U.S. Marine Corps combat engineer described his excruciating work breaching obstacles and clearing mines in Iran and Afghanistan, moving sand with his hand "with the gentleness of a butterfly" and eyeballing for surface anomalies before marking an area safe, a process called "proving the lane."
Since then, with his indefatigable attitude, survival humor and two bionic knees, Jones has run 31 marathons in 31 U.S. cities, placed fourth in the World Rowing Championships and biked 5,180 miles from Maine to California.
"I'm unkillable," Jones told the awed audience. "It feels good."
Calmly and concisely, Valdiviedso, 17, described the terror at Douglas High on Feb. 14, from hearing the first gunshot during a math test to reading about the massacre on her cellphone while she hid to the frantic shock of walking past bodies.
"I'm here for those who haven't experienced gun violence firsthand," she said, now living a junior year "gone from this happy place to a jail," she said, as she deals with strict security measures, gawking tourists and the loss of close friends, including many students and teachers who chose not to return to school after the massacre.
Macie Lavender and Brooke Shapiro of H.B. Plant High School shared the 2018 Community Award for organizing the Tampa March for our Lives that brought 13,000 people to Kiley Garden demanding stricter gun laws.
"Energy rippled unlike any crowd I have ever talked to," said Mayor Bob Buckhorn, recalling the March 24 protest as he presented the award that he received in 2016. Earlier in the evening, Buckhorn charged all the students to: "Go make us proud... Represent the 813 ... and this is a mayoral order, come home because we need you."
Strawberry High head cheer coach Loveny Rivas received the Coaches Award from former Tampa Bay Buc Derrick Brooks. Other participants at TPepin's Hospitality Centre for the May 16 event included former Mayor Dick Greco, former Tampa Bay Bucs receiver Vincent Jackson, Blake High student musician James Cole and the Entertainment Revue.
Gries, 60, who commended Parkland youth activism, promised to support student victims of sexual assault and harassment and urged everyone to vote.
"Use your ferocious optimism... and make your voices heard," he said.
Contact Amy Scherzer at hillsnews@tampabay.com.
