For over a decade the Poinciana Council of The Osceola Chamber has offered an annual scholarship to graduating high school seniors who live in the Poinciana area, which they have defined as anywhere within zip codes 34758, 34759, or 34746. This year, the Poinciana Council Board of Directors once again offered this scholarship opportunity to worthy graduating seniors living in those zip codes. For the second year in a row, students already enrolled in post-secondary institutions were also eligible to apply for funds so they might continue with their degree or certification program.
The Poinciana Council Scholarship is funded by contributions made to the Poinciana Council Scholarship Fund, incluing a generous one from HCA Florida Poinciana Hospital, and proceeds from events produced by the Poinciana Council Board of Directors. Thanks to an Osceola County Community Betterment Grant from District 3 Commissioner Brandon Arrington, the Council was able to match their collected funds in order to award four $1000 scholarships, plus add an additional $500 for each student resulting in scholarship awards totaling $1500 each for the second year in a row. Contributions to the scholarship fund may be made here.
After an application review process, the Poinciana Council Board chose three remarkable high school seniors from three different Osceola County School District schools and one student enrolled at Valencia College. The decision was based on extracurricular and volunteer activity, recommendation from the students’ teachers and advisors, and, most importantly, the students’ essay response to the prompt “As a young adult/professional in the Poinciana Community, please address the biggest challenges facing the community and ways that you can address those challenges considering your educational goals, life experiences, and any obstacles or hardships that you have overcome.”
This year’s Poinciana Council Scholarship Award winners were Paulina Diaz of Poinciana High School, who identified a gap in opportunities for those with learning and language disadvantages; Isabela Lopez-Vayas from Gateway High School, who lamented a lack of education about school choice and learning opportunities for rising freshmen; Ethan Ortiz Valencia from Osceola High School, who is dedicated to promoting healthy living in the community; and Bryan Ramjattan from Valencia College, who plans to use his IT education to find solutions to traffic troubles in communities like Poinciana.
On Tuesday, April 22 the Poinciana Council Board of Directors celebrated these amazing students at the annual Poinciana Council Scholarship Awards Luncheon held at Poinciana High School. Lunch was catered, as it is every year, by the Poinciana High School culinary students under the instruction of Chef Juan Alamo. This year's 3-course menu included roasted chicken and lemon cake. The lunch was generously sponsored by AdventHealth. 2025 Poinciana Council Board Chair Bianca Belabre, owner of A Creative Station, hosted the luncheon and each student was introduced by their school advisor before reading their award-winning essays.
Keynote speakers Osceola County Commissioner Brandon Arrington and Osceola School Board member Anthony Cook, both of whom represent the Poinciana area, encouraged the students to take full advantage of the opportunities ahead of them, including the less obvious ones. Both men spoke of their Osceola County education that led them to their positions today.
Additional sponsors of the lunch were The Poinsette Foundation, Valencia College, and Suncoast Credit Union.
Our community thrives on the foundations of civics, and here at The Osceola Chamber, we were very excited to recently introduce the National Civics Bee® to Osceola County and Central Florida! This initiative encourages middle schoolers to learn about American democracy, engage constructively in their communities, and build trust in their fellow citizens and institutions. In partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, The Osceola Chamber hosted the first local competition of the National Civics Bee in Central or South Florida last Friday, April 25.
Last November, The Osceola Chamber worked with the Osceola County School District to invite middle schoolers in 6th, 7th, and 8thgrades from public, private, charter, and home schools to participate in a civics essay competition as a first round. Students identified a civic issue in their community and proposed a solution. Community leaders from across the country reviewed the essays and the top 20 highest-scoring students from the area were invited to participate in a live competition. This local final round was one of only three that took place across Florida this year, which is the first year our state has participated in any capacity.
The local competition featured two rounds of civics quiz questions emceed by Chamber President/CEO John Newstreet, providing a platform for students to showcase their civics knowledge. The five top-scoring students from the first two rounds then moved on to a Q & A round of questions that directly dealt with their essay topics. These questions came from a panel of guest judges. Judges for the local competition were Tameara Crespo, City Clerk, City of Kissimmee; Mia Poinsette, Executive Director, Poinsette Foundation; Robin Hinson, Emergency Management Officer, Osceola County Office of Emergency Management; Kate Hammond, VP of Education, Junior Achievement; and Judge Christine Arendas, Ninth Judicial Circuit.
At the end of the Q & A round, the winners were Araoluwakiitan Afolabi of Voyager K-8 in St. Cloud in first place, Benjamin Gideon Bruehl of Altamonte Christian School in second place, and Mitran Loganathan Mohanraj of PineView School in Sarasota County in third place. Following the competition, all finalists enjoyed pizza donated by our friends at Papa John's and had fun taking photos with our National Civics Bee backdrop and giant check! We applaud the 15 students who came to play that day and the excellent job they did answering questions that many of us would find challenging! We are sure to see great things from them in the future! Who knows? Maybe there is a future mayor, senator, or even president among them?
All participants took home the Amazon Fire tablet used in competition, as well as a National Civics Bee t-shirt and goody bag. Local winners received $500 cash for first place, $250 for second place, and $100 for first place. They will now go on to compete in the National Civics Bee® Florida State Finals at Florida State University in Tallahassee on May 31. At the state competition they will have the opportunity to win additional cash prizes, and the first-place winner of the State Finals will earn a trip to Washington, D.C. to compete in the National Championship in the Fall of 2025. Prizes at the National Championship include a grand prize of $100,000 for first place, $25,000 for second place, and $15,000 for third place.
As John put it, “Our great country and every community within the United States is built on the foundation of civics. Middle schoolers are at the perfect age to become better informed about American democracy as well as learn to respectfully and constructively engage in our community. The National Civics Bee provides a great platform for our young Americans to build greater trust in others and in our institutions. Kissimmee, St. Cloud, and Osceola County will benefit in the short term and long term when citizens are knowledgeable about how government works, lessons learned from our past, and constructive ways to engage in the process – a process which affects each and every one of us each and every day.”
Want to learn more about the National Civics Bee? Click here to watch a sizzle reel and here to visit the National Civics Bee “How It Works” page.
Our hometown team, the Osceola Magic G-League Basketball team, were crowned Eastern Conference Champions two weeks ago with a win over the Maine Celtics, 135-122. This propelled them info the G-League Championships against Western Conference Champs the Stockton Kings. After a 129-118 win over the Kings at Osceola Heritage Park on April 8, they suffered a loss at Game 2 of the Finals series in California.
Tonight, your Osceola Magic return home to host the winner-take-all Game 3 at 8:00 pm at Silver Spurs Arena! Perhaps you’ve had the opportunity to cheer on the Magic this year in person, met their mischievous mascot Swish out and about int he community, or heard about the team’s slam dunk champ Mac McClung? Your love has been felt and the Magic appreciate the energy the Osceola community has brought this season as they look forward to your support at THE CHAMPIONSHIP Game! This is like the Super Bowl/U.S. Open/World Series, of the NBA G-League!!!
The Magic previously won the G-League championship in 2021 as the Lakeland Magic, but this will be first time they attempt to claim the title as the pride of Osceola!
As we prepare to cheer on the Magic in tonight’s final game, join is in a trip down memory lane of the Osceola Magic’s past two year’s in Osceola!
In 2024, the Chairman of The Osceola Chamber was Carlos Velez, Vice President of the Osceola Magic. He and the team welcomed our board for a retreat during which they did valuable planning, spent some time on the court, and enjoyed a Magic win courtside. They even posed with Swish and high-fived the team as they entered the arena.
