Spring Creek’s fledgling performers show talent

Rebecca Valera, 9, plays the violin at Springs Creek Elementary.

She picked it up a couple of months ago and along with her classmates, she had a chance to show off her skills to an audience of more than 100 at the Springs Creek Elementary Talent Show.

“I feel real good, I’m glad I started an instrument. I play the piano too (in the show),” said Valera, of Bonita Springs.

Valera is just one of the talented kids that auditioned for a spot on the limited 40 member showcase organized by several members of the school’s staff.

“I think it’s an absolute success. The students are wonderful, respectful, and really enjoyed their time,” said Margaret Montalvo Trunk, the shows musical director.

During the show, kids from all grade levels proved that the four-weeks of practice on their routine’s paid off.

Audience members enjoyed dancing routines, singing, and even a drum solo, that brought the crowd to a roar.

“For what I’ve seen, it’s very cute and well organized,” said Kelsea Taylor, 15, of Bonita Springs. She came to see her sister, Cassidy, 8, dance as part of the show.

Having an organized show is what Lynne Gratton, the drama director for the show, wanted. She had the kids do the show three times for the school during the week and the final show for their parents.

“I’m extremely proud of the children. They did a wonderful job and by tonight they had their nerves out of them,” said Gratton, who herself appeared in a salsa performance in the showcase.

Aimee Kelley, 9, played the violin in the show.

“I’m excited because there is gonna be a lot of people cheering us on,” said Kelley, of Bonita Springs.

And, boy did the audience cheer, especially for the teachers who danced, sang and read poetry.

“These boys and girls and our staff are wonderful,” said principal Karen Leonardi to the audience at the conclusion of the show.

Diane Ha, 32, of Bonita Springs, attended the show to show her support for the program.

“It’s pretty good. It makes the kids learn stuff and I’m happy kids go to school and play piano,” Ha said.

Although much time was spent planning, Gratton is glad the kids had their chance in the limelight.

“Working with children in the arts is my love. It’s the other side of them you don’t see with the academics and they need that kind of balance in their lives,” Gratton said. “It’s built a lot of confidence in areas that children didn’t know they could do.”

Road widening project bothers neighbors

Phillip Stearns, 75, is losing six feet of his property.

He lives on East Terry Street and isn’t happy that construction has come to his neck of the woods in Bonita Springs.

“I didn’t want it to be made with four lanes,” Stearns said.

He’s referring to the expansion of East Terry Street from two lanes to four between Imperial Street and Old U.S. 41.

The project is slated for completion in a year and a half and construction pipes on the side of the road are tall tale signs that construction is imminent.

“It’s definitely going to enlarge the capacity of our road system,” said Barbara Barnes-Buchanan, assistant city manager.

The project has been in the works since Bonita Springs became a city and it was a matter of funding that stalled the project, said Barnes-Buchanan.

Johnson Engineering, the company who will complete the project, got the okay to roar up the construction engines a few weeks ago.

“They are taking six feet of my land but what can you do,” Stearns said. “We do need (the road) but they should take the four lanes out to (I-75) not just to Imperial.”

Although Imperial Street now comes to a dead end at the Imperial River, plans are in the works to eventually cross over the river and have Livingston Road in North Naples, connect with the Imperial River off East Terry.

“It’s a great idea. It doesn’t come through my property but it will help traffic,” Pam Smith said.

She lives on East Terry Street and is looking forward to the widening but not the congestion until the project is done.

“It will help with the traffic but I don’t like to see people lose property but what are you going to do,” said Smith, 29.

Patricia Stearns, like her husband, isn’t happy about the loss of property but feels the lack of space is a traffic problem.

“It’s wonderful when it’s done but I think it’s going to pose a problem when the season visitors, especially with traffic in front of my home,” she said.

Lucky for her, Allan Street is the perfect escape route for the Stearns during season.

“We can get out that way and it will be fine but when the seasonal visitors come back, it will be a problem,” Patricia Stearns said.

Barnes-Buchanan understands the residents concern but feels the project will help with seasonal visitors and traffic.

“We are really looking forward to it, it will provide relief on U.S. 41,” she said.

Pee Wee Parents Club not just for the grown-ups

Devin Delia, 3, loves playing on the cushioned play area at the Bonita Springs Recreational Center.

He likes to hide in between the cushions and roll around inside the cushioned cylinders as his grandma, Diana, watches.

Diana Delia brings Devin to the Pee Wee Parents Club gatherings inside the gym at the recreational center every week to play with kids from as far as San Carlos Park.

“Just the interaction with the other children is good and it’s good because he entertains himself,” said Diana Delia, of Bonita Springs. She pays just $3 a class.

His energy sometimes gets the best of Delia but his time with other kids has helped Devin come out of his shell.

“When he first started, he didn’t talk to the other kids and now he is going and going,” she said.

Kathy Dillon is the senior recreation specialist at the center and structures the class for kids as young as 18 months to 5 years old.

“Parents love it and their kids look forward to coming every week. It’s the parents that like the arts and crafts more than the kids,” Dillon said.

During the two-hour classes, Dillon teaches values like sharing and encourages kids to play with one another.

The center provides play equipment including a cushioned play area, a steel drum, a rubber bounce ball and a miniature grocery cart with plastic food.

“It’s wonderful to meet a bunch of new kid every year and make friends with them and their parents” Dillon said. “Sharing is a big (lesson). They learn how to patient too.”

Although the kids are there to meet each other, many of the parents find themselves discussing schooling and anecdotes about their children.

“It’s good to come and see the parents and we bring them every week because it’s a great little program where (kids) can run for an hour and then do arts and crafts projects,” said Sandy Rehard, of San Carlos Park.

She enjoys the crafts but it’s the fact that the kids get tired that is at the top of her list of reasons to make the drive to Bonita Springs.

“Naps are coming ... naps are coming,” Rehard said as the kids ran around and played. “It’s the highlight of their week.”

Because pre-school children are so young, there aren’t many programs for them and it’s hard for parents to keep them in the house all the time.

“It’s a shame because after summer, it’s like these little guys fall off the face of the earth. There isn’t anything else for them (to do),” Diana Delia said. “Cathy does some nice things with them and just because summer comes doesn’t mean (kids) don’t want to have fun.”
Although Dillon is aware that there isn’t anywhere to take younger kids, the center doesn’t offer sessions during the summer because the facility hosts summer camps for older kids.

The younger ones return at the start of the new school year.

“A lot of kids don’t get the chance to to go to preschool so this gives them a chance to interact with other kids and work on their attention,” Dillon said. “We do simple crafts and things but during the summer we just can’t do it.”

At their last gathering, Dillon threw an end of the year bash for the kids which included a water balloon fight, bubbles, food and a splash in the sprinklers.

“We try to come every week but we aren’t good with mornings because she doesn’t go to school yet. But it’s nice when we do come,” said Addie Costello, 31, of Bonita Springs. She spent time talking to another parent about whether to put her daughter in school early or wait until next year.

Her 4-year-old daughter Mackenzie likes to come and make friends but jumping in the sprinklers wasn’t Mackenzie’s idea of fun.

She spent the morning hours eating and making bubbles.

“She likes to do the crafts ... she isn’t one to be getting dirty but it’s still fun,” Costello said.

Seniors line dance for exercise and fun

Line dancing is a unique dance that’s good for your body and mind.

The line dancers at the Bonita Springs Recreational Center will tell you that’s part of the reason they chose to dance in such a particular style.

“I love to dance, I used to do it up north in New Jersey,” said Dottie Jankauskas, of Bonita Springs. She has been line dancing at the center for more than 12 years.

Gaye Bethea of Bonita Springs leads the group with flashcards that remind her the steps to the particular songs they want to dance.

She first demonstrates the footwork and the group follows not only because they love to dance but many have been line dancing since the center began offering the class 13 years ago.

“Step, step, step, shuffle, turn, step,” Bethea repeats as everyone follows.

Music Director Dorothy Gilchrisd plays songs like “So What’s New” and “Hello Dolly” on a tape player and taps her feet along to the jams.

Sometimes she gets up and dances too but a few surgeries have put a damper on her groovin’.

She isn’t phased, she still comes out to the center to watch the others dance.

“There is no better exercise and I just love it,” she said. “It keeps your mind working too.”

Keeping their minds working is only part of keeping along with the footsteps. Some songs are more complicated than others but easy enough for beginners to try.

“Some kids tried (to line dance) but it’s not their type of music,” said Jerry McCarthy of Estero. “Some people bring their grand kids ... college students and they get a kick out of it.”

Although the music doesn’t get faster until everyone has warmed up, the steps keep Kay Kolb going.

She normally leads the class and has line danced at the center for eight years.

“I’m taking the summer off but it’s open to all ages although it’s mostly seniors now,” said Kolb, of Estero.

There are no requirements for the class and it’s free to members of the Recreational Center for the classes that start at 10 a.m.

Because the center is expecting campers during the next few summer months, the group has secured the Community Center on Old 41, across from Riverside Park, as an alternate meeting site.

The classes will meet on Thursday’s and as many as 10 people are expected with numbers climbing upwards of 40 during season.

Martial arts studio eyes national event

Michael Pick is a fifth-degree black belt and owner of Master Pick's Precision Martial Arts Inc. in Bonita Springs.

He will take his best tae kwon do students to the Junior National qualifier on May 27 and then to the Junior Nationals in Atlanta in July.

But his fighters aren’t children that have been training for years. Some have as little as a year’s worth of training under their colored belts.

“It’s an open tournament to anybody in the Southwest United States, and they all meet and they all go on their different weight divisions and experienced level divisions,” said Pick of Fort Myers, who has prepared the students by teaching them olympic-style sparring.

He opened his shop three years ago to be near Bonita Springs Charter School, where many of his students attend.

“They are a little excited but nervous. It’s outside their comfort zones, but they can medal,” Pick said.

During his classes, the children learn discipline, politeness and how to kick and punch. They also learn how to control their bodies and what it takes to spar safely.

“I’m very excited to be going to nationals for the first time ever,” said Stefanie Drack, 9, of Bonita Springs. She has trained for three years.

Sheila Godbold of Fort Myers can’t wait to see how the students will do during the competition.

“I think it’s great,” Godbold said. “(Pick) has done it before, and the kids have learned how to apply the concepts.” Godbold’s daughter, Ashlee, 9, will be competing for the first time, and she has the least experience of the seven-member bunch.
But Pick doesn’t expect that to keep her from a medal.

“This is the next level for me to take the gift that was given to me and pass it on to someone else,” said Pick, who took four of the seven students competing this year to the competition last year. “They are stronger than last year, and some of the first timers are extremely talented and they have a chance to metal if not get gold.”

Paddling is not what I expected

Kayaking seemed like a great idea from my air-conditioned office at The News-Press bureau in Bonita Springs. I looked up guides and figured I had no business being on the water by myself.

I can swim and I'm even a certified diver but just the thought of me on a tiny kayak on the open waters of the Cocohatchee River and Wiggins Pass Estuary seemed crazy, especially because I have no sense of direction.

But, I did have enough sense to enlist the help of Connie Langmann, from GAEA guides, a kayaking company that takes people on guided kayak nature tours.

I met Langmann at 10 a.m. at the shopping plaza on Bonita Beach Road and U.S. 41. She stepped out of a white van that had a trailer of colorful kayaks hitched to it. She seemed like a woman who had seen a thing or two on the kayaking waterway.

I felt confident she could show me the ropes, or paddle, since I'd been kayaking only once as a kid and was more frightened of getting attacked by an alligator than I was of drowning.
Before heading off to the river, I met 24-year-old Kelly Hanlon and her sister Natalie, 18, of Minnesota. Like me, they wanted a sense of adventure, but we didn't exactly get what we bargained for or, should I say, prepared for.

We headed to the Cocohatchee river and unloaded the 70-pound kayaks off Langmann's trailer and into the water. Safety concerns put us in bright orange life vests with uncomfortable straps but solid padding.

The sisters tugged on the life vests as one of the kayaks nearly sailed out into the river on it's own. Langmann hollered and that's where I learned she was much tougher than I gave her credit for.

Finally we set sail.

At that moment I realized my time spent typing and making phone calls at my desk hadn't prepared me for hours of painstaking paddling against the winds.

The Hanlon sisters, who were fair like porcelain dolls when we first left the dock, grew increasingly red, but not from the glaring sun.

It was the paddling. We paddled. And paddled.

And just as the sisters and I took a break to see the lightning bolt shell Langmann took out of the water or watch the birds' nests, Langmann was off again paddling lightly and always seeming to leave us behind.

We struggled silently to keep up, and the paddling continued.

My arms were burning, and the sisters quietly looked at each other with regretful faces.

We wondered how much time was left in our tour despite all the useful information Langmann told us about the birds, mangroves and Calusa Indians.

Two hours later and 4 miles of paddling behind us, we saw land!

Luckily, I didn't drown and I didn't even see a gator. The closest I came to a reptile was a lizard near a tree when I parked my car just in time to hop on a kayak, which I would later describe as "the little boat with no motor."

Despite never thinking that I would be huffing and puffing my way through wind and water on my kayak, I learned a valuable lesson from Langmann.

Actually a few lessons:

• Never go kayaking without having spent six months working out your arms at the gym.

• Never go paddling unless you can keep up with your guide.

• Never underestimate the power of the mind and body under stress.

No matter how much I was suffering during paddling and trying to keep up, there are worse things in life ... alligators and drowning.

Realtor picked as resort's exclusive broker

Carla Bonten can easily be recognized as the face of international realty in Southwest Florida.

She has sold homes around the world and her latest venture has won her the title of exclusive broker for a luxury resort development in Guatemala.

"I'm very proud that I was chosen to be exclusive Realtor and it's great to do it. It proves that after 30 years (of selling), it's like a bonus," said Bonten, who is the broker and owner of Carla Bonten Realty Inc., based out of Bonita Springs. "It's a very good honor and it's the top of the top."

Being at the top of her game is what has moved Bonten to the top of the real estate industry and given her the ability to now sell condominiums and single-family homes in the Mayan Jungle Resort Marina and Golf Communities.

"We are a boutique company ... small ... and I like that they had trust in me to give me that opportunity," said Bonten, who has had three offices in Bonita Springs since 1998 and was honored with the title by a real estate company in Miami.

Bonten fell in love with the real estate business because of her father who was in the construction business in Europe.

"He actually loved to renovate and add new value to property," said Bonten, who was born in the Netherlands. "I grew into renovations and eventually into developments."

She was an only child and spent enough time with her dad to learn the construction business from the ground up. She started her first company in 1981 and became a top seller because of her vast knowledge of languages.

"I speak fluent Dutch, German, English and have a working knowledge of Spanish and French," said Bonten, who matter of factly lists her languages to include two African dialects and Flemish, the language of Belgium. "I pick up languages very easily and it is my niche in the market."

Together with the 32 agents in her company, Bonten can sell a condo in more than 16 languages from around the globe.

"It's very rewarding to work on the Guatemala project. They are really good, nice people," said rental agent Melody Ostrom, who has worked with Bonten for two years. She works on some aspects of the projects and has had the opportunity to work with Bonten's counterparts there.

Although the focus is now mainly on the project in Guatemala, Bonten has an affinity for Bonita Springs.

"We have paradise here, it's a beautiful area and Southwest Florida is top notch destination based on what I hear and what market watch told us," said Bonten, who has lived in the area more than a decade. "It's hot here but that's why you come to vacation and we have the best beaches and restaurants."

Being able to track the market is Bonten's specialty both locally and a broad. There is a European counterpart to her company in Bonita Springs but being able to work with customers is what thrills her.

"I love selling real estate, I always try to do my best and it makes me happy to see people make the right choice (when buying)," Bonten said. "Buying a home is a big step and it's not just an investment, it's your home."

Her current focus on Guatemala is to sell property in an area she feels is going to the next hottest travel destination.

"It's awesome, she's worked very hard for this and it's about time that they gave her the exclusive right to the project," Ostrom said. "She has spent many nights away from home to do whatever needs to be done and I don't think they could have chosen a better person for this."

As the exclusive broker, anyone interested in buying property in the community made up of two towns within walking distance of each other, has to go through Bonten.

"Guatemala has more Mayan people than anybody else and it's in a very attractive place, safe and gated community that sits in the middle of the rain forest," Bonten said.

The pedestrian oriented community is a 2 hour and 30 minute flight from Miami and is built on the Yucatan Peninsula.

The idea was to built a Venice in the Caribbean with one of the cities having homes built around canals and the other with an 18-hole golf course and equestrian center, among other amenities.

"It's my hobby connecting with the customer and they trust me and they know I don't push them to buy it," said Bonten, who has kept in contact with customers over the years. Even ones that never purchased a home.

"The number one thing is customer is satisfied and money is our profession but I do it for the longtime relationship."