Cypress Lake students hope to make 'Made'

Anxious chatter filled the Cypress Lake High auditorium recently as students lined up for a spot on a popular MTV teen show.

The show, entitled “Made,” takes students and uses personal trainers or life coaches to boost their confidence and make them football players, dancers or dirt-bike riders.

“It’s taking kids that have dreamed of being something and haven’t been able to achieve it yet,” said Shannon Kanady, the school’s cheerleading coach and activities coordinator.

Kanady, who worked with MTV to coordinate the open casting, spent Tuesday afternoon keeping more than 50 students quiet while others talked to show producers.

“We are an arts school and we do a lot of art-related (programs) so it helps to have casting calls like this,” said Kanady, who made certain all students had their parents’ permission to be filmed.

Show hopefuls were interviewed on camera for 15 minutes about their goals, reasons for wanting to be on the show and how it would change their lives.

“I want to be a hip-hop dancer ... never really had the chance to do it or had someone to teach me,” said Kevin Gordon, 17, of Cape Coral.

The senior was in line for almost an hour before he was allowed to audition. “I can only do one type of dance ... and that’s it.”
Being made into a dancer, Gordon said, is his dream but he is still a little embarrassed to admit it to his fellow students.

“It’d be quite an experience and my brother would be shocked. He is obsessed with MTV,” said Gordon.

Jay Fager, 17, was also in line hoping to convince show producers that she just needed to become a saxophone player.

“I had a dream that whenever I watch jazz performance ... I’ve always had a desire to play,” said Fager, a senior, about finally having a shot at it.

Fager was “extremely nervous” and anxious while awaiting her turn to audition.

“It’s a little embarrassing. I didn’t think that they’d come to Cypress Lake High but it’d be cool to be on TV,” Fager said.

Producers from the MTV network were unavailable for comment but Kanady said four other schools in the state would have open castings as well.

“It will be three weeks to a month before we find out if one of our kids is chosen,” said Kanady about the show, which will take up to five months to produce, including shooting parts of a student’s day at the school and at home. “It’s a great opportunity for kids who wouldn’t normally try something and support them to achieve their goal.”

New medical offices abound

Medical specialists are in high demand in Bonita Springs and Estero and health-care professionals are doing all they can to get care to those who need it most.

The lack of chiropractors, arthritis specialists and pediatric oral surgeons is leading to an influx of medical practitioners opening offices throughout the area.

"I was in Cape Coral and ended up in Bonita Springs because of the new growth and the newness of the area," said Brian Olitsky, of Smile Design Studio. He moved to the area more than two years ago. "I could just tell from the growth ... and planning on this area to be a boom."

The boom Olitsky saw has continued over the years and so has his number of patients.

"I started from scratch ... and I now open four days a week, which is full time for us," said Olitsky about the office that was only open two days a week at the beginning.

Christopher Green saw a similar patient and area growth pattern when he moved to Estero from upstate New York.

"It was apparent that the area was growing and would continue ... being from upstate New York, you don't see things like that," said Green, of Chiropractic Care and Rehab Center. "I've seen a need for more providers for certain (insurance carriers)."

The need for health professionals has also spurred a growth in office spaces throughout the area.

At least, that's what Tiffany Luongo is seeing as she works to fill the medical offices on the north side of Corkscrew Road.

"We are starting to see a lot of specialists starting to fill in and I know that there is more needed," said Luongo, who is the sales and marketing director with Select Real Estate by Stephanie Miller.

"The Bonita Community Health Center, they were busting at the seams and it's obvious that there's need."

But the need will really be felt, said Orthodontist Maryann Kriger, as more and more doctors find office space and patients come out of the woodwork.

"I definitely feel like there are a lot of families moving in," said Kriger, of Kriger Orthodontics of Bonita Springs.

Kriger adds that dentists notice growth in an area because patients are more likely to see a dentist than a medical doctor.

"It was growing quite a bit before the drop in the real estate market, and although now it's slower, it's still growing," said Kriger who often has problems referring younger patients locally. "I think it's because Bonita is the unwanted stepchild in a sense ... it's not quite in Fort Myers and not quite in Naples."

That leaves areas such as Estero as well in shortages, she said.

Luckily, though, big retail shops are opening up and bringing more of everything to the area.

"Coconut Point Mall is doing a great job in terms of either bringing in new people because they open up shops ... or just people that are going (through the area) for the first time because there is a mall to go to," Kriger said.

But, the influx of seasonal residents doesn't do much in terms of the patient count.

"Although it's a transient area there is still a lot of full time residents," he said of his 500 patient practice. "This time of year a lot of people come out to see medical providers because its not season."

Luongo feels that part of the lack of specialists may be nothing more than just people waiting for the market to get better locally.

"The cautionary type of feeling in our area about seeing what happens before they move forward is going away," said Luongo who is seeing more and more of her office spaces being rented. "To spite the slow down, we have done really well and people are coming here anyway, so any practice can be successful."

Council grants owner $50,000 for face lifts

Taylor Rentals & Creative Events will get a face lift after being awarded $25,000 by the Bonita Springs City Council as part of a Storefront Grant program that will help business owners.


Council members in Bonita Springs are continuing their efforts to breed new life into the Old 41 corridor in Bonita Springs.

The city has awarded two storefront grants in the amount of $50,000 to George Ghanem, the owner of Bonita Mini Storage and Taylor Rentals & Creative Events.

The grant money will help Ghanem remodel the front of the two businesses and help the city with its plans to revitalize the area.

"Beautifying and changing the architecture of that building to be more of the vision (council has) is a great way to make it a better place," said Ghanem, who has owned the businesses for the last six years. "We just want to make it a little nicer."

Working to make the area nicer took 18 months, Ghanem said, because of the lengthy application process that had to be submitted to the city for approval.

"We do a pre-application and we talk about what they'd like to do and it's a quick way for us to be able to

get an idea of what their plans are," said John Gucciardo, the special projects coordinator for the city. "We are able to get an idea of what they want before they go out and spend a lot of money."

Gucciardo is in charge of evaluating the applications that include turning in pictures of the current structure and architectural drawings of what will be done with the grant money.

The property owners and the city do a 50-50 split up to $25,000. Because Ghanem owned two properties, the city had to approve a grant for each structure.

"We brought it up to the council that it was all part of one renovation project but it was two separate parcels," Gucciardo said about the grant that was created for one business at a time.

The two projects are estimated to cost Ghanem $200,000 and work should be completed by the summer of 2008.

Grant recipients have one year to complete the project and are reimbursed at completion time.

"It's still an outright grant but it's not a loan, but it is secured with a note and that is attracting more property owners," said Gucciardo, adding that owners who receive the money will get a 20 percent break on their obligation to the city if they keep the property for five years.

Ghanem is hoping the new storefronts and work being done in the Old 41 corridor will attract more people and more business.

"I think that its been a little run down for a while overall, but its not really been indicative of the true city and spirit of the area," said Ghanem who is also looking into possibly expanding the square footage of the structures as well.

"Bonita is a wonderful place to live and work and we feel we have an obligation to keep it a pleasant (looking) place."

Bonita Springs Resource House opens

Bonita Springs Mayor Jay Arend, Pat O' Donnell, Literacy Council of Bonita Springs Executive Director Susan Acuna, Cliff Smith of the United Way and Nancy Keefer of the Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce cut a ribbon and pose for pictures in front of the new Bonita Springs Resource Center.

The Literacy Council of Bonita Springs has plenty of space for everyone willing to provide services in the Bonita Springs area.

The council, which has been located on Old 41 for several years, is opening a Bonita Springs Resource House to bring help to those who need it.

"We have a lot of students who live in the Bonita area that need our help ... this will help local programs partner up," said Susan Acuna, the executive director of the council. "Pairing up with local programs will give our students and others additional services."

The council announced the available space to local agencies recently at a ribbon cutting attended by Mayor Jay Arend and other members of the community.

"We have to keep working to get the services out there and that we need a family resource center," said Arend about an idea that has been tossed around among city council members and service agencies but no time line has been created for it. "It will happen eventually, we just need to find the place."

Community leaders are looking for space along the Old 41 corridor in efforts to make it a central location for agencies to offer their services.

The United Way is guiding the efforts along with the council.

"Space is not a problem as much as coordinating it all," said Cliff Smith, of the United Way about possibly opening similar Resource Houses in Bonita. "We are thrilled to help coordinate with other agencies ... they make it easier to help others."

Making it easy for groups to help is why the council was chosen by the United Way to help coordinate with groups interested in using the Resource House.

"We will work with them and work it out so they can use the space when we aren't," said Acuna who helped 1,549 students last year.

The Resource house, said Acuna, will be offered for group meetings, seminars for council students, or for events.

"We are trying to get other agencies that aren't here to move into this area and get help where its needed," Cliff Smith said. "This (house) is centrally located ... they already help so many."

Local service agencies have already begun to use the Resource House to offer classes about health and credit counseling to the mostly Hispanic students.

"When given space agencies work together more efficiently," Smith said. "Everybody can hook up and get the [locals] what they need."