All Post By Roger Mooney
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About The Author
Roger Mooney
If Roger thought covering the Tampa Bay Rays inexplicable run to the 2008 World Series was strange, imagine how he felt on the March afternoon in 2016 when he stood in the heart of Havana, Cuba while on assignment to cover the Rays historic game against the Cuban national baseball team. “Is this really happening?” he thought then. Ah, the life of a sports writer, where the unexpected is the norm.
My background story
From Little League to the World Series, Pop Warner football to the Super Bowl, Roger covered it all during his 20-plus years as a sports writer. He met everyone from Hank Aaron to Ben Zobrist, covered nearly the entire spectrum from youth sports to Florida and Florida State football to the Buccaneers and the Lightning. It was a good run, filled with great subjects for stories and a lifetime of memories, highlighted by a white-knuckle trip through the backstreets of Havana in a 1956 Dodge that did not have a working horn, speedometer or seatbelts. An unforgettable ride as the cabbie bounced through narrow streets to escape the traffic jam caused by President Obama’s arrival. Now, Roger is writing about students who benefit from the four scholarships provided by Step Up For Students. These are inspiring stories about children whose lives improved dramatically because of their new educational opportunities.
What I do before joining Step Up For Students?
Before joining Step Up, Roger spent seven seasons covering the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune and two years writing about the Rays and the Tampa Bay Lightning for The Tampa Bay Times. A native of New York City, Roger’s future as a hall-of-fame baseball player was derailed in high school when he could not make the baseball team. Undaunted, he sets his sights on writing. He studied at St. John’s University and dabbled in real estate and technical writing before finding his first job at a newspaper.
What I do on my day off?
When not working, Roger enjoys running (he has completed three marathons and has his sights set on someday running a fourth), reading (his goal is 20 books a year), bike riding, canoeing and kayaking with his wife, Suzanne, watching sitcoms (Superstore and Young Sheldon currently top the list) and taking his mixed beagle, Story, on long walks.
How to reach out?
Reach me at [email protected].
About The Author
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E'leese set a goal to graduate high school early and she did ... at age 12
When you breeze through elementary and middle school and graduate high school before becoming a teenager, learning is your thing. So, the trip earlier this summer to North Carolina was nice. The family visited High Shoals Falls and escaped the Florida Panhandle heat. But, given her choice, E’leese would rather be reading, writing, and learning. […]
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Of pop art, plate tectonics and a super-strong Minotaur: How PEP allows one family to tailor lessons to their children's interests
Something about the Periodic Table of Elements grabs Conrad Black’s interest. All those chemicals and their atomic numbers. He heard about it, read about it, but didn’t know anything about it. Until this past school year. For his fifth-grade science course, Conrad chose to learn about energy and chemistry – specifically, the Periodic Table. “He […]
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He started a scholarship at his high school to honor a friend and enable future students to have the 'exact experience I’m having'
TAMPA – The night ended with a set of Latin music, one of Victor Peña’s favorites, and everyone inside the theater on the campus of Jesuit High School was standing and moving something – arms, legs, hips. It was the final set of a two-hour concert to raise money for a scholarship to honor Victor, […]
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The path to being an advanced manufacturing engineer began with an education choice scholarship
The faces looking back at Da’Shaun Holmes appeared familiar. They looked like Da’Shaun. Well, a younger version of Da’Shaun. They were students at Academy Prep Center of St. Petersburg, Da’Shaun’s alma mater, and they were eager to hear what he had to say. Da’Shaun was ready for the challenge. “I was there to inspire,” he […]
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Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities, Gardiner Scholarships, School Choice, School Spotlights, Step Up For Students, Student Spotlights
How do you help children with severe development and behavioral needs? You build them a school
DORAL – This was supposed to be Elise’s school, the white two-story building with beige trim that sits on a quiet street and serves students with moderate to severe development and behavioral needs. When John and Jamie Althoff learned Elise, their unborn daughter, had Down syndrome, they wondered what education options existed near their South […]
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Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options, Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities, Gardiner Scholarships, Step Up For Students, Student Spotlights
Bella's life was worthy of a documentary and Columbus High senior Sebastian Broche was 'the perfect guy' to direct it
Originally, all Raymond Rodriguez-Torres was expecting was a public service announcement honoring his late daughter. He – and his daughter’s memory – received more. Much more. Rodriguez-Torres hoped the multi-media club at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, his alma mater, could produce a PSA about Live Like Bella, the nonprofit that battles childhood cancer […]
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Honoring Dad, a fallen hero, on Memorial Day
Air Force Col. Thomas Falzarano was a family man, the type of dad who came home from work and raced his young sons to the backyard trampoline, bouncing around on the mat while Michael and Thomas jumped up and down for all they were worth. Laughter filled the neighboring yards. “We all loved it,” said […]
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Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options, graduate, Rising Stars, Step Up For Students, Student Spotlights
Journey's journey includes volleyball, an education choice scholarship and now college
PINELLAS PARK – The workers involved in the adoption process in Guatemalan called her Viaje, which translates to English as Trip or Journey because her adoptive parents from Idaho had settled on the name “Journey” for the toddler. What’s in a name? Well, life has been a journey for Journey Hinz, who graduated this month […]
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Jaydis is a 'powerful example' of the transformative impact education choice can have on a student
ST. PETERSBURG – Jaydis Kincade sat at a picnic table in the shade next to the vegetable garden maintained by his classmates at Academy Prep Center of St. Petersburg and set up a chess board. Out came the rooks, the bishops, the knights. The pawns, the king, the queen. He aligned them in their correct […]
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Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities, Beyond the Scholarship, Gardiner Scholarships, graduate, Step Up For Students, Student Spotlights
By catering to students who learn differently, Beacon College helped Ryan 'Blow away expectations'
LEESBURG – Ryan Sleboda is a college graduate with a degree in anthrozoology, a 4.0 GPA, and the distinction of being one of five valedictorians for Beacon College’s Class of 2024. He’s sailing off to a future where he expects to own a business – a doggy daycare – and live on his own. “That’s […]
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