THROWBACK PLAYER Tyler Tolbert preps for college level. 18
Vol 1 | Issue 8 | JUNE 2016 As Trussville As It Gets
A trip to compete Piano competition anchors Grigsby family vacation. 12
TWISTED CAREER PATH
OVERCOMING CHALLENGES
Balloon artist survives cancer and finds his passion in entertaining trade. 6
Hewitt-Trussville club promotes girls’ interests in engineering, science, math. 22
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PHOTO OF THE MONTH
Please Support Our Community Partners Alabama Allergy & Asthma Center (13) Alabama Hospice Care of Birmingham (19) Alabama Orthopaedic Surgeons (9) Alabama Outdoors (21) Alabama Power (25) Batts’ Chimney Services (23) Bedzzz Express (2) Birmingham Speech and Hearing Associates (21) Bromberg & Company, Inc. (18) Cahaba Cycles (10) California Closets (16) Central Alabama Cadillac Dealers (7) Children’s of Alabama (26) Commute Smart (30) ERS Construction Products (5) Friends of Anthony Montalto (11) Grayson Valley Pet Clinic (30) Harris Doyle Homes (1) Kirkwood by the River (31) Lee Marlow, RealtySouth (29) Melanie Clough, ARC Realty (32) Panos Automotive Service (18) Phoenix Builders (29) RealtySouth Marketing (27) Regional Planning Commission – Alabama Partners for Clean Air (31) Sentry Heating and Cooling (15) Sugar Sands Realty (30) Susie Gunter, RealtySouth (19) The Altamont School (14) The Maids (16) Tru Blue (23) Trussville Gas and Water (17) Vitalogy Wellness Center (13, 28) Vulcan Tire & Automotive (6) Weigh To Wellness (9)
EDITOR’S NOTE With Father’s Day coming up, I’ve been reflecting recently on the male role models in my life. I’ve written about my grandfather in these notes before, so if you regularly read them you know how big of an impact he made on me. Although he has passed away, I still think about whether my life and my choices are things that would make him proud. I like to think so. But my Dad has been just as important in making me the person I am. He’s the person who taught me that nothing — not fear, not gender, not lack of experience — should get in the way of something I want to achieve. He taught me how to ride a bicycle — and a motorcycle, too — and pushed me to give my full effort in everything. Though not all of his lessons stuck (Sorry Dad, I can’t fix anything under my car’s hood), I wouldn’t have gotten this far in life without a father who was always in my corner. Inside this issue, enjoy the story of Kevin Grigsby, a father who will be competing in an international piano competition, as well as Boyce Smith, who along with his wife, Debra, have been temporary summer parents to the hundreds of children who have attended their Southeastern Youth Camp. We also have a Father’s Day gift guide if you want to find the perfect present. I hope you enjoy these stories, along with the other features inside. And remember, take time to celebrate and thank your fathers, grandfathers or father figures this month. They’ve earned it.
While work was underway on painting two water towers in Trussville, residents could see this apparatus, used to lift a “curtain” of sorts and enclose the tower while painting. Photo by Ron Burkett.
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Cancer survivor finds a twisted path to success By CHRIS MEGGINSON Jaws drop, smiles widen and lines form the moment the first balloon is twisted. That is what first caught the eye of Trussville resident JonDavid Franklin on the Strip in Las Vegas some six years ago, and the reason he performs today as Mister Twister. As the crowds gather, it never fails to hear someone ask, “How’d you get started?” Franklin flashes the tattoo of an ace of spades up his right sleeve and begins to tell his story. “When people talk to me, it’s hard for them to fathom. I’ve been on quite a journey,” he said. Long before balloons, though, there was cancer. Diagnosed with leukemia on March 21, 1988, exactly three weeks before his 9th birthday, Franklin was given a 2 percent chance to live. Treatment after treatment, radiation zap after zap, and with a lot of prayer by his music ministry parents, Timothy and Gloria, he beat the odds. But what wasn’t known at the time was the potential “late effects” such treatments cause in childhood cancer patients. By the time he reached eighth grade at Smith Middle School in Huffman, Franklin
continued to struggle to concentrate and learn. He began to home-school but when ailing grandparents moved in, he ended up going to work for his uncle at Milo’s Hamburgers at 16. His memory remained foggy, and Franklin realized it was more than school he struggled with. He had trouble keeping a job, going through several over the next 15 years. “I knew my whole life I had a problem, but I didn’t know I had a problem,” Franklin said. It wasn’t until three years ago that he learned his mental symptoms are common, often given the name “chemo brain” by cancer patients. It all began to make sense. Over the years, Franklin said he realized he worked better in jobs where he could perform at his own pace. “I just had to figure out in life how I could better myself without somebody breathing over me and not being on the clock,” he said. That led to a pursuit of country music, professional poker and eventually balloons. When he saw a guy twisting balloons before a poker tournament in Vegas, he was locked in. “I had always been fascinated with cards, magic and anything weird,” Franklin said. “I was watching the reaction of the crowd.
JonDavid Franklin twists balloons for children at Trussville City Fest. Photo by Shay Allen.
They’re just loving it, and I’m thinking, ‘How cool would it be to do that?’ I had the bug to want to do more.” In 2011, Franklin was shopping in the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover when the bug bit
again. This time it was a young Patrick Williams twisting balloons. Franklin approached him. “Come over to my house; I’ll make burgers, and you show me a couple of things,”
JUNE 2016 | 7
Franklin said he asked. That’s exactly what happened. At the time, Franklin said he thought he could just go to Party City, buy some balloons and twist them into a sword, a one-balloon dog or flower. He found out it was much more involved. “He learned really fast,” Williams said of Franklin. “It takes years to develop this skill, and he’s done it in a matter of a year or two. It’s not something completely easy to do, but it was kind of instinct for him.” Instinct equates to a lot of reading, YouTube videos and a large Pinterest board, if you ask Franklin. Later in 2011, while working security at Regions Bank on Lakeshore Drive in Homewood — the same location where he once helped save an associate’s life during a seizure — Franklin decided to make flowers for the cafeteria cashiers. An employee approached him for her son’s birthday party, his first gig, for $100. The gig grew into multiple bookings for Franklin and Williams under the name Twisted Air Entertainment. They began working Christmas Village and Cottontails Village in Birmingham and Pinson’s Butter Bean Festival. “He’s loud and not afraid. He wasn’t afraid to go out and talk to somebody and get us a gig or yell out in a big crowd to have people come over,” Williams said. “He’s not
afraid to step out there and try new things or take risks to take steps to make something of himself, and I know he’s done that in multiple areas of his life.” Williams has since left the balloon business and moved to Huntsville for ministry and a new business, but Franklin has expanded to work several festivals, pumpkin patches, business grand openings, birthday parties, wedding receptions, baby showers and even a bachelorette party once. His creations range from the simple to archways and nearly any cartoon character sculpture possible. “I had a passion of taking the average rinky-dink sword and turning it into a battle ax or a huge sword. I figured big catches people’s eyes,” Franklin said. “I stand out, and I think between my personality and my background, I’m separating myself from the average twister.” “He keeps getting better and better,” Williams said. “Everything I’ve seen him doing is incredible stuff, pretty amazing.” Williams said one thing that stood out the most about his time working with Franklin was his desire to do anything he could for children with cancer. “One of our struggles was getting in hospitals, but he consistently wanted to do it,” Williams said. “He really does care about the kids, and that’s the No. 1 thing about being a balloon artist.”
JonDavid Franklin can take a simple balloon and turn it into a variety of shapes both big and small. Photo by Shay Allen.
That has helped drive Franklin to overcome his now-known “late effect” he’d been living with. “I had to make a choice in my life to be a victim and accept disability or do something in my life and do something with it. No matter what your disability is, you can choose to rise above it or face it head on,” Franklin said. Similar to his willingness to attack balloon gigs without fear, Franklin was relentless in finding help. He went to the American Red Cross, then Children’s of Alabama seeking direction. After doctors confirmed his memory and thinking problems, he got
hooked up with several groups, including M-Power Ministries. Today, Franklin is using a scholarship through M-Power GED tutoring. He is approaching eight years as a security guard with Security Engineers, now working nights, going to school through M-Power during the day and then picking up his kids in the afternoon. Balloon gigs are coming at least two weekends a month. “God has spared me for a reason … I know I’ve been on a long, twisted journey, but my journey has given me a lot of answers in life,” Franklin said. “In order to get where I’m going, I need to clean up what I didn’t finish in my past, and one of those is the GED.” Franklin is unsure what path will be next, whether ministry, counseling, police work or music, but he said he knows he wants it to involve balloons and helping kids. After all, it was balloons which also led him to his now fiancé, Joanna Bevel. “At the end of the day, what I truly want to do is balloons full time. There’s a market there for it. I love doing it. There’s nothing like doing a balloon and seeing a kid’s — and their parents’ — face light up,” he said. For more information about Mister Twister, call 789-9462, email callmister twister@gmail.com or visit Facebook.com/ CallMrTwister.
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City Fest Family, music, fun mark spring event Rita Sheuy and Larry Freeman relax in the shade at the Trussville City Fest on May 7 in downtown Trussville. Photos by Shay Allen.
Ted Swartz holds up his dog Bruce at City Fest on May 7 in downtown Trussville.
Adults and children, including sisters Selam and Alemnesh Moody, above, enjoy City Fest in downtown Trussville.
Hall Scarborough, baby CJ Blue and Sharon Scarborough hang out.
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Dodgen Security owner to speak at June Chamber luncheon By CHRIS MEGGINSON Carol Dodgen, owner of Dodgen Security Consulting, will be the speaker at the Trussville Area Chamber of Commerce Luncheon on Thursday, June 16. The luncheon, sponsored by ServPro of Birmingham, will begin at 11:30 a.m. at the Trussville Civic Center, followed by Dodgen’s talk at noon. Dodgen, who has spent years studying cases of workplace violence, has provided security consulting and training to more than 70,000 corporations, banks, law enforcement and security personnel during the last two decades. While she has spoken with several groups in the Trussville area, this is her first time speaking to the Chamber, and she hopes to provide a brief overview of ways businesses can be proactive and not reactive to violence. “The drive for me is to get out there and
Chamber of Commerce June Luncheon • WHERE: Trussville Civic Center, 5381 Trussville-Clay Road • WHEN: June 14, 11:30 a.m. • COST: $17 per person • CONTACT: 655-7535
educate people on preventive measures,” Dodgen said. “A lot of times we find we’re very reactive. Once something has occurred, we think we need something in place. I like to go in on the front end and try to do everything we can to prevent those events.” Dodgen says while it is common to think
of workplace violence as coming from a co-worker, it includes robberies, domestic disputes and customer violence. The monthly luncheons begin with a 30-minute network development time during which members and guests can network and exchange business cards with the estimated 80-100 individuals expected to attend. Prior to lunch, the Chamber will honor its monthly Custom Service Award winners. Door prizes will also be given away. To register, visit TrussvilleChamber.com or contact June Mathews by phone at 6557535 or email june.mathews@trussvillechamber.com. Cost is $17 (cash or check) or $17.34 if paying by credit or debit card (2 percent processing fee). Online registration is closed at midnight on Monday, June 13, but the Chamber office will accept registration
IAL SPEC
Carol Dodgen, owner of Dodgen Security Consulting, will be the speaker at the June Trussville Area Chamber of Commerce Luncheon. Photo courtesy of Carol Dodgen.
by phone until noon Tuesday, June 14. All nonmembers must pay in advance. The address for the Trussville Civic Center is 5381 Trussville-Clay Road, Trussville, AL 35173.
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New Ownership Vulcan Tire & Automotive is now open at 3214 Edwards Lake Parkway. Chris Cutshall and Richard Estes purchased Trussville Tire and Service on March 31 and renamed the business. ˜ ey are warranting all tire and repair work that stood with the previous owner. ˜ e facility is a full-service auto service center. Hours of operation are Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and Saturday 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. 661-2970, vulcantireand auto.com
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Hirings and Promotions Dermatolo2 Associated gists, 1401 Edwards Lake
Road, has hired Jaime Dunn as a physician assistant. She is accepting new patients and examines, diagnoses and treats a wide
variety of conditions. She is also trained in specialized skin care products and peels. 853-3960, associatedderm.net
3 Brik Realty, 192 Main
Street, has hired Kevin Sargent as a qualifying broker for its Trussville o° ce. Sargent is a past Rookie of the Year for the Birmingham Association of Realtors and a consistent top-producing agent. As qualifying broker, Sargent will manage the o° ce and ensure that the agents there are delivering quality services to clients while staying in compliance with state laws. 206-4321, brikrealty.com
Closings 4 Kmart, 5980 Chalkville
Mountain Road, will close later this summer. 655-5150, kmart.com
If you’re a brick-and-mortar business in the Trussville area and want to share your event with the community, let us know. Email matthew@starnespublishing.com
VOTE
AUG 23 Paid for by Friends of Anthony Montalto
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Kevin Grigsby plays piano for First Baptist Church of Trussville, but he’s had to brush up his classical skills in preparation for the competition. Photo by Kalai Kennedy.
PRACTICE MAKES
perfect vacation
Piano competition cornerstone of family trip By JUNE MATHEWS The Grigsby family of Trussville will be driving to Texas this summer, and like countless families before them, they’ll be stopping at museums, historic landmarks and, of course, the necessary number of service station restrooms along the way. With two preteens in tow, the itinerary naturally will include at least one amusement park, and at some point, their course will veer north for a visit to the area where parents Angela and Kevin lived as newlyweds while he was earning a graduate degree at the University of Oklahoma. The whole experience will be a good old-fashioned road trip, the average all-American family vacation. Except for one thing: The central purpose of their journey is for Kevin Grigsby to play in the Seventh Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition. One of only 72 pianists from around the world chosen to compete (over twice that many applied) and the only Alabamian, the 41-year-old Alabama Power Company marketing executive will perform in the first round of the competition on Father’s Day. And since Kevin Grigsby’s motive for competing is family-driven, the timing couldn’t be more appropriate.
“My main goal here is to model behavior for my children,” he said. “No. 1, they’re seeing me prepare, and they know how much I’m putting into it. So they’re going to either see that sometimes you prepare and you’re determined and you do the best you can, but somebody else might do better than you — and that’s OK. The sun is still going to come up the next morning. Or they’re going to see that through that preparation, there’s success. So it’s kind of a win-win, I think.” The trip itself is still weeks away, but the adventure actually began a few months ago when Angela Grigsby discovered the Van Cliburn competition online and encouraged her husband to apply. He, however, said he had doubts. “I’d been dealing with arthritis in my right hand since March of 2013, so I started practicing a bit and thought, ‘I don’t think I can do it,’” Kevin Grigsby said. “But Angie encouraged me to keep practicing, and before I knew it, I had three pieces memorized. Now it’s almost like my hands are doing better because I’ve been practicing. I can close both fists and open doors, and things are good again.” The prestigious competition is open to non-professional pianists (those who don’t earn their principal source of income through piano performance or
instruction), age 35 and older. Established in 1999, it was designed to promote lifelong music-making and was the first competition of its kind in the United States. The festival is every four years, and the competitors are chosen through a rigorous application process requiring the submission of a 15-minute long videoed performance. Kevin Grigsby is a classically trained pianist, but his musical outlet for the past few decades has been serving as a church musician in Moody and Trussville. He plays piano for the 4,000-plus-member First Baptist Church Trussville, a far cry from his first gig as a church pianist at First Methodist Church in Tarrant at age 12. By that time, he’d already studied piano for seven years. “I’ve nearly put in my 30 years as a church musician,” he said. Though church music has kept Kevin Grigsby in close contact with the keyboard, it’s done little to prepare him for the kind of competition he’ll be up against in Fort Worth. “It’s been 17 years since I’ve played classical music from memory,” he said. “And when you sit down at the instrument, even when you know all this music, and you know it well, just creating the consistency you had 20 years ago, well, now it’s different. So I’m certainly not confident
The Grigsby family: Angela, Kevin, Stephen and Katherine. Photo by Kalai Kennedy.
about what I’m doing. I’m just going out there and giving it what I’ve got.” “I’m well prepared, and I’m going to do the best that I can do, and whatever that turns out to be, it turns out to be,” Kevin Grigsby said. “I went into this with the mindset that I may not even get in. But I’ve also got a picture in my mind of what winning looks like, so I think I’m prepared either way.” His first round performance is scheduled for June 19 at 4 p.m., and he’ll find out June 20 if he’ll advance to the next round. Competition performances will be webcast live at cliburn.org, June 19-25. But whether his name appears on the list of competitors for the second round, there’s one thing this talented family man knows for certain: “On Monday, we’re going to Six Flags,” he said.
Coming to Trussville Celebrating 50 Years HOMEWOOD HOOVER CHELSEA ALABASTER CULLMAN TRUSSVILLE
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Trussville Office – Opening June 2016 Shoppes at Deerfoot 7274 Gadsden Highway, Suite 100 Trussville, AL 35173 (next to Publix) For an appointment, hours or directions: Call 205.871.9661 Or visit www.alabamaallergy.com
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Youth Camp establishes cross country bonds By SAIGE LEOPARD Local attorney Bart Cannon said he had no idea how much one week spent at Southeastern Youth Camp in Cook Springs would change his life. As a 13-year-old from Albany, Georgia, he first went to the camp in 1993. Though he didn’t know it then, he was making camp memories alongside his future wife, Jessica, who he’s been married to for six years. “It was awesome,” Cannon said. “It changed the trajectory of my life. I got saved that summer. Basically everything I have now can be traced back to the camp.” The two became friends after Jessica graduated high school, and they started to volunteer as camp counselors. They began dating in 2008, married in 2010 and now have two daughters, ages 2 and 4. But their story is not the only love story that was sparked at SEYC. “We have had about 15 marriages between campers who met at camp, including our own two kids,” said Boyce Smith, a Trussville resident and founder of SEYC. “We aren’t a dating service. Those things just happen.” Boyce and his wife, Debra, said they could fill hours of conversation with their 27 years of running the camp. Some are
Campers and counselors at Southeastern Youth Camp reach the top of Bald Rock Mountain. Photos courtesy of Boyce Smith.
happy, uplifting ones about kids who reached heights they never thought possible, such as a camper with cerebral palsy who was lifted to the top of Bald Rock Mountain in St. Clair County — a real check off his bucket list.
Some are sad stories with happy endings — loner kids who arrive reluctantly, probably nudged by their parents, and struggle through every day, only to part with tears because they don’t want to leave.
The idea for SEYC came about in 1990 because at the time, the Smiths’ church didn’t have many activities for kids, and there weren’t many affordable youth camps in the area. After a career in sales for Boyce and one as a homemaker for Debra, who also has a degree in early childhood education, they started SEYC as an outreach of Cross Country Ministries. It was supposed to be a one-time summer event for three small youth groups from Birmingham; Jackson, Mississippi; and Albany, Georgia. “In the beginning it was basically our Sunday school class that came together for this camp,” Boyce said. “We had no clue what we were doing. And at the end of the week of that first camp, I thought I wouldn’t ever want to do it again.” But the kids told him differently. Almost three decades later, kids are still traveling from all over the country each summer. At their peak, SEYC had close to 250 campers, some sleeping on mats on the floor and a waiting list to boot. They’ve had campers from 24 different states and nine foreign countries, including one who traveled from Perth, Australia, for six years. Their camp also has traveled to many states, to the Philippines twice and to Liberia. “I do think there’s a uniqueness to what
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we’ve done,” he said. “It’s had a life of its own. It became a ‘camp family’ — a ‘brotherhood.’ People would tell me that they met their best friend there or their spouse. That’s been the most rewarding part of it.” They don’t have the jet skis and fancier attractions that other camps do. Instead, the campers find themselves immersed in nature, unplugging from technology, interacting with people face-to-face and forming friendships with others from various backgrounds. “We get sweaty and dirty and climb the mountain,” Boyce said. “At our camp you get loved like you’ve never been loved. I think that’s what brings them back year after year.” In a typical day, they begin and end with patriotic acts — something the Smiths said they hold dearly to their hearts. They start at the flagpole — a morning devotion and raising of the flag, then breakfast and a Bible class. After that, they play games. Then, it’s lunch and free time, usually at the pool or lake or hiking on Bald Rock Mountain on the property. The day ends with lowering the flag, music or possibly a movie, and then the kids go to their cabins. It is not always comfortable for parents to send their child into the arms of strangers, but having a resourceful and diverse staff is key to their camp, Boyce said. Cannon didn’t miss a year of camp from
1993 to 2006, and then he served as a youth counselor from 2008 to 2011. “The No. 1 reason the kids and counselors come back is that so many kids get saved,” he said. “Pretty much everyone who is there is a believer or becomes one. The No. 2 reason is that it helps people grow in their faith. It truly is a ‘bubble.’ You’re around like-minded people and you get away from the problems of the world. People literally cry when they leave there.” Most kids go to summer camp with the promise that a familiar face will be there, too. “We usually break up the peers, which kids really don’t like that first day,” Boyce said. “But by the end of the week, those new teams are like well-oiled machines.” And in their era, they’ve had some impressive claims to fame, too. The tiny stage of their chapel has been graced with well-known contemporary Christian music artists including NewSong, Chris August, Jill Phillips, Andy Gullahorn, Sanctus Real, Yungtown and Shattered Pain. Their camp “pastor” and close friend for 27 years is Bobby Joiner, who is the tour pastor for Winter Jam tour. “He’s almost 70, but the kids, no matter how young they are, they love him,” Boyce said. One alumni camper and later staff member was Logan Henderson, the “sky angel cowboy,” who became an online sensation
Southeastern Youth Camp is run by Trussville residents Boyce and Debra Smith. The camp includes outdoor games, hiking and swimming. Photo by Ron Burkett.
in 2009 with his radio phone call about a lesson that God taught him. But there are plenty of average campers, too. “We’ve always been a camp for all the kids who had nowhere else to go,” Boyce said. “We have staffers that spend their whole week looking for kids who are hurting. Some of these kids — they’ve been ignored. They don’t think anyone loves them. We just show the love of Christ to them.” One of Boyce’s fondest memories was the child with cerebral palsy. “I received what I thought at first was a prank call,” he said. “It was from a child with cerebral palsy, one who had been in a wheelchair his whole life, but who wanted to attend our camp. I told him, ‘We don’t turn
anyone away.’” The kid desperately wanted to see the top of Bald Rock Mountain, so campers put him on a stretcher with ropes attached and took him up. “It was so unique to see,” Boyce said. “I’ll never forget it.” “We love kids and having the opportunity to offer them a life-changing summer experience,” he said. “It has become what we do as a couple. Our best friends on this Earth are people we’ve met during this experience.” SEYC is a nonprofit, and they are not compensated. The Smiths also operate a second camp in the Appalachian Mountains region of Virginia. For more information go to seyc.com or to their Facebook page at facebook.com/SEYCandCCM/.
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Community
Miss Trussville 2016 Cassidy Jacks collects snack foods for her Snacks for Sacks campaign. Photo courtesy of Maegan Reynolds.
Local student gets national honor Jefferson State Community Colcomplete her bachelor’s degree in lege student and Trussville resident organizational leadership, and then Erin Georgia has been named one of earn a master’s of divinity degree. the top 20 community college stuThe competition, which included dents in the nation as a member more than 1,900 nominees from of the 2016 All-USA Community more than 1,000 community College Academic Team. colleges across the U.S., evaluThe annual honor recogated students on grades, leadership, nizes students who display an outactivities and their contributions outside of the classroom. standing combination of academic Erin Georgia achievement and community serIn addition to the All-USA vice. Georgia will receive a $5,000 Team, Georgia was recently named scholarship and was recognized with her Alabama’s Coca-Cola New Century Scholar. fellow team members during the American This program awards a $2,000 scholarship Association of Community Colleges national to one student from each state with the highconvention in Chicago on April 12. est All-USA Community College Academic “I would not have received this honor with- Team application score. out Jefferson State,” said Georgia. “I served The last USA Today All-Academic Team in the Marines and was out of school for 15 member from Jefferson State was Keith years. I needed to take developmental math Brown, who now serves as interim president and I needed the personal support that Jef- of Jefferson State. ferson State provides. My instructors cared The All-USA program is sponsored by Folabout me and they encouraged me to reach lett Higher Education Group and presented my goals.” by USA Today with additional support proGeorgia, who maintains a 4.0 GPA while vided by the American Association of Commarried with three children, plans to transfer munity Colleges and Phi Theta Kappa. to Samford University in the fall. She plans to – Submitted by David Bobo.
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Miss Trussville provides food for homeless Cassidy Jacks, Miss Trussville 2016, has spent the past several years developing the service initiative “Feed a Soul, Fill a Heart.” Her work to fight the hunger epidemic across the country and across the state has led her to partner with many previously established organizations, as well as start her own campaign, called “Snacks for Sacks.” Recently, she held a snack food drive in the Trussville community that enabled her to donate over 100 sacks of snack foods to the homeless in the Birmingham area. On a national level she has partnered with Feeding America, a nationwide network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries throughout every state. Her partnership with
Feeding America came to fruition through the creation and sales of Cassidy’s Cause Bracelets. Because of her commitment to fundraising goals and her bracelet sales, she has been able to provide over 21,000 meals to the hungry across the United States. “I am proud to be a part of leading the fight against hunger in my community and across our state,” Cassidy said. “My hope is that living out my passion through working with Feed a Soul, Fill a Heart is leading to one less American going to bed hungry every night,” she concluded. Cassidy will represent the Trussville community as she competes at the Miss Alabama pageant in June. – Submitted by Maegan Reynolds.
JUNE 2016 | 17
father’s day gift guide
For the
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HTHS’s Tolbert a throwback baseball player By KYLE PARMLEY Tyler Tolbert feels like he is ready to play baseball at the college level. “Coach (Jeff) Mauldin treats us like a college program,” he said. “He tries to get us ready for the next level at every practice.” Tolbert leaves the Hewitt-Trussville High baseball program as a three-year starter at second base. In those three years, he morphed from a quiet perfectionist to a humble leader. “When we first brought him up to varsity, he wanted to be Mr. Perfection,” said Mauldin, head coach of the Huskies. “He wanted to be perfect on everything and kind of got down on himself when he made mistakes.” But the coaching staff was patient with him, since he was just a sophomore at the time of his call-up to the varsity team, and it paid off. “It has been an absolute joy to coach this guy this year,” Mauldin continued. “It’s a growing process from your freshman to your senior year, but how he plays the game with 100 percent confidence, he’s got some swag, plays the game hard, he’s kind of a throwback player.” As he was railing off Tolbert’s attributes, Mauldin noted that despite being one of the
Tyler Tolbert has grown into a team leader for the Huskies as a three-year starter. Photos courtesy of Barry Stephenson.
top players on the team, Tolbert was over at first base helping hold the water hose as the field was tended to following the game. Former teammates have also taken notice. Tolbert stepped up to the varsity team as a
10th grader and made an immediate impact. “He came in and the first thing he did was turn a double play. I was like, ‘Wow, this kid’s going to be good,’” said Carter Pharis, the shortstop who was his partner on the
double play. A year older than Tolbert, Pharis took the second baseman under his wing and mentored him. The two remain great friends, as Tolbert will join the UAB baseball program after graduation, where Pharis spent his freshman season as the starting first baseman. “It’ll be cool to play with someone I’ve already gotten to play with at the high school level,” Pharis said. UAB was the easy choice for Tolbert, who said the coaches made him feel like a priority and would always send people to his games while playing on the summer circuit. One thing that is consistent among comments made by peers is the work ethic that Tolbert possesses. He is by no means a big man, but that hasn’t stopped him. “He got serious in the weight room the last few years,” Mauldin said. “He’s one of five guys on the team that squats over 400 pounds, and he’s probably 150 pounds.” Tolbert also spends hours in the batting cage, taking extra cuts off a tee in an effort to fine-tune his swing. “He’s a kid that loves to work,” Pharis said. “A great guy, good teammates, great guy to play baseball with. If I say, ‘Hey Tyler, let’s go hit, he’s like, ‘Absolutely.’” His speed has continually improved, as
JUNE 2016 | 19
teammates who once hung with him can no longer keep up. He has also taken the lessons he learned from Pharis as a youngster and is helping sophomore shortstop Ed Johnson learn and grow at the varsity level. “It’s like a mentor program there. Carter helped him, Tolbert’s helping Ed, hopefully Ed helps someone else next year when Tyler leaves,” Mauldin said. Of Pharis, Tolbert said, “It was amazing. I learned a lot from him, because when I came up here, I was a young kid. He took me in and taught me everything I needed to know.” Mauldin played and coached at the Division 1 level in college, so he knows what it takes to be successful. He makes it no secret that his program at Hewitt-Trussville is challenging and demanding, but the fruits of their labor are realized. “The kids who grasp that and trust the process, they’re the ones who go on and have success when they have their opportunities,” he said. “Not everybody goes and plays (in) college, but the guys that do, we send them ready.” Tolbert seems to understand that, and said, “All I can do is thank him for preparing me for the next level. I think I’ll be ready, but there’s just some things that I need to learn and adjust to because it’s another level and the game is faster, bigger and stronger, but I’m ready to play.”
Tolbert feels prepared to play at the college level after playing for Jeff Mauldin at Hewitt-Trussville.
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Huskies taking notice of mountain bike team By KYLE PARMLEY Hewitt-Trussville High School has a mountain bike team, and students are, slowly but surely, beginning to realize it. In the hallway, there is a large banner of the 2015 team that is impossible to miss. After its second year of competition in 2016, more and more people are taking notice and becoming intrigued. “More people are realizing, ‘Oh, we have a mountain bike team?’” said Rhonda Brittain, head coach and a teacher at Hewitt-Trussville. “We even did the homecoming parade and we would hear, ‘Oh, there’s the mountain bike team.’” Word has spread, and the team is growing. “We’re trying to get the word out,” Brittain said. “We almost doubled from last year to this year.” Christen Deason races on the junior varsity level, and she has seen a spike in awareness from the peers she interacts with daily. “We wear our T-shirts and teachers ask me about it all the time,” she said. Brittain was approached about starting the team two years ago after it was discovered she raced mountain bikes competitively with her husband, Walt, when the couple lived in Oklahoma. Since the sport is not sanctioned, all coaches are on a volunteer basis. Walt Brittain helps coach the team along with Frank Davis and Kurt Kristensen. There are a lot of hours put into the team, but Rhonda has not regretted it. “These guys have been awesome. There’s a lot of really competitive kids and they’re really good at riding bikes.” The team is full of riders with different stories. Some had prior riding experience and picked up the sport without a hitch. Many have funny tales about the travails of learning the ins and outs of mountain biking once they joined the team. Deason falls into the latter category. She joined the team last year because the team needed someone to “just literally finish the race.” “My first race was in Auburn, and I’d ridden a mountain bike twice in my life. I thought, ‘I hate mountain biking.’ But then they taught me how to actually ride a mountain bike, and eventually I just started to love it,” she said. Brandon Weir joined the team this season, but he has been riding bikes since he was three years old. He recalled, “I actually got a toy dirt bike from one of my friends and I started doing that. My dad made me learn how to ride a bike without training wheels before I got a dirt bike. He took them off and I started riding.” Justin Wilson gave into the peer pressure, in a positive manner. He joined the team when it started last school year, because “all my buddies did it and I thought it looked pretty fun.” He had no biking experience beforehand, and it took awhile before he felt comfortable with the fundamentals. After a slow buildup in his skills, he found himself to be much more competitive in his second season of racing.
Jackson Davis is the only kid on the team who races at the varsity level, and the competition is split up among several divisions: varsity, junior varsity, sophomore, freshman, eighth grade and seventh grade. No matter what skill level a person is at, experience is the best method to improve. “In (practice), you can overemphasize, but once you get on the trails, the look and feel of it is completely different,” Brittain said. “You have to actually go out and experience it for yourself.” The long season, which spans much of the school year and longer than any other sport, is full of practices at Magic Mountain and the Trussville Sports Complex. The team had five races this season at Tannehill State Park in McCalla, Munny Sokol Park in Tuscaloosa, the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Oak Mountain State Park and Chewacla State Park in Auburn. In scoring the competitions, the top four scorers from each team are added up to give a final score. The catch is that the scores have to have representation from both male and female riders. For a portion of the season, Deason was the only girl on the team racing. No pressure, right? “Tons of pressure,” she said, while noting that coaches and fellow riders are usually pretty good about not making her feel the heat. Brittain emphasizes that mountain biking is a sport for boys and girls, and if the sport continues to grow at the current pace at Hewitt-Trussville, Deason will be riding free and easy next year.
Christen Deason, above, proves that mountain biking is a sport for boys and girls at Hewitt-Trussville. Jackson Davis, left, is the only racer at Hewitt-Trussville who races on the varsity level. Photos courtesy of Kim White.
The Hewitt-Trussville team waits to hit the road.
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School House Club promotes girls’ interests in engineering, science, math By SYDNEY CROMWELL Melanie Dimler knows what it’s like to work in a career where women are a minority. Before she became Hewitt-Trussville High School’s physics teacher five years ago, Dimler worked as an engineer for several years. Now she uses that experience to encourage female students who want to follow that same path. “As a female in a male-dominated world, there are challenges, but these challenges can be overcome,” she said. Dimler created the Pink Engineers, an HTHS club for girls with an interest in engineering and other STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers. The club invites guest speakers to meetings and also goes on field trips to colleges and engineering firms, so graduating Pink Engineers have a good idea of what their future might look like. “Now I know a lot more about what to expect when I go to college,” said senior Emma Burford, the group’s vice president. Since she joined the Pink Engineers as a freshman, Burford said the club has helped her get a good idea of what she would like to be when she grows up. She will be studying
mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama in the fall. Since part of Dimler’s goal is to show her club members how engineers improve others’ lives, each year the Pink Engineers take on a service project with an engineering bent. “We didn’t want to be just takers; we want to be givers … so every year part of our mission is to do at least one community outreach,” she said. That outreach has included designing and fundraising to construct a new donation box for the Trussville Ecumenical Assistance Ministry (T.E.A.M.) and serving as role models for girls at Paine Intermediate to encourage STEM interests. “I think our little girls helped our big girls as much as our big girls helped our little girls because they inspired each other,” Dimler said. “They serve as role models, and they support each other as a minority in that effort.” However, at the beginning of 2016 the Pink Engineers took on a bigger, multi-year community project. Two years ago, HTHS science teacher Angie Simonetti took a trip to HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology
Hewitt-Trussville High’s Pink Engineers pose at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville. Photo courtesy of Melanie Dimler.
JUNE 2016 | 23
in Huntsville and saw the Genome Walk, a lengthy trail shaped like a strand of DNA. The Genome Walk includes information about mapping the human genome, and Simonetti said she thought it would be a great idea to bring back to her classroom. “It’s a fun game. It gets the kids involved. It teaches them many different levels and aspects of genes,” she said. HudsonAlpha has made the design of the Genome Walk publicly available to encourage others to recreate it in new places, so Simonetti reached out to Dimler and the Pink Engineers. After a field trip to see the HudsonAlpha Genome Walk early this year, Dimler agrees the HTHS campus is the perfect place for a smaller Genome Walk. “We thought this would be a good fusion of biology and engineering. If we can really get the girls involved in spearheading this project from beginning to end, they can see the process,” Dimler said. “It would be so phenomenal to build this at the school,” Simonetti said. The undertaking to create a Genome Walk is a much bigger project than the Pink Engineers have taken on so far. They’re working to get permission from Trussville City Schools to build on a portion of HTHS land, and they have to work out how to scale down the walk to fit their space. Dimler said the Pink Engineers also will have to figure out costs and either raise the money, work with engineers willing to donate time and materials or discover a cheaper way to build
the walk. It’s an important lesson about project management in the real world of engineering, as well as finding creative solutions. “To get an engineering project done, you have to get the funding; you have to understand the constraints,” Dimler said. “Maybe we don’t have to get major construction involved. Maybe we can map out just a walkway and tape it off with rudimentary signs.” The Genome Walk will be the first thing the Pink Engineers discuss when they meet again in the new school year. Dimler said she hopes to get project approval in the fall so the club can work on fundraising and their preliminary mapping throughout the 2016-17 school year. If all goes well, she’d like to construct a more permanent version the year after that. Simonetti said the project would not only be practical experience for the girls, but also “a legacy at the school.” “It just would look cool to have a big piece of DNA on the property,” she said. Science classes at HTHS could obviously make use of the Genome Walk, but other classes and even other Trussville schools could visit to learn more about DNA. Dimler said she could also see it being a regular exercise trail for the community to walk and learn at the same time. “I just think it’s a great project for the kids, for the school, for the community,” Simonetti said. “We’d love it if we had community involvement.” Learn more about the Pink Engineers at hewitttrussvillehigh.al.tch.schoolinsites.com.
HTHS students bring home art awards Brailey Busby, above, competed in the Shelby County Arts Council’s statewide exhibition. HTHS student Andrew Cusimano’s work, top right, was in the exhibition. Daniel Hernandez, bottom right, won first place in mixed media.
High school student Jessica Gagliano won first place in the district Visual Art Achievement Program for 2D Design, progressed to the state level and has been accepted to show at the state exhibit in Montgomery. Noemi Vogel won first place in the Eastern Women’s Committee of 50 district show, taking home a $150 cash prize. Three HTHS students’ artworks were also selected to participate in the Statewide Art Exhibition, sponsored by the Shelby County Arts Council with UAB Department of Art and Art History. Seniors Brailey Busbey, Andrew Cusimano and Daniel Hernandez competed in the 3-D design, drawing, mixed media, painting, photography and Best in Show categories. Hernandez won first place in mixed media, with a $250 cash prize. – Submitted by Trussville City Schools.
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HTHS leadership team aims to make impact By SAIGE LEOPARD “What we do in life, echoes in eternity,” said a rugged Russell Crowe in the Oscar-winning film “Gladiator,” where he portrays Roman leader Maximus Meridius. Maximus was known for his strength and honor -— two qualities every leader in real life has strived for for centuries. Hewitt-Trussville High School’s leadership team isn’t re-enacting a bloody “Gladiator” battle scene, but they are working to carve out those coveted traits that include strength, honesty, commitment, attitude and strong communication skills within their own student body. The leadership team members are the first smiling faces new students see each school year — providing orientation for these newcomers. For a school with about 1,400 students, something as simple as a recognizable face in the hallways, knowing where the lunchroom is or having an understanding of what extracurricular activities are offered can be more than helpful. This Easter, just like the last, the team helped Boys and Girls Club children in the area hunt eggs and fill their baskets. They also tutored and built friendships with the kids and plan to participate in the Club’s Spring Fling annual gala. This summer, leadership team members will commit to service hours that will include entertaining the children at Jessie’s Place in Birmingham, the women and children’s shelter of the Jimmie Hale Mission ministries. Their ultimate goal is service in the community, said Dana DePew, sponsor of the leadership team and the school’s nurse for nine years. Team members learn what it takes to be a leader at the annual leadership team retreat, held every December at Shocco Springs in Talladega. The weekend involves team and character building, the sharing of personal stories, learning about how to work with various personality types and molding the students into the service leaders they hope to be, DePew said. “The retreat is a life changing weekend,” she said. “And it’s an honor to be selected for the leadership team. We try to keep the team diverse with kids from all areas of the school. It’s a different environment, since it’s a big school. It’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done with high school kids,” DePew said. To apply for the retreat, students must first be nominated by either a faculty member Members of the Boys and Girls Club participate in an Easter egg hunt. Photo courtesy of Dana DePew.
Above: Members of the HTHS Leadership Team at a March event. Left: An HTHS Leadership Team student paints faces before an Easter egg hunt. Photos courtesy of Dana DePew.
or a team member, she said. Selections are then made by a faculty or administrative committee from the applications. The leadership team applications are open for any student who has attended the retreat already, and interviews and selections are done by senior student team members and faculty chaperones. For their first retreat, the school took 40 kids to nearby Camp Coleman, and 12 kids were on the leadership team, DePew said.
Today, with their sixth retreat behind them, the team has grown, and membership for the team itself is at about 24 students, she said. Abby Osborne, 20, now a sophomore and cheerleader at Auburn University, is a former leadership team leader and participated during her sophomore, junior and senior years from 2012 to 2014. “The main thing I took away was how much it stretches and grows you individually,” she said. “I learned a lot about personalities during that retreat. It made me more confident in myself and helped me to understand different leadership styles and how to work with others.” Osborne, who is hoping to enter Auburn’s nursing program, said grasping how to work with others stretches far beyond team building. It spills over into every part of her world today — cheering on the sidelines, being a good college roommate and more. “You can tailor the way you handle certain situations with people,” she said. “I learned how everyone is going through something.
It was incredibly eye-opening. Most importantly, I learned a lot about loving everyone. It’s one of my most favorite memories from high school, and it’s still something I reference in conversation,” Osborne said. Senior and lacrosse player Ben Wedlund agreed. “You’re put in teams, and you get to be really close to those people,” he said. “That alone — getting to be on a personal level with others — was amazing. Typically, people not involved in the same groups get to know others. To get to hear their stories — that’s impactful.” His advice to younger students is to be brave. “Don’t be afraid to do the things that set you apart,” Wedlund said. “That includes good grades and participating in class and being the first to raise your hand.” When a team participant becomes a team leader, he or she shares a personal story at the retreat, too, usually related to a leadership trait, he said. “A lot of people are facing a lot more than you think,” Wedlund said. “One thing that’s challenging is it’s hard to step out and see yourself as higher than anyone else because you’re a leader. But, afterward, you come to see that’s not what ‘leadership’ truly is. It’s about learning to lead by example, recognizing that and acting upon it. It’s a challenge to learn that but rewarding in the end.” Wedlund said he hopes to attend the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
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TWO HANDS ARE
ALWAYS BETTER THAN ONE The Trussville Tribune and Starnes Publishing have partnered to bring you the Cahaba Sun, Trussville’s monthly publication with stories, photos, and more about the people, places, and things that matter to you most. The Cahaba Sun...as Trussville as it gets.
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Clay-Chalkville educator named Teacher of Year Clay-Chalkville High School speech and debate teacher Dana Jacobson, the 2016-17 Alabama Teacher of the Year, left, poses with the 2015-16 Alabama Teacher of the Year, Jennifer Brown of Vestavia Hills High School, after the awards ceremony in Montgomery on May 11. Photo by Jon Anderson.
By JON ANDERSON When Dana Jacobson was in the fourth grade, a challenge from her teacher helped change her life forever. As she was about to sign a conservation pledge regarding littering, the teacher urged Jacobson and her classmates to think about what they were doing. She emphasized that signing the pledge meant they were promising to make a difference. That simple pledge had a ripple effect on Jacobson’s life because she realized then that she, as one person, had the power to make a difference, she said. State education officials reaffirmed that calling in May when they named Jacobson, a veteran teacher at Clay-Chalkville High School, the 2016-17 Alabama Teacher of the Year. Jacobson, who teaches debate, public speaking and ACT preparation classes, said the award validates the choice she made to become a teacher. “Today, I teach high school students and value working with teachers in training because of the power to effect change,” Jacobson said in her application for state Teacher of the Year. And Jacobson is good at bringing about change, her principal at Clay-Chalkville
High School, Michael Lee, said. “She’s an out-of-the-box thinker. She’s very creative,” Lee said. “She takes students where they are and gets them where they need to go … She’s always willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that students in her class learn. She’s an overachiever.” Janessa Dunn, one of Jacobson’s former debate students who was co-captain of the debate team at Clay-Chalkville before graduating in 2009, said Jacobson is one of the most scholarly and well-rounded teachers she ever encountered. “Her innate ability to inspire students to
think, to support opinions with facts and philosophy, and to truly enjoy the art of debate is truly remarkable and inspiring,” Dunn wrote in a recommendation letter. “I am extremely confident that Ms. Jacobson will continue to empower students to achieve their educational and professional goals by praising each student’s strengths, refining areas of growth and cultivating the untapped potential that students may not know they possess.” Jacobson sponsors the Social Justice Club and the Poetry Club at Clay-Chalkville. She has directed the Aspire Academy, an initiative to keep students from dropping out of
school, and previously developed curriculum for the school’s remediation course for the state graduation exam. Jacobson said she tries to allow students to design their own meaningful learning experiences, acting as a facilitator rather than as a lecturer. She wants to equip each student with the strategies they need to become independent lifelong learners, and those strategies are different for different children. “I try to uncover each student’s story, the key to rapport and meaningful learning,” she said. Jacobson is not only good with students; she’s a teacher of teachers, Lee said. “She’s always willing to help anybody that’s asking — very collaborative with her colleagues,” he said. She’s the go-to person at Clay-Chalkville High when it comes to integrating technology into instruction, Lee said. This past year, she has been teaching other teachers how to lead online classes. She also has led professional development classes for teachers across Jefferson County, the state and even at the national level. And she mentors new teachers and supervises student teachers. Jacobson has been at Clay-Chalkville since 1999 and has almost 24 years of total teaching experience, including 7½ years she taught in Japan. She lives in Vestavia Hills.
As
Trussville as it gets.
Advertise with us, and tell your story to all of Trussville. matthew@starnespublishing.com | 205-313-1780
JUNE 2016 | 27
HTMS choirs show off talent
The HTMS mixed and show choirs participated in the State Choral Performance Assessment sponsored by the Alabama Vocal Association. Both choirs were awarded the Distinguished Musicianship Award for earning all Superior ratings for their stage performances and for skills in sightreading. A Superior rating is the highest score given at the assessment. Members of the HTMS Mixed and Show
Choirs also traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, where they performed at the Country Music Hall of Fame. The students and parent chaperones had an opportunity to tour the Hall of Fame to learn more about the roots and history of country music. After lunch at the Hard Rock Café, the students toured the historic RCA Studio B, where both choirs participated in recording sessions. – Submitted by Trussville City Schools.
HTHS performs ‘The Music Man’
The Theater Department at Hewitt-Trussville High School’s spring performance was Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man.” The musical’s cast and crew included more than 150 students. Photo courtesy of Trussville City Schools.
Elementary students create classroom books Nine Paine classrooms in grades K-2 published classroom books through Student Treasures. One copy of each book was purchased for the school library so students can check them out and read the books they wrote. This will be a great memory for these students for years to come. Photo courtesy of Trussville City Schools.
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Opinion My hands are evidence of life’s many adventures Have you ever taken a good look at your hands? Hands hold subtle clues that can tell the story of your life. This recently came to mind when I went to war. Not with a third-world country or people who talk funny, but an enemy much closer to home. Privets. After a long afternoon in the trenches, my hands were full of briars from blackberry bushes that thrive among the privets out back. After a warm shower to wash the blood from my arms and the weary from my bones, I went to the medicine cabinet for my splinter kit. Before I began digging the tiny barbs out of my thumbs and fingers, I knew I’d need visual aids. The only time I have to wear glasses is when I want to see. But even reading glasses didn’t bring the briars into focus. Opening my office drawer, I pulled out a magnifying glass. The magnifier showed every spot and wrinkle on my hands. It made the briars in my hand look as big as railroad spikes sunk
MY SOUTH
By Rick Watson to the hilt in the flesh. Once the needle started digging in, I whimpered like a scolded puppy. After all the briars were out and the antiseptic applied, I picked the looking glass up again to have another look at my hands. On one knuckle I saw a scar from when I was a kid helping my dad and brother put up
a fence around a new chicken pen. A round faded scar on the back of my hand is where I clawed a patch of poison ivy until it bled and got infected. I got the thick calluses on the tips of my left hand when I was in the eighth grade. Those tough fingertips allowed me to painlessly play chords on a steel-string guitar. I then started thinking about all the jobs these hands have done throughout my life. One of my first jobs was picking cotton. This was before farmers picked cotton from the air-conditioned cabs of their tractors. The going rate in those days was 3 cents a pound. My next-door neighbor, Mrs. Plunkett, who was a skilled cotton picker, gave me some valuable advice: “Pick hard when you first jump off the back of the truck, because cotton is heavier when it has morning dew on it.” I worked as hard as I’ve ever worked, and after a long day of dragging a 9-foot cotton sack, I had picked 101 pounds. My paycheck for that day was $3.03. I quickly learned that cotton picking would not be a vocation I would pursue. During the summer of my junior year
in high school, I caught chickens “professionally” for a few months. The work was at night with a crew of chicken catchers. We’d herd the squawking birds to one end of the chicken house and grab four fowls in each hand before lugging them back to an 18-wheeler for their last ride. Each morning when I got home, my arms and hands looked as if I’d wrestled a bobcat. After a few months, I marked catching chickens off my list of potential careers, as well. I could go on, but suffice it to say I’ve done a lot of things with these two hands. My mother used to say, “If you keep your hands busy, you won’t have time to get into trouble.” There was more wisdom in those words than I understood back then. I took her words to heart. If you don’t believe it, just look at my hands. Rick Watson is a columnist and author. His latest book, “Life Changes,” is available on Amazon.com. You can email him at rick@ homefolkmedia.com.
JUNE 2016 | 29
Trussville
1140 Overlook Drive
Real Estate Listings MLS #
Zip
Address
Status
Price
750300 35173
1140 Overlook Drive
New
$189,900
750265
35173
132 Carla Avenue
New
$199,900
750225
35173
2125 Overlook Place
New
$259,400
750152
35173
4770 Boulder Drive
New
$289,000
750125
35173
1060 Mason Circle
New
$245,000
750123
35173
5647 Ridgeview Drive
New
$464,900
750090 35173
698 Brandy Drive
New
$119,000
750076
4412 Parkwood Circle
New
$219,900
750046 35173
5231 Drew Run
New
$364,900
750014
35173
3540 Still Oaks Drive
New
$259,900
750217
35173
4726 Stonegate Place
New
$249,000
750013
35173
5463 Azalea Trace
New
$174,900
749885
35173
6601 Service Road
New
$199,000
749851
35173
4574 Trussville Clay Road
New
$99,900
749804
35173
5146 Flint Court
New
$350,000
35173
Real estate listings provided by the Birmingham Association of Realtors on May 16. Visit birminghamrealtors.com.
4726 Stonegate Place
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Calendar Trussville Events Tuesdays: Trussville Farmer’s Market. 1-5 p.m. The Mall in downtown Trussville. Saturdays: Trussville Farmer’s Market. 8 a.m.-noon. Holy Cross Episcopal Church, 90 Parkway Drive. June 1: Children’s Summer Reading Kickoff, presented by the Birmingham Public Library. 3 p.m. Springville Road Regional Library. Celebrate the beginning of Summer Reading by joining us for games, crafts, and prizes! For more information, call 226-4085. June 2: Summer basketball games start. 6:15-9:30 p.m. Trussville Civic Center, Athletic Center and Hewitt-Trussville Middle School. June 7: City Council. 6 p.m. City Hall. June 11: Pell City Friendship Quilters Biannual Quilt Show. 9 a.m.-4
p.m. Pell City Civic Center. $5 admission. The event includes demonstrations, vendors and viewers’ choice voting on display quilts. June 11: Sounds of Summer Benefit for Independence Place of Alabama. 6 p.m. Trussville Civic Center. The evening includes music, dinner and a silent auction. Call 228-0284. June 13: Planning and Zoning meeting. 6 p.m. City Hall. June 13-16: Fine Arts Camp. 9 a.m.2:30 p.m. The Conservatory at First Baptist Church of Trussville. Open to grades 1-5. June 15-17, 20-24: ACTA Summer Workshop. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. June 15-23, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 24. ACTA Theater, 225 Parkway Drive. Open to rising third-ninth graders. $225 per student, with family discount available. Call 655-3902 or email Kerry. burrell@gmail.com.
June 16: Chamber of Commerce Luncheon. 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Trussville Civic Center. Registration is $17. Visit trussvillechamber.com. June 16: Zoning Adjustment Board. 7 p.m. City Hall. June 20-23: Princess Dance Camp. 9:30 a.m.-noon. The Conservatory at First Baptist Church of Trussville. Open to ages 3-10. June 21: 9th Annual Golf Tournament. 9 a.m. Limestone Springs Golf Club. $150/player or $500/foursome. Deadline to register is June 10. June 21: City Council. 6 p.m. City Hall. June 24-25: ACTA Summer Workshop Performances. 7 p.m. ACTA Theater, 225 Parkway Drive. Visit actatheater. com.
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HTHS Athletics June 5: Cheer Camp. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. HTHS Practice Gym. June 6-30: Boys Basketball Practice. Monday-Friday, 6-11:30 a.m. Practice Gym. June 6-8: Football Camp. 8 a.m.-noon. Husky Field. June 6-9: Baseball Camp. 8:30 a.m.noon. HTHS Baseball Field. June 6-30: Girls Basketball Practice. 9-11:30 a.m. Bryant Bank Arena. June 6: Board of Education. 7 p.m. Board offices. June 7-9: Volleyball Summer Training. 6-9:30 a.m. Bryant Bank Arena.
June 12: HTHS Student Athlete Foundation meeting. 3-5 p.m. Husky Room at HTHS Stadium. June 13-16: Baseball Camp. 12:303:30 p.m. HTHS Baseball Field. June 14-16: Volleyball Summer Training. 6-9:30 a.m. Bryant Bank Arena. June 21-23: Varsity Volleyball Summer Training. 6:30-8:30 a.m. Bryant Bank Arena. June 21-23: JV Volleyball Skills Camp. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Bryant Bank Arena. June 28-30: Volleyball Summer Training. 6-9:30 a.m. Bryant Bank Arena.
Area Events June 1: Birmingham Art Crawl. 5 p.m.-9 p.m. 113 22nd Street North, Downtown Birmingham. Walking art gallery with artists, performers and food. Free. Visit birminghamartcrawl.com June 2: Journey & The Doobie Brothers with special guest Dave Mason. 7 p.m. Oak Mountain Amphitheatre, Pelham. $20-$125. Visit doobiebros.com. June 3-4: 10th Annual Magic City Brewfest. Sloss Furnaces. Friday 7 p.m.11 p.m. Saturday 4 p.m.-8 p.m. Tickets $38 advanced, $45 day of event. Visit magiccitybrewfest.com. June 10: Y’all Connect (Blogging and Social Media Conference). 8 a.m.-5 p.m. BJCC East Meeting Rooms. $129/$199 VIP. Visit yallconnect.com. June 10-12: Alabama Symphony Orchestra: Symphony in the Summer. Railroad Park. Three nights of free concerts under the stars. 8 p.m. nightly. Visit alabamasymphony. org. June 10-12 Triumph Superbike Classic. Barber Motorsports Park. Featuring eight motorcycle races. 8 a.m.-4 p.m. daily. Visit barbermotorsports.com. June 10-12: Magic City Con. Fan convention. Hyatt Regency Birmingham. 4 p.m.12 a.m. Friday, 8 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday. $25 pre-registration. KidCon Saturday from 8 a.m.-12 p.m. Visit magiccitycon. com. June 11: Free Alabama Symphony Orchestra Concert. 7:30 p.m. Railroad Park. Please call the ASO office, 205/251-6929 or Dan Frederick, 205/631-4680. June 11: Ira Glass in Three Acts,
Two Dancers, One Radio Host. 8 p.m. Alys Stephens Center. $39.50-$59.50. Visit alysstephens.org. June 11: Big Green Eggs in the Ham. Regions Field. Presented by Easter Seals of the Birmingham Area. $14 single admission, $25 couple’s admission. Visit eastersealsbham.org. June 11: SliceFest 2016. Slice Pizza and Brew, Lakeview. 1 p.m.-12 a.m. Tickets $25 advance, $30 at the gate. Visit slicefest.com. June 11: Take the Reins 10K. Good People Brewery, 114 14th Street South. 8 a.m. Benefitting The Red Barn which provides equine assisted activities for those with special needs and special circumstance. $30 race registration. Visit theredbarn.org. June 12: 2016 VIVA Health Starlight Gala starring Kristin Chenoweth. Alys Stephens Center. 6 p.m. $150. Visit alysstephenscenter.org. June 18: Souteasern Outings River Float, Picnic, Swim. Locust Fork River from Taylor’s ford through Cornelius Falls in Blount County near Royal, AL. Dan Frederick, email seoutings@bellsouth.net or call 631-4680 June 25: Southeastern Outings Canoe and Kayak Trip with dinner after. Terrapin Creek. Call Dan Frederick, 631-4680. Reservation required. June 25: Brantley Gilbert: Take It Outside Tour 2016. Special guests Justin Moore and Colt Ford. 7 p.m. $30.25-$55. Visit brantleygilbert.com. June 25: Slide the City. Vestavia Hills High School. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Featuring a 1000-foot water slide. Live music, food, drinks and more. $10-$65. Visit slidethecity.com.
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