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A Crown For Teachers?

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By JAN HOLLINGSWORTH, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 13, 2008

PLANT CITY - Courtney Clark and Stephanie Bikowski have shared a lifetime of special moments.

There was the time the U.S. Secret Service whisked the two Junior Royalty contestants away in a limousine to meet then-Vice President George Bush during a campaign visit to the Florida Strawberry Festival in the late 1980s.

Clark, the daughter of a local florist, presented Barbara Bush with a bouquet of flowers.

Bikowski, a member of the St. Martin family strawberry dynasty, gave the vice president's wife a flat of berries.

"There we were - two little girls in frilly dresses," said Clark, who would in later years - like Bikowski - go on to become the festival's reigning queen.

In high school, the pair cheered the Raiders to victory. They joined the same sorority at the University of South Florida. When Bikowski got married, Clark donned a bridesmaid's gown.

"Now she's expecting a baby, so I'm sure I'll be throwing her a baby shower," Clark said.

But first, the two longtime friends and former strawberry festival queens will share another honor: Both are among 10 finalists for Hillsborough County's teacher of the year.

"Who would have thought?" Clark said.

Both teach fourth grade - Clark at Gorrie Elementary in Tampa, Bikowski at Esther D. Burney Elementary in Plant City. Each was chosen by the faculty of their respective schools and feted in a surprise ceremony.

"It was such an honor," Bikowski said "Right before winter break, they actually scared me here at school."

Summoned to her students' music class on the pretext of an emergency, Bikowski was showered with flowers and balloons by Burney's close-knit staff.

"They were all standing there, just crying. My kids were jumping up and down. It was such a wonderful experience," she said.

On nearly the other side of the county, Gorrie's staff members had bushwhacked Clark with another ruse that culminated in a prize patrol of balloons and flowers.

"I felt like I won the Publisher's Clearinghouse that day," said Clark, whose mother, Debbie, owns Brown's Floral Shop on Reynolds Street.

The irony of the friends and former pageant queens attaining such high recognition in their professional lives, especially at the same time, doesn't escape Debbie Clark.

"Courtney coached Stephanie in the pageants," she said. "They grew up together. It's funny they're both even teaching fourth grade this year."

For Clark, fourth grade was something of a fluke.

"I've always felt like a primary teacher at heart," she said. "I love first grade."

Clark's goal is to move into school administration, however, so she felt she needed to experience different grades.

"I definitely went into teaching fourth grade with my heels in the dirt," Clark said. "I found out I absolutely love it. The kids are still really eager to learn. They don't have that attitude that they're too cool to learn yet."

For Bikowski, fourth grade is something of a passion. "I love the writing," she said. "That's our big thing in fourth grade - teaching the kids narrative or expository writing for the FCAT."

Carolyn Peace, Bikowski's aunt, said her niece has "this true gift" for writing.

"She has a gift for drawing as well," Peace said. "I think Steph inherited that from her mother."

Bikowski was in the sixth grade when she lost her mother in a tragic car wreck. Brenda St. Martin had taken her girls - Stephanie and her younger sister, Jenny - shopping for pageant dresses when the accident occurred.

"That was one thing I stressed to her was life goes on and we have to make Momma proud," said Peace, a kindergarten teacher at J.S. Robinson Elementary who helped raise her brother, Johnny St. Martin's, daughters after their mother died.

Bikowski calls Peace her inspiration for becoming a teacher - and more.

She continued to participate in the Plant City pageants, partly to honor her mother, a member of the 1970 strawberry festival court. Her reign as queen came in 1997, two years after Courtney Clark wore the crown.

Her sister, Jenny, a kindergarten teacher at Burney, also went the royal route, landing a place on the queen's court years later, as well as the title of Miss Heart of Plant City.

"I know if Brenda was here she would be so proud of both of those girls," Peace said.

Stephanie, she added, "is a real go-getter."

"She listened to me and went on and got her master's. I told her, 'Now you have to do a little bit more,'" Peace said.

Both Bikowski and Clark say they're honored to have been recognized in so many areas of their lives.

"The world stopped for me that day," Clark said of being crowned festival queen in 1995. "Growing up in Plant City, you feel like you've put yourself in a stamp of history to be selected."

On a professional level, the latest recognition for having an impact on her students' lives was another humbling experience, she said.

The icing on the cake was being able to share it with her friend, Bikowski.

"We've had so many special life events happen to us together," Clark said.

On Feb. 28, the two will join the county's other nominees for a banquet and ceremony at the Tampa Convention Center. One of the 10 finalists will be named Teacher of the Year to represent the school district.

For Plant City's royal queens, the nomination has been honor enough, they said.

Reporter Jan Hollingsworth can be reached at (813) 865-4436 or jhollingsworth@tampatrib.com.

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