Marcela Martinez\u2019s connection to the Temple Terrace Recreation Center spanned from childhood swim lessons to being a lifeguard and instructor. Now, a quarter of a century later, a $25,000 Rotary Club of Temple Terrace donation will renovate the lifeguard room where she once worked.<\/p>\n
On Feb. 3, the Rotary Club presented the donation to Leisure Services Director Karl Langefeld. A large crowd showed up at the City Council meeting to take part in the presentation.<\/p>\n
Martinez was a popular teenager and King High\u2019s class president in 2000. She was struck by a car and killed while studying abroad.<\/p>\n
Following her death, several local fundraisers were held to raise money for the Marcela Martinez Fund in her honor, which has been managed by the Rotary Club and drawn on over the years for scholarships for King students and migrant students attending USF.<\/p>\n
This year, the 25th anniversary of her passing, the Rotary Club is choosing to honor Martinez, both for her love of the rec center, her civic engagement and her volunteerism.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor her age, she was ahead of her time,\u201d one member said.<\/p>\n
Stephanie Shaughnessy, Marcela\u2019s best friend and the swim coach at King, asked everyone in the large crowd that gathered at the city council chambers for the presentation that had been touched by Martinez to stand, and more than a dozen people rose to their feet.<\/p>\n
Her uncle emotionally described her as \u201ca rose in the desert\u2026she was a very nice, kind person with a beautiful soul, and that\u2019s what she is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martinez grew up in Temple Terrace, and her brother Felipe said the family spent a lot of time at the rec center.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, the rec center was part of our community,\u201d he said. \u201cOur friends (were there), we just grew up there and built all these relationships. For Marcela, it was really a big part of her life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Langefeld, who has worked at the rec center for more than 30 years, said that Shaughnessy and Felipe Martinez approached him about using the scholarship fund to do something special at the popular facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cI floated a couple things past them, and they really liked the idea of creating a new space and a new environment for the lifeguard break room,\u201d Langfeld said.<\/p>\n
The current breakroom, which is used by roughly 20 lifeguards each summer, is currently an old storage room right off the pool deck that was cleared out so they had a space.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just concrete floor and concrete walls,\u201d Langefeld said, as well as an old picnic table and old refrigerator.<\/p>\n
A contractor will be hired to put in new luxury vinyl tile flooring, new counters, booth-style seating for the lifeguards to be able to sit and eat lunch, a new fridge and new microwave.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will just create a much nicer environment for a break room for the lifeguards that they have not had all these years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Langefeld feels that is a fitting tribute for Marcela Martinez.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring my tenure, there are staff members who, during their time here, made an impact on me for whatever reason, and they stand out,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd Marcela was one of those employees who, when I look back, she stands out \u2026 because of the good that she brought here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marcela Martinez\u2019s connection to the Temple Terrace Recreation Center spanned from childhood swim lessons to being a lifeguard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[276,72062,135,137,136,8609,72061],"class_list":["post-148961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-rotary-club-of-temple-terrace","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-temple-terrace","tag-temple-terrace-recreation-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}