Victoria Spadafora’s classroom has gone to the dogs, the cats and even the guinea pigs.       Spadafora is the history department chair and head swimming coach at Monsignor Edward Pace High School.       For 18 years, she has also overseen the Miami Gardens school’s P.A.W.S. Club (Pace Animal Welfare Society).       Colleagues nominated...

     The Knight Foundation named Christopher Norwood one of its 26 Arts Champions in 2022, an award that came with a $10,000 prize.      Norwood, 50, a consultant and founder and curator at Hampton Art Lovers Gallery in Overtown and a longtime Miami Lakes resident, chuckled about being designated one of the elites of the South Florida arts scene.      “It’s good for other...

     When more cows than people lived in Miami Lakes, residents of the burgeoning town formed the Miami Lakes Civic Association.      A community was rising out of the dairy farm owned by what came to be called The Graham Companies. The civic association, begun in 1964 and comprised of volunteers from those first families who were passionate about what the company was creating, devoted themselves to the...

      The Miami Lakes Optimist Padres baseball team won the 8U division championship for the 2022 season. The team was undefeated in 19 games.      “These little kids worked harder than any other team,” Padres volunteer coach and Miami Lakes Councilman Luis Collazo said Jan. 10 when the players received certificates at Town Hall from Mayor Manny Cid. Shown in the photo in front, from left are:...

Alicia Bloom Owner, Creations in Bloom Palm Springs North        “I worked in a hospital in Uruguay, and it took a lot of time for me to be able to adjust, to see all the things that you see in a hospital,” Alicia Bloom said. “It’s very sad. I worked that job for three years until I came to this country, and I started working at [the former] Shula’s...