On October 17, 2011, it was announced that Seminole High School had won a long-running contest held by local radio station 102 JAMZ, called “Last School Standing”.  Eager Seminoles came out in droves to the station’s web site, excited for a chance to win a concert with the popular recording artist DJ Khaled, best known for his collaborations, like “I’m So Hood.”  Months later, the ‘Nole Nation is left confused; DJ Khaled still hasn’t shown up for the concert that was promised by the radio station.  In a recent call, the station’s promotions department claimed that the long-due concert is in the works, but no solution seems close at hand, and Seminole’s administration has been frustrated by the station’s perceived lack of action.

Seminole’s students, spurred on by their success in early stages of voting, took on a range of often-larger schools from all over Central Florida.  After more than sixteen rounds of voting, Seminole pulled ahead.  Student Body President Valerie Gonzalez, a major player in organizing the voting efforts, remarked with her characteristic enthusiasm, “All the SHS students, past and present…came together on their own and blew the competition out of the water from day one.  The entire ‘Nole Nation supported us.  We had current students, their parents, friends, and even alumni voting for Seminole, nightly.  It was like a domino effect or chain reaction.  Every time someone posted a reminder, a large number of students followed and did the same.  In this way, everyone was voting continuously and there was no way any other school could catch up to us.  This experience showed everyone at SHS and our community that together we are invincible!  Even the teachers were voting!”

Gonzalez first found out about the contest from two students who asked her to coordinate the voting effort through her Facebook page.  She is proud of her ability to access approximately three quarters of the student population online, and helped Seminole organize to get the concert the students wanted.

Gonzalez described two students, Cory Hays and Sunshine Diaz, who “really went above and beyond every night to get other students to vote.”

The radio station 102 JAMZ posted in their announcement of the winner, “Congrats to the Fighting Noles [sic] of Seminole High School!  They are the last school standing, and 102 JAMZ will be taking over with a FREE, [sic, emphasis not added] party real soon!”  Over three months later, no such party has materialized.

Like many others, senior Michael Antonatos “voted once or twice.” “I voted because I wanted to have that party.  I expected to have that concert by now,” he said.

Principal Mike Gaudreau hasn’t been kept in the know, however.  He said, “The kids kept telling me I was supposed to get a call from the radio station.  So I waited, and finally I did get a call.”  After discussing some possible dates, Mr. Gaudreau said that the representative of the radio station said he would get back to them.

“I never heard back from him,” Mr. Gaudreau reported.

Mr. Gaudreau called the man at the radio station back a second time.  “I actually had Ms. Mary Michalak [the sponsor for Leadership at Seminole] come in and listen to the conversation because a lot of kids are asking her—just so she knew we were really trying.”  When Mr. Gaudreau was told that it couldn’t be worked out because of the schedule of DJ Khaled, and that those dates wouldn’t work, he asked, “Well, you also mentioned to me that if we couldn’t get a date, you guys have clubs, and you could open a club in Orlando and call it Seminole High Night.”  After being told it would be looked into, Mr. Gaudreau “never heard back from him.”

Before winter break, Mr. Gaudreau called one last time.  When he asked if anything could come of this, he was reassured that “yes, we need to make this happen.”  Like before, he did not hear back.

Mr. Gaudreau said, “I don’t know what exactly happened, but it wasn’t us.”  He’s been flexible, too.  “I said I’ll work it out—maybe he can come for lunch; maybe he can come for a pep rally.  We’ve got a dance coming up.  I don’t know if for some reason he got too busy, or they didn’t have him lined up.”

“If you guys want it, I’m open for it.  We have another dance coming up [the Sadie Hawkins Valentine’s dance].  We could have used him for this dance,” Mr. Gaudreau noted.