- November 7, 2024
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When Brandon Seminara arrived at the Flagler County Youth Center on Friday, Jan. 13, he found it plastered with notices about his win. Photo by Jacque Estes
Brandon Seminara is congratulated by School Superintendent Jacob Oliva at the Teacher and Employee of the Year ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 12. Photo by Jacque Estes
Brandon Seminara said he was shocked as his name was announced as the Flagler County Employee of the Year at the Flagler Auditorium on Jan. 12.
“I was sitting next to Cheryl (Massaro, director of the Flagler County Young Center and the person who nominated him), and my family was sitting in the row,” Seminara said. “So I had that row cheering, and then I heard some of FPC’s people get up and cheer too.”
Seminara was hired as the assistant director of the Flagler County Youth Center in 2013, but his first job at the center was a camp counselor, from his high school sophomore year through the year following his graduation.
Massaro first met her future assistant when he was an eighth-grader in summer camp, a place he wasn’t sure he wanted to be.
“His mother called and asked if I could create something so he would want to go to summer camp,” Massaro said. “So we created counselors in training.”
“Not only does he do his job exceptionally well; it’s what he does above his job that made him a great nominee.” CHERYL MASSARO, director, Flagler County Youth Center
As an FPC student, he became more involved.
“When I was a student, I was involved in the youth center. I was on the Student Advisory Council, and I was the chair of that group a couple of years,” Seminara said.
Seminara has never strayed far from Flagler Schools. He started at Wadsworth as a kindergartner, followed by Buddy Taylor Middle School, and finally, Flagler Palm Coast High School.
“The plan was, after I graduated, I would try to come back to the school in some fashion to work,” Seminara said. "I ended up working with the district’s technology team for about a year when the job at the youth center came up.”
To keep summer camp costs down, Seminara obtained his CDL, commercial driver’s license, so that he could drive the school bus on camp trips.
“He realized the biggest cost for summer camp was the buses,” Massaro said. “We have to pay not only for the buses, but for the drivers, so he told me, 'I’m going to get my CDL license so I can drive the buses on the field trips.' He took that upon himself. That’s the biggest thing about Brandon: he is always willing to help people.”
The county award isn’t the only accomplishment Seminara was celebrating. The morning after the awards ceremony, he was hanging something special on the wall of his office.
“I just got my diploma in the mail yesterday,” he said. “I graduated from Daytona State on Dec. 16 with my degree in computer information.”
Seminara admits that he may spend more time on the FPC campus now than he did when he was a student.
“I spend a lot of time on this campus, between my hours working here and I also attend a lot of their games,” he said. “I also run the high school social media and news center.”
Massaro said Seminara is always helping out, whether it’s setting the bells at FPC or assisting teachers, even when the tasks are not his duties.
“Not only does he do his job exceptionally well; it’s what he does above his job that made him a great nominee,” Massaro said.
