JACKSONVILLE, Fla., June 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Heritage Capital Group, Inc. ("Heritage"), an investment banking and financial advisory firm serving middle-market and emerging growth companies in the US and worldwide, is pleased to announce that its client, Sparr Building & Farm Supply ("Sparr" or the "Company"), has been purchased by Nation's Best.

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Sparr Building & Farm Supply is a family business that has served customers in Central Florida for more than seven decades. The Company has four stores that blend the best characteristics of a lumber yard with a farm and ranch store. The Company's "one-stop-shop" experience makes it easy for customers to pick up livestock feed, animal nutrition products, fencing, lumber, lawn and garden, pet supplies, building materials, paint, and many other products. The rich equestrian history of Ocala, Florida also led Sparr to develop expertise in horse fencing and products.

Nation's Best is one of the country's fastest growing independent home improvement companies. Sparr will join Hall's Hardware & Lumber and Panhandle Lumber & Supply in Florida as Nation's Best extends its presence in the Southeast. As part of Nation's Best's strategy, Sparr Building & Farm Supply will maintain operations under its existing name with its key leadership team overseeing company operations alongside Nation's Best, which will provide the strategic and financial support necessary to drive optimal growth and profitability.

Heritage served as the exclusive financial advisor and intermediary to Sparr Building & Farm Supply. The deal team included Bill Nicholson and Doug Kravet.

"Doug and Bill had the perfect combination of M&A and real estate deal experience that we needed," commented Sam Howard and Paul Howard, owners of Sparr. "They helped us navigate a complex transaction and keep our team well-coordinated as we tackled both big and small issues. Looking back, it's hard to imagine completing this transaction without them."

Heritage Capital Group provides objective advice to private companies in the areas of mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, business valuations, debt and equity capital raises, corporate restructurings, and financial and strategic advisory services focused on enhancing the value of business enterprises. Heritage Capital Group is a FINRA registered broker-dealer, and a member of Oaklins, the world's most experienced mid-market M&A advisor, with 850 professionals globally and dedicated industry teams in 45 countries worldwide.

Media Contact:Katie Quackenbush904-354-9600337900@email4pr.com

SOURCE Heritage Capital Group

For the Star-Banner | USA TODAY NETWORK

SPARR − A newly approved four-year equine studies program at North Marion High School is meant to be a fast track for students toward college and an estimated 244,200 jobs in Florida’s $11.7 billion horse industry

Equine Science 2, 3 and 4, courses with “student performance standards” written by NMHS instructor Lori (Albritton) Jones, were approved as curriculum by the Florida Department of Education in April.

The three Equine Science courses, along with the already in place Agriscience Foundation in freshman year, make up a four-year program at NMHS.

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Equine 2 aims to develop competency in the areas of horse safety, behavior, breeds and classification, grooming, health, digestion and nutritional requirements, anatomy and body systems, global impact, governing agencies and equine industry careers.

Equine 3 and 4 build upon the foundation course and include areas like breeding readiness, reproduction leadership, analyzing records and the environment, according to Jones.

The four-year Equine Science program is unique in Florida and is currently offered only at NMHS.

Equine Science is an outcropping of an extracurricular horse program, North Marion FFA Equine, which was started by Jones and Animal Science students in 2016 with a $5,000 grant obtained by Jones and her students.

“This program has opened doors not only for students to take an Equine Science class, but they are getting real world experiences by working with industry leaders. This program would not have been possible without the help of our equine sponsors in our community,” Jones wrote in an email.

Sponsors of North Marion Equine include Buckeye Feeds, Pleasant Acres Farm, Ocala Stud, Sparr Building & Farm Supply, Hugh and Valerie Dailey, Dr. Corey Miller-Equine Medical Center of Ocala, Dr. John Peloso, Florida Thoroughbred Farm Managers, TizWhiz Hay and farriers Tanner Smith and Brian Gleason.

A rich tradition

Jones, a teacher for 28 years and at NMHS since 2015, is a lifelong horsewoman. She is the wife of Bobby Jones of Bobby Jones Equine, a major supporter of the program.

The North Marion Equine program kicked off with the donation of two bred mares by Bobby Jones Equine: Clueless Brook in 2017 and Perfect Biscuit in 2018."I am very impressed by the students that are interested in this equine program. I feel this program fuels the fire, for young people that possibly could have a future or career in the equine industry. It has been a pleasure working with these young people over the past six years,” Bobby Jones wrote in an email.

Bobby Jones said working with the students has been “amazing.”

Since 2017, students participating in the North Marion Equine program raised and cared for two colts and a filly from the mares and a yearling donated by Valerie Dailey. The two colts, filly and yearling were sold at Ocala Breeders Sales for a total of $44,000.

The funds have been put back into the NMHS agricultural program for feed, supplies, veterinarian care, facilities need, field trips and more, according to program literature.According to program literature provided by Lori Jones, students in the North Marion Equine program spend time at the Bobby Jones Equine Farm and “volunteer and help groom, learn about sales prepping, reproductive work (and surgical procedures) with the vet, and (Bobby) Jones” and some have been “present when foaling mares.”

The mares in the program now are Perfect Biscuit, Country Song and Ahaya, a 12-year-old mare, purchased by North Marion Equine. All the mares are in foal.

Plans include selling Perfect Biscuit’s filly in October. Country Song’s yearling is set to be sold in 2024.

Pleasant Acres and Charlotte Weber of Ocala Stud have also contributed horses to the North Marion Equine program.

All about the students

The North Marion Equine program now has 11 students, and most participants remain in the program through their time at NMHS. There are currently 22 students in the Equine Science 2 class.

Students in the Equine Science 2 class at NMHS, Madison Bias, 18, Cooper Espinoza, 16, Ava Densmore, 16, and Camille Ashbaugh, 17, all worked with the mares during a recent session. Their career interests range from veterinarian to turf management.

Fianna Roberts-Squier came to the right place to follow her career goal as a horse behaviorist. Fianna, 17, moved with her family to Ocala from Volusia County last year and now, as a senior, she’s enrolled in the Equine Academy at North Marion High School, is taking the new Equine 2 class, and is participating in the extracurricular equine program.

Although she joined the NMHS program as a senior, Fianna is taking Equine 2. She has already taken the Agriscience course and Animal Science 3 courses at NMHS.

Lori Jones said Fianna will have a “great educational background” for all aspects of livestock. “(Fianna) has been an asset to our program this year,” Jones said.

Fianna has said she plans to attend a four-year college and major in equine psychology so she can better understand horse behavior.

The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences/Department of Animal Science Department offers Horse Psychology and Training and Intermediate Horse Psychology and Training, according to animal.ifas.ufl.edu

An important field

According to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services website (fdacs.gov) “(the) Florida horse industry, including industry suppliers, generates an annual $6.8 billion economic impact on the gross domestic product of Florida.”

“Total employment figures add up to 244,200 jobs. With a population of over 385,000 horses, Florida ranks as the third largest equine state in the United States.”

“Horse ownership, equine associations and profit-making organizations, plus tourism spending by riders and spectators, combine for a $11.7 billion annual economic impact.”

The Ocala Metro Chamber and Economic Partnership has partnered with MCPS for equine programs.

“Our ultimate goal is to expose students to the many employment opportunities available in the equine industry from media to exercise riders and farm managers to veterinarians,” stated CEP Chief eXperience Officer Tamara Fleischhaker.

Fleischhaker explained that Pyranha Animal Health products is the sponsor of the CEP’s equine initiative.

Fleischhaker indicated two years of meetings between Marion County Public Schools officials, equine industry representatives and CEP staff “led to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Foundation for Chamber & Economic Partnership and MCPS.”“The CEP’s equine initiative will continue to provide guidance and connections to the equine industry, particularly with the local farms, to coordinate field trips, learning experiences and horse visits to schools,” she wrote, in part.

Kevin Christian, director of public relations for MCPS, stated in an email that the NMHS Equine Studies program was off and running even before the current CEP backing.

“The financial backing for NMHS was already in place prior to the MOU thanks to the hard work of the teacher, Mrs. Jones. The CEP is working with us to connect with businesses that provide support in the future to other high schools that want to offer Equine Science or to add a horse for Animal Science experience,” he wrote, in part.

Andrew Spar, president of Volusia United Educators, is saying goodbye to the teachers union after 15 years at its helm in favor of pushing a “pro-public education” agenda in Tallahassee as vice president of the statewide teachers union.

Spar was elected as the Florida Education Association’s new vice president Friday; current FEA Vice President Fed Ingram was elected president. And as early as this Friday, VUE Vice President Elizabeth Albert is poised to take over leadership of the Volusia union.

Spar, 46, called the whirlwind transition “emotional.” But he said he’s eager to implement some of the things that have worked in Volusia at the state level — things like improving visibility, communication and membership.

“We together, the members and myself and our leadership team, really have done some amazing work for our public schools here in Volusia County,” Spar said. “I’m moving on up to hopefully make things better, not just in Volusia but across the state.”

Ingram and Spar were able to defeat incumbent FEA president Joanne McCall, who has been criticized for several legislative losses for public schools, including a law that jeopardizes the certification of a teachers union without 50 percent membership, failed attempts to challenge state voucher programs and the decision that public schools have to share more dollars with charter schools.

[READ MORE: After tough year for teachers, state union facing leadership fight]

Spar emphasized the issue that’s always on the minds of Volusia officials: state funding.

“A lot of the frustrations we have in our district, which are frustrations a lot of districts have, are the lack of funding,” he said. “There’s a lot of blame to be laid in Tallahassee.”

Volusia officials reference paltry state funding increases this year, and the state funding formula that cost the district $10 million in tax dollars this year, at almost every turn. This lack of support is most often cited on the issue of teacher pay. The average salary for Volusia County teachers is $2,600 below the state average, and the state average is more than $10,000 below the national average.

[RELATED: State teacher bonus program another stressor for Volusia County school district]

“We want to set a pro-public school agenda that talks about the things we need in our public schools. Not just funding, but the whole approach to public education,” Spar said. “Teachers in this state and staff in this state have felt attacked for really the last 20 years with what we believe to be poor policies that work against the employees at our public schools.”

The transition in FEA leadership comes as the state is ready to elect a new governor, between two candidates with very different views on education spending. Democrat Andrew Gillum wants to increase education spending by $1 billion and up the starting salary for teachers to $50,000. Republican Ron DeSantis wants to refocus existing spending to the classroom.

[READ MORE: Andrew Gillum, Ron DeSantis education plans glass over what matters most to Volusia and Flagler counties]

“To Florida elected officials, get ready. We shall be mobilized, day in and day out, in Tallahassee and all across Florida,” Ingram said in a press release. “The stakes for our students are too high to stick with the status quo.”

Although assuming his new post as early as next week, Spar said he will continue to oversee teacher contract negotiations in Volusia County. Last week the district declared impasse after a day-long bargaining session ended with no deal. This is the third impasse in four years, and the fourth in Spar's tenure as VUE president.

[READ MORE: Volusia County declares impasse after 16-hour negotiations session fails to reach deal with teachers]

Bargaining began in April, and centers now on the issue of salary increases and extending the elementary school day. The district offered 2.5 percent raises in each of the next three years, contingent on state funding, and the union offered to extend the elementary school day by 30 minutes, contingent on the raises.

Settling the contract is a priority for Albert, who has been on the union’s executive board since 2012. Albert, currently an academic coach at Palm Terrace Elementary, will be leaving that position to take over the union post, pending a confirmation vote by the union’s stewards.

“I truly believe in my heart of hearts the first thing to do is the contract,” she said, emphasizing the need to put an end to the anxiety and frustration the lingering negotiations have fostered in the district.

As the impasse process begins, the district and teachers union are still able to bargain and could come up with a solution without having the School Board make the ultimate decision on the unsettled contract items.

“We wish Andrew Spar well in his new union role in Tallahassee," said Volusia Superintendent Tom Russell. "As for contract negotiations, we look forward to working with union President Elizabeth Albert. We are in agreement with Albert that settling the contract is a major priority."

Thanks for your letters describing your dream spring break trips. Those sound like some very fun places to visit! I hope you all have a good spring break, no matter where you go, or even if you stay home (like me!) I will provide a new writing prompt once you return from spring break.

Your friend,

Hello there, Matt. I will tell you where I want to go. I want to go to a resort because they have pools, good food and rock climbing. I really want to go to one. I hope I go soon. Maybe I will go some day. Bye, Matt!

Tri'Nya Wilson

Out of all of the options, I'd go camping (but I did that two weeks ago.) Bye bye.

Marcos Mayen

I want to go to SeaWorld during spring break with my cousin Charlie because the last time I was there I was a baby. I love ocean animals like seahorses, sea otters and dolphins.

Your friend,

Brynlee McElveen

I really want to go see my aunt and uncle on spring break. I also want to go to my Uncle Dominick's for spring break and take my dogs too.

Your friend,

Jemma Smith

I would go to an amusement park and probably go to the beach. And on the last day I would go to my cousins.

Your friend,

Hannah Small

A fun spring break trip would be going to Clearwater Beach. And why? Because I like to sit in the ocean and it's relaxing.

Your friend,

Beckett Hodgson

Dear Matt,

For spring break, I would like to take a journey to Fort Lauderdale. I can already imagine me there. I can ride a boat on the water. It is amazing jumping off the boat. I feel excited seeing all the little fish.

Your friend,

Skylar O'Brien

For spring break, I would like to take a journey to Daytona Beach. I love to swim in the water. I can feel the waves on me.

Jeh'Mariyon Morris

Dear Matt,

For spring break, me and my family will play games and hunt.

Your friend,

Georgia Pinson

Dear Matt,

For spring break I am going to St. Augustine and we are going to the lighthouse.

Your friend,

Hunter Helmcke

Dear Matt,

If I could go anywhere, I would go on a cruise to go in the hot tub and the pool and make new friends!

Your friend,

Jordan Dawson

Dear Matt,

I want to go to the beach but I need to ask my mom. I hope she says yes!

Your friend,

Stella Ethier-McLemore

If I could go anywhere for spring break I would go to the pool. I want to go swimming in a pool. I can use the diving rings and my goggles. I could also teach my sister how to swim.

Kaleb Goines

If I were to go somewhere on spring break, I would go to Universal. I would go to a Justin Bieber concert because we are probably getting the tickets. I would go to the skate park with my family.

Colt Deaton

If I could go anywhere for spring break I would go to a hotel because of the stairs, elevator and more. The previous hotel (Feb. 4, 2022) was the best! That was because of the nice breakfast and rooms. Where would you like to go?

Isaac Grubaugh

If I could go anywhere for spring break, I would like to go to New York City. I would visit the 9/11 memorial. We could go to Ellis Island and see the Statue of Liberty. My family and I could also walk around Central Park. What would you do for spring break?

Raul Guerrero Hernandez

If I could go anywhere for spring break, I would go to my Aunt Krista's house. I would play in the pool and watch TV. I would also play on my tablet and watch videos on YouTube.

Willie Carr

North Marion High senior is Ivy League-bound

joe.callahan@starbanner.com

It was just a few days after Elizabeth “Liz” Kinard’s fifth birthday in April 2006 when her life changed forever.

As she slept inside her grandmother’s home that night, the car her mother was driving was struck by a drunk driver.

Amanda Kinard, now 38, was not supposed to survive. She had broken bones all over her body. One leg was severed. She was in a coma. Months would pass before she would come home, and it would be months beyond that before she could sit up in bed.

Young Elizabeth remembered she was the only family member, including her two brothers, who was not frightened by her mother’s amputated leg. Elizabeth knew then that she wanted to become an orthopedic surgeon.

Elizabeth’s grandmother, Lynda Kinard, became the main caregiver for the family. She lives north of Ocala off County Road 326. At times, Lynda Kinard, now 70, has worked four jobs (now down to two) to take care of her disabled daughter and her grandchildren.

Elizabeth, now 16, worked hard toward reaching her dream. She passed first and second grades in one year. Now she's a senior at North Marion High School and is on track to be valedictorian.

But that's not all.

Elizabeth also is poised to become the first North Marion High graduate in at least 25 years (maybe ever) to start his or her freshman year on an Ivy League campus.

This fall, Elizabeth will enroll at Harvard.

North Marion officials have records dating back 25 years and cannot find any other graduate who was accepted to an Ivy League school as a freshman. Others may have ended up at an Ivy League school later in college, but records don’t track college transfers after leaving high school. (Vincent Vaughns attended North Marion as a freshman and sophomore, then became a scholarship student at Phillips Exeter Academy before enrolling at Yale.)

Elizabeth is involved in many extracurricular activities at North Marion, including band and the Ecology Club. She is the school’s Health Occupation Students of America secretary, National Honor Society secretary and academic team captain.

Elizabeth took the school’s most challenging curriculum. She is enrolled in the AICE (Advance International Certificate of Education) magnet program, which is sponsored by the University of Cambridge International. She has been volunteering at Munroe Regional Medical Center the past two years.

“Elizabeth has been ranked No. 1 in her class all four years of high school,” said Dana Spencer, AICE coordinator at North Marion.

Elizabeth will receive her AICE Diploma Award from the University of Cambridge. She is one of only six students in her graduating class to have already met and exceeded the AICE qualifications.

“While she is obviously fully committed to her academic success, she is also fully committed to our school and community,” Spencer said.

“What is unique about Elizabeth is her motivation," Spencer said. "That experience (her mother's accident and her grandmother's caretaking) has given Elizabeth an incredibly strong work ethic and level of resiliency that is rare to see.”

Spencer said she met with Elizabeth and her grandmother numerous times during ninth and 10th grade “to plan not only her high school experience, but to make sure all she was doing was aligning with her goals of excelling at the university level.”

“She loves to learn and she does not take no for an answer,” Spencer noted. “She sees the big picture. The only thing she lacks is experience; therefore, she took it upon herself to find opportunities that would enable her to learn and grow.”

Last summer, Elizabeth participated in the Oxbridge College Experience in Boston and completed medical and neuropsychology courses. She earned "A" grades and received high faculty marks. Elizabeth says she believes it was those courses that put her over the top to get an acceptance to Harvard.

Elizabeth still remembers the day when she was 5 years old and first saw her mother’s injuries. She said she was not frightened, and the experience helped her know at an early age that she wanted to go into the medical field.

“Now I want to be an orthopedic surgeon,” she said. Elizabeth has a GoFundMe page (Gofundme.com/helplizgotoharvard) to help pay for travel expenses to Boston and to purchase winter clothes.

“While I have been given significant financial aid to cover tuition, I am in need of financial assistance for travel costs in both moving to Massachusetts and being able to come back down to Florida for important holidays,” Elizabeth wrote on her GoFundMe page.

“As a native Floridian, I do not own a single article of clothing which is suitable for New England winters, so I will also need enough money to buy coats and boots. With a disabled mother, and a 70-year old-grandmother who supports our family, it is nearly impossible to come up with the funding needed for me to be able to live at Harvard starting this fall. My plan is to major in neuroscience and attend medical school to become a surgeon. I am very honored to represent not only North Marion High School, but also Ocala/Marion County as an Ivy League student,” she wrote.

Sonja Christmas, Elizabeth’s health occupations teacher, has taught Elizabeth every year of high school. Christmas said Elizabeth is driven and mature for her age.

“She has been through a lot in her life,” said Christmas, adding that she is proud Elizabeth is following her dreams.

Joe Callahan can be reached at 867-4113 or at joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeOcalaNews.

You can help

Elizabeth Kinard, 16, whose mother was seriously injured in a car accident when Elizabeth was 5 years old, watched her grandmother work four jobs to help her get a good high school education. Elizabeth is going to Harvard in the fall. Though her tuition is covered, she needs money to travel to Boston and to buy warm clothes for the winter. She has set up a fundraising account at Gofundme.com/helplizgotoharvard.