Clermont

There are so many challenges when you live in a city for two weeks. You feel like a stranger to a place who so many call home.

Here in Clermont, FL nearly 24,000 people call it home.

The continuous line of cars that drive up and down state routes 50 and 27 are all too familiar to the natives, which makes me and my talking GPS the odd man out (or in this case woman) in a sea of cars that zoom past me as we slow down traffic on the city’s main arteries.

But today, we bumped into Luck and that little bit of luck made us feel welcomed in a city so foreign to us.

The luck came when we walked in to the South Lake Chamber of Commerce, which is situated in the city’s historic downtown district and tucked in the shadow of city hall.

When we walked in, the breeze from an empty air-conditioned room greeted us and cooled us off from the summer Florida sun. In the chamber, the walls were cluttered with business cards hanging from plastic holders from every shop in the area and the tables were filled with pamphlets of discount coupons to local restaurants.

It was a treasure trove of information for any new person, such as us, who wanted to know where to go. You would think that with all this under one roof, the chamber would be a revolving door but there was no rush. It was quiet.

The silence was quickly broken by Ray San Frantello, Ray Villegas and Juli D’Agostino. The three greeted us shortly after we walked in the door and we told them about our mission as student journalist for News21.

They were quickly interested in our initiative since the Chamber itself was looking to reach out to the younger generation by using social networking tools like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. In fact, the Chamber is now trying to launch a more web-based way to reach out to the public since the demographic of Clermont is changing and shifting away from an empty nest community. We asked them who we should talk to and they invited us to an after hours Chamber business party where there would be lots of people we could talk to.

That’s where we bumped into Luck, not once or twice, but five times.

From person to person, we heard so many stories from parents about what it’s like to have their children grow up in such an age where technology is shaping their lives and relationships.

From a parent who’s child was bullied on MySpace to a 17 year old who practically runs his family’s business and online website from design to content. It was all there.

It was what any stranger to a new place dreams of.

It was the moment when Luck said, “Relax. Welcome to Clermont!”

-Racquel