David Sparling
Welcome to my website.
The purpose of this site is to provide visitors with an overview of my background and experience in radio, television, and film. I have been fortunate to have had a wide array of experiences and a background both professionally and in the classroom.
I have been very blessed to have the opportunities that have been given to me by God. I have been able to see the world and experience many cultures. My greatest joy outside of watching my own children grow, is watching students mature and embrace technology and use it for good.
I have had over 30 years of professional experience in broadcasting, I have seen it change from vinyl to tape and now digital. On this website you will find artifacts from that career.
Once again thank you for visiting, and if you have any questions please feel free to email me at David.Sparling@polk-fl.net
NewsChief Article
By Madison Fantozzi
LEDGER MEDIA GROUP
Published: Monday, December 1, 2014 at 12:33 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, December 1, 2014 at 12:33 p.m.
EAGLE LAKE | Do you want to build a snowman?
Well, you can't in Florida. But daddies and daughters can spend a night with Elsa and Olaf on Dec. 12 at Lake Region High School's seventh annual Daddy Daughter Dance. This year's theme is Disney's "Frozen."
The dance is open to all Polk County students, elementary to high school, with their dads or father figures.
David Sparling, a television production teacher at Lake Region, started the dance after he took his own daughter to a Valentine's Day daddy-daughter dance in Auburndale when she was about 10 years old.
"She said, ‘Why don't you do it at your school with chicken nuggets?'?" Sparling said.
She didn't like the cordon bleu.
This year, the school's chef and culinary classes will prepare enough chicken nuggets and mac 'n' cheese to feed up to 200 daddies and daughters, and the art department is sculpting the "Frozen" character Olaf.
"The whole school really gets involved," said Kayla Douglas, a senior in Sparling's sixth-period TV production class who is helping plan the dance for the second year in a row.
"Little girls really like ‘Frozen' right now, so it just made sense for our theme," she said.
Sparling's daughter, Hope Doherty, even convinced him to watch the Disney princess movie.
"Even as an old guy, she talked me into watching it," Sparling said.
"As a television producer, I really appreciate not only the medium, but the story behind the story."
He said the movie reaches every demographic, from young girls to their fathers.
"It had me crying and laughing out loud on my own couch, which I don't do very often," he said.
Hope and Sparling used to plan the dance together, but now that she's a little older and involved in cheerleading, his TV class has helped him put on the event in recent years.
They've been planning "A Night Frozen in Time Forever!" for about a year.
Daughters ages 5 to 18 are expected to come in their princess gowns, and dads in their formal attire.
Past daddy-daughter dances have had princess themes, too, because Sparling said it's about showing daughters that they should be treated like one.
"A daddy-daughter dance is to show how you should be treated on a date," Sparling said. "I put on my tux, ring the doorbell, open the car door and everything."
Tickets are $25 a couple and are available in Lake Region High School's main office during normal school hours.
Money from ticket sales go to the school's Thundervision Television and theater program.
There are only 100 tickets available.
As for Hope, this will be her last daddy-daughter dance before the Lake Region senior leaves for college.
"The dance is a bonding experience," she said. "My dad has shown me how I deserve to be treated."
About Me:
I was born in Indianapolis Indiana, and moved to Florida while I was in third grade. 
I am very blessed with a wonderful family; My wife Misty, my sons Alec and Scott, and my youngest daughter Hope. She will be graduating from the high school that I teach at this year 2015. The best thing about being a teacher at the school my children attend is that I have had the priviledge of watching them grow up through some of the most difficult years of their lives, if needed I was less than a minute away on campus. I have the opportunity to be the master of ceremonies for the school. The high school has me announcing, football games, pep rallies and other special events, my favorite of 
which is graduation. The students pass in front of me as I call their name, so twice already I’ve had the moment of looking into my childs eyes, pausing briefly to exchange a smile and a knowing look, and then speaking their name pronouncing them graduates. This year I will say Hope’s name, and all of my children will have graduated. That is a wonderful blessing and a snapshot memory for me to hold on to.
I have many interests that coincide directly with my career; I enjoy writing, directing, shooting, and editing digital media. My children did not escape childhood without writing their own movies, which we would shoot on family vacations where it was just natural for them to create and edit. My oldest Alec was just 10 at the time of editing his first short film involving his sister and brother, and he is currently studying film at the University of Central Florida(UCF).
I know the digital landscape will continue to change and evolve dramatically in the next 10 years and I'm thrilled to be part of it. Most importantly though I will receive the wonder of watching my three children go through college and enter into adulthood. They are fantastic people with hearts for God and they constantly amaze me.
