- December 13, 2025
Bunnell Elementary School dancers perform at the Bunnell Block Party at the Carver Center. Courtesy photo
DeWayne Jenkins speaks about Rev. Eli "Sugar Pop" Emanuel prior to the unveiling of Emanuel's poster on Carver Center's "Wall of Fame. Courtesy photo
FPC dancers at the Bunnell Block Party at the Carver Center. Courtesy photo
Poster of Rev. Eli "Sugar Pop" Emanuel unveiled at the Bunnell Block Party. Courtesy photo
Rev. Eli Emanuel's brothers and sisters and their children with FPC Principal Bobby Bossardet (right) at the Bunnell Block Party. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Flagler Palm Coast High schools students with their yard signs at the Bunnell Block Party at Carver gym. From left, Selena Miranda, Sarah Saunders, Jade Hreib and Cristhian Verdecia. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Flagler Palm Coast High School students with their yard signs at the Bunnell Block Party. Courtesy photo
Flagler Palm Coast High School students with their yard signs at the Bunnell Block Party. Courtesy photo
Flagler Palm Coast High School students with Principal Bobby Bossardet at the Bunnell Block Party. Courtesy photo
Flagler Palm Coast High School Principal Bobby Bossardet walked around the Carver Community Center grounds during the sixth annual Bunnell Bulldog Block Party, on Wednesday, Nov. 19. He walked past the Kona Ice truck and the grill where FPC athletic director Scott Drbaczyk and staff were serving up hamburgers and hotdogs, into the Carver Center gym through throngs of students and parents waiting on lines at tables manned by educators and community members, offering information, supports and treats.
“This is our sixth block party,” Bossardet said. “But it’s our first one without Pop.”
Rev. Elijah “Sugar Pop” Emanuel had been an integral part of the event since its inception in 2018. The former Carver Center facility manager and mentor to many in the community died on May 9, 2025. But his presence was still felt. His poster was unveiled on the gym’s Wall of Fame. FPC graduate DeWayne Jenkins, one of Emanuel’s former mentees, delivered a tribute to his mentor. Emanuel’s brothers and sisters and their families drove from Atlanta to join in the celebration.
Bossardet began the block party in 2018 when he was the principal at Buddy Taylor Middle School. He reestablished it in 2022 when he became FPC’s principal.
This year’s block party was the biggest yet, he said.
The three schools serving the community — FPC, BTMS and Bunnell Elementary School — all participated. Dance groups from all three schools performed.
FPC students with at least a 2.0 GPA received a yard sign that said, “This FPC Bulldog is changing the game.” Those who didn’t have a 2.0 still got to enjoy the party and were connected with mentors, tutoring programs and other academic supports, Bossardet said.
Bossardet said the idea for the event began when he checked the grades of one of his own mentees at BTMS. He told the student that his grades, all D’s, weren’t good enough.
There were no GPA calculations at the time for middle schoolers, so Bossardet asked his sister-in-law, Louise Bossardet, then Flagler Schools’ coordinator of data quality and now the district’s director of Information Systems, to build a calculator.
“In about 48 hours, she had a calculator built, and we uploaded it onto everybody's computer at the time at BTMS,” he said. “So now, when I asked them to show me their grades in Skyward, I could calculate a GPA and we could start getting them introduced to what a GPA is, and how important it is in the opportunities it brings,” he said.
He wanted to get this information out into the Bunnell community.
“It’s something I was passionate about,” he said. “Bunnell has always had a special place in my heart. I grew up in Flagler. A lot of my friends were from the neighborhood.”
He approached Emanuel, who was still the manager at the Carver Center, about hosting an event there.
I told him I want to celebrate the kids who are doing the right things in school, and for the kids that don't have good grades I want to make sure that we have all the supports available. ... We brought Flagler County Schools to the community.
— BOBBY BOSSARDET, FPC principal
“I told him I want to celebrate the kids who are doing the right things in school, and for the kids that don't have good grades I want to make sure that we have all the supports available,” Bossardet said. “I want the local churches, I want mentor groups. We had Teaching and Learning. We had Food Services. We brought Flagler County Schools to the community.”
The first block party drew about 300 families, Bossardet said.
“It was the most powerful night of my career,” he said. “When I was packing up my truck, me and Pop were among the last ones here, and I drove out, and I took a right, and I looked down at the neighborhood, and you saw about 25 to 50 yards signs sitting in front of people's houses.”
Emanuel put his arm around Bossardet, and said “You did it. This is fantastic for our community.”
Bossardet asked if there’s anything else he and his team could do. At that point, he said, Emanuel called him out.
“He said, ‘Let me ask you something. Are you doing this just to get your newspaper article, and then you're gonna be done?’ And I looked at him, and he looked at me with that smile of his. And I said,’ Pop, you have my word, as long as I'm a principal at a school, we will always do a Bunnell Block Party.’”
Bossardet listened to Jenkins’ tribute before Emanuel's poster was unveiled.
“I just know how much of an impact that Sugar Pop made on (Jenkins),” he said. “But I also know the impact that DeWayne’s trying to make on this community, and that's making Pop proud. I always wanted his memory to last.”
