The long-dreamed Wellness Center at Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart can become a reality thanks to a $1 million donation toward building it from investor, philanthropist and Coral Gables resident Mike Fernandez and his family.

Plans are for the state-of-the-art structure to serve the Carrollton community as a teaching center for athletics with training facilities, a gymnastics studio, weight cardio center, an indoor running track and a gymnasium able to support two volleyball courts and a full basketball court.

In addition to benefiting the all-girls school in the heart of Coconut Grove, the center will be available to underserved girls who are part of the Barnyard, Breakthrough Miami and the Honey Shine Mentoring Programs.

“Mike and Constance Fernandez have been blessed with a depth and generosity of spirit that knows no bounds,” said Sister Suzanne Cooke, RSCJ, Headmistress of Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart. “Their willingness to help others inspires much hope in the future of our community. Carrollton is greatly blessed to count Constance and Mike as friends of the heart.”

Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart bills itself as the only all-girls school for grades pre-K through 12 in Florida. Fernandez’s daughter attended the school and found success.

“We are very grateful for the education that my daughter Michelle, now a law student ... received at Carrollton,” Fernandez said in a release. “I am proud to say that she is among the many graduates over the years who have become women of conviction, courage and confidence.”

Fernandez currently serves as Chairman of MBF Healthcare Partners, a private equity firm headquartered in Coral Gables that invests in healthcare services companies locally and nationwide. Fernandez has been honored numerous times in recognition of his successful business ventures and dedicated community service.

Carrollton, 3747 Main Hwy., has been a leading girls’ school for over 50 years. For more information, visit www.carrollton.org.

WILDLIFE DOCUMENTARY

You don’t have to wait to see this on TV. Award-winning cinematographer and producer Elam Stoltzfus will present his latest documentary of the Florida Wildlife Corridor at a special presentation at 12 p.m., March 4, at Miami Dade College Homestead Campus, 500 College Terr., in the Aviation Building, Room F222. The event is free and open to the public.

Stoltzfus’ appearance is part of the Bea Peskoe Lunchtime Lecture series. His earlier work was shown by the Homestead Center for the Arts in March of 2011.

In 2012, he was part of a small team that traversed 1,000 miles in 100 days from Everglades National Park toward Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southern Georgia. The experience will be featured in a documentary distributed through a Public Television national release later this year. You can see a beautiful, condensed version of the adventure on YouTube at youtu.be/JwIXw2Z-BHU.

Raised on a family farm in rural Pennsylvania, Stoltzfus has always had a love of the American outdoors. He is a graduate of Florida State University and is the executive director, producer, and cinematographer of four separate hour-long nature documentaries featuring Florida landscapes. Three went on to Public Television national release. The Wildlife Corridor Expedition is his latest project. To read more about it visit www.floridawildlifecorridor.org.