Wise Words From Florida's Top Campus Leaders
compiled by Teresa Beard, assistant editor

     Here’s sound advice from fellow student body presidents, orientation coordinators, and other experienced campus leaders from across the state—all winners of the 1998 Florida College Student of the Year Award.

What’s the biggest problem on your campus, and what are you doing about it?

     "A lack of school spirit. As a resident assistant, I tried to get my residents involved in the Festival of Nations. Since it’s primarily student-run and done on a budget generated by students, they want the most for their money. There’s a commitment to do things well, because people want to tell about their country and what makes that place unique."
—Carla Armorgan, 97-98 member, Campus Activities Board,
Barry University, capa@mail.utexas.edu

     "Fighting apathy is almost a never-ending battle. We’ve put up new electronic messaging boards. Students are more likely to see them than antiquated bulletin boards that are cluttered. We also got plastic-sleeve sign holders for inside classroom doors to promote events and lease the space to other student groups."
—Cristal Bruno, 97-98 president, Student Government Association,
Broward Community College-Central campus, cbruno6100@aol.com

     "The number of students who don’t realize the value of helping others and never invest their time by getting involved. All of the organizations with which I’m involved have the potential to help students see the value of helping other people—whether it’s the children affected by Dance Marathon or the people all over the country and in the Tallahassee community helped through Alternative Break Corps and other volunteer organizations on campus."
—Dana Hill, 97-98 vice president, Student Alumni Association,
Florida State University, dmh1051@garnet.acns.fsu.edu

     "Because we’re a small commuter campus, we don’t have a lot of school spirit. When I was an ambassador, I always stressed to new students to get involved to make their college experience more fulfilling—sort of a one-on-one pep talk."
—Christie Cohn, Travel and Tour Committee chairperson,
Campus Activities Board, Barry University, cmcred@aol.com

     "Ensuring safety for all students. With the largest campus police unit in the country, UF has created a safe environment, but there is always room for improvement. In spring of 1998, two rape incidents occurred on campus at night in areas that were not adequately lighted. Student Government chose to allocate $1.5 million to the improvement of campus lighting, and a task force was launched to map out the areas which were in need."
—Ian Lane, 98-99 treasurer, Student Government,
University of Florida, ilane@ufl.edu

     "Students may not know what’s out there. It’s important to interact with students not necessarily even in the extracurricular setting, but in the classroom, telling someone, ‘I’m involved in this. Why don’t you come along, too?’ If you’re vocal about what you’re involved in, hopefully the enthusiasm will be contagious enough that people will also want to partake."
—Ingrid Lim, director,
1997 Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week,
University of Florida, ilim@grove.ufl.edu

     "A lot of students didn’t want to get involved in community service, because they thought it was a waste of their time. They didn’t see the immediate benefits. Yet most of them are going to professional schools such as medical school. In your resume, unless you have that volunteer experience, you won’t get in even if you have really high grades. They want to know that you’re a caring individual."
—Celestine Mararac, 97-98 peer advisor,
Jacksonville University, celestiann@hotmail.com

     "Cost of tuition. I initiated a calculator loan program to provide calculators for required math classes. This removed the burden on students to purchase $80 to $130 calculators. With donations from teachers and students and calculators bought from pawn shops with money raised by selling carnations on Valentine’s Day, we were able to loan out six to 10 calculators each semester."
—Jeffrey Rogers, 97-98 president,
Mathematics Awareness and Assistance Club,
Florida Community College at Jacksonville-North campus,
jeffr2000@aol.com

     "Most of the people going to a community college work part-time and raise a family, so it’s harder to get them involved. Working with Phi Theta Kappa, we did a variety of community service projects as well as campus projects, which gave a wider range of times and different projects that people would find interesting and make time for. We did environmental things like road, beach, and campus clean-ups, and we also did a clothes drive for a women’s crisis center and hosted an AIDS awareness night."
—Jodi Thomas, 97-98 chapter president, Phi Theta Kappa,
Manatee Community College, jodiht@aol.com

     "Involvement of the students. Our campus is so multicultural and diverse, but the different groups of people stay within themselves. Student leaders on our campus had to break those barriers and become more inclusive. We started having more political and social activities with forums or open panel discussions to allow people to speak freely and give their opinion. It’s allowed students to get to know each other and to realize that although they’re from different backgrounds, they really are the same."
—Teresa Womble, 1997 chapter president, Phi Theta Kappa,
Miami-Dade Community College-North campus, twwomble@aol.com

     "Getting all the different students involved—athletes, nontraditional students, and regular college-aged students. We had a student athlete become SG treasurer. We also created a new campus organization called S.O.S—Students Offering Support. It was basically a support group for nontraditional students. Sometimes nontraditionals have different needs than regular students. They worry about whether they’ll fit in or do good in school after not going for so many years. S.O.S also helps with carpooling or any other problem they might have."
—Matthew Yarber, 97-98 student member,
State Board of Community Colleges,
Pasco-Hernando Community College

NOTE: For more information about the 20 recipients of the 1998 Florida College Student of the Year Award or to find out how you can apply this year, visit www.floridaleader.com/soty.

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