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Wackiest Student Event
     Brrrrrr! Even spectators got the shivers at a "Frozen T-Shirt Contest" held during half-time at a Webber College basketball game against Florida College last November. Six students raced to put on T-shirts that had been soaked in water, folded up, stuffed into zip-lock sandwich bags, and frozen hard. Contestents had to get the shirts out of the bags and pull them apart enough to put on and wear. "They were putting them between their legs and under their arms to get them to thaw," says Lorri Jacques, public relations director. "It was really quite comical." To make matters chillier, men were shirtless and women wore only sports bras. The "lucky" winner Kimber Powell got to defrost with free pizza for being the first to sport a frozen tee in only eight minutes flat. Students in Professor Heidi Grappendorf’s "Sports Promotions" class came up with this and other ideas for an assignment that required teams to find sponsors and donations and plan an interactive half-time event.

Best Turtle Trackers
     In the middle of the night at Melbourne Beach last August, University of Central Florida students were searching for their Destiny—a 250-pound loggerhead sea turtle who had just laid a hundred golf-ball-sized eggs in a 2-foot deep hole at the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. After the eggs incubate in the warm sand of the carefully camoflaged nest, the hatchlings break free, dig to the top of the hole, and scamper back to the sea. But while scientists know much about the turtle’s birthing process, how the mom’s-to-be spend their time when they aren’t nesting had remained a mystery. If scientists could find out what routes the turtles take, how long it takes them to reach their destination, and where they feed, they could partner with other nations to protect this threatened species. So about a dozen UCF students, along with marine biologists from the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries, scoured a 13-mile section of the beach on all-terrain vehicles looking for tracks that resemble alternating comma marks. Once they found the turtle, researchers worked for three hours to strap a $3,500 satellite transmitter about the size of a VHS videotape to the sea creature’s shell using strips of fiberglass cloth painted with three coats of surfboard resin. In the first three days after Destiny was fitted with the device, she travelled more than 160 miles, and in three months, scientists tracked her 1,240-mile journey into the Caribbean. "We need to know where turtles go to spend their lives when they’re not here on Florida's nesting beaches, if we’re going to protect them," says Dr. Llew Ehrhart, director of UCF Marine Turtle Research Group.

Best Olympic Spirit
     Florida Southern College students helped some special youngsters go for the gold. Last October, about 500 Special Olympics athletes from Hillsborough, Highlands, and Polk counties celebrated the spirit of competition during opening ceremonies and games held at Jenkins Fieldhouse and other local and FSC facilities. The Olympians competed in basketball, powerlifting, bowling, and gymnastics. Nearly 150 Florida Southern student-volunteers helped make the event a success by setting up, parking cars, staffing booths, and supporting athletes. For example, ROTC members assembled the Olympic Village, staffed by Pi Kappa Phi and Zeta Tau Alpha brothers and sisters. Inside the Village, athletes and spectators could relax, grab a bite, play carnival games, and make crafts such as paintings and jewelry. FSC cheerleaders also were on hand to root for the competitors and boost spirit with a dance routine, and the pep band Alpha Sinfonia, a music fraternity, played during an opening ceremonies parade. "It’s really a nice day for everyone concerned," says Linda Moser, director of community service and student judicial affairs. "Our students always look forward to helping volunteer for the Special Olympics."

Best Video Memories
     Students at Broward Community College-South Campus probably don’t realize it, but they’re always on candid camera. With the launch of the new video-yearbook club, Seahawk Vision 2000, every highlight, blooper, and renovation on campus is caught on tape. When about a dozen student film-buffs approached Charles Lyle, coordinator for student life, with their idea last August, he helped the club get started with two video cameras, plenty of blank tapes, and an "old, broken-down video editor." The videographers hope to turn their yearbook project into an "annual" event, selling an hour-long tape of campus highlights for $5 to $7 in the BCC bookstore. The team already has started recruiting predecessors by pitching their group to film and video students at local high schools. "They’ve taped campus ‘Welcome Back’ cookouts, wrestling on campus, all club activities—everything from academics to social," Lyle says. "They’re also doing before-and-after shots of a classroom that’s being renovated. They’re really into it." BCC is one of Florida’s few community colleges in Florida with any type of yearbook.

Best Jail Bait
     Getting taken into custody at South Florida Community College isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The new Public Service Academy, which opened this semester, has lured in students from miles around by "arresting" their attention with real-life scenarios as a training technique. A working mock jail cell allows future correctional officers to learn how to conduct cell searches. Students also get a feel for a typical day on the job—formation drills, uniform inspections, formations, and a ceremonial flag raising are part of students’ daily assignments. Advanced training for officers includes a mock courtroom with a judge’s bench and witness box with video cameras used for officer testimonies, which are critiqued in the classroom. Before earning their badges, students also experience what it’s like to respond to domestic violence calls, hold-ups, burglaries, and hostage situations in a practical lab that’s set up as half home and half business. In addition, an EMT training lab features a built-in functional ambulance patient compartment identical to those used on the road. "A real four-way intersection is used for crash investigations, traffic stops, and EMT training," says John Scherlacher, coordinator of community relations and marketing. Scherlacher says the Academy attracts students from well-beyond the tri-county area SFCC serves.

Best Gourmet for the Frugal
     Chilled avacado bisque, lobster consomme, grilled buffalo tenderloin, and amaretto cheesecake typically aren’t on the menu at most college cafeterias—unless you’re enrolled at Pensacola Junior College. Each fall semester, advanced PJC culinary students present a luncheon series that’s open to the campus and the community once a week. Each three-course meal varies weekly and includes a soup, choice of hot, cold, or vegetarian entrée, bread, and dessert. Culinary students take turns serving as chef of the day, applying their classroom learning by creating a menu, preparing a shopping list, and supervising a kitchen staff of up to 15. "After we’ve taught them everything we can in the classroom, this is their chance to show that they’ve absorbed what we’ve had to teach them," says Howard Aller, certifed executive chef and culinary educator. The students also produce a dinner series during the spring semester, taking reservations for the 75-seat dining room adjacent to the kitchen. About 10 years ago, PJC closed its cafeteria in the student activities center and invested $250,000 to renovate the facility and start a culinary program. Approximately 100 students are enrolled in the four-year-old program, which was recently accredited by the American Culinary Federation Educational Institute.

Highest HOPEs
     Some future Edison Community College students now have reason to believe their cup is half full, thanks to Project HOPE (Help One Person Excel). "Project HOPE was the brainchild of President Dr. Kenneth P. Walker, who had the vision that through a scholarship incentive program, ECC could inspire ‘at-risk’ and first-generation middle and high school students to stay in school," says Fredrick Morgan, coordinator on the Lee County Campus program. Project HOPE promises a full two-year scholarship for books and tuition to qualified eighth graders who stay out of trouble and make good grades. The program, now in it’s seventh year, is funded through private donations from the college foundation and the ECC’s financial aid fee. Last year, ECC awarded 80 HOPE scholarships. Candidates must complete an application form, write a personal statement, and submit transcripts and three recommendation letters. Once winners enroll, they become members of the HOPE Scholars Club and enjoy regular academic success workshops, community service projects, and socials. Each spring, a banquet brings together "HOPEful" eighth-grade students, graduating high school seniors, and ECC degree candidates who were Project HOPE scholars.

Most Eclectic Campus
     Combining Spanish Renaissance architecture with edgy, contemporary designs and state-of-the-art equipment may seem like sacrilege to an astute aesthete. But experts at the International Fine Arts College in Miami love the combination of their historic main building and their nearby ultra-modern Studio Training Center, which is outfitted with the latest equipment for computer animation, creative imaging, and 3-D modeling. In contrast, the main building features hand-painted Spanish tiles, a marble- floored ballroom, and delicate wrought-iron Spanish chandeliers hanging from 18-foot ceilings. "It’s a juxtaposition," says Dorothy McHale, IFAC dean. "The main building was built in 1905. It’s very graceful and elegant, and it’s a beautiful place to exhibit the students’ work. In The Studio, we have seven computer labs with truly state-of-the-art equipment, and they have their own T-1 line." Because of the difficulty in wiring the older IFAC building for internet access, a satellite connects all of the schools. As McHale says, "In this case, function followed form."

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