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Best Millennium Milagros
     At Florida Community College at Jacksonville-North Campus, the SGA planned a project not only to celebrate the millennium but also the college’s thirtieth anniversary. About 30 students made "milagros," a type of art used to wish good fortune. These creations are part of a Latin American tradition in which people go to churches to leave art as a prayer for better health, a new job, or an overall happier life. The projects, made of paper, glitter, ribbons, buttons, fabrics, and paints, are displayed throughout the year in the student lounge. "When I first came to my SG and expressed this idea, I suddenly remembered a time when I traveled to Mexico and visited a little church in the mountains which had walls covered with art made of tin and sticks," says B.J. Hausman, director of cocurricular programs and leadership development. The SG also had a contest for the best milagros, and the winner got a prize package containing several items, such as movie passes.

Best Staged Fight
     Move over Jackie Chan—Flagler College has a new drama course full of fighting action. The class "Stage Combat" began in fall 1998 and teaches the basics of unarmed combat. In addition, students learn dueling aspects of the "rapier," a slender two-edge sword, and daggers. Plus, they gain a better understanding of the safe, non-violent approach to fighting used in stage and film. Instructor Britt Corry went to a summer stage-combat workshop in Las Vegas, so he could teach the Flagler class. "For an actor, it’s a skill you need," Corry says. "It’s been around for a long time, since the 70s, and it’s a growing field in the U.S. Unless you’re trained, it can be dangerous."

Best Haunted Hall
     Get ready to get spooked. Barry University’s SGA and Residence Hall Association sponsored an annual Halloween celebration for students and neighborhood children last October. With $1,000 raised by RHA, local residents handed out candy, and volunteers served as tour guides. During the day, 650 children walked through the decorated basement of Weber Hall and into the spook house filled with Barry students dressed as monsters. At night, adults experienced a much scarier hall where the "monsters" could grab and touch participants. "We used a variety of materials for the project," says Monica Larson, SGA vice president. "We bought everything from chains, spider webs, four-foot stakes, face crayons, toilet paper, black lights, and spray paint to red food coloring, scary music, and tarp paper to separate the areas of the haunted house."

Best Alco-Hall
     College is definitely the place for spirit—wine and spirits that is. Last spring, Florida International University opened the new state-of-the-art Southern Wine and Spirits Beverage Management Center, which cost $1 million and covers 4,400 square feet. The building features a temperature-controlled wine cellar, a pantry kitchen, a spirits-training bar, a laboratory, and 36 tasting booths. "We have two of the finest classrooms on campus," says Lee Dickson, associate dean of The School of Hospitality Management. "One is the wine-tasting lab. We can do things that we couldn’t do before with that facility." The other lecture hall is used from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. four days a week, with as many as 350 students using the center weekly. In fact, about 2,000 people attended the Florida Extravaganza, a wine- and food-tasting benefit for the beverage-management facilities.

Best Mascot
     Students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University go to sporting events not only to support the team but also the mascot. That’s because their Ernie Eagle is one of the school’s most popular personalities, with long lines of groupies begging for autographs. The blue and white mascot always dresses in season, wearing the appropriate uniform for the team he cheers for at the moment. "Domino’s Pizza is one of our biggest sponsors, and our finest moment was when Ernie beat up the Noid at a soccer game," says Drew Rabin, director of sports marketing and promotions. "He did a ‘Diamond Dallas Page’ wrestling move on the Noid. That was the crowning moment for the students. They really enjoyed seeing flying drop-kicks. It even made part of the evening news."

Best Recycling Initiative
     When students at the University of West Florida realized how much waste they produce, they took action to protect the planet. Campus dorms don’t have recycling facilities, so students started an environmental club. The 100-member group holds fund-raisers, such as a casino night where students bring in empty six-pack cans to get free casino chips. The fund-raisers are held almost every weekend to earn money so an on-campus recycling center eventually can be opened. "Students came to me to see if I could help promote this program," says David "Tex" Saunders, student relations chair. "We want to make a difference on campus, so we’re going to start from the campus and work our way out. We already have a faculty recycling program but not one for students living on campus. We’re trying to get $2,480 raised to get blue recycling bins to put outside every dorm and campus building."

Best Net Vet
     What do you get when you connect on-line service, students, and animals? You get the St. Petersburg Junior College on-line veterinary technology program, one of the only accredited programs of its kind in the country. It was the nation’s first distance program and currently enrolls 127 students from 37 of the "lower 48" states, plus Alaska, Hawaii, and the British West Indies. "There’s a great shortage of vet techs today, and we had a lot of requests to help people who wanted to get into the field but couldn’t leave their jobs or move to St. Petersburg," says Dr. Guy Hancock, creator of the on-line distance program. "So we thought about weekend or night programs, but then we realized that the most convenient way to go would be through on-line service. Evidence so far proves that this is more effective. Several distance students took national tests and scored two to nine percent above the national average."

Best Monster Magnet
     Think of a magnet on a refrigerator. OK, now think of it blown up and about eight trillion times stronger, and you’ll have the newest addition to Florida State University’s Magnet Lab. The "45-T Hybrid" electromagnet is 22 feet tall, 7 feet in diameter, weighs 34 tons, and cost $14 million. The "attractive" device will be used to study materials such as high temperature superconductors and semi-conductors. "The field is what’s important," says Janet Patten, director of governmental and public relations for the Magnet Lab. "To get a field of 45 tesla, we have to have a magnet that big. It’s similar to how astronomers want bigger telescopes to see more things. It gives scientists more power than ever before."

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