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Best Rap Session
     "Can’t we all just get along?" That’s the goal at the University of Miami. The new "Greek 101" talk-show-style meeting unites non-greeks and greeks once a semester to talk about the organizations and sorority and fraternity life. The presidents of the Federation of Historically Black Greeks, the Interfraternity Council, the Panhellenic Council, and the Latino Greek Council served on a panel as facilitators, moderating a Q & A session. "It was a great program that bridged the gap between the organizations," says Mindy Chiesa, Panhellenic Council president and a panel member. "It informed not only members of the groups, but also people interested in becoming part of an organization, about the quirks of Greek life."
Contact Chiesa at pigleteyes@aol.com.

Best TV Series Spin-off
     "Survivor" isn’t just a CBS show in the Outback. Students at Rollins College actually made their own mini-series right on campus. "Fall Break Survivor 2000" included nine students who, for four days, competed in activities such as canoe races, reward challenges, and tribal council meetings. This Survivor team, however, didn’t eat rats, walk around naked, or vote anyone off—instead, they actually came together. All Campus Events ran the program and had to turn down more than 40 anxious potential applicants. "The event was a great way to meet people whom I never would have run into on campus, not to mention the many self-discoveries that were made on everyone’s part," says junior Jeanna Russo, winner of the $1,000 prize. The sequel to "Fall Break Survivor 2000" is in the works for next year.
Contact Nathaniel Eberle, Rollins news editor, at contact@rollins.edu.

It's Absolute Muddness!
     Residence halls and huge mud pits usually don't mix. However, University of Florida Gators spent a week getting down and dirty during the 31^st annual "Mudfest." The Inter-Residence Hall Association sponsored the weeklong festivities that drew more than 100 on-campus residents to plunge into a 50-foot-by-25-foot mud pit near two dorms. Events such as mud volleyball, polo, a rock search, and even a "mud dance" all take place in the 1-foot-deep pit made of Georgia red clay.
     Last fall’s 31st annual event almost didn’t happen because of housing officials’ safety concerns, so participating students signed liability waivers. Administrators also weren’t fond of students carrying the mud inside the residence halls after the events. "They don’t like that, because the showers get clogged," says Kalyani Marathe, program coordinator. "Of course, it’s not their favorite event, but they have totally supported us and given us a lot of backing." But playing dirty is playing fair in Mudfest’s tournament-style team contests. "It’s awesome, it’s muddy, it’s nasty, and it’s great," said sophomore Erin Fernandez in The Alligator student newspaper. "It’s really not about the sports. It’s about the competition in the mud." Let’s just hope the winning team is sponsored by Tide laundry detergent!
Contact Marathe at kalyani@ufl.edu.

Best Tabloid Junkies
     Who actually writes the articles about UFO sightings and alien encounters found in supermarket tabloids? Florida Atlantic University students find our first hand. FAU students intern and earn a $2,500 grant at American Media Inc., a Boca Raton-based publisher. Not only do interns work in AMI’s business, accounting, marketing and law divisions, but also at the National Enquirer, Star, and Globe publications. The AMI scholarship program requirements include a GPA of 3.0 or better, an essay, and an interview. "The AMI scholarship is broad-based," says Laurie Carney, development officer at FAU’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. "It allows students in a wide variety of areas to get a real-life opportunity in the business. Partnerships are formed between the students and the workplaces: Students get experience and the company can look for potential employees."
Contact Carney at lcarney@fau.edu.

Best Web Idea
     Technology is taking over at Barry University in Miami. Barry’s men’s and women’s soccer teams both made it to the Final Four Division II Tournament in 1999 and 2000, and each year they’ve hosted the matches at their own Buccaneer Field. Because some competitors’ families couldn’t make it in person, Barry broadcast the tournament on the web so they could watch the game live. "Photographers were on the field taking digital pictures," says Joe McQuay, director of external communication. "They fed them immediately into our internet site so people could log on and follow the pictures and a running commentary of the games." Final Four fans could watch strikers firing shots on goal and surf the web at the same time.
Contact Michele Morris, assistant vice president for university relations, at mmorris@mail.barry.edu.

Best Activism
     That’s it. Students said enough is enough, and they’re calling it quits … on all types of tobacco. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes, along with the Student Government Association, brought Student Tobacco Reform Initiative Knowledge for Eternity to North Florida Community College. STRIKE resulted from Florida’s landmark lawsuit against "Big Tobacco" in 1997, and NFCC is one of only two community colleges to implement the program.
     To help tobacco-users kick the habit, STRIKE members offer anti-tobacco displays, smoking-cessation classes, and awareness parties, which are student-run. "When they hear ‘anti-tobacco,’ most tobacco users get turned off immediately," says Lainie Touchton, a student and STRIKE coordinator, "so we try to promote a friendly relationship between the program and students."
Contact Touchton at petouchton@yahoo.com.

Most ‘Spirited’ Students
     Florida College students are filled with the spirit—but definitely not the alcoholic type. At the private community college, most students and all faculty are Christians, a fact that many students say makes this college great. "Bible classes are taught every day, and we go to Chapel every day, where the whole school comes together for devotion and prayer," says Becky Rice, a junior. "It really helps us get focused for the rest of the day and helps us realize that we are here to be examples."
     "To be able to trust that both your college professors and your fellow students are all striving for the same purpose is an amazing and beautiful thing," says Alex Amonett, admissions counselor. "That’s what Florida College is all about. We have a common bond guides us toward achieving excellence."
Contact Amonett at amonetta@mails.flcoll.edu.

Best Call for Help
     At Florida Southern College, students can exchange their pepper spray for … a beeper? FSC Campus Security rents pagers equipped with buttons that students push if they’re in danger. The beepers send an audible alarm to the office and come up as a blinking bull’s eye on a map, moving with the student. FSC has offered "Security Escort" for eight years, and in 2000 there was only one case of aggravated assault, two cases of motor-vehicle theft, and no sex offenses on the 100-acre campus. "We tend to have more females than males use the beepers," said Kristen Curran, director of campus safety. "Freshmen usually make up the 90 students that take advantage of the program."
Contact Curran at kcurran@flsouthern.edu.

Best Donors
     Students at Bethune-Cookman College don’t shy away from needles. In fact, B-CC’s nursing students register the most minority marrow donors in the entire American Red Cross Blood Services Southeast region. The nursing students set up booths and passed out leaflets on campus to educate students about the importance of donating marrow and what the donation process entails. Marrow donors are especially needed in the African-American community so students try to target minority donors.
     "People need to realize that education is the most important thing when it comes to donating," says Christine Heusner-Robinson, clinical instructor in the nursing department. "The students here are realizing the purpose of college: Enter to learn, depart to serve."
Contact Robinson at robinsch@cookman.edu.

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