Best of Florida Schools 2002

1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20

Back                                Continued

Best Electrical Program
The atmosphere is electric at South Florida Community College for the students enrolled in the Electrical Distribution Program. The program, the only one of its kind in the state, lets students get their A.A.S. degree or certificate degree, which gives them the edge in getting hired in the industry and receiving promotions. "In fact, Florida Power said that if our students finish the program and pass all the competencies, if they come work for Florida Power, they'll be making $70,000 a year with overtime in two to three years," says Kevin Brown, dean of applied sciences and technology.

The program was developed when the Peace River Electrical Cooperative brought the idea to SFCC, and a state-funded Horizon grant has allowed SFCC to expand the program to its current 100-student size. They're hoping to create an apprentice program to augment the existing degree and certificate options. SRR

Contact Jim Vaughn, program coordinator, at vaughnj@sfcc.cc.fl.us.

Best Gift-Bearing
Ripping through mountains of green-and--red wrapping paper, playing with the freshly-opened toys, and trying to hide the latest gold-and-red plaid sweater Aunt Bonnie knitted. Knowing some children are unable to be home and experience these activities, Pensacola Junior College students deliver more than 100 teddy bears a year to hospitalized children. Along with Prince and Princess, Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital’s giant purple bear mascots, PJC students set up the “Bearing Gifts” program. Each of the past three years, the students have done everything from bake sales to walking around the streets with jars to raise money for the children’s presents.

“It’s so great to see the children’s faces just light up,” says Melinda Ross, coordinator of student activities. “It makes each child’s day as well as the parents’. It’s also fulfilling for the students who are involved, especially the first-timers.” RG

Contact Ross at mross@pjc.edu.

Best Anniversary Event
“Look!  Up in the sky! It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No! It’s a whole bunch of planes.” That’s what people were saying in Daytona Beach last fall as Embry-Riddle University presented its Wings & Waves event, free and open to the public. Nearly 200,000 spectators attended the two-day air show that filled the sky over the Atlantic Ocean with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, wing-walkers, skydivers, and popular aerobatic fliers on hand. “It was Embry-Riddle’s gift to the community for our 75^th Anniversary,” says Darryl Niemeyer, the event’s executive producer. “It was the first time ever held over the ocean in Daytona Beach.”

The “Waves” part of the event included speedboat racing and search-and-rescue demonstrations using helicopters and boats. The Beach Boys performed at the Daytona Beach Bandshell. “The community just went bonkers over it,” Niemeyer says. “It was pretty exciting.” Although Embry-Riddle has no plans to hold a similar event this year, the school is planning another Wings & Waves show in 2003 in honor of the 100^th anniversary of flight. JL

Contact Niemeyer at (386) 323-5091.

Best Senior Safety Project
Middle, high school, and college students in Manatee County know what it’s like to live with cataracts and arthritis. Cataracts haze their vision, making it difficult to get around. Their hands are stiff with arthritis and simply threading a needle is challenging.  Fortunately for them, it’s only temporary; unfortunately for many senior citizens, it is not. Students experienced the challenges many seniors face as part of “Lowe’s Home Safety for Seniors.” For this program sponsored by Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse, Manatee Community College partnered with ManaTEEN, the largest teen volunteer organization in the country with 10,000 members. Last semester, 82 MCC students and 50 ManaTEEN members (grades 6 to 12) helped 2,567 senior citizens make their homes safer. First, students must take an age sensitivity course. The hands-on course allows students to wear special glasses that simulate eyes diseases and gloves that simulate arthritis. Students must then perform simple tasks. “This training is very important so that students better understand senior citizens and the homes they visit,” says Tim Hill II, MCC student activities advisor. More than $100,000 worth of smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, anti-slip rug mats, levered door handles, energy-saving lighting, bathtub rails, and door locks have been installed in the homes of seniors throughout Manatee. Laura Lockwood, founder of ManaTEEN and MCC freshman, created “Home Safety for Seniors” in 1998. The program is now being replicated nationwide through Lowe’s and Lockwood administers the project in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and other city across the country. MCB

Contact Laura Lockwood at manateens@aol.com.

Best Fish Story
The fish are biting on the Palm Beach Atlantic College campus. The popular Christian fish symbol, ICTHUS (Greek for Jesus Christ God’s Son Savior), is carved into dozens of walkways, windows, and railings across campus. According to Becky Peeling, director of public relations, a gigantic fish adorns the grand plaza, Vera Lea Rinker Hall (music building), the DeSantis Family Chapel, and in stained glass windows. “Icky” can even be seen in the shapes of the railings on the balconies of Johnson and MacArthur Hall and the Rinker School.

Even more subtle symbolic designs permeate the architecture of the campus, Peeling says. “When seen from above, the blue ‘whale-tongue’ fountain located on the corner of Flagler Drive and Okeechobee Boulevard actually creates the first Greek letter in the name Jesus Christ,” she says. “The second letter is created by the brickwork on the ground that winds around Sachs Hall. These two letters were the ancient Christian symbol for the name of the Savior.”

On the way to Sachs Hall from the west side of campus, Peeling says, there’s a long, fish-shaped pattern in the sidewalk. Up until fall of 1996, that entire area of sidewalk was a pool carved in the ICTHUS shape.

Former PBA President Claude Rhea was the visionary behind all of these hidden (and not so hidden) symbols, Peeling says. “Dr. Rhea tried to build PBA in a manner that was theologically suggestive, intentionally investing his Christian faith and values into the buildings and sidewalks.” WHOJ

Contact Peeling at Peelingr@pbac.edu or visit www.pbac.edu.

Back                                Continued

1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10
11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20

Copyright © 2006 Oxendine Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved