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 Hispanic Dish
Feeding 1,000 hungry Miami residents with a 10-foot-wide outdoor paella pan (a large, shallow frying pan) may not be on a biblical scale, but it’s certainly impressive. At Miami-Dade Community College, that’s just one of the ways students and faculty celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. At MDCC’s Inter- American campus—which has a 97-percent Hispanic student population—the students and surrounding community are invited every year to a block party that honors Hispanic culture and diversity.

This year’s theme, “A Salute to the American Spirit,” was celebrated with a marching band from the local high school, a parade of flags, dramatic performances, songs sung by the local elementary school choir, and huge paella pans filled with arroz con pollo (rice and chicken) to feed those in attendance. “It was very successful because it brought people of from all walks of life to the campus,” says Cristina DeArmas, assistant to the campus president.

Hospitality students from Miami Senior High cooked the arroz con pollo while local dignitaries, including the City of Miami commissioner, helped in stirring the food. “The message we wanted to send was that the students of MDCC’s [Inter-American campus] feel very proud to be part of the American fabric,” DeArmas says. “This is an opportunity to celebrate what America is all about.” JL

Contact Cristina DeArmas at (305)237-6021.

Best New Tradition
Forget about your rabbit’s foot. Throw away that four-leaf clover. The University of West Florida has a lucky charm that may not be as portable, but students swear by it. On a normal school day, UWF’s library greens are bustling with students either on their way to class or just relaxing, with an old cannon in the center of all the activity. Aside from a small plaque that tells the story of how it once sat on the Pensacola Bridge as part of city’s defenses, no one really knew why it was there. During the summer 2001, the cannon was reborn as a lucky charm, thanks in part to Student Body President Angie Bowler. “I told incoming students that if [they] rub the cannon before a test or exam, it will bring [them] good luck,” Bowler says. Most new students are familiarized with the legend through campus tours and orientations, but Bowler has recruited resident advisors and campus mentors to spread the story as well.  UWF, established in 1963, is fairly new compared to other Florida universities. “We need to establish some traditions and legends while [the school] is still young,” Bowler says. Success is already evident as students approach Bowler with their lucky tales. MCB

Contact Angie Bowler at angbowl@aol.com.

Best Leader Training
How many students beg for more classes? At the University of South Florida, one class, Introduction to Leadership, turned into an entire minor in leadership studies, based on student demand. "Students helped create the program because after the one course, they said, 'We want more!' so we developed the certificate and then the minor," says Laurie Woodward, co-chair of the Leadership Studies Program and director of student activities. To develop the new minor, USF went to those who would most benefit from its graduates: the business community. "Businesses say that students graduate and don't know how to create, initiate, motivate, set goals, all those key pieces of leadership, things businesses are looking for," Woodward says.

And forget about dozing in class. "All of our classes are based on 'adult transformative' technique, so you'll never find a professor up there lecturing at you," Woodward says. "It's all interactive, reflective, based on group activities and interaction." Over 450 students are enrolled at some level, and campus leaders such as the editor of The Oracle, SG president, SG senate president, and sorority and fraternity heads have taken the courses which include ethics, images of leadership, and practicuum work. The first class of students who have earned the minor will graduate this May. SRR

Contact Woodward at lwood@admin.usf.edu.

Best Environmental Outreach
 When it comes to protecting the planet, there’s no better place to start than in your own back yard. That seems to be the philosophy of the Environmental Club at Valencia Community College’s West Campus. When environmental club members discovered that the water quality in Lake Pamela, a spring-fed lake just behind the school’s cafeteria, was deteriorating and the ecosystem around the lake was being destroyed by development in and around the campus, they knew it was time to take action. The club has put in countless hours developing a biodiversity survey—which lists all the various organisms supported by the lake—and has written a 75-page report that they plan to present to VCC’s president. “We’re going to ask [the president] to turn the lake into an ‘outdoor classroom,’” says Andrea Ayala, the group’s president.

If the their proposal is approved, the lake, while protected and undergoing a long-term restoration process supervised by the science department, would give science students hands-on experience in Florida ecological systems. “Hopefully, next year it will be set in stone that this is a sanctuary, this is protected, and all these species have a definite home,” Ayala says. JR

Contact Ayala at skwirt79@yahoo.com.

Best Greek Alternative
If you’d rather go Greek-less, you don’t have to go fun-less. Florida College offers six “quasi-Greek” co-ed organizations. Known as “societies,” the groups are Arete, Kappa Omicron (KO), Phi Sig, Omega Chi (Omega), Zeta Phi Epsilon, and Psi Beta Gamma, says Ralph Walker, director of public relations.

Unlike most Greek groups, Florida College’s have no national affiliations, avoid the ritualistic hazing, and don’t offer special membership houses. Students aren’t tapped—they just decide which society is for them, and then pay $3 to $5 dollar dues. “One night during opening week activities, the society officers perform a skit to persuade incoming students to join their society,” says Will Childress, president of Omega Chi, which has 65 members. “The skits are funny and also revealing of the personality a society possesses. One society may be geared for athletes, while another toward community service.”

            Once students are members, they’re in unless they miss too many meetings without a good excuse, Childress says. He says the societies usually help out with service to the campus and community. “In Omega, we’re involved in Coastal Cleanup and the Adopt-A-Road program. We most recently volunteered at the Florida State Fair to accumulate 94 hours of service. At the fair, some members got to serve food, while one Omegan got to wear a cow suit. It was fun and rewarding. We hosted the Omega Coffeehouse in January, turning our student cnter into a coffeehouse scene on a Saturday night. We got FC students to perform songs and poems. We served cappuccino, coffee, and extremely fresh smoothies.”

Contact Walker at wallkerr@flcoll.edu or Childress at willpowa09@hotmail.com.

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