Best of
Florida Schools 2003
General Categories—Page
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Longest
Winning Streak
Swimmers Reach New Depths
No, it’s not the Miami Hurricanes’ football team or the Duke Blue
Devils’ basketball team that holds the nation’s longest athletic winning
streak. It’s the swimming and diving team at Indian River Community
College—and they’re not planning on giving up their title any time soon.
At the National Junior College Athletic Association Swimming and Diving Championships in March 2002, the men’s team walked away with their 28th consecutive national title and the women’s team their 20th. None of the 15 men’s teams or 14 women’s teams came close to touching IRCC, as every IRCC athlete received All-American honors and 35 broke seven national records. IRCC also took home three MVP awards, including Men’s Swimmer of the Year Camilo Becera, Women’s Swimmer of the Year Ashleigh Bastak, and Diver of the Year Nadine Shawah.
As any college athlete knows, however, such accomplishment doesn’t come without sacrifice and exhaustion. Team members rise before sun-up for two-hour morning practices and return in the afternoon for three more hours of intense training. Practices include pool time as well as weightlifting, running, and other dry-land activities.
“Each person on the team is aware that he or she has a specific role to adhere to,” says Scott Kimmelman, head coach. “[The swimmers] have all taken the responsibility to assure teammates they will uphold their duties. The team is working each day to become more of a cohesive unit. In fact, this week and next week, the men’s team and the women’s team are each attending a ropes course to enhance this bonding.”
Kimmelman says the streak is a source of pride, not pressure. “As a coach, I feel the desire to uphold a tradition that’s been around since I was in nursery school,” Kimmelman says. “All members of this team, both athletes and coaches, are honored to be a part of this team and institution.” —AT
Contact Kimmelman at skimmelm@ircc.edu.
Best Laundry
Service
Hello, Your
Clothes Are Done!
Everything is dirty. You gather clothes from the floor in
your room and lug them downstairs to do laundry. Don't forget to bring your
books for something to do while you wait. But all the machines are taken?
You can wait until one opens up or spend the rest of the evening running
downstairs hoping to catch an empty machine. A waste of time? Florida
Gulf Coast University thought so and installed Laundrimate.
Now, on-campus residents can reserve washers and dryers in the laundry facility, which are connected to a computerized monitoring device. Not only will they find a machine empty and waiting for them when they get there, but once the washer is done, it’ll call to let students know their clothes are ready to be put in the dryer. And then—you guessed it—they get another call once the dryer is done. Folding isn't included.
"Instead of spending time down in the laundry facility watching the washer and dryer spin, students can go back to the comfort of their apartment where they can watch a football game, work on homework, or whatever they need to do," says Dr. Joe Shepard, dean of student services.
The "dorms" are actually apartments nestled on a lake so "you could literally go out and get a tan or have fun with your friends," Shepard says, "and once your cell phone rings, you go change your laundry and go on about your business."
Implemented in 1999, the automated service provided by Web Service Company is free to students. However, they still pay 75 cents in quarters to wash and dry like they would at a coin laundry.
Future plans have been discussed to incorporate the internet and use of credit cards for easy payment. "We're constantly trying to look for new creative ideas to provide better service to our students who live in student housing," Shepard says.
Now if they could just automate folding... —MP
Contact Shepard at jshepard@fgcu.edu
Best Study Abroad Program
Globetrotting, Family Style
Seventeen days basking in the
grandeur of the finest countries in Europe, going on tours, eating at superb
restaurants and bonding with new and old friends—it all sounds more like a
vacation than a graduate study abroad program at St. Thomas University.
This summer's trip to Ireland or Scotland will be the fifth sponsored by the school. Next year, grad students will head to Italy or Spain.
Dr. Nancy Borkowski, dean of graduate studies, says 20 to 32 students go and some have even signed up two years in a row. Most of St.Thomas' students are non-traditional working professionals with families, so lots of spouses and children come along for the ride. As a faculty perk, all of the graduate professors are welcome to accompany the students.
While most students dream of going to a foreign country, playing around for a couple of weeks and getting credit for it, St. Thomas’s program isn’t all be fun and games. For three months before leaving, students complete 90 percent of their course work in classes such as "Multicultural Counseling," "Doing Business in Europe," and "Non-Violent Conflict Resolution." Once abroad, students, faculty, and families can explore on their own, but at dinnertime, everyone comes together to share their experiences from the day.
“This gives the students an opportunity to relate to individuals they normally would not have a chance to interact with,” Dr. Borkowski says. “It’s a truly rewarding experience—one that you can’t experience in books.” —EG
Contact Borkowski at 305-628-6506 or nborkows@stu.edu.
Best Ambassadors
IC’s Parent Ambassadors
Bottles, diapers, cribs, and
pacifiers. Naptimes, grocery shopping, and birthday parties. Sound like the
life of a college student? Maybe not at the average campus, but at
International College in Naples, family responsibilities are just as
common as tests and homework.
One-third of IC's Ambassadors are parents as well as students. The current ambassador's chair, Jamie French, is a single father of three children and maintains a 4.0 GPA and a full-time job.
"Our students have time constraints because of their studies, work, and family responsibilities, and we're receptive and sensitive to those needs," says Lisa Ramirez, public relations coordinator.
The ambassadors participate in many community service projects such as canal clean-ups, Habitat for Humanity, and Relay for Life. They also help out with college relations and student activities, which lets them speak to others at student orientations and spread the word about the parent-friendly atmosphere.
"For a small campus, they're a very
effective group and have made a huge impact on the college in the one year
they've existed," says Jamie Troschesett, development coordinator.
—LE
Contact Ramirez at lramirez@internationalcollege.edu.
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