Best of Florida Schools 2004
Web-Only Categories—Page 4

Best Radio DJ & Station
Flagler’s Radio Clown
T-shirts and bumper stickers ask, “Who is Stevie Rich?” Flagler College students ask, “Who is Stevie Rich?” Now you may be asking, “Who is Stevie Rich?” He’s the disc jockey at the college’s own WFCF 88.5 FM who won’t let his name go unknown or his show go unheard. Thanks to his persistent advertising, hundreds of students tune into “The St. Augustine Underground” every Saturday night to hear Rich blast the airwaves with house beats and break music.

“I just love to provide music for the audience,” says Stephen “Stevie Rich” Tendrich. “It keeps me going, it’s like my adrenaline.” He notes Vanilla Ice as one of his earliest inspirations, claiming that the song “Ice, Ice Baby” made him finally realize his true calling in life—to be on the radio. However, this revelation may have come as a shock to Tendrich’s friends and family, given he was born with only 55 percent of his hearing.

“At first, I thought working at the station would be quite a challenge,” he says. “But now, it just feels normal to be behind a microphone.” Comparing his personality to that of the kooky cartoon character Spongebob Squarepants, Tendrich feels he was born with a radio personality. He’s so energetic that he usually remains standing throughout the hour and a half show, he says. “I don’t really like to sit down a lot,” Tendrich says. “I like to throw my hands around in the air while I’m speaking.”

Thanks to the recent installation of a new radio tower, Tendrich’s show is just one of many that can now be heard along the coast as far as Daytona Beach. This technological improvement helped boost the station’s broadcast strength from 6,000 to 10,000 watts. “What was amazing was that it was a process of two years to get permission to build that tower,” says Dan McCook, station manager. “But it only took two hours to put it up—it’s just a big old metal stick.”

Celebrating the station’s 10th anniversary last year, staff members held a cookout to present awards and plaques to committed workers. McCook generally maintains a ratio of two-thirds students to one-third community volunteers on his staff during the academic year. “I’m constantly amazed at the cross-section of individuals from society who volunteer their time here,” he says. “We have people from grocery-baggers to physicians to investment bankers to people who work retail.”

Since its first broadcast on Nov. 1, 1993, the station has aired for 62,000 hours and played 744,000 songs. It has also seen a slew of celebrity guests including B.B. King, Bill Murray, Shaquille O’Neal, and Pat Buchanan. Playing everything from bluegrass and reggae to techno and classical, the station has a diverse array of listeners.

When asked which show is the most popular, McCook didn’t hesitate to answer. “Definitely The Joy of Opera,” he says. “It’s been running for 10 years, and we have some people who would die before they’d miss that show.” –CG

Contact Tendrich at 904-819-6313 or McCook at dmccook@flagler.edu.

Best Scholarship Fund-raiser
Phone Fanatics
Most campus groups are thrilled when 50 percent of their membership turns out for an event, and they’re ecstatic if they get any part of the group to show up when work’s involved. But can you imagine having half of the 435 students in the entire student body turn out and put in their best effort—for a month? It happens almost every year at Florida College during the annual Phonathon.

Annual Fund Officer Nathan Ward serves as the primary recruiter and cheerleader for the month-long event. FC’s population is divided into societies, which provide a community-service-based alternative to traditional fraternities and sororities. These societies spend the year trying to outdo each other earning points to take home an overall trophy that establishes bragging rights for the next year. One of the most useful ways to build points towards the trophy? You guessed it—serving at the Phonathon.

To add incentive, one scholarship program feeds another. “The Phonathon raises money for the Scholarship Partner Fund, which is our general fund for merit scholarships,” Ward says. “Approximately a quarter of our students receive a scholarship from our Adopt-A-Student program, which is needs-based, and among the requirements to receive that scholarship is doing a certain number of community service hours. The Phonathan counts for those hours.”

Ward likens the Phonathon to the Tour de France—he even goes so far as to call it the “Tour de Fons.” Both are grueling month-long races testing the mettle of their participants. “The Tour de France tests the speed and endurance, the determination and willpower of its participants,” Ward says. “The Tour de Fons tests the dexterity of the fingers, the quickness of the mind, the strength of will, and the persuasion of speech of its participants.” And as the lead racer of the Tour de France rides in the yellow jersey, the winning society of the Tour de Fons takes home a coveted step towards the overall trophy—The Golden Receiver, a phone handset spray-painted gold by Ward.

“I either very cleverly or absolutely ridiculously compare the various stages of the Tour to the Phonathon and try to keep them excited,” Ward says. But as 50 percent of the student body prepares to compete, braving fanny fatigue and blisters, he leaves them with a parting shot equal to any Olympic coach’s words.

“Prepare your dialing fingers. Ready your mind. Steel your will.” —SRR

Contact Ward at wardn@floridacollege.edu or visit www.floridacollege.edu.

Best Tribute
Astronauts Live On at FIT
Seven is a noteworthy number for students at Florida Institute of Technology. There were seven astronauts whose lives were taken when the Columbia mission failed in spring of 2003, and there were exactly seven residence halls under construction at FIT, where students and faculty have a long history of close ties with NASA. “To a lot of people on campus, naming those facilities for the seven astronauts lost in the Columbia tragedy seemed only natural,” says Rebecca Mazzone, Student Government president. “It was one of those things where you hear people saying ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if…’ and you never really know where it started.”  

Students and faculty named the new residence hall complex Columbia Village in a ceremony last October, attended by 20 of the astronauts’ family members as well as officials from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. “Some of the family members took the opportunity to walk through the new buildings or take pictures with the signs outside bearing the name of each crew member,” Mazzone says. “Many even remarked that our dedication was uplifting. It meant a lot to me to know that I had made a small difference for these people.”

FIT students and professors had participated in the Columbia mission, helping to create some of the experiments that the astronauts performed while in space. FIT had lent another helping hand to the mission by allocating some of its facilities to the European Space Agency.

Mazzone says that this involvement is just a reflection of FIT’s long history with NASA’s space programs. “NASA scientists and engineers founded Florida Tech back in 1958 so we’ve always felt a close tie to the space program,” Mazzone says. “In addition to Columbia Village, there’s a statue on campus to honor the Challenger crew and a residence hall named for Gus Grissom, who received our first honorary doctorate.” 

Lt. Colonel Grissom was one of NASA’s original seven Mercury astronauts and the first man to fly in space twice. —MF

Contact Mazzone at rmazzone@fit.edu.

Most Competitive Organization
Kick-Butt Competitors
When a baby is born, the hospital automatically issues a birth certificate. When a student is enrolled, Johnson and Wales University automatically issues them a membership card to Delta Epsilon Chi. Since 1997, the university has automatically paid every student’s state and national fees. Johnson and Wales now has the largest chapter of DEX in the state of Florida and the second largest chapter in the United States.

DEX is a national organization for business majors. Members compete annually with students from around the world in every field, from culinary to ethics. Johnson and Wales has kicked butt in the competitions, bringing home first place trophies numerous times.

“Every high school student who’s serious about business should really get involved with this organization through DEX, which is at their level. It’s a huge eye-opening and rewarding experience.” says Dr. Joanne Leoni, department chair for the College of Business. “You learn leadership through the events, and it can help you when you get to the collegiate level so much. Plus, at job interviews, you will stand out from the crowd through the experiences you’ve had at competitions.”

In the future, DEX hopes to continue developing professional business skills and knowledge within its members and add a special emphasis on fostering community service and leadership skills. —JT

Contact Leoni at jleoni@jwu.edu.

Best Residence Life Programs
Peerless Planning
Sometimes resident assistants seem more like parents than peers, telling residents to “keep it down,” breaking up fights between roommates, reminding everyone to clean up, and encouraging their “kids” to participate in activities. But unlike your parents, the RAs from Nova Southeastern University are just as likely to hop on a mechanical bull as they are to take you to a local museum. These inventive students know how to plan a good time.

The RAs organize nine events per semester, ranging from campus-wide extravaganzas to small events for their individual floors. “We try to educate students about what’s available on campus and to build a sense of campus community,” says Lua Hancock, director of residential life and housing. RAs plan ethnic celebrations like “Caribbean Night” and “Hibachi on the Rocks” to let students experience food, music, and traditions of different cultures. Other events have included a visit to the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art to view a Vatican exhibit, a Halloween carnival inviting local kids to trick-or-treat down haunted halls, and “RA’s Gone Wild”--a spoof of MTV’s “Campus Crawl” in which residents challenged RAs to do things like ride a mechanical bull and hula hoop while reciting Florida state laws.

Realizing that students have diverse class and work schedules, RAs put their creativity to the test while designing banners, flyers, and door hangers that stand out. To promote their Hibachi on the Rocks Japanese feast, they made door hangers advertising the free food and telling residents to “BYOP” (Bring Your Own Pillow). They also attached chopsticks to the hanger, including the date and time and the reminder, “Chop, Chop! Come to Hibachi on the Rocks.” To advertise RAs Gone Wild, they created flyers with photographs of bull riders and the announcement, “RAs Gone Wild! Can Your RA Ride for 8 Seconds?” Efforts pay off, with 76 percent of residents participating and more than 1,000 students coming to campus-wide events.

Aside from helping students have a good time, RAs also learn valuable skills which will help them in future endeavors. “The RAs learn to work in a group, and other skills they can use even after they leave the job, like how to plan, budget, and market,” Hancock says. “These skills are beneficial no matter what field they’re going into.” —AMC

Contact Hancock at lua@nova.edu.

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