Best of Florida Schools 1999 Issue

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15

Back Continued

Most Paranoid Students. Do you feel as if someone’s watching as you walk on campus? At Rollins College, it might be your parents. The folks can keep an eye on their kids through the college’s FoxCam at www.rollins.edu. According to Ann Mikell, media coordinator, the camera perched atop the Bush Science Center takes a picture every few minutes of the area between the Knowles Memorial Chapel, the parking lot of the Warren Administration Building, and the road from Holt Avenue leading to the Cornell Social Sciences Center.

Best Host for Fleas. Florida A&M University Rattlers have one more reason to look forward to Fridays. Their on-campus Flea Market ends the week with bargains for students, opportunities for student entrepreneurs and local businesses to market their wares, and a chance for the campus community to interact. Started in 1992 by FAMU alum Steven Hall and University Union Program Specialist Catherine Jefferson, the Flea Market has become a staple in the campus calendar. Students can shop for books, jewelry, clothing, posters, and more from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in a campus area called the Set. Music from the campus radio station, WAMF 90.5, which airs live, is the final addition to unite the Friday combination of fun and finance at FAMU.

Best Waterfront Property. Imagine coming home to a scenic view of the river, fiber optic lines for internet access, and a washer and dryer. Sound like your typical dorm room? For 192 Jacksonville University students, these luxurious apartments are home sweet home. Opened last fall, the apartments are located conveniently in the middle of campus and cost little more than traditional on-campus dorms. Each unit has four private bedrooms and two shared baths and features a kitchen complete with a microwave oven and balcony view. President Paul Tipton says the new apartments are strategically located to make the campus more pedestrian friendly and turn gathering points such as the library and student union into centers of campus life.

Best Lost-In-Space Research. As a part of NASA’s research into how to use space for business and profit, faculty at Hillsborough Community College conducted in-space experiments during last October’s shuttle mission. Five HCC faculty members worked on the BioServe Space Technologies Payload, studying the effect of microgravity on baby freshwater fish. The school’s research team focused on helping scientists understand how marine animals’ growth is impacted in space. According to Community and Governmental Affairs Officer Ashley Carl, the group also studied the viability of using a "circulating aquaculture" as a food source and to purify space stations’ air and water.

Best Surf and Turf. Got your mouth all ready for lobster and filet mignon? Too bad. But at St. Thomas University’s annual Land and Water Activities, you’ll have so much fun, you won’t notice. According to Director of Campus Life, Kathryn Smith, nearly 100 students compete in teams over a three-day weekend in this collection of silly contests. Smith says that a student committee works each year to invent new, more outlandish events. Past years’ highlights have included a belly-flop match, a sexy legs pageant, and relays in which students have to bob for items such as pennies or marbles in kiddie pools full of oatmeal, jello, or baby oil. At the end of the weekend, the team with the most points gets Olympic-style medals, and all enjoy a barbecue celebration.

Best Item Up For Bids. Love is on the block during Palm Beach Atlantic College’s homecoming affair. The Love Auction helps raise money for the school’s mission trips and offers bidders the chance to buy unique items at low prices. Goods up for grabs include tickets to the Orange Bowl and the Florida Ballet, deep-sea fishing for two, golf for four at BallenIsles Country Club, a one-hour massage, and six months of fresh flowers. A favorite purchase is a batch of homemade cookies every week for a semester donated by a resident director. The event, held each fall during homecoming, raised $2,000 last year and was attended by about 150 people. According to coordinator Lisa Sweet, the auction likely was named in recognition of the school’s "love for Christ, which is why we serve."

Best Homecoming Theme. Wanna bet they got sand in their shorts? "Casino Beach Bash" was the theme this year for the University of West Florida’s homecoming week. The annual kickoff event "Schmack"—an outdoor picnic presented by the Baptist Student Ministries with free food, prizes, and a live band--raised the stakes and participation in a parade that followed. Of course, the week’s highroller highlight was a Casino Bash with a craps table, roulette wheel, and blackjack. UWF’s homecoming centers around its soccer team, with a tailgate party featuring tents and fun by alumni, athletic clubs, and student organizations held prior to men’s and women’s matches against Dallas Baptist. UWF also hosted the Corporate Cup Games, a yearly Olympic-style challenge sponsored by the YMCA where local executives—mostly UWF alumni—compete in baseball, basketball, and softball games. Student Activities Director Jim Hurd says this year’s festivities were the best-attended in recent years, thanks to strong promotional efforts, which included T-shirts and flyers bearing a pink flamingo.

Best-Looking Campus. Congrats to Edison Community College for the most aesthetically pleasing place to skip—uh, attend class. The school recently cultivated its image and the grounds by planting palm trees and plants on campus. Rory Bruce, student development specialist, says visitors remark on the beauty of the campus. "They say it’s like the Garden of Eden," Bruce says. Other campus landscaping marvels include long corridors of live oaks near Robinson Hall between the east and west sides of campus and near Lake Virginia, one of numerous ponds located throughout campus. ECC hires outside landscaping companies to construct the campus paradise, and the school’s grounds crew, led by David DeArmond, maintains it. Bruce also says that flocks of birds migrate to campus to enjoy the lush vegetation. Maybe they want to enroll.

Most New Degrees. If you didn’t have trouble deciding on a major before, you will now. Pensacola Junior College began eight new degree programs this year: Multimedia Technology, Barbering, Computer Electronics Technology, Environmental Services, Food Production and Services, Volunteer Firefighting, Recreational Technology, and Landscape Technology. Angel Hill, an information specialist in the office for institutional advancement, says the programs were developed when advisory councils for each program told administrators of the need for barbers and technicians. Hill says that the Multimedia Technology degree is probably the most popular. She also says that the first graduate of the Landscape Technology program immediately got a professional position with Home Depot.

Best Excuse to Skip Class. Get ready to compete with your professors. Flagler College in St. Augustine held its first annual Spirit Week in March to encourage students, faculty, and staff to get to know each other outside of class. The week of festivities began with a lip sync contest and was followed by a limbo contest, an egg toss, and pyramid building, which used humans to form a pyramid as fast as possible. Prizes given out at the end of the week included $500 for first place, $250 for second place, and a bagel breakfast for third place. Linda Rowe, director of student activities, says she created the event as an adaptation of Greek Week because Flagler doesn’t have a Greek system. Although the festivities were initially held in March, they were so popular (12 teams of 10 participated) that the school has decided to move Spirit Week to October, with a day of games and fun in March.

Back Continued

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15

Nominate Your School for the 2001 Best of Florida Schools award.