Advocate Leaders
Students with causes beyond campus

By Chelsea Ellis

Bringing It All Together
During her first year in college at the University of Central Florida, Rachel Russo has worked to forge a partnership between environmental groups at UCF and the University of West Florida, while continuing to lead as an activist on her own.

“I have a lot of experience in managerial roles through both work and school and in past leadership positions, so I think it’s best for me to demonstrate how things can be accomplished when people work together,” Russo says. “The key to getting great things accomplished is pulling together all the resources that everyone has to offer.”

Russo was also involved in an active postcard-signing campaign with UCF’s environmental group, Free the Planet, to protest offshore drilling in Florida. After collecting more than 100 post cards from the UCF dorms in one day, she decided to extend the project to her hometown of Pensacola. She collected signatures from customers in her father’s environmentally conscious health food store in Pensacola. By the end of the campaign, Russo had helped send over 2,000 post cards to Gov. Bush.

She also makes environmental consciousness part of her daily life by doing small things. “I think that impacts people,” Russo says. “If I go with five of my friends and they see me pick up trash, they do it, too. People start feeling ridiculous when they realize they are just standing around while others make a difference. The key is to let people know that they don't have to be part of the problem.”

She says that because her focus is mostly community oriented, graduating from college won’t change her involvement with environmental organizations. “I work with a lot of the people who are at least two or three times as old as I am,” she says. Since they have no problem doing it, they set a good example for me.”

Contact Russo at rmr04478@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu.

Assigned to Serve
What started out as a homework assignment became a passion for Joey Rego, 2001-2002 president of Lynn University’s Knights in the Community, who dedicates his time to community service activities like serving the homeless and caring for orphans.

“I got involved with KIC late in my sophomore year because my roommate and I were required to complete 75 hours of community service for a class called Community Awareness,” Rego says. “But after a few events working with orphans and serving in soup kitchens, I realized that this was something I truly enjoyed.”

This year Rego was in charge of planning KIC’s biggest event, an annual Easter egg hunt for orphans. He says both the kids and the KIC members had a great time doing a variety of activities like playing musical chairs, hitting a piñata, playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, and decorating and hunting for Easter eggs.

“Being president of KIC changed the way I thought about leadership,” Rego says. “I became passionate about making KIC the best organization it could be and I was committed to putting everything I had into it. I feel that the responsibility of holding a high position in any organization tends to change a person tremendously.

“If I could send a message to everyone about the importance of service, it would be that no matter how well off you are or how comfortable you are with your life, it’s always necessary to do some sort of community service,” Rego says. “Being a part of KIC has been a great experience for me because helping others was my main focus when I was planning or participating in an activity. Seeing that I was making a difference in some way totally blew my mind.”

Contact Rego at joeyrego@yahoo.com.

No Butts About It
When University of Florida student Charlie Douglas lost his grandfather to lung cancer, he became determined to lead others in a crusade against tobacco use.

In high school, Douglas served for three years as president of the Putnam County Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) team and a member of the State SWAT Board of Directors. He was also the Vice-Chairman of the Tobacco- Free Partnership of Putnam County for two years, and in 2000 served as the State of Florida SWAT vice-chairman.

During his time with the Tobacco-Free Partnership, he presented to church youth groups, civic organizations, and elementary schools and handed out anti-tobacco material at fairs, festivals, and sporting events. “One of the more interesting ways that Putnam County reached the community was with our ‘Tobacco Free Cowboy,’ who spreads the anti-tobacco message on the rodeo circuit,” Douglas says. “He would tour the elementary schools delivering presentations on the deadly effects of tobacco, particularly smokeless tobacco—a ubiquitous fixture in the world of rodeo.”

After graduating high school in 2000, Douglas and three of his friends from SWAT started their own youth empowerment organization called Revolution. Since its inception, Revolution has trained the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kid's Youth Advocates of the Year and assisted states such as Georgia, Indiana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin in empowering teens to develop their own anti-tobacco initiatives.

When not working with Revolution, Douglas speaks around the country about the targeting tactics of Big Tobacco as a member of the American Legacy Foundation's National Speaker's Bureau. He is also the Health Programming Director for Student Government at UF for the 2002-2003 school year.

Contact Douglas at douglas_charlie@hotmail.com.

Leading for the Lord
Bernie Guenther, 2002-2003 president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, uses a popular college pastime to lead his group in ministry at the University of Florida campus. “As leaders on campus, we should all try to achieve the highest standard so that we are able to give the students in our group what they really deserve, someone there to serve them and represent them in not only a professional but a moral way,“ he says.

FCA reaches out to athletes by acting as a support group for all UF athletic teams, building relationships with the athletes and supporting them with prayer, Guenther says. The club also sends athletes into the community and schools to speak on topics from the Christian faith to the importance of literacy.

“One of the neatest aspects of FCA is our ability to use sports to spread the message of faith,” Guenther says. “As sports grow in popularity, so too does the influence that the athletes have on their peers, fans, and especially the youth. We are extremely blessed because of the sports forum that we are given.“

Guenther says FCA’s large membership is its greatest benefit and challenge. Working hard to know everyone, meet their needs, and make sure they feel included can be a difficult task, he says, but he feels blessed by the amazing people that he gets to work and spend time with every Wednesday night.

A member of FCA since his freshman year of college, Guenther says he hopes his upcoming leadership experience with FCA will instill in him the value of serving others. “Leaders often fall into a trap where they feel like they are the ones that are important, but really it’s the group and the people that they serve who are the most important. I hope that after my days of working with FCA, I will always remember to be a servant leader in any future offices I hold.”

Contact Guenther at bernman3@ufl.edu.

Growing Green Leaders
Michael Gale spreads the word about environmental protection to his peers and the entire UF campus, and he has big plans for next year. He is working with the College of Natural Resources and the Environment to start up a program he calls the Environmental Leadership Institute. This program will identify environmentally conscious students and give them the opportunity to go through a series of workshops on various topics including campus resources, leadership, sustainability, and careers in the environment, he says.

“One problem we have at UF is that we don’t have enough leaders who care about the environment,” he says. “The focus of the institute is to develop a new group of students who care about the environment and want to lead in campus organizations from student affairs to the Greek system.”

Gale grew up surrounded by environmental issues. His dad was a park ranger for 21 years, so he always lived in the state forest system. As a kid, he excelled in science and had a passion for working with wildlife. “For a lot of personal and almost spiritual reasons, I know it’s my calling and I know it’s why I’m here,” he said.

An aspiring zoo director, Gale feels one of the most important things he can do is change the way people think about zoos and their role in wildlife conservation. “Almost everyone who’s ever met me has gained greater appreciation for zoos,” he says. “I’ve probably made more impact on my peer and social groups than I have through any of the educational programs I’ve conducted. That’s a nice feeling, and I definitely want to continue that throughout my life.”

Gale is determined to deliver his environmental message to everyone who will listen. “Passion is leadership, especially when it comes to advocacy,” he says. “You have to have something you care about enough to get down and get dirty, that shows that you care, and really encourages you to care.”

Contact Gale at divrsify@ufl.edu.

Taking a STRIKE at Tobacco
Dana Milner works to stamp out tobacco use on the University of North Florida campus. An active member of Students Working Against Tobacco in high school, Milner heard UNF needed a student coordinator for its new Student Tobacco Reform Initiative: Knowledge for Eternity program in 2001, and she knew it was the job for her.

Under her leadership, the group hosted many events geared at tobacco prevention and education on campus and had an extensive community outreach program. On campus, STRIKE hosted two free tobacco cessation workshop series for students and held two forums where students and faculty could discuss UNF’s tobacco policy.

Local organizations like the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society were supportive of the program and sent tobacco educators to STRIKE events and provided students with information about the harms of tobacco and how to quit. In turn, STRIKE students participated in community events like the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides for Cancer. “Jacksonville is a great community and always offers a helping hand to UNF students,” Milner says. “Together, we work hand-in-hand to provide one another with support and materials that are needed for each event.“

She said most students get involved in STRIKE because they have a passion for helping people live longer and healthier lives. “We do not expect to reach every person that we come in contact with, but if we make any difference at all, then every effort has been worthwhile,” she says.

As the STRIKE student coordinator, Milner says she has learned how to motivate people, plan events, and have fun at the same time. “I am sure that STRIKE is not the last group I will lead, but the experiences I have had will help me greatly in the future.”

Contact Milner at danaland2000@hotmail.com.

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