Best of Florida Schools 2005
General Categories—Page 11

Best Entertainment Deal
Caffeine Cravings, Entertainment Savings
Forget Starbucks. This coffee house boasts more than caffeine and pastries.

For the past five years, whenever students come into Pensacola Junior College's Student Center for the Coffee House Series, they're taken in by the ambience. The room is dark and dimly lit by candles. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee sweetens the air and lures patrons to the counter for a cup. "We really try to work on our atmosphere," says Dennis Reynolds, district coordinator for Student Leadership and Activities.

Once attendants sit down, however, the main attraction begins. While sipping fresh coffee and munching on sweets, students, faculty, and staff enjoy the sounds of local and nationally touring artists. TJ McCloud, Amanda Garrigues, and a local jazz-fusion band called Fourcast have been among the musicians to please the crowd. It's not unusual for music buffs to fill the Student Center to full capacity, pulling in around 120 to 150 people for a single show.

The Coffee House Series is sponsored by PJC's Department of Student Leadership and Activities and the Lyceum, a cultural series consisting of musical performances, theater, dance, and art exhibitions. Typically, one show is held in the spring and one in the fall. The low admission fee is one reason for the large turnouts—students, faculty, and staff get in free with a valid ID, and general admission is $2.

While the aim is musical variety, featured artists generally have an acoustic or folk style. However, sometimes other styles turn out to be crowd magnets, such as when Fourcast performed. These retro-leaning musicians blend the older jazz styles of Grover Washington, George Benson, Spyro Gyra, and Chuck Mangione into their purely instrumental sound for an updated but nostalgic style. "We're shocked sometimes by the turnout," Reynolds says. —LH

Contact Reynolds at dreynolds@pjc.edu.

Best Egg Hunt
Lynn’s Easter Egg-travaganza
They’ve had a year to prepare. An entire year to calculate the dimensions of a plastic egg, determine how many their tiny hands will hold, strategize where they can shove their candy-filled treasures, and hone their hunting skills. When the day comes, they’re prepared to stuff eggs down their shirts, their pants, and their socks. And they’re more than ready to show Lynn University students that there isn’t a place they can hide an Easter egg where they won’t be able to find it.

Every year, the service organization Knights in the Community and many other student organizations pull together an egg hunt that sprawls across the entire library lawn for area children. Not content with just a giant Easter egg hunt, more than 150 students also put on a carnival for the kids. “When you see the smiles on the kids’ faces it really pays off,” says Allison Lazarus, chairperson for the egg hunt.

This past year, they were able to make 120 kids smile from both Florence Fuller Child Development Center and Kids in Distress, an organization that gives homes to abused children. The children range in age from 5 to 11 years old. “The kids love it,” Lazarus says. “They talk about it all year.”

It’s not just the kids who love the egg hunt—students and staff come out in record numbers to pull off this event. “People who don’t usually get involved and do community service projects really come out for this, and you see them all gung-ho about it,” Lazarus says. “It makes the volunteers feel good and bond with each other.”

For volunteers, the day starts off with an ice cream social where they’re informed about the day’s events. First, all the eggs are hidden, and the first group of kids has a chance to find them. After the kids have uncovered all the eggs, they follow a giant Easter bunny down a marked footpath to a carnival put on by various organizations. Then students start over with the second group of kids.

The carnival boasts booths like bobbing for rubber ducks, cotton candy, jelly-bean jewelry, pin the tail on the bunny, pizza, funny photos, ice cream, face painting, piñatas, and egg decorating.

Justine Mitchell, coordinator of student activities, says they’re planning on holding this Easter experience for another two groups next year and hope for the same success they’ve had in the past. She says everyone involved walks away with a great experience. “How couldn’t you feel good about making kids happy?” Mitchell says.—JW

Contact Mitchell at jmitchell@lynn.edu.

Best Club Sport Fund-raiser
Ritzy Rugby
You spent weeks searching for The Perfect Prom Dress—which now hangs in a lonely recess in the back of your closet. It’s a common tale: Women spend ungodly amounts on formal gowns they’ll don for just one night. But some resourceful rugby players at the University of Florida discovered that if they bring their old dresses out of retirement, they can actually make money wearing them.

In November, members of the UF women’s rugby club raided their closets and local thrift stores to find attire for their annual prom match fund-raiser. But these 2004 South Division I Collegiate champions weren’t looking for just any old dresses. “Basically, we go for as tacky as possible, as fluffy and ‘80s as possible,” says Abby Herstich, club vice president. “Some of them were old bridesmaid dresses that girls had from horrible weddings. I did the thrift-store thing and found a purple princess dress with fluffy tulle and an empire waist.”

About 100 curious onlookers came out on Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. to watch the dolled-up girls scrimmage on UF’s University Village South Field. A rough-and-tumble game that combines aspects of football and soccer, rugby isn’t a sport for sissies, and this match was no exception. “It starts out as a regular game, with everyone playing really rough, and then it also turns into who can tear the most dresses apart,” Herstich says. “We had a pretty decent crowd, and a couple of film crews came out. It’s just so funny to watch.”

The brainchild of Coach Kerri O'Malley, the prom match isn’t just a quirky show for students—it helps the team raise money for charity. And playing two halves in torn taffeta and rumpled chiffon was worth it, as amused spectators donated about $300 at this year’s event. All proceeds went to SUNNA, a cancer support program for women.

“We just feel that we should be giving back to the community,” says Krissy Connors, match secretary and former club president. “And we love the prom match—everyone does that just for fun.”—AMC

For more information about UF’s women’s rugby club, visit http://grove.ufl.edu/~ufwrfc.

Best Winter Event
MDC’s Winter Wonderland
Imagine walking along at Miami Dade College—InterAmerican Campus on a cool day and seeing five fully-dressed snowmen!

This strange sight wasn’t a mirage on the day of the second annual Snowman Building Contest, where students at MDC can enjoy snow for at least one day out of the winter season. The contest consists of four teams of two or more people who have the opportunity to build snowmen from at least two tons of snow brought to campus by Royal Palm Ice. Contestants have 30 minutes to build their own original idea of a snowman.

The first-place snowman was a hula dancer, second place went to a snow-octopus, and third place went to the guajiros—snowmen in a raft with oars wearing traditional hats made from palm-tree leaves. Other participants made a sunbathing snowman, a snowman family, and a Michael Jackson replica. “The event was a success because we had a lot of students participate and take part in the festivities,” says Lazaro Pavon, Student Government Association vice president.

Pavon says the Student Life event brought pleasure to the students who participated and possibly some pain to those who didn’t wear snow gloves. After the contest finished, students got to have fun with the left-over snow, using it for snowball fights, snow angels, and sledding down their own version of a mountain. “This moment was gratifying because we got to experience things we usually can’t in Miami,” says Vanessa Juanes, Student Government Association treasurer. “Even though everyone couldn’t feel their hands afterwards, we had a tremendous time.”—RG

Contact Pavon at lpavon@mdc.edu.

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