College plans restoration of the Hotel Ponce de Leon’s solarium

Alumna works with film festival highlighting Muslim women

Of all the news coming out of predominantly Muslim countries, many of the women living there wish the Western media spoke more about women who are fighting against repression and less about the abuses they endure.

Alumna Cassandra Schaffa, ’05, found herself helping spread that very message after she answered an ad on Craigslist last year. Schaffa was in her last year of her master’s degree in cinema studies at New York University when she stumbled upon an ad for an internship at a unique film festival.

An improved campus takes shape one detail at a time thanks to landscape architect Sharon Fowler

Senior Jillian McClure’s love of civil rights history leads to activist Andrew Young’s visit to Flagler

Sometimes roadblocks turn out to be open doors.

That’s what happened to history major Jillian McClure when she wanted to register for a religion class her sophomore year. When that class was full, she picked “Civil Rights Movement” with Dr. Michael Butler, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Alumna Summer Bozeman writes book on St. Augustine

Alumna Summer Bozeman’s passion for St. Augustine’s past turned into a paying gig when she was tapped to author a pictorial book on the Nation’s Oldest City.

When Bozeman graduated from Flagler in 2007, she bought several books on St. Augustine history and found herself fascinated by many of the historic photos.

Flagler’s logo will soon have a more sophisticated look, and the school colors will receive a much-needed update.

College President William T. Abare Jr. recently approved the updates after a study of existing logos and visuals used by the college. Abare says the need to redesign was largely driven by confusion over which college logo was the “official” visual identity.

Alumnus Mike Galluzzi works to eliminate redundancies in America’s space program while NASA transitions from the shuttle to the moon and beyond

Mike Galluzzi, ’88, is in the business of space. And right now the space business is in a period of transition.

The current shuttle program is set to retire by September 2010, leaving a gap in human space transportation for at least a few years while the new “Constellation” program takes off. Constellation’s plans echo the heyday of the space program with exploration of the moon and eventually manned missions to Mars.

Space. Color. Shape. Texture. They all have a place in alumna Jennifer Sánchez’s art, but it is her use of color that draws you in.

Sánchez describes her art as “exploding optimism.” A colorful mix of shapes and textures, the effect is quite upbeat, but Sánchez, ’97, says that is rarely her intent.

Journalism student chronicles hidden cemetery in photo essay

In a secluded graveyard, simple labels like “mother” and “grandmother” peek out from slabs of cement, colored brightly with shades of pink and blue. Love is apparent there, as is the lack of money loved ones have to spend on deceased relatives.

But right next to the makeshift plots, separated only by a transparent fence, sits the pristine and modern Evergreen Cemetery. Visitors would have to move branches and step through weeds and overgrowth to get back to this “other” area, where the dates on the markers are as recent as 1990.

Audio Slideshow: Photo Essay by Haley Walker

Hirko wins $15,000 with ‘pterodactyl’ dance on ‘Regis and Kelly’

Armed only with a “pterodactyl” dance and a stuffed dinosaur strapped to his head, alumnus Andy Hirko, ’02, competed on national television for $50,000.

“My wife (Kristy, ’02) and I were praying for creative ways to pay off debt,” said Hirko, who was one of five finalists in a dance contest on “Live with Regis and Kelly.”

Video: Andy Hirko on ‘Regis and Kelly’