Spear Castillo rises up in the world of luxury hotels

Deborah Spear Castillo, ’83, certainly knows what it’s like to climb the corporate ladder, not to mention the world of five-star travel.

In the summer of 2010, she was named vice president of hotel sales for Loews Hotels, one of the country’s top luxury lodging companies with 19 hotels located in the United States and Canada.

For sports performance coach and alumnus Bryan Meyer, ‘00, training Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard during the off-season is just another day in the office, or rather, another day in the gym.

Meyer graduated from Flagler with a degree in sport management. He now works as a performance coach and will be opening The B Meyer Training Systems, an education-based performance gym in Altamonte Springs, Fla., this summer.

On top of that, Meyer has been Howard’s performance coach for the past four years; he’s also trained Olympic figure skater Patrick Chan, elite BMX racer Randall Neave and Los Angeles Angels minor league baseball player Tyson Auer.

“Training high-level athletes is what most people consider or want to talk about, but making a difference and creating relationships is the best part of my job,” he said. “Making a difference to the youth and helping them reach their potential is what I enjoy most about my career.”

Alumnus attempts to make sense of college debt

After hitting the hard reality of post-graduation debt, alumnus Logan Abrams, ‘03, decided he would not only figure out how to manage the financial burden, but also write about its impact.

“Debt-U: How Higher Education Breeds a Lifestyle of Debt” is Abrams’ attempt to make sense of how college students are racking up debt without even realizing it.

Abrams’ interest in the subject of debt and finance started in college when he realized he and his classmates had no personal finance education throughout high school. Abrams, like most college students, was making financial decisions without understanding the consequences of his actions.

Alum lands job on hit show ‘Glee’

For St. Augustine native Mark Bailey Jr., ‘08, it was a huge jump from his small hometown to Hollywood.

But that leap of faith has paid off for the alumnus, who is now a production assistant on Fox’s hit show “Glee” and working at Paramount Pictures.

’08 alum worked on infamous TLC reality show

For Flagler alumnus Clark McCarthy-Miller, ‘08, being a producer’s assistant has meant working on miscellaneous commercials, small movies and television shows. But that all changed when a friend set him up on an interview with a family that would change his life — the now infamous Gosselins, stars of TLC’s reality show, “Jon and Kate Plus Eight.”

After interviewing for the position with four others, the Gosselins handpicked him to work on the show. McCarthy-Miller could be seen on the show’s highest-rated season four opener where he helped the Gosselin family prepare for a birthday bash for the sextuplets.