Son’s injury leads alumnus to launch camp for child amputees

The Johnston family’s painful and transformative journey in 2008 began on the soccer field when Brennan Johnston fell and fractured his left femur.

The 4-year-old son of Flagler alumnus Brian Johnston spent more than two weeks in the hospital where he underwent five surgeries, three blood transfusions and several other treatments in a grueling and agonizing experience for the entire family. Yet, after all of that, doctors were still forced to amputate the boy’s leg.

From awards and cocktails to surfing and athletics, Alumni Weekend had something for everybody.

In May of 1998, Doug Dvorak went through the toughest 30 days of his life: he was diagnosed with cancer, he got sober for the first time, and his father died tragically after falling out of a third floor window. If there was ever a time to make a big move, it was now.

After graduating from Flagler in 1984, Dvorak spent more than two decades working corporate jobs in sales and marketing for technology companies. He loved the stability, but it wasn’t his passion.

Installation artist Brandon Nastanski makes art (and waves) from things he collects

Fueled by nature and tinged by oddity, Brandon Nastanski’s installation art and sculptures provide a glimpse into the mind of this 2000 grad.

Nastanski created his best-known installation art while exploring Boston’s 527-acre Franklin Park. Walking his dog took him to the park several times a day, where he started collecting discarded items.

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.

Segal helps lead organization that helped save St. Augustine’s historic Bridge of Lions

When Theresa Segal, ‘87, was a little girl, her family would drive down to St. Augustine for a month during the summer to stay at her grandparent’s house on Davis Shores, a historic, waterfront neighborhood just over the Bridge of Lions.

“When we drove over the grating of the bridge, I would wake up and I knew that we were almost there,” Segal remembers.

A mixed media art exhibition of Flagler College alumni called “Morning Brew” was held October to January in St. Augustine and featured the work of artists Katie Day, Dustin Miller, Carolyn Denman, Tara Ferreira, Seth Ferreira, Jayson Earl, Zach Thomas, Scott Smith, Cheryl Joy Miner, Tom Kiernan, Christine Applewhite, Scott Thompson and Kristina Cancelmi. The exhibit was sponsored by The St. Johns Cultural Council, and was curated by Tara Ferreira.

Flagler College – Tallahassee graduate Phil Pradere striving for bigger things

It’s a neighborhood often labeled as “the city of hopelessness,” and it’s not the kind of place that lends itself to big dreams.

But Phil Pradere, ‘10, beat the odds, first graduating from Flagler College’s Tallahassee campus and now going on to get a master’s in finance from Harvard University. Pradere was born in Brownsville, Miami — a community with a sky-high crime rate that had been labeled the “City of Hopelessness.”

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.

Blevins helps turn St. Augustine Amphitheatre into one of the country’s top outdoor venues

When Troy Blevins took a job with St. Johns County Recreation and Parks, he never thought it would lead to hobnobbing with big time celebrities like Ringo Starr, Aretha Franklin and Toby Keith. Blevins, ‘89, just wanted to help the county by creating youth sports programs.
“I figured I’d be in the gym and be ‘Coach Troy’ for the rest of my life,” the 43-year-old admits. “I didn’t think I’d be the guy in charge of 43 miles of beaches, 4,500 acres of parks and all of the boat ramps. And I definitely didn’t think I’d be running a concert venue.”