Reinventing baseball

Alumnus Brian Killingsworth helps launch a major league brand

Not many people would call up Kevin Costner and ask him to help kick off a major rebranding effort. But as alumnus Brian Killingsworth, ‘00, saw it, the star of epic films like “Field of Dreams” and “Bull Durham” was a perfect fit for a major league baseball team looking to reinvent itself.

The Art of the Magazine Business

Jacksonville publisher Cinda Sherman launched successful arts magazine from the humblest of beginnings

The early 1990s was no time to break into the world of investment banking. That’s the way Cinda Sherman remembers it. She had just lost her job as a financial analyst in Jacksonville, Fla.; the market was tanking; and all around her, banks and brokerages weren’t hiring, but instead laying off workers.

Things got so bad that when a few friends offered her a basement to live in until she got back on her feet, she took it.

How to surf and fish all day … oh, and run a business too

Flagler alumni Lance and Kristin Moss share stories of success in Nicaragua

At Surfari Charters, the workday itinerary goes something like this: Surf. Fish. Have lunch and a siesta. Surf or fish some more. Soak in natural hot springs. Relax in a hammock.

If you long for a career outside a cubicle, read on for some perspective from Flagler College graduates Lance and Kristin Moss. They went from waiting tables to operating a successful surfing and fishing charter business on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua and, as they put it, “living in an unbelievable place doing what you love.”

Getting Crafty

Alumna’s jewelry hobby evolves into a career

Gabrielle Gould didn’t plan on becoming an artist. The 1986 Flagler graduate majored in graphic design – known as commercial art at the time – and figured her fine arts studies would feed her personal, rather than professional, life.

From Stage to Screen

Alumnus Kevin Cramer takes his playwriting success to Hollywood

Kevin Cramer got lost in the Beartooth Mountains once in Montana. There were snowdrifts higher than his truck. A drugged-out girl opened his door, jumped in and tried to get him to camp with her friends. It kind of freaked him out.

Bit by the running bug

Sometimes the running bug just bites: a 5-kilometer race here, a marathon there. But for Phil Lechner, ’96, the itch to run has been ultra-hard to scratch, and has meant piling on the miles.

Lechner runs what are called ultra-marathons — distances of 50 kilometers, 50 miles and even 100 miles.

“I just caught the bug and I really, really enjoy it,” he said. “It’s a sport that is exploding now because, at one time, the marathon was a challenge. But when you have 30,000 or 40,000 people running New York and Boston, people want more than that.”

Alumni Weekend 2008

This past May, Flagler College graduates gathered on campus for Alumni Weekend, and more than 400 helped kick off the event on the new terrace between Markland House and the Ringhaver Student Center. The opening-night reception offered alums a chance to mingle or explore the new student center and play ping pong.

Other highlights from Alumni Weekend included a faculty/alumni reunion in the Crisp-Ellert Art Museum and the Hugh Shaw Memorial Long Board Contest. A record 48 surfers turned out for the annual surfing event and beach barbeque, which also raises money for a scholarship fund.

Writing with a reason

Flagler English major and ‘96 alumna uses her writing skills to help millions of Hispanic Americans find educational resources
Glorimar Maldonado Nosal’s writing career hasn’t gone exactly as intended – but her change in plans has helped improve educational opportunities for millions of Hispanic American students.
The 1996 Flagler alumna and English major hoped to write [...]

Wares on the move for Wal-mart

Not every recent graduate can say she’s spent half a billion dollars.
But that’s exactly what Amy Waers (‘06) has been doing while working as an assistant buyer in Wal-Mart Stores’ stationery department, a position that has her traveling overseas to China on buying trips.
“I actually got it [the position] through SIFE,” Waers said [...]

From food stamps to eating disorders

Alumna and NYU campus nutritionist Mary Dye has dealt with diet issues far more serious than the ‘freshman 15’
Mary Dye launched her career hoping to help malnourished people in Third World countries, and she wound up teaching American students to eat without starving or stuffing themselves.
The 2001 Flagler alumna and registered dietician works as a [...]