Music + Math = Funky ‘Musiplication’

Alumna’s funk- and soul-influenced album teaches kids math and gets wide airplay on Sirius XM Satellite Radio

It began simply enough: a collection of songs about math meant to help school kids learn their multiplication tables. But 2000 alumna Kat Vellos never expected the funky little album — with its hip-hop beats put to math-infused tunes and her own soulful voice — would end up in regular rotation on Sirius XM Satellite Radio.

Called “Musiplication,” the independent album released in 2008 weaves stories about canoeing pandas and superheroes with everyday multiplication.

Alumni Weekend 2009

From awards and cocktails to surfing and Athletic Hall of Fame inductions, Flagler’s Alumni Weekend had it all again this year

Photo Galleries: Alumni Weekend

Alumni Awards
The Flagler College Alumni Office handed out its 2009 Alumni Awards at
Alumni Weekend this past May.

Buena Onda

‘04 Alumnus helps organization deliver soccer balls, jerseys and equipment to Central America

Caleb Cooper, a 2004 alumnus and former soccer player, has been working with an organization called Peace Passers that donates sports equipment to needy nations. Cooper wrote this piece about his trip last year to Central America to deliver soccer equipment.

Lessons from Ama Ghar

Alumna McKenzie Lamborne volunteers in a Nepalese orphanage

McKenzie Lamborne, ’02, quickly found that life at a Nepalese orphanage requires some adjustments. She ate with her hands, stomped on her clothes to simulate the spin cycle of a washing machine and wore a surgical mask in the street to reduce the smell of garbage and sewage. She rode an elephant, watched demonstrations by Tibetan monks and waited through a transportation strike.

The Journey, Not the Destination

Alumnus Nicholas Serenati went from Hollywood hopeful to award-winning visual artist

Flagler alumnus Nicholas Serenati (’03) launched his career hoping to be a Hollywood director, but he’s found his niche in a variety of visual arts.

Eye in the Sky

’89 grad flies Coast Guard choppers to head off drug traffickers

Eighty-five miles off the Colombian coast, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, a small boat speeds through international waters headed north. Loaded with illegal narcotics like marijuana and cocaine, the boat is more than likely headed for U.S. soil, where the “runners” on board will sell the drugs for a higher premium to a buyer on the mainland.

The runners may make $10,000 each on this one mission — a typical day in the international drug trade. Unless they encounter HITRON and Flagler graduate Matt Rother.

Of oats and dinosaurs

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’

Alumnus named head tennis coach at Clemson

When speaking about Clemson University’s new head tennis coach Chuck McCuen, Peter Scott talks like a proud father. His body perks up, his voice raises an octave, and the 2004 Flagler Athletic Hall of Fame inductee is almost at a loss for words.

“Chuck was such a hard worker, and God, he hated to lose,” recalls Scott, who was Flagler’s first head tennis coach from 1974-1989. “What do I recall about Chuck? You know what the biggest thing is? There are guys on every team that are natural-born leaders. Chuck was pretty much always that guy.”

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.