It isn’t often that you find a business professor teaching Shakespeare. Or an English professor talking to college freshmen about Spanish Renaissance architecture.

But step into a Keystone Seminar class — a required freshman course that is replacing composition classes — and that’s exactly what you will find. The seminar is designed to bring different teaching backgrounds to a class that goes beyond mere writing and reading. Instead, the aim is to do something college professors say students aren’t doing enough of: thinking.

“[With the keystone seminar] the goal is to establish a culture of reading, writing, thinking, engaging and talking,” said Professor Doug McFarland, who headed up the seminar in 2010-11. “They’re going to encounter that in their first year.”

The class is a far cry from typical composition classes with standard essay exercises. Students might have to look at a John Locke essay on government. Instead of being told about U.S. government, they have to work through the text and then analyze what it means to be a citizen of this country. McFarland said they want them to engage issues, think through what they mean and then express themselves in writing.

“What we’re trying to do is cultivate in them a questioning attitude and a passion for learning,” said Dr. Hugh Marlowe, an associate professor of philosophy who is taking over as director of the Keystone Seminar. “Of course we want them to learn some Rousseau, learn some Locke, but really what we’re trying to do is inspire them to ask some questions they’ve never asked before.”

Advancing Academics
The Keystone Seminar is just one example of how academics at Flagler has changed dramatically the past several years. This has included new programs of study like a math minor, new faculty, beefing up science courses and labs, and even a rewrite of the general education program — core classes that make up freshman and sophomore schedules. Until recently there had been no major changes to the general education program in 30 years.

“The [general education] requirements are more challenging and there is a great deal more writing required of students,” said McFarland, who helped implement the changes.

And there is more to come. The president and Board of Trustees recently approved an academic strategic plan, and Flagler is also launching a “First Year Experience” initiative that will seek to improve all facets of a student’s first year at the college.

“The last five years on the academics side, it’s been astonishing the amount of transformation,” said Dr. Art Vanden Houten, an associate professor of political science who is leading the First Year Experience with Student Services Dean Dan Stewart.

“It’s extraordinary to think of all the change that’s underway,” Vanden Houten said.  

Academics Dean Alan Woolfolk believes the First Year Experience, called Foundations of Excellence, will make a major difference for students. “The goal is to improve student retention,” he said. “This will look at how all the parts — from registration and orientation to classes — relate. We’ll be studying everything from bill paying to advising. It’s time to look at the whole experience.”

Woolfolk, who has been with the college for a little over three years, said all the changes taking place will help further the strong academic foundation that was already in place. He credits the college’s Faculty Senate with being a catalyst for many of the changes, and believes the new strategic plan will continue to push academics forward.

“I think Flagler has done a fantastic job on developing the physical side,” Woolfolk said. “The goal of the academic strategic plan was to put emphasis on the education side.”

Chaired by Marlowe, the plan sets out numerous proposals covering everything from what classrooms should look like to establishing new academic programs.

Changing how students learn
Marlowe said the academic strategic plan and adoption of the keystone seminar are great examples of how academics are not only changing at Flagler, but also changing how students learn.

He said part of a liberal arts college experience should be helping students better understand issues and why they believe the things they do by “working through a process of scrutiny and self-reflection.”

He said the first year of the seminar under McFarland was a success, and now all freshmen — more than 500 — are going through them.

The theme of the seminar has been the idea of the civilized and primitive worlds coming together. This ties in well with the history of St. Augustine from its Native American period through the arrival of the Spanish to Henry Flagler’s opulent hotel that today is the centerpiece of the college.

Building on the past
Woolfolk said the ultimate goal is to raise the level of academic challenge at the college.

“Part of my aim is to develop some programs that are highly distinctive,” he said. “To begin the discussion of where [academically] we want to go.”

But everyone involved agrees that the changes don’t break with what made the college successful in the past.

“What we’re trying to keep intact is how well Flagler has helped to transform the lives of its students,” Marlowe said. “You don’t ever want to change in a way that you lose that.”

Vanden Houten credits a lot of the academic changes to Woolfolk, as well as faculty who have worked on general education revisions, the academic strategic plan, the Faculty Senate or other initiatives.

“The college has laid a tremendous foundation and there’s an opportunity to continue that advancement and growth,” he said. “We’re not standing on our heels. We’re moving forward.”

What does it mean?
Flagler has seen some dramatic changes on the academic front the past several years, and there are more to come. Here is a sampler of some of the terms you might hear on campus in academic circles:

Foundations of Excellence First-Year initiative:
This new program, which promotes first-year students’ engagement with the college, is kicking off this year. It is being developed in collaboration with the John N. Gardner Institute and will evolve into a plan that covers every facet of a new student’s experience at Flagler.

Academic Strategic Plan:
Approved in the spring of 2011 by the Board of Trustees, the plan lays out 53 specific proposals developed by a faculty-led Academic Strategic Planning Committee. Proposals range from increasing the number of full-time faculty and improving classrooms to developing new majors like environmental science, public history or international studies.

Keystone Seminar:
Drawing upon materials from a variety of disciplines, this freshman course replaced composition. It investigates cultural identity and communal values with particular attention paid to the European encounter with the indigenous cultures of America, as well as the underpinnings of the architecture of the Flagler campus.

Ignite Learning Communities:
To improve the transition from high school to college, Flagler developed these clusters of courses designed around a central, interdisciplinary theme with each class attended by the same group of students. Focusing on active and collaborative learning, students engage themselves and each other in the learning process while also participating together in co-curricular activities and campus events.

It was once a grand, sunlit gathering space for Ponce de Leon hotel guests. In the college’s early days it served as a one-of-a-kind library and occasional classroom.

Now it’s been closed off for nearly 40 years and with its locked doors and stacks of old furniture, has become the subject of speculation by many Flagler students over the years. But now the Solarium is getting a second chance as the college plans to start renovations of the gorgeous domed area above the Rotunda.

The mysterious fourth floor
Few remember the days when the college’s Solarium was open for student use. In fact, it was used as the library in only the earliest days of the college before it was closed due to safety concerns.

When alumna Linda (Hall) Mignon, ’71, was a theatre arts major in the early 70s, she had a class with Tom Rahner under the Solarium’s soaring dome.

Mignon recalled Rahner telling his class to lie down on the floor and pick a spot on the ceiling. He then told them to stare at that spot and not to think about anything.

“I think I held out for 30 seconds,” Mignon said.

It took a recent trip to the Solarium for Mignon to remember even having been up there. She barely remembered the fourth floor at all.

In those days, just a handful of classes were held in the area, and the Gargoyle — the student newspaper — had its office down a narrow corridor on the east wing off the solarium. But its main use was the library — until it had to be closed for lack of a proper fire escape route.

Flagler College President William T. Abare Jr. remembers moving the books from the Solarium to what is today the Flagler Room.

“We formed a human chain to move the books,” he said. “Each book in the library was handed down individually. We didn’t use carts to move them en masse.” Once the books were relocated, the Solarium was closed off.

Over the years, the Solarium and its winding east corridor have become almost legend in Flagler College lore. By the time Kirk Damato, ‘01, was arts and entertainment editor for the Gargoyle in 2001, it was too tantalizing to pass up. He managed to tag along with some friends on a rare “authorized” trip to the fourth floor for a bit of exploring.

“Oh, of course, the forbidden floor was a place I’d always wanted to see,” he said. “I remember it being a lot more open than one would expect.”

When he found an old bulletin board in what used to be the Gargoyle office, he carved his name and the date into the aging cork. But much like Mignon, he barely remembers being in the Solarium. The board, which has since been relocated to the Gargoyle office in the Proctor Library, still bears his name.

“I absolutely didn’t remember carving my name on that bulletin board,” he said. “I was pretty shocked, actually, to see it.”

Henry Flagler’s vision, reinvented
Once renovations are complete, the Solarium and its surrounding rooftop terraces won’t be so mysterious, but the views will be striking.

The domed Solarium rises above the St. Augustine skyline as the centerpiece of Ponce de Leon Hall – today a National Historic Landmark. When Henry Flagler built his Gilded Age hotel in the nation’s oldest city in 1888, it served as a winter haven for the nation’s elite. The Solarium was one of many gathering places inside the hotel, but this one provided unparalleled, panoramic views of the city, and that will be a focal point of the renovation.

The space will be restored to much of its previous grandeur, along with some modern conveniences. The idea is for limited special events to be hosted there, along with the accompanying east and west terraces. Rooms to the east of the dome will also be given a new life.

Because of the historic nature of the structure, plans for its renovation and ultimate use are still tentative. But Abare says he hopes to host special events in the area once it’s complete.

The Solarium itself is quite different from the other parts of the former hotel. The large floor-to-ceiling windows on all four sides allow light to pour in. The center of the room is flanked with eight square columns, supporting vaulted walls, leading to a ribbed, wooden ceiling.

The design of the Solarium both encloses the space, bathing visitors with light and warmth, and, simultaneously, invites their exploration of the large roof terraces outside.

Board of Trustees member Delores Lastinger and her husband, Allen, have already committed a $500,000 challenge gift to the project.

The Lastingers have long been committed to historic preservation through philanthropy. Delores called the project a perfect fit because of her and Allen’s interest in Florida and St. Augustine history.

“It has been, and will once again become, one of the many jewels of the original Ponce de Leon,” she said.

The college has already matched the first $100,000 of the Lastinger’s donation and will match the full amount. This gift helped to kick off a full-fledged campaign to raise money for the Solarium renovation.

“The Solarium and fourth floor are the last major spaces of Ponce de Leon Hall to be restored and would truly be the crowning achievement in preserving Flagler’s heritage,” said F. Mark Whittaker, vice president of Institutional Advancement.

Celebrating the Ponce
The restoration is scheduled to be complete by 2013, just in time for a year-long celebration of the 125th anniversary of the opening of the Hotel Ponce de Leon.

The college has kicked off a major fundraising campaign to help advance the restoration efforts.

Naming opportunities in the Solarium range from $10,000 to $500,000, each of which can be pledged over a period of five years.

Visit www.flagler.edu/support-our-vision for more information or call (904) 819-6437.

Don’t dally in the bathroom. That’s part of what Casey Welch, an associate professor of sociology at Flagler, learned a few years back when he went to work at a national fast food chain. He won’t name the burger-flipping joint where he took a minimum-wage job to study how chains exert total control over workers. Even bathroom breaks are timed!

Welch admits he wasn’t a very good worker. But it did give him fascinating material that he has presented at conferences and plans to eventually publish in an academic journal. Wanting to know more, we interviewed him about this unique study, as well as what it was like shoveling fries.

Q. How did the idea for this come about?
A. The background issue for me was marginalization and power. All of my research, all of my interests have been the distribution of power, the use of power, the shifts of power in all types of ways.

Q. What made you think to look into fast food restaurants?
A. I remember being struck while going into a [fast food chain] that everybody on the dayshift was older — no high school kids. Before I entered the field I knew that at least several of them had kids. So they’re working minimum wage, no benefits, just the worst of jobs as adults raising children. … What they would do is as soon as you were there long enough to get raises, they would cut your hours or they would fire you. So there were just constant labor cost caps, and I just thought it was such an abusive system. … They had a help wanted sign in concrete in the front lawn. So they were always hiring. That just struck me as weird. Why would anyone work there?

Q. In your background research you use the term “cheerful robots” to describe fast food workers. Where did that come from?
A. American sociologist C. Wright Mills is the one who described what our modern system is becoming — the automatization and standardization of American culture. He was referring not just to production, but to social and cultural life. So we are “cheerful robots” in our homes, in our social lives. We’re so incredibly conformist even as we espouse individualism.

Q. How does that apply to fast-food workers?
A. The majority of workers [in the restaurant] do not question the value of their work, per se. They might be disgruntled about their manager, their supervisor or their pay. But overall they just clock in and do their work. … They liked being at work. They liked their co-workers. They worked really hard to get the average time for the drive-thru down. They got nothing. Every time they got it low, the MANAGER got a bonus! … The manager I was under never did a thing for the workers. Not a single thing. Didn’t give them a free fry. But [the workers] still were like, “Let’s do it guys!” They would yell at each other. And when the shift was over they would high five. They were just “cheerful robots.”

Q. Was it a sense of accomplishment they were looking for or were they conditioned to do it?
A. That became my first research question, which was how do they control the people? I was really looking at the systems of control. If someone spent too much time in the bathroom — and too much time was like three or four minutes — the manager would say, “What are you doing in there?” Whenever you went on break, they had a timer. You set the timer and it would beep loudly when it was done. Of course all the food was timed. They had what we referred to as stations, and a common phrase was, “don’t forget you’re chained to your station.” You weren’t literally chained, but it was metaphorical.

Q. Was it difficult to get a job in a fast-food restaurant?
A. No experience necessary. … They were a bit puzzled by the educational level of my application.

Q. You say in something you wrote that you were not a good fast-food employee, but you tried to be. What did you mean?
A. That type of operation depends on standardization and repetitiveness. Coming out of owning my own business and academics, I just wasn’t accustomed to that. That was a general problem, and was manifest in situations like assembling the sandwich: I would communicate with the customer on the other side of the counter about their preferences. This slowed down the process. … The idea of speed of production being the dominant principle did not make sense to me personally … I would make very thoughtful double bacon cheeseburgers, and the manager would chastise me (and make me re-watch the instruction video on the official way to assemble each sandwich).  

Q. How important is it for researchers to really get boots on the ground and see for themselves what they’re studying?
A. Very important. We can’t identify patterns with single interviews, observations, anecdotes or even surveys. This is the irreplaceable advantage of good qualitative research — the domain is smaller, but the depth of knowledge is much deeper.

Q. Why is research like this important?
A. Any research that can assist us in more accurately and fully understanding social phenomena is beneficial.  In the case of my work, it is good for people to know more about our economic and labor system — how it operates and how it impacts the lives of real people.

Professional Profile: Dr. Casey Welch
Welch earned his Ph.D. and his M.A. in sociology from The University of Illinois. He earned his B.A. in criminal justice with a minor in philosophy from The University of Florida. His research interests include crime, marginality, stratification and social control. This summer his Sociological Research Methods class produced a study for the city of St. Augustine about public opinion on the future of the Willie Galimore pool in Lincolnville.

For Dr. Emily Splane, one meal’s leftovers were added proof that portion sizes are out of control and Americans are eating too much. A day after dining at a chain restaurant, she took a box from the refrigerator only to be shocked by how much there still was.

“My leftovers filled an entire bowl used to feed a family of four,” she said. “I was stunned to see that after eating until I was full, I still had enough food left to feed my entire family. The sodium in that pasta dish was probably three times the average level.”

For Splane, that example epitomized the ongoing struggle in America: a growing obesity problem, health issues caused by diet and ultimately how the simple and necessary act of eating has become deadly.

It’s a subject that Splane, associate professor of psychology at Flagler College, is passionate about, whether in her research or in teaching students in a course called “Psychology of Eating.” She is co-authoring a textbook by that same name with her graduate mentor, Dr. Neil Rowland, professor and chair of the psychology department at the University of Florida.

Although the textbook will address the psychological, biological and sociocultural aspects of eating, Splane said her and Rowland’s motivation for writing was to address what experts in the field of eating refer to as a “toxic environment” — a term coined by Yale professor Kelly D. Brownell in “Food Fight: The Inside Story of the Food Industry.”

He used it to describe the collision between more sedentary lifestyles and modern, unhealthy food that is plentiful, accessible, relatively cheap, calorie dense and extremely tasty.

The result, she said, has led to the health crisis the country is facing.

“One-third of our country is obese, and two-thirds are either obese or overweight,” she said. “Only one-third of our country is of normal weight, and that statistic includes eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia. Ultimately, this means that a very small percentage of our country’s population is in a healthy weight range.”

Splane said if we hope to understand how our eating behaviors have changed, we must first understand just how much our environment has changed.

“Part of the problem our society is having is that food is so readily available almost anywhere you go,” she said. “Over 50 years ago, if you went to a gas station, you went to purchase gas, not to buy food. Now, people have started to associate food with places such as bookstores, car washes and even home-repair stores.”

This wasn’t always the case, as food wasn’t so plentiful. People used to have to hunt and gather, struggling to put enough food on their plates, and to survive. But as our environment changed, food became easier to come by.

“Food is around us all the time, and it’s relatively cheap and calorie dense,” she said. “This ‘toxic environment’ isn’t the type of environment that humans and other animals existed in originally. As our environment has changed, our brains have evolved to suit our needs – to like the sweet taste, the salty taste and the fatty taste.”

Splane said other eating disorders have emerged in addition to obesity.

“Eating disorders are on the rise as a response to this environment — as a way of maneuvering through all of the chaos,” she said. “Of course there are also other factors contributing to these [eating] disorders, such as psychological issues, family issues, self-image issues and the pressure to be thin in today’s society. But again, we live in a country where food is so plentiful. You don’t see issues with obesity, bulimia or anorexia in Third World countries because there isn’t enough food for these disorders to exist.”

Splane said for the first time, something called “binge eating disorder” will be listed in the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual ” – a book used in the field of psychology to diagnose mental and other disorders.

“Binge eating disorder will almost inevitably lead to overweight and obesity issues,” she said. “With this condition, the person is eating way past their needs and numbing themselves with food. Emotionally, the binge eater is eating for comfort and filling some type of void.”

But while food often seems harmless, Splane said the truth is that of all the psychiatric disorders, eating disorders are the most deadly.

“With anorexia and bulimia, the risk of cardiac arrest is very high,” she said. “In addition, both disorders can cause heart failure or a stroke because fluid balance and electrolyte balance can be thrown off dramatically, leading to sudden death.”

Although the change in our environment plays a key role in the rise in obesity and other eating disorders, Splane said she is currently researching another key factor that could be contributing to the emergence: a link between mood and food.

“There’s some new supporting evidence that there is such a thing as a ‘food addiction,’ ” she said. “In performing experiments with rats, we are now finding that with food being so tasty, it’s over-stimulating the reward centers in the brain. It’s very similar to drug addiction in that the brain has become so overridden with pleasure molecules that cravings become virtually impossible to ignore.”

What’s the solution?

Splane thinks a lot of it starts with better education and, especially with children, everything from teaching nutrition in public schools to providing healthier lunches.

“We shouldn’t assume that our children will only eat foods like chicken nuggets and hotdogs rather than grilled chicken, fruit and veggies,” she said. “Humans lived and thrived for many many years before the creation of the chicken nugget.”

Ten Flagler students spent part of April pushed from their comfort zones when they hopped on a plane to Quito, Ecuador. They lived without clocks, quenched their thirst with licorice-flavored water, slept with monstrous insects and ate yucca for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Needless to say, it wasn’t your typical spring break trip.

Kristin Nelson, former director of student activities, led the 11-day alternative break to Ecuador in April to work with the Foundation for Indigenous Community Development in Pastaza, Ecuador. It’s a nonprofit organization aimed at creating sustainable development in indigenous communities of Pastaza. FUNDECOIPA manages the 2,200 acres of the Arutam Rainforest Reserve.

“Any time you experience another culture and you’re out of your comfort zone, it’s hard,” Nelson said. “No matter how much you talk about it before you go, everything is taken from you.”

But the students relished their rainforest adventure, despite the culture shock. During the first week they lived in the Shuar community of Arutam, where they lived in a wooden shelter with a view of three volcanoes in the distance. They worked on several projects with the Shuar tribe, including constructing a cafeteria for local school children and working on a family garden in the jungle.

Liberal arts major Tina Hudzinski said they helped the community with daily tasks, such as collecting, harvesting, cooking and preparing yucca. She said it was a ton of work split up into three sections every day: work, a jungle lesson and a cultural session.

“We learned about the plants and how people live,” Hudzinksi said. “They talked about the history of the people, their customs, how they are different, and they showed us their traditional Shuar dance.”

Political science major Haleigh Smith said the trip to Ecuador left her thirsty to sharpen her Spanish skills and to become more proactive about making positive environmental changes. It brought to life the environmental issues she is used to hearing about from professors and textbooks.

“It makes it completely different when you go and see what’s happening … you see the people who need the Amazon, and they need the forest. That’s their livelihood,” she said.

Smith said she had a huge “aha!” moment in the jungle.

“I saw this is worth fighting for,” she said. “All of my research and my reasoning — there is a purpose for it, and I have got to do more to help.”

Nelson said the main goal of the trip was to do a knowledge-exchange program.

“Our students learned western farming techniques by working in local community gardens on and around Flagler College,” she said. “We then learned the farming techniques of the Shuar Indians while being completely immersed in their culture.”

She said being immersed in that lifestyle blew her away.

“One student said something like, ‘We think water is a necessity, but here, it’s like a luxury,’ ” she said. “The showers just dripped on you, it takes time to prepare water; they have to make sure it lasts the whole day … and here [in the U.S.] we just turn on the tap and drink all the time.”

Hudzinski was exhausted by the end of each day, but said it was well worth her energy.

“I loved the little things – like when I fell asleep in a hammock every night, and I was outside all the time, which I loved,” she said.

Hudzinksi’s greatest shock was the locals’ concept of time — it’s drastically different from the American lifestyle. Although the Shuars have a strong work ethic and are determined to get things done, she said she never knew what time it was or how long activities were going to last. But it taught her to stay in the present and to not worry about what would happen next.

“Since I have been back, I have been much more relaxed about time,” she said. “I learned to let go of time constraints, and to know that things will happen, and it’s good.”

The Flagler College Ecuador Alternative Break was helped by a $3,500 donation from the Don Ausman Foundation, which hosts a St. Augustine 5K run called Don’s Run in memory of a Michigan State student who died in 2009. The organization also gave $1,000 in 2010 to help two site leaders with stipends toward their trip. Nelson said leftover funds will help other Flagler students go on future alternative breaks.

For men’s soccer head coach John Lynch and women’s volleyball head coach Taylor Mott, it’s been a challenging experience since Flagler moved to NCAA Div. II and the Peach Belt Conference. Yet, both have achieved remarkable success since beginning conference play.

Mott’s teams have won more than 20 games in each season since 2001, and her level of expectations for her players didn’t change simply because of the move to the NCAA. After a 26–15 record in the final NAIA campaign in 2006, her teams went 20–15 and 20–16 in their first two seasons in the NCAA.

“For me, the biggest challenge really was recruiting during that transition,” Mott said. “We were uncertain if we would be accepted into the Peach Belt Conference and what our future really would hold, so we had to sell players as we always do on the program and the school as a whole, but get them in during what I can only describe as an interesting time.”

In 2009, Mott’s perseverance paid off. In the college’s first season in the Peach Belt Conference, her team went 36–9, won the Southeast Regional and advanced to the NCAA Division II Final Four. In 2010, the team finished 29–9 and won the conference regular season and conference tournaments for the second straight year before falling in the regionals.

“It’s hard to describe, but I’ve never thought of our team as underdogs ever since the transition to the NCAA,” Mott said. “We’ve been able to achieve some great things, but I think that’s because our players always believed in themselves, no matter the affiliation.”

“It’s hard to describe, but I’ve never thought of our team as underdogs ever since the transition to the NCAA.” — Taylor Mott, Volleyball Coach

Lynch, on the other hand, had his worst year as a coach during the team’s first NCAA season, winning just two games while struggling to adjust to what he called “a different level of fitness.”

“No matter what you do for a living, people always say that when you’re challenged in a way you haven’t been before, you come out of it stronger,” he said. “Experiencing that transition was one of the toughest things I’ve ever gone through as a coach. But I learned a lot about coaching through adversity, and I think my players learned that sometimes you have to work even harder.”

The results were not immediate, but in 2010, the hard work paid off. Led by senior goalkeeper Matt Gilman, who transferred in before the 2009 season, and junior midfielder Johan Bergfeld, who earned All-America honors, the Saints finished the season 14–5–1 overall and 6–2 in the Peach Belt Conference, before losing in the first round of the Southeast Region Tournament.

Flagler went 14–6–2 in 2009, took the Peach Belt Conference title in their first year and notched their most wins since 2002. Lynch also was named Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year.

“The progress we’ve made each year since the move has been great,” Lynch said. “I think our team is so much more physically fit today, and the kids deserve a lot of the credit.”

Photo by Scott Smith, '04

There they were, some of the biggest names in the world of golf: Tiger Woods. Michelle Wie. Donald Trump’s son, Donnie, and even pop star (and golf aficionado) Justin Timberlake.

They were all part of Golf Magazine’s “40 Under 40” list, which was billed as a collection of “the most influential people in golf under 40-years-old.”

But if you looked past the celebrities and sport stars, you may have noticed two more recognizable names on the list: Flagler alumni Laura Hill and Guy Garbarino, both 1998 sport management grads.

Hill is senior director of communications for the PGA Tour and Garbarino is senior director of outreach for The First Tee, an organization that helps bring golf to elementary schools across the United States.

Garbarino said his inclusion on such a star-studded listed was pretty unexpected.

“Honestly when I heard that I made (the list), it was pretty humbling,” he said. “There are some big names on the list (Timberlake, Tiger, and others) and I was glad to see that The First Tee was recognized for our youth development efforts in golf.”

Hill — whom the magazine lauded for her media liaison skills, saying it was “no small chore in the eye of the Tiger storm this year” — was also shocked by her inclusion.

“Of course, I headed to the bookstore to pick up a few copies,” she said. “The woman at the cash register asked, ‘Oh, do you know someone in here?’ … I have to admit it was kind of fun to tell her, ‘Yes … me!’ ”

Garbarino was picked for his involvement in the The First Tee National School Program, which helps to bring the sport to elementary schools across the United States.

“At the end of the day, I hope that the article will help to create more recognition of our organization and that it will lead to additional opportunities to reach more young people in this country,” he said.

For Hill, it was a reward for what has been a difficult year with the controversy surrounding Woods as he returned to the links.

“It’s been an interesting year, definitely,” she said. “We’ve been dealing with media that don’t typically cover the PGA Tour or golf in general — more from the entertainment side of the business — because of Tiger’s situation.  

“But it’s also given us a chance to highlight the personalities of some of the other players who often get less attention because Tiger was dominating the Tour for so many years. Every day is different, which keeps this job exciting and challenging for me.”  

The magazine called the 40 picked for its list the game’s “up-and-coming generation of influencers, trendsetters and newsmakers, an eclectic mix of talent worth watching today and for many years to come.”

Nominees for the ranking were solicited from a wide variety of sources and the finalists were picked by a panel of Golf Magazine editors. See the full list at www.golf.com.

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.

This past semester, McClure, 20, helped bring one of the country’s best-known Civil Rights activists — Ambassador Andrew Young, a former associate of Martin Luther King Jr. — to Flagler College, where he showed a new documentary about the civil rights struggles in St. Augustine. After that visit, Young decided to host the archives for the film and other important historical material at Flagler.

McClure plans to study southern culture and race relations in graduate school. But that wasn’t always the case; she discovered her passion for civil rights history almost by accident.

While in high school, she saw Flagler alumnus Jeremy Dean’s documentary “Dare Not Walk Alone,” which piqued her interest in the Civil Rights movement. It would be several years before she really began to truly understand the historical significance of St. Augustine during the Civil Rights Movement.

“I was just really amazed at what had happened here,” she said. “The colonial aspects of St. Augustine are talked about so much, and yet, there’s so much history of St. Augustine that happened in the 20th century that no one knows about.”

It was her first taste of St. Augustine’s civil rights history.

During her sophomore year at Flagler, McClure, now a senior, was just beginning to take classes for her history major, and she wanted to take a class because she liked a particular professor. When she discovered the class was full, she decided to enroll in Butler’s class on civil rights. The second-choice class turned out to be her favorite at Flagler. She had found her passion.

“I wasn’t ever intending to pursue it [race relations] … I just loved the class,” she said. And now she says, “I love this; this is what I want to do.”

Since then, McClure has been studying everything she can about southern culture and race relations. She says she loves interviewing people about their experiences even though it can be a bit nerve-wracking.

“It’s really wonderful to have so many resources here because I can study what I want to study and access it down the street from Flagler College and interview people who live in my home town,” she said. “And it’s really exciting at the same time because there is so much of it that’s been hushed and so much of it that isn’t exposed, so it’s really fun to discover new information.”

Perhaps it was the “hush” that masked the importance of an event mentioned in “Dare Not Walk Alone.” Dean had found footage of one of the turning points in Civil Rights in St. Augustine: a 1964 beating of Young, a friend and supporter of Martin Luther King Jr. who later became mayor of Atlanta and a United Nations Ambassador.

King had sent Young to disband increasingly violent protests in the Oldest City, but when Young saw the situation in St. Augustine, he decided to march alongside local residents — an event that would be a turning point in the movement nationwide. As Young attempted to cross a St. Augustine street while leading a peaceful march, he was brutally attacked and beaten unconscious. Young was arrested and didn’t even know the beating was taped until 2005 when he saw “Dare Not Walk Alone.” When he viewed the footage, he knew he needed to tell his story in his own words with his own documentary.

“It was really incredible to know that I was meeting these people who had participated in the civil rights movement and had done so much to bring about the Civil Rights Act and equality in America. I was just so incredibly grateful for what they had done. People were thanking me, and I was just saying, ‘No, thank you,’ because I’m just so appreciative of what they’ve done for everyone.”

Young was a key strategist and negotiator during the civil rights campaigns in Birmingham and Selma that resulted in the passage Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But many believe it was that historic street crossing in St. Augustine, which McClure and many other local residents had never even heard of, that served as the catalyst for the passage of the historic legislation.

“Andrew Young was never a name that really stuck with me,” McClure said. “Martin Luther King was the one who was talked about coming here all the time. I just never realized how important his [Young’s] role was in the Civil Rights Movement here until I was getting in to my research last semester.”

McClure was researching local demonstrators for a paper and Young’s name came up. She discovered that he was one of the few key figures still alive, and he was living relatively nearby in Atlanta. She decided to send him an e-mail and tell him about her project.

The immediate and enthusiastic response was overwhelming. Not only was he willing to answer her questions, but Young’s foundation also wanted to host an exclusive screening of their documentary, “Crossing in St. Augustine,” in the city where it had all happened. McClure was elated.

“I’m really excited for the doors this could open,” McClure said last February in an interview prior to the screening.

On Feb. 9, 2010, Young showed his documentary to a standing-room-only crowd in the Flagler College Auditorium. It was a historic event, not only for the prestige of having a former UN ambassador and mayor of Atlanta visit St. Augustine, but also because of the symbolism of Young being welcomed back with open arms to the city that had shunned him so many years ago.

“Freedom is a constant struggle,” Young told the audience after the film. “And you all made a significant contribution.”

McClure said she was in awe of the civil rights pioneers in attendance and found it odd that they were thanking her for bringing the documentary to St. Augustine.

“It was really incredible to know that I was meeting these people who had participated in the civil rights movement and had done so much to bring about the Civil Rights Act and equality in America,” she said. “I was just so incredibly grateful for what they had done. People were thanking me, and I was just saying, ‘No, thank you,’ because I’m just so appreciative of what they’ve done for everyone.”

McClure says she was grateful just for the opportunity to speak with Young. She didn’t expect anything more.

“I initiated the contact with him, but I was not expecting to play any kind of role,” she said. “[But] then getting to do a radio interview and a television interview and all of the stuff it was just really … exciting. I wouldn’t have traded it for anything, except maybe some sleep.“

She makes light of her role, but it’s hard to ignore McClure’s contribution to the legacy of Young’s historic 1964 visit. The interviews and other material used in the film will be given to the college for the creation of a civil rights archive chronicling the local struggle — clear evidence of McClure’s influence.

Butler, whose class sparked McClure’s interest, says the long-term impact of Young’s visit is “immeasurable.”

“Our hosting of the event is a step in the right direction, but it is going to take much more than participation in one event to move beyond 40-plus years of suspicion and hurt,” he said.

Butler also says the premier and the donation of the archive materials placed Flagler in a great position to participate in the preservation of the city’s civil rights legacy. In fact, Butler and College President William T. Abare Jr. were asked to serve on a committee looking at bringing a civil rights museum to St. Augustine.

“The material being donated by Ambassador Young [to the college] will provide an excellent foundation for building a collection on the important role of St. Augustine in the Civil Rights Movement,” Abare said.

It was a photo in The Washington Post that caught Marisella Veiga’s attention. The Japanese were growing watermelons in square containers to make it easier to ship them. They were square watermelons.

“I thought that was a great metaphor for someone living with the bicultural experience,” said the adjunct English instructor and Cuban-American author who has focused most of her writing on her own experiences living with two cultures.

“Square Watermelons: Ten Essays on Living with Two Cultures” is a collection of spoken-word essays that was born out of her syndicated columns for Hispanic Link News Service in Washington, D.C.

More recently, she had a short story, “Fresh Fruit,” selected for publication in the anthology, “Short-Short Stories from the United States and Latin America.” She has been awarded the Special Mention in Fiction for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Small Presses, for a story called, “Arroz Con Pollo,” and has published features, commentary and poetry.

More often than not, her writing deals with the theme of being born into one culture and then transplanted into an entirely different one.

“It’s very similar to the watermelons being planted in the square containers,” she said. Veiga said when she was thinking about the square watermelons metaphor, she realized it could apply to just about anyone.

“You’re born a certain way, and by the time you reach adulthood, you’re beaten into a square of sorts,” she said. “You certainly are shaped by experience. So I think the metaphor could be greater than what it originally stood for.”

Veiga was born in Havana, Cuba, and she and her family went into exile in 1960 when they moved to the United States. She had no choice but to learn how to live with two cultures. For years, she has been questioned regarding her ethnicity and Cuban politics.

“When one is forced to leave one’s country for political reasons, I would have to compare the exile to having experienced a childhood trauma,” Veiga said. “It impacted my entire family including my parents, siblings, grandparents and cousins. It has impacted my other Cuban friends. The whole exile community — everyone who is in exile has experienced that trauma.”

Veiga and her family moved to Minnesota not long after they came to the United States.

“When we first moved to Minnesota, it was pretty evident that I was not from there,” she said. “I had to adjust to constant questioning, especially regarding Fidel Castro and Cuban politics. People are very interested in those issues.”

Veiga said living in exile has definitely influenced her writings and the writings of her peers and colleagues. “There is a definite break in the concept of what is home,” she said.

Veiga is quick to point out that she is one of many people who are fortunate enough to live with two languages and with two cultures.

“I am Cuban-American, and I write in English,” she said. “I have become an English professor, and I am published. These accomplishments are huge milestones for me, personally.”

Veiga says the columns she submits to Spanish Link are usually social commentary dealing with issues such as acculturation, assimilation and increasing understanding and awareness of living with two cultures.

Even in her classrooms, Veiga sees cultural differences.

“I speak about this issue in my classroom,” she said. “Initially, I look at my classes and think that everyone is white and middle class. Then, when we start discussing backgrounds, I find that some of my students come from military backgrounds, some are first generation college students, and some are from the northeast.

For the first time in 50 years, Veiga heads to Cuba with her husband this August. She said she longs to see the place that is her heritage.

Veiga once had a professor say something that really resonated with her.

“My professor said that home is where you hang your hat,” she said. “I thought about that, and he’s really right.”

Longtime friend and benefactor of Flagler College, Mary Lily Flagler Lewis Wiley, affectionately known as “Molly,” passed away peacefully at her home in Richmond, Va., this past May. She was 90.

Wiley, a philanthropist related to oil titan and railroad magnate, Henry Flagler, grew up in St. Augustine at Kirkside, the mansion built by Henry Flagler next to Memorial Presbyterian Church.

Wiley and her brother, Lawrence Lewis Jr., were related to Henry Flagler through their mother, Louise Wise Lewis Francis, who was the niece of Mary Lily Kenan Flagler. Mary Lily married Henry Flagler in 1901.

From the inception of Flagler College in the late 1960s, Wiley played an important and significant role in the college’s growth that spanned the college’s entire 42-year history. She donated many gifts to the college and stepped forward on many occasions, lending not only financial assistance, but support in many other ways.

“Molly was very philanthropic, and she was very generous with her gifts to Flagler College, said President William T. Abare Jr. “She was a friend to the college, and she had a deep interest in the college; that interest was obviously developed through her brother, Lawrence, whom she adored.”

When asked in a 2006 interview what stood out as the greatest change as well as the most interesting development in the history of Flagler College, Wiley was quick to reply that it was impossible to emotionally tabulate the satisfaction of the success of Flagler College.

“It was just glorious to witness that beautiful building — the Ponce de Leon Hotel — come to being … a great big, wonderful, successful college,” she said.

She was also asked how she would describe Flagler College and its philosophy to people who might not have ever visited St. Augustine. Her reply was swift and filled with pride and sentiment.

“I would tell them that the history of the building [Ponce de Leon] is so unique that if they send a child there [Flagler College], they have to realize that they are in a kind of ‘hallowed ground.’ There is nothing like it. This was the first building that Flagler built in Florida, and by itself, it’s a glorious building. It’s a monument to architecture. To have something that unique that was just dropped in our laps is just too good to be true, and it should never be wasted,” she said. “Thanks to Bill Proctor [Flagler College’s President from 1971-2001 and now its Chancellor], and thanks to Bill Abare, it’s a glorious place.”

Proctor also remembers Wiley fondly.

“Ms. Wiley was a delightful and charming lady,” he said. “She was generous beyond measure, and I enjoyed our every encounter. She was unfailing in her support of her brother, Lawrence, and all that he did to establish Flagler College. Even after his death, she continued her support of Flagler College.”

Although Wiley was a very giving person, many also remember her for her smile, energy, love for golf, entertaining and her infectious laugh.

“She was a very outgoing person who made me feel welcome whenever I would visit her,” Abare said.

Abare also said she was always happy to see him and genuinely interested in how the college was doing.

“She was an exceedingly generous person who had a genuine interest in the institution,” Abare said. “That interest came from within. It was never something that we were trying to find an area in which she might have some interest – whether it had something to do with the drama department, endowing a scholarship for the best students we had coming in or participating in the construction of the dormitories or library – all of those projects, Molly had some interest in.”

Not many women can boast that they hit the links with golf pro Sam Sneed or danced with Fred Astaire, but Wiley did both.

“She was an avid golfer and she competed even into her 70s and early 80s,” Abare said. “She won several club championships at courses that she belonged to, and she played with some very famous golfers.”

John D. Bailey Sr., who has been on the Board of Trustees at Flagler College from the very beginning, recalled his last visit with Wiley.

“My wife Peggy and I went to visit Molly about a year ago,” he said. “My purpose in visiting her was two-fold: first, I wanted to satisfy myself with a final visit to a great lady who was very instrumental and so supportive of Flagler College from the beginning to the time of her passing. During our visit, it was important for me to convey to her – and I think she understood – how much it meant to the college to have her support.”

Bailey also said he wanted to visit Wiley because she was a fun-loving lady who was a joy to be around.

“She was a classic lady,” he said. “She always had a great smile on her face. Even after Lawrence was deceased, Molly, on her own, continued to make generous donations to the college. That was a tremendous help in getting where we are today.”

In a note to Abare in 2004, Wiley wrote, “Dear Bill, I am so proud of Flagler College! The ‘Little College that Could’ is the greatest! Love, Molly”