Volleyball caps dream season with final four appearance

A thrilling 2009 season that featured a 29-match winning streak took the Flagler College volleyball team many places over the course of the year.

It was only fitting that such a magical run ended with the team in St. Paul, Minn., site of the NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship, making angels in the snow.

The Business of Space

Alumnus Mike Galluzzi works to eliminate redundancies in America’s space program while NASA transitions from the shuttle to the moon and beyond

Mike Galluzzi, ’88, is in the business of space. And right now the space business is in a period of transition.

The current shuttle program is set to retire by September 2010, leaving a gap in human space transportation for at least a few years while the new “Constellation” program takes off. Constellation’s plans echo the heyday of the space program with exploration of the moon and eventually manned missions to Mars.

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.

A blast of color

Space. Color. Shape. Texture. They all have a place in alumna Jennifer Sánchez’s art, but it is her use of color that draws you in.

Sánchez describes her art as “exploding optimism.” A colorful mix of shapes and textures, the effect is quite upbeat, but Sánchez, ’97, says that is rarely her intent.

Cuba: Looking back, and forward

Communication professor talks about his days as a journalist in Havana, Cuba, meeting Fidel Castro and his thoughts on the future of the communist island

There’s a marker on the tip of Key West that proclaims Cuba a mere 90 miles south of American soil. As tourists stare out across the water trying to catch a glimpse of the communist nation, it seems as if the gulf between these two nations is bridgeable and small.

But distances can be misleading, as communication professor Tracey Eaton will tell you, and there is much more between the two countries than just water and miles.

At his peak

Alumnus Brad Hooker takes on Mount McKinley and many of the world’s tallest mountains

It took two weeks of frostbite, whiteouts and near-death experiences, but Brad Hooker made it to the top of Mount McKinley on one of the most dangerous days of the year.

Hooker, a 2002 Flagler graduate living in Seoul, South Korea, only began rock climbing a little more than a year ago. But he quickly found a passion for nature and exploration that’s taken him to the top of some of the world’s tallest peaks, including Alaska’s Mount McKinley, 14,400-foot Mount Rainier in Washington, 19,300-foot Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa and a 13,000-foot volcano in Indonesia.

“It’s definitely been a big uphill climb the whole way,” Hooker said, pun intended.

Giving the shirt on your back

Everyone has a story.
Mike Fretto’s story begins with a trip to New Orleans in 2005.
He went to tour areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and came away with an idea that spawned a unique non-profit that uses T-shirts to change lives. Now his story includes a recent trip to the Oscars to promote the idea (see [...]