Summer Times 2006

By Tom Carbone

Having a long family history of not going to college can make it harder to inspire yourself to succeed, but this is certainly not the case for Charles Harris. Harris, director of the Knight Division at the University of Florida, is the first generation in his family to make it to a University.

“I started out at UF in 1978 as a psychology major, but when I wanted to use my creativity more, I changed my mind a few times and ended up in advertising,” Harris said.

Harris started working in 1980 at the University of North Florida in the admissions office, which then led him to the University of South Florida in 1984 for the same thing. Finally, in 1987, he started working for his alma mater in the journalism admissions office.In 1995, the placement center teamed up with a minority scholarship and formed the Knight Division, which is now directed by Harris.

“The Knight Division is a collection of scholarships and assistantships made available for students,” said Harris.

Scholarships are funds provided to students after a certain criteria is met and their application is selected. Assistantships, generally worth more money, require a set amount of hours of work per week to obtain the money. About 350 students applied and 150 awards were given out.

“The Knight Division is one of the largest scholarship projects in the United States,” Harris says.

Perhaps Harris has used his past experiences as fuel to push others to get scholarships and get into college.

“I enjoy working with students,” he says. “I see myself doing this for at least 10 more years.”

By Candice Monroy

On a calm Sunday in June the students of the Summer Journalism Institute gathered in Beaty Commons for card games. Most of these kids left after signing in to participate in the poker game or just to hang out with their friends.

But the real excitement happened after they left.

The remaining few had come to play spoons. A simple, fast-paced game, Spoons has many loyal fans across the state and across the country. 

After some initial confusion the competition began. Most people wanted to be in the first round and a vicious session of iny-miny-miney-mo decided who stayed and who went. Sitting down on the floor around a round coffee table the competitors put on their poker faces.

After producing two sets of metal spoons from a K-Mart bag the resident assistants established the rules.

The rules of the game are simple. Each of the eight players gets four cards. The dealer begins by dealing the cards and then taking one more card from the deck and passing one of the cards he or she has in their hands that he or she does not need. Each player attempts to collect four of a kind.

 Once someone has four of any number they can grab a spoon, which is where the free-for-all ensues. Once somebody has grabbed a spoon, anyone can. If a player does not grab a spoon, then he or she is out of the game.

For the first game all the players took turns dealing out the cards. The cards began to fly around the table in a flurry, accumulating in piles next to the slower players with the faster ones giving the impression of having waited an eternity for their next card.

Suddenly a hand flashes to the middle of the table and a spoon of gone. Everyone who noticed the missing spoon reaches out and grabs a spoon while the slower people are left scrambling. Just as soon as it started, it is over and one person has to leave the table.

“I saw my life flash in front of my eyes,” Alyse Schaefer said. “A spoon landed near my leg and five people dived for it!”

The next day there was much to boast about. “I made it to the final round twice,” spoons expert Lauren Aitchison said. “But I lost both times.” Even if a person did not win this first night, a second contest took place the next day for those who still wanted to prove their spooning skills.

With such a large number of kids participating in the spoons tournament, it is obvious that there are lots of people who enjoy this game. As Lauren especially enjoyed the frenzy exclaiming, “Everyone was screaming and jumping around the table just to get a spoon.”           

By Neel Desai

Forget the sticky floors, moldy chairs, and cracking walls. Forget the low pressure showers, plastic lined beds, and creaking bedposts. Envision exquisite smells, delicious entrées, and remarkable chefs. Welcome to Beatty Towers – 84 served.

Step inside Thomas Carbone’s room 1307 for scrumptious quesadillas - pan fried and garnished with black pepper packets found nestled inside his left pocket from his last meal at Gator Corner.

“So Tom, I see you’re making quesadillas, would you please offer a step by step walkthrough?” I remark.

“Yes, yes, I will.”

“All right, go ahead”

Tom strolls to the stove, slowly but surely, with his head up full of sheer confidence – equipped with tortillas and a pan.

“Well the first step you see – is to sprinkle the Kraft Mexican Cheese generously over a flat tortilla. Next, put over the pan like so.”

He places his folded tortilla over his handy pan.

“All right – now put the heat up to the highest setting and let sit until you see the cheese beginning to melt”

Floor mate, John Welsh buts in, “Hey Tom! May I flip the quesadilla?”

“All right, if you must,” replies Tom      

 John then flips the quesadilla to reveal its golden reverse side. Delicious.

After we eat our quesadillas John generously offers me to have sushi in his room, 1304. As I walk out of 1307, I step on a few gummy bears and squished out of the dorm.

Walking through Beatty to John’s room, I smell the aroma of various foods: freshly delivered pizza, authentic sushi, and multicolored gummy bears. 

We walk in to his room; I observe crumbs of chips and smudges of salsa on his chairs. Hesitantly – I take a seat, and prepare myself for a good roll of sushi. John opens his fridge and pulls out a roll of
California roll sushi. Yet again, delicious.

It seems like Beatty is more of a buffet than a dorm room, every room has something unique and special to offer. Pizza, sushi, dessert – we have it all. Just take a plate and enjoy.

By Max Webber

He has over 30 years of newspaper experience, is a master lecturer, and according to Meredith Cochie, he “eats crack for breakfast.”

Mike Foley is not only one of the most affluent lecturers on campus at the University of Florida, he is also one of the most popular. All week, students at the Summer Journalism Institute program have been receiving lectures on the many important aspects of writing and interviewing for a news source. Many of these students have been looking forward to Mike Foley’s presentation entitled “Law, Ethics, and Other Important Stuff.”

Cochie, a resident assistant at the program, explains, “He is the man who pushes you straight into the pool of journalism with no life jacket whatsoever.”

In his speech, a spry Mr. Foley energetically welcomed the audience then open with a short anecdote.

“I have a confession…I was never in any journalism class in high school … I always thought those kids were a little weird. I was way too cool for that.”

The last part of his statement was followed a picture of a corky, Rick Moranis-esque Foley in his high school days, which garnered some laughs from the students.

As he explained applying ethics to the interviewing process and the gathering of information and photographs, Foley cited examples of investigating unsanitary fast food, among others, as he occasionally gallivanted around the stage excitedly, grabbing the audience’s attention. For many of the onlookers, it was interesting to see someone so experienced simplify the subject matter so easily and still make it informative.

By no means is Foley basing his teachings on assumption. According to his University biography, he worked for the St. Petersburg Times for 30 years, where he served as an executive editor, managing editor, metropolitan editor and city editor.

Beforehand, he had worked as a reporter for the Evening Independent, which is a subsidiary of the St. Petersburg Times. In addition, he has been a co-juror for the Pulitzer Prizes, the president of the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors, a trustee for the Freedom of Journalism Foundation and a judge for the Hearst Foundation College Writing Awards.

He graduated from UF with honors, and he was selected as a Distinguished Alumnus of the College of Journalism and Communications in 1994. He joined the faculty as a master lecturer in journalism in August of 2003, in order to pass on his knowledge to the ambitious scholars. Now, Foley is near legendary among the students and alumni, not only because of his experience, but because of his unique philosophy on journalism.

“If a woman calls up and says her toaster is talking to her,” Foley jokes, “We don’t tell her to seek help, we tell her to put the toaster on the phone.”