The Boy Who Lived is Coming to Orlando

If you haven't heard the joyous news, the Boy Who Lived, is coming to Orlando Florida's Universal Islands of Adventure. I can't tell you how excited I am. I will definitely be one of the first in line to go in the park!!!

As far as I know the park is set to open Spring of next year. I have heard some insider information from an employee of Universal who will remain undisclosed for obvious reasons.

According to the employee we will be issued wands from Ollivanders that allow the user to point it at a certain object in the park it will do some sort of preordained action, like move, or float or spin, and it will also unlock doors

Q: Will Hogwarts be like Cinderella's Castle, just for looking, and a little walk-through maybe, or will we like be able to go to Dumbledore's Office and the Gryffindor Common Room, the Great Hall, a class room or two?

A: It will be in between

there are supposed to be several of those places, though I don't think to the same scale they were in the movie/book

and they are to be used for other things...like the great hall will be the sitting area in a restaurant...stuff like that

Since the interview, it has been reported that their will be staged duels at the park for guests to witness, possibly the final duel, or maybe the graveyard scene?

So, all in all this seems like an exciting new Island for Universal and I know I will be there wand in hand, ready to board the Hogwarts Express.

Construction Photos

Some Students need HELP

The Hillsborough County School Board has many differing problems and agenda that need to be tackled due to pressing economic times. One item they wish to implement as soon as possible is to approve the agreement for technical services for the item called, HELP, or the Homeless Education and Literacy Project.

HELP is to be executed at every public school in Hillsborough County. The goal of HELP is to enroll and give educational access to homeless children in the county.
It has been estimated by the county that Hillsborough house at least 2.026 homeless children. The program has been given a grant of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars to be used until the thirty-first of December of next year.

The school board plans to work in congruence with county social workers as well as fellow teachers.

Dr. Sandra Fogel is the primary provider of the HELP project, according to documents in association with the project. For more information on the project, please contact Amie Wilbanks.

Fall brings change

The fall season brings change, school starts for students, and teachers go back to work. But for most college students, during the start of fall, it isn’t school that is on their mind, but television. “Fall is my favorite time of year because it means not only new TV, but also the return of all my favorite TV shows,” said Junior Michael Gittleson.

This fall there seems to be a plethora of shows to choose from. Whether you prefer talk shows, like The Jay Leno Show, judging panel shows, like So You Think You Can Dance, teen dramas, such as The Beautiful Life, series based off of books, The Vampire Diaries, or remakes of older TV shows, for example Melrose Place. There seems to be a TV show for everyone.

“Between school and television, I have no time during the week. I have a show I watch every night. Monday is Heroes then Gossip Girl, Tuesday is 90210, Wednesday is Glee, and Thursday is The Vampire Diaries. I just never seem to have any time,” explains Sophomore Shelby Praleikas.

This year’s new batch of fall shows seems to have there own target audiences. Many new fall shows seem to be targeting women more than men. With shows like The Good Wife, Eastwick, and Cougar Town coming to our fall TV lineup, women seem to take precedence.

Adversely, this season there seems an equal number of shows geared towards a male audience. Shows including FlashFoward, The Cleveland Show, and Bored to Death all seem likely to cater towards a male audience.

Also still there are the shows that seem to be meant for both audiences, like Glee, Modern Family, and Community. Overall, there seems to be a television show for everyone.

President Huth

One pinnacle part of UT life is our many numerous clubs and organizations. Probably the most active and well known is our Student Government. Heading SG is none other than Senior Kelsie Huth.

She may seem like your typical UT student, but Huth is so much more. “A day in my life is pretty crazy, but then again, what student's life isn't? My crazy schedule is in major part due to SG, but in addition, I intern about 12 hours a week so it gets a little hectic between SG, my other organizations, my internship, and classes. But I would be lying if I said I didn't love being busy! I definitely have a lot of meetings throughout the week, whether it be my weekly meeting with Dean Ruday, to meeting up with someone wanting more information about SG.”

When asked how and why she got interested in SG, Huth responded with great excitement “I first got interested in SG when I was a freshman. I joined a sorority and am the type of person that wanted to get involved right off the bat, so I ran for the SG representative position. Throughout the years, I liked the venue of SG and kept getting more involved.”

Anyone who lived on campus last year knew how crazy and hectic the fight for SG president was for the two opposing teams, when asked if she was nervous before the results were in, or during the campaign, Huth said, “Not nervous, just excited. One of my friends the other day told me that ‘I could talk to a brick wall’...and I think it fits. I love campaigning and talking to new people, hearing each of their concerns. It's always a little nerve-wracking waiting to hear whether you've won though!”

When inquired about the changes she wants to implement in the coming year, Huth responds in all seriousness, “This year, I want to make big changes, changes that people really care about as students. There's a lot of little stuff that goes on behind the scenes that are great but if nobody knows about them, what's the point? So this year, we've already began the push to get more commuter parking spots that are soon to open up and have huge plans to get out the support for all our great sports teams. There are a lot of other big plans that hopefully students will see positive effects from.”

For most, choosing a college or university is one of the toughest decisions one has to make in their life. Huth admits that UT wasn’t her first choice, “Honestly, I dead set on going to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and being a Tar Heel. After I got my acceptance letters, I was lucky and got offered an amazing scholarship from The University of Tampa that I couldn't turn down. So I came to tour the school and really fell in love with the campus and the people I met. And coming here was honestly one of the best decisions I could have ever made!”

A job like student government president is a tough one, but Huth admits that it’s the praise that she receives that keeps her afloat, when asked what the best compliment she has received so far was, Huth said, “Probably that they were just really excited for this year, and that they thought I was going to do good things for this school. It's a very simple compliment but it always means so much when people are behind you and let you know that they really believe in you.”

As Huth begins her final year at UT she looks forward to the promising future, and wants to leave her legacy behind, “I want to leave people excited about SG and all the things that can happen when students come together and make a decision. And that we were fun!”

Obama Addresses Our Children

Last Tuesday, September 8, 2009, President Obama gave a speech addressing America’s school children. The speech was broadcast in public schools and watched by both teachers and students in kindergarten up through high school. In the speech, Obama called the students to action. “I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. Don't let your family down or your country down.”

When hearing of the planned speech, many parents were outraged, claiming that Obama didn’t have the right to take up the class time for what they thought would be an effort by Obama to get children behind him, to believe in his “socialist” views. Some parents even took their children out of class that day so they wouldn’t have to hear the President’s speech.

On the other hand, many believed this planned speech to be a good idea. After the speech took place the public generally agreed that the speech was a good thing because it encouraged the children to both stay in, and try their hardest in school.

After the speech was given many Republicans believed that this speech was just a stepping-stone. While they agreed that this speech was mostly harmless and was acceptable for students, they claimed that this was just the beginning, a test to see if Obama could indoctrinate the children to his way of thinking in future speeches.

When asked what he thought of Obama’s speech to schoolchildren, Professor Hiller responded in two parts. “When the speech was announced I was greatly surprised by the amount of offence people took to the idea of the president addressing our schools.” Hiller, like many, didn’t expect such uproar from concerned parents. Hiller continued, “I think the reason there was such backlash is due to the fact that many don’t believe Obama to be a legitimate president, whether it’s because of race or otherwise.” In regards to the speech, “President Obama did a fine job of articulating the dominant views of what education should be in society, the problem now is, who, if anybody, agrees with his point of view?”

It's Game Day and No Team

Saturdays on most college campuses means one thing, FOOTBALL! At the University of Tampa, Saturdays are no different. While UT might not have a football team there are still many students who are loyal to one college team or another. Tampa students celebrate their own college football Saturdays.


“Every game day I make sure to wear my UF shirt with pride and watch the game,” says loyal UF football fan Taylor Parker. Like Parker, UT Sophomore, Cam Lacey, has his own college football Saturday ritual, “On football Saturdays, the guys and I just sit in front of the TV in our dorm room all day, watch football and eat.” Says Lacey.


Unbeknownst to many University of Tampa students, UT used to have it’s own football team many years ago, with a rich history that few know about. The team franchise ran from 1933 to 1974 and ended with a record of 201-160-12. From inception to the early years of the program the Spartan football team mostly played other relatively smaller colleges throughout the state of Florida, but as the program gathered momentum and support from both the fans and trustees, the University of Tampa started playing colleges that had more prominent football franchises including the Florida Gators, Florida State Seminoles, and the Miami Hurricanes.


As popularity and demand for Spartan tickets grew, important decisions had to be made. The rising recognition of UT’s team caused not only the Spartans to become a Division-1 team, but also resulted in the Tampa Stadium being built. With the building of the stadium came what would be known as the glory days of UT football. The biggest moment in University of Tampa football history was the crushing defeat of the Miami Hurricanes in the 1970 Orange Bowl.


After the Spartans great victory against Miami, the football program fell into major financial troubles. The program had been using money from university and it was calculated that if it continued, the university would soon have had to declare bankruptcy.


The University of Tampa’s football program was terminated on February 12, 1975, and since then there have been numerous attempts to try and resurrect the program, but all to no avail.



While the University of Tampa may still lack a football team, many UT students have found ways to circumvent that fact. Simply by cheering on other collegiate teams. Whether it’s tailgating and attending a USF football game or watching the unaired game on ESPN360.com, Fall Saturdays at the University of Tampa are still and will always be, football game days.


Sources:
"Tampa Bay Football History Network - Tampa Spartans History." Tampa Bay Football History Network. 7 Sep. 2009.

Alexandria "I Don't Know" Guerra

In her search for the ideal college, sophomore, Alexandria Guerra claims, “The Florida sun was calling my name.” The New York native chose the University of Tampa because of its relatively small size and she simply “loves Florida.”
So far on her journey through the hallowed halls and lecture spaces of the University of Tampa, Guerra has found many things she enjoys about UT. The joy she has experienced thus far has been greatly influenced by the many classes she has already partaken in and also ones she has yet to embark on. She greatly loved her Spanish class. “I love learning different languages and also enjoy learning about different cultures,” says Guerra. She is looking forward to this class because she finds the subject interesting, plus the course is required by her major. In addition to Journalism, she is also eager to initiate her foray into her first psychology class here at the University of Tampa, because like Journalism she just finds the subject greatly interesting.
In an attempt to delve deeper into why Guerra chose to partake in Journalism as a course of study, when asked her favorite literary work of prose, her face lit up with excitement as she exclaimed “Catcher and the Rye,” when asked her reasoning why, Guerra explains, “I really love Holden’s character, and the pushing symbolism that is throughout book.”
It certainly seems that Alexandria Guerra, sophomore, Public Relations/Advertising is ready for her next year here at the University of Tampa.