College of Business Education Center Groundbreaking

COB Groundbreakin

Click on the album above to see more photos from the groundbreaking of the new College of Business Education Center held on Fri. March 25.

Ally Program graduates 13 new allies

The University of West Florida’s Gay-Straight Alliance held their eighth annual Ally Program on March 3 in the Commons Conference Center. 

The Ally Program is a diversity training program for students, faculty, and staff to educate them about LGBT issues and how to be an ally.

“Ally’s designed to train individuals to be aware of LGBT issues and be able to help somebody as they are going through the coming out process or any issues relating to their sexuality or gender identity,” Liz Southworth, president of GSA said. “Basically, we’re creating safe places on campus.”

Last year, about 35 to 40 students and faculty graduated from the Ally Program as compared to this year, about 20 students graduated.

“The good thing about this year is that we had a majority of students attending,” Southworth said. “In the past, we’ve had a lot of professors and faculty, which is great, we love to have professors that want to be allies, but it’s important to have students as well because they’re the first responders. If you’re going to come out to anybody in college, you’re going to come out to your friends, other students, first. So, it’s extremely important to have students certified in the Ally Program.”

The Ally Program began at 9 a.m. with a session about the coming out process taught by Southworth. It was then followed by group discussions, ice breakers, sessions about LGBT history and bullying in the LGBT community, and a panel question and answer session.

“I have a love for LGBT history, which is why I nominated myself to Liz to be the speaker about the LGBT history,” junior public relations major Adam Faircloth said. “I have been personally researching it ever since I started my coming out process several years ago.”

There were also skits performed by the participants showing the positive and negative way of responding to a friend coming out to them.

“I attended the Ally Program because I wanted to find out more about it and I wanted to become an ally,” freshman political science major Diego Santiago said. “I feel that the Ally Program is really important on this campus especially in this area of the country.”

Charlie Sheen is "bi-winning"

It was just on Sunday when I decided what topic to write on. I was originally going to write about the gun bill but then a friend of mine asked if I had seen the Charlie Sheen interview and he began to quote it.

While at work I began to watch the ABC interview and started laughing right at the start when Sheen said, “I’m bi-winning.”

When the reporter asked him when was the last time he used, he had to answer with a joke, I hope, by saying, “I use a blender, I use the vacuum cleaner, I use household items, when’s the last time I ingested or took drugs? I don’t remember.”

It seemed as if he was turning everything the reporter asked him, into a joke. I would hope he’s joking at least, unless he is still on drugs, which according to the blood and urine test he took at the time, he was drug-free. 

When the reporter asked him if he was on drugs he said, “I am on a drug, it’s called Charlie Sheen. It’s not available, because if you try it once, you’ll die. Your face will melt off, your children will weep over your exploded body.”

If that doesn’t sound like a crazy person, I don’t know what makes one crazy then. And according to the interview, Sheen’s “family” consists of a porn star and a graphic designer, who are both his girlfriends. Some family he’s got. 

He is also under fire because of anti-semitic remarks said about “Two and a Half Men” show creator, Chuck Lorre and is suing CBS for canceling the show in the middle of its ninth season.

Attached is just one of the interviews with Good Morning America.

Charlie Sheen says he's 'Not bi-polar but 'bi-winning' 

UWF takes second place at SEJC

On Feb. 17, 19 University of West Florida journalism and public relations majors travelled to Troy, Ala. for the 25^th Southeast Journalism Conference being held at Troy University. 

The Voyager newspaper won fourth best newspaper in the Best of the South competition and UWF placed second overall in the on-site competitions.

The students participated in 14 on-site competitions that included everything in communications from media ethics, news reporting to photography and public relations.

“My on-site competition I was really confident about,” Kristen Dressel, who participated in the TV anchor on-site competition, says. “I know I screwed up somewhat on my competition, but I didn’t think it was enough to not place.”

There was also the Best of the South competition which is a mail-in competition. The Voyager staff mailed in clips for different categories back in November.

“I was really excited that I placed because it was a really last minute thing,” Kaycee Lagarde, who won fifth place in press photography for Best of the South, says. “Mike Greear, editor-in-chief, told me the day of the deadline that we had to send photos, so I rushed home and grabbed a few photos and sent them in.”

The conference consisted of workshops pertaining to journalism, the on-site competitions and a dinner banquet announcing the Best of the South winners on Feb. 18 and then a lunch banquet announcing the on-site winners on Feb. 19.

“The on-site competitions are really stressful,” Lagarde says. “I didn’t think I would place at all, I ended up getting third.”

In the Best of the South competitions the winners from UWF were Zach North, fourth place in the news-editorial artist/illustrator category; Kaycee Lagarde, fifth place in photography; Kristen Dressel, fifth place in television journalism; and Georgia Adams, sixth place in page layout and design. In the on-site competition the winners were W. Paul Smith, first place in current events; John McMullen, second place in sports reporting; Brittany Carr, John Strickland and Valerie Thornewell, second place in media ethics; Kaycee Lagarde, third place in copy editing; Sara Surber, Lauren Nash and Kristy Coleman, third place in public relations.

“To be in the top five was huge for us,” Mike Greear, editor-in-chief of The Voyager says about placing fourth best newspaper in the south.

"Genocide" Awareness Project

Warning signs placed on the Cannon Greens warn students of display.

Valentine’s Day is already a bad day for me, so I was planning on sleeping for as long as I possibly could before class, but I was woken up by two of the editors of The Voyager, Mike and Brittany. 

They both left me voice mails asking me to photograph what was going on at the Cannon Greens. I didn’t know what to expect but as soon as I woke up and got onto facebook, all of my friends were mentioning it.

As I walked to the Cannon Greens I called Brittany back to find out exactly what she wanted and they changed their minds, they wanted a quick turn-around story. I had never done a quick turn-around but I went for it. 

I approached the Cannon Greens and laughed as I saw the “Warning” signs before the big display of dead fetuses. I right away started clicking photos and then listening in on conversations. I asked one of the volunteers, who was in charge, so I could talk to them. 

I found out that they were trying to go to 10 of the public universities in Florida and they were traveling across the United States. 

I was disgusted by what they were showing and the day they arrived was ridiculous, it was Valentine’s Day after all. My feelings towards abortion all depend on the situation.

A free speech board was set up to let students share their personal opinions.

If the woman just decided to have sex and ended up pregnant because of her own doing, it’s her responsibility to have the child and take care of it, but if the woman was raped and got pregnant, I would allow her to get an abortion up to a certain time limit. 

What the organization should have been talking about is how women should use correct birth control, such as the pill and condoms, instead of using abortion as a form of birth control. But of course, the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform has free speech and they paid for their location on the Cannon Greens, just like any other organization would have to.

Here's a link to my article in The Voyager: 'Genocide on display' 

Here's a link to CBR's website: AbortionNo

Snappy Life

I’m supposed to write something snappy about my life, yet my life isn’t very snappy. I’ve been very busy where I hardly have any time to hang out with friends anymore.

I feel like I have four jobs and I’m only getting paid for one of them, minimum wage. I work every day except Fridays in Argo Hall and I’ll be taking my first weekend off this semester as I compete at the Southeastern Journalism Conference at Troy University this weekend.

I'll always be a photographer, no matter win or lose.

I’ve been waiting all year for SEJC and can’t wait to win. After we dominated last year, there’s no chance of any school beating us this year, we must get better. 

I’ll be competing in the photography competition again, which is probably the hardest competition because more people compete in photography. But just because you own a camera doesn’t make you a photographer.

The next important date for me to remember will be March 3. That will be the day I find out if I got the resident assistant position for the Fall 2011/Spring 2012 school year. I had my interview on Saturday and I think it went ok. I’ve wanted this position since I was a sophomore but I never applied because the application was so long, I finally did it this year.

If I get the position it’ll really help me with my money situation, I’ll be living and eating on campus for free, saving me from having to get any more loans. 

But you see, my life isn’t very snappy. I’m just a normal college student trying to better myself every day. Being in Student Government Association, Gay-Straight Alliance, Everyone’s Issue, Argo Hall Community Council, and writing for The Voyager is my whole life this semester. 

After this semester I’ll have only 19 more credit hours needed, meaning I get to graduate on time. Also meaning I’ll be out in the real world really soon and I can’t wait.

GSA not just for gays

Gay-Straight Alliance is a student organization at the University of West Florida that is open to anyone of any sexual orientation.

Their purpose is “bridging the gap between the gay and straight community,” says Liz Southworth, the president of GSA.

GSA is planning on hosting a myriad of new events this year including getting into politics.

“We had ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and the Florida gay adoption ban as the big news stories over the past couple of months,” Southworth says.

Besides getting into politics, GSA also has special nights such as Stitch and Bitch every other Thursday, book club every other Thursday, and exercise your rights on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 

“I go to every meeting and every event that I can,” junior applied mathematics major, Kayla Wankowski says. “And now I’m doing exercise your rights every Monday and Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in the gym. It was a program started about a year ago just to get more GSA members active and practice wellness.”

GSA is also planning a week long art gallery for later on during the spring semester which will include student artwork along with photography and other specific galleries brought to campus.

“Currently, we have lots of projects we’re working on,” Southworth says. “The big one that’s going to happen is the gallery week we have planned coming up. It’s basically a week dedicated to what we’re calling ‘Art for Equality and Diversity.’ There’s going to be student projects, we’re doing a big ‘No Hate,’ ‘It Gets Better’ night and we’re using ‘Art for AIDS Awareness’ which is a community-based organization.”

The biggest program GSA will be putting on this semester will be the Ally program.

“The Ally program is a diversity training program that we do annually here at UWF,” Southworth says. “What it’s aimed at is to provide safe places on campus that people could go to, say if they’re going through the coming out process or even if they’re somebody who’s a straight ally whose friend is going through the coming out process and they don’t know how to deal with it. This way we have people trained to help people go through those issues. We try to aim it at faculty, staff, and students.”

GSA meetings are held every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. upstairs in room 272 in the Commons. They welcome everyone.

“We provide a safe place for LGBT youth and questioning people,” GSA vice president Aileen Mayato says. “We’re all inclusive, so it’s not just for people who are gay, bisexual, lesbian, or transgender. We do accept all people, we really like our straight allies.”