Centric Spring 2015

SPRING 2015 | VOLUME 5 | ISSUE 1

Dragging down stereotypes Straight or gay, these queens can werk it

INSIDE: A dropout’s journey to graduation | Page 14 |

contents

staff back row

web exclusive features

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FASHION FORWARD Clothes may make the man, but these men are making the clothes.

Campus sexual assault is an issue many students shy away from, but with an estimated one in five women being sexually assaulted during her college years, it’s a necessary discussion.

Awareness is the first step – are you ready to listen? Check out our online exclusive about campus sexual assault at centric.cos.ucf.edu.

ANCHORS AWEIGH Yo-ho, yo-ho, a semester out at sea.

A UCF professor set sail to make the world her classroom.

ON THE COVER Gender stereotypes can be a drag. Two performers, one straight and one gay, talk about how drag can be for anyone.

Adviser: Rick Brunson

other

EXTREME TRAVELER One student shares her secret for exploring the world.

GET YOUR APP TOGETHER A good app should make your life easier. Our roundup will help you figure out which one is right for you.

From Left: Adam Manno Tori Walker Paige Mulligan Danielle Wasserman Alex Wexelman

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ONE STEP AT A TIME A UCF student fought through a disease. Now she’s fighting for others.

THE UNSCHOOLED DEGREE Without a formal middle and high school education, one Knight is one class away from graduating.

EMPOWER WHEELS He’s the captain of the soccer team, but this UCF student dominates without using his feet.

KEEP YOUR CHIN UP After winning a partial scholarship, one Knight seeks community support to fund his dream to dance in New York.

LOSING IS THE NEW WINNING The Biggest Winner competition at the UCF gym may just require a militant work ethic.

front row

from the

editor Nicole Bleier

From Left: Digital Producer: Kimberly Slichter | Anne Shirley Lewis Laura Pitts | Lauren Pierce | Managing Editor: Nicole Bleier Cailin Cooney | Kendra Semmen | Art Director: My-Nhon Truong Not pictured: Alexis Minieri | Natasha Minoso

H

ello, and welcome to the spring 2015 issue of Centric magazine.

Centric’s mission is to spotlight inspiring, innovative and interesting people in the UCF community who are making an impact. We also resolve to give our readers original stories they cannot get anywhere else. Every member of the UCF community has a story – here are just a few that our staff is eager to share.

Learn about a student who never graduated from middle school or high school but will soon earn a bachelor’s degree from UCF. Discover what it’s like to study abroad – and on board –

from a professor’s perspective. Even read about what it’s like to “werk” as a drag queen from an unexpected point of view.

As managing editor, I am proud to present the product of our staff’s diligent efforts. We have assembled a variety of compelling features and photos that I hope you will enjoy reading as much as we enjoyed compiling.

Within these pages are just a few stories that Centric has to offer this semester. Take a look at our website, centric.cos.ucf.edu, for all things inspiring, innovative and interesting.

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Fashion forward Two Knights turn their degrees into tees.

STORY BY | KENDRA SEMMEN AND ALEXIS MINIERI PHOTOS BY | KIMBERLY SLICHTER AND ALEXIS MINIERI

web exclusive Check centric.cos.ucf.edu for more on Peter Milko and Justin Connor, as well as a web-exclusive story on another UCF designer, Cathy Romanowski.

Peter Milko Peter Milko is the CEO and founder of the PanicPOP clothing line and a UCF alumnus with a degree in game art and design. He has more than 2,000 likes and subscriptions on Facebook and YouTube. He has collaborated with YouTubers Timothy DeLaGhetto and Ryan Abe and the band I Set My Friends On Fire.

What is the story behind your clothing line?

I started the clothing line before I was a student at UCF … My brother walked into my room and showed me a T-shirt. He told me that he made it.

Being an artist, I thought it was kind of neat. My best friend thought it was an interesting idea as well, and he invested a little money so we could buy shirts and ink to start selling the shirts … I started contacting YouTubers and wanted to pay them to wear our merchandise. Then, I got a better idea – instead of paying them to wear a shirt in the video, I would make a shirt for them.

What is a day in your life like?

My brother, best friend and I rented a house along with another roommate, and the business was making enough money to pay for my college, my brother’s college and my friend’s college, our rent – we didn’t go to work. I have a crazy obsession with schedules, so I try to wake up at the same time every day (around 8 a.m.), work out, make myself food and then check emails. I go to the post office twice a week … I’ll draw 60 T-shirt designs and then out of the 60, I’ll choose three. I’ll ask people on Facebook which of the three is their favorite and then I’ll make one.

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Justin Connor Justin Connor is the CEO and founder of Chromatique, a clothing line inspired by high-fashion looks but for bargain prices. Connor, a sophomore studying visual media and graphic design, launched the company in spring 2013. Since then, he has consistently exercised his craft as a designer and plans to continue developing his brand.

How did you get to where you are now, and what are your hopes for the future?

What is the story behind your clothing line?

I always had an interest in clothes when I was a little kid. I was more so into sneakers growing up, which sparked my interest in clothes. I was like, ‘why not further my knowledge?’ So I just started looking into more brands and higher fashion and definitely became more interested in starting my own business.

Tenth grade was when it really started. I was buying things from Michaels and ironed on prints and just started making T-shirts and people would buy them.

I plan on either moving to New York [City] or Los Angeles to make more connections in the industry, and if things go well, hopefully some day end up in London.

I birthed Chromatique in the height of the Internet era after I graduated high school, which is why I call it an Internet project. It’s just a way for me to get out my ideas until I have the proper schooling and knowledge of how to construct garments for both men and women. I have a darker aesthetic due to brands that inspire me, such as Rick Owens and Undercover by Jun Takahashi. I have a vision as I begin a collection, but the end result is always different. I design sometimes based off mood or a sound that inspires me.

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EXTREME

One student goes through extraordinary measures to travel the world in her free time.

STORY BY | ALEXIS MINIERI

Check centric.cos.ucf.edu for more on other extreme UCF travelers.

traveler F

Ellen Arnold poses in Iceland, where she backpacked in July 2014.

Photo courtesy of Ellen Arnold.

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web exclusive

or Ellen Arnold, time off means more than just a break from school and work; it’s an opportunity to explore as many places as possible.

During summer 2014, Arnold, a junior advertising and public relations major at UCF, and a few others took their explorations to the next level by backpacking across Iceland. Sleeping in cars or in pastures on the side of the road and hanging out with wild horses was only part of the adventure.

However, that’s not even the most extreme part. Arnold has a tendency to travel every chance she can get. In January, just before heading back to school, Arnold also camped on the beaches of Costa Rica.

In the summer of 2013, she went island hopping and cliff diving in the Greek islands.

What’s her secret? Saving as much money as humanly possible. She has funded her trips through multiple serving jobs at restaurants including Red Lobster, Smokey Bones and The Cheesecake Factory.

“There were times where I would go 19 days without a day off,” Arnold said. “I’d do doubles on the weekends. A day off would be the biggest deal in the world to me.”

Arnold said she prioritizes her spending for only absolute necessities, which means school tuition and plane tickets. She also is responsible for paying for her own rent, car insurance and all other expenses without the help of her parents or school loans.

Arnold got a job her junior year of high school and started saving for her college tuition and first Europe trip. Arnold and some friends left for Ireland the day after her 18th birthday in June 2012. They stayed in various hostels around the country for 20 days.

So, what started her itch for traveling?

“When I was like 8 to probably 13, I

would just sit in my room and read books. I hated road trips. I hated going anywhere. I just wanted to sit in my room and read,” Arnold said. It wasn’t until she was a teenager that she began going on adventures around her hometown of Sebring, Florida.

Arnold’s close friend and fellow traveler, Rebekah Watts, has watched Arnold grow into the traveler she is today.

“Ellie has always been adventurous, from simply wanting to explore trails or spontaneously go somewhere,” Watts said.

Watts and Arnold met in high school and planned their trip to Ireland the summer after Arnold graduated.

“It all started with us talking about a road trip to Canada, but then Ellie brought up the idea that if we’re saving up all this money we should go overseas,” Watts said.

So, they planned out how much money was needed, where to go and how long they would stay.

“Next thing I know, we are sitting in Starbucks in Sebring buying our plane tickets to Ireland,” Watts said.

They stayed in a bed and breakfast in Dublin for 17 days and stayed in hostels for two days at a time when traveling to other cities. “[They were] moments I never would have experienced if it weren’t for Ellie,” Watts said.

Although Arnold still loves reading, something inside her drives her to explore.

“Just being somewhere where things look different, feel different, the people are different, the lifestyle is different, just makes me feel like I’m doing something with my life,” she said.

For her next excursion, she plans to go to the airport with a backpack and book the next flight out.

“I don’t care where to,” she said.

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Get your app together!

U Nightlife

These are the tools your phone has been missing.

STORY BY | CAILIN COONEY

UCF Mobile

Tapingo Between students’ heavy course loads, internships, working out and just working, we don’t have the time for trivial activities such as waiting in line for our morning coffee.

Featured on over 30 campuses and growing, Tapingo is the latest in food pickup and delivery to come to UCF. With various on-campus vendors participating, this app is modernizing student conveniences. Once inside the app, select pickup or delivery – then choose from more than 11 restaurants. From there, it is as easy as online shopping. Students can use a credit card or Knight Cash on their student ID. For pickup, once your order is complete and you have made your secure checkout, your purchase will be ready underneath the sign bearing the Tapingo logo at each respective vendor.

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Whether you are a freshman, transfer or fifth-year senior, the UCF Mobile app is your starter pack to success. You can access your most-used sites, such as Webcourses, MyUCF and Knights Email. Some other handy aspects include a shuttle run-time feature by either route or stop, an interactive map of both Rosen College and the main campus and financial aid information. Users can even rent a study room in the library right from the app.

UCF CAB Do you get serious FOMO? That’s fear of missing out for anyone not quite up on the lingo.

Never miss a UCF event again with the UCF CAB app. Scroll through upcoming Campus Activity Board events with the calendar feature, or go to the “more” tab to sign up for limited-space events.

The app also hosts the Humans of UCF feature, modeled after the widely read Humans of New York Tumblr and best-selling book.

“Embracing being one in 60,000,” this tab features a picture and a quote from students, providing a glimpse into the diversity and culture at UCF.

U Nightlife is like Tinder, but for events. Start swiping to either “watch” or “not watch” events happening in your area. The app is available for nine schools including UCF. Log in through Facebook, and from there, it is happy swiping. From the home page, you can click on different events happening around you and instantaneously have all of the details. Events are compiled from Facebook and other users in the surrounding area. You can even create and publish your own events.

Sleep Cycle Many college students complain about not getting enough sleep.

According to a study conducted by the American College Health Association, only 11 percent of American college students sleep well, and 40 percent of students feel well rested only two days per week.

Whether it’s poor sleep quality or simply not getting enough, the Sleep Cycle app is here to help.

The goal of Sleep Cycle is to wake you in your lightest sleep phase.

Before you go to sleep, set your desired 30-minute wake-up window, press start and place your phone in one of the suggested areas on your bed. The app tracks your sleep cycles as well as your time in bed, sleep quality, heart rate and activity during the previous day. *All of the apps are available on both Android and Apple devices except for U Nightlife, which is only available on Apple devices.

Anchors aweigh On board Semester at Sea, your classroom comes with a view.

STORY BY | LAURA PITTS PHOTO BY | KIMBERLY SLICHTER

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cruise across the Atlantic Ocean holds Sybil St. Claire, pictured outside the UCF School of Performing swimming pools, a dining hall, lounge, spa Arts, taught on a 2009 Semester at Sea voyage. and a piano bar. While it may seem like the perfect summer vacation, it’s actually the Schaffer, a University of Virginia student who took Semester at Sea, which transports 700 students around St. Claire’s acting class on board the 2009 voyage. the world for a semester. UCF theater professor Sybil St. Though St. Claire has worked as an artistic director Claire got a taste of this voyage in the summer of 2009. for 20 years, it wasn’t always easy teaching on the ship, “I had a friend who had done it and she said I was where seasickness was often and plenty. perfect for this, so I applied. I dovetailed with the theme “It was challenging to try and do movement of the voyage, Human Rights and Social Justice in the exercises with people who were seasick, because crossing Mediterranean World,” said St. Claire, who taught two the Atlantic is not fun. It’s rough seas for 10 days,” St. classes on board – acting and theatre for social change.

Claire said. “Your middle name needs to be flexibility “It’s not for everybody; you have to really love students, and adventure, because you have to take what comes at enough to live with them.” you that day. Like I said, I had students throwing up in The expedition took off from Canada and crossed class and it was like, ‘the show must go on.’” the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. Over the It may have been rough seas, but St. Claire was able to course of the semester, the ship had ports of call in Italy, incorporate the theme of the ship into her teachings for Spain, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, Bulgaria and smooth sailing. Her acting class performed a monologue Croatia. Students and faculty would have a few days to a based on an experience week to explore each area. from the journey, and her St. Claire not only taught theatre for social change I had students throwing on board, but also taught class used different online classes for UCF during movement techniques to up in class and it was like, her voyage and had to use the inspire interpersonal, ‘the show must go on.’ ship’s computer lab to social and political change. complete assignments.

“I thought it was a great “The Internet was crazy class, and I thought Sybil -Sybil St. Claire slow,” St. Claire said. “But it was a great teacher. was a floating university.”

Theater for me is about understanding the different Another challenge St. Claire faced was to find learning masks that we wear every day, whether as son or opportunities for her students off the ship. daughter, as boyfriend or girlfriend, as student or “I ended up finding a feminist theatre for the teacher. When you study abroad, you really have a oppressed in Istanbul, Turkey, because theatre for social profound experience with that, understanding what is change was my thing,” she said. really me and what mask do I wear every day,” Schaffer Students had the option to ride camels and explore said. the pyramids in Egypt, among other itinerary activities; St. Claire enjoyed the experience so much that she however, they could also enjoy the ports independently. wants to return to teach on board again.

“It was a really great experience. It was kind of like a “I loved everything about it,” St. Claire said. “It’s sampler of different countries. You’d stop for five days to always a beautiful thing to watch your students reflect. a week, so it was enough time to get past the first You’re having breakfast together, swimming together, in impression, but not yet emerging,” said Gregory class together.”

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Although they both work in the industry, their different lenses on life deliver unique perspectives that challenge the stereotypes associated with drag.

Describe your first experience.

MrMsAdrien: Weird. I was used to doing theater at the time, so when people started throwing tips at me, I thought it was so disrespectful. It was actually me who was being disrespectful, because I refused to take their money. The tips are an equivalent of applause; I know that now, so I embrace it.

You Better Werk

One straight, one gay: Two performers discuss their perspectives on drag.

STORY BY | TORI WALKER PHOTOS BY | MY-NHON TRUONG

Many people have assumptions about drag queens: They are divas, have fierce personalities and steal the attention of any room.

But why do people assume that drag correlates with someone’s sexual preference, gender or disposition?

Why can’t anyone try drag?

These questions drove a conversation about different perspectives in drag with two performers: MrMsAdrien, a well-known performer at Pulse and other gay clubs in Orlando, and Joe Marrero, a heterosexual male who experimented with drag and loved every minute of it.

Adrian Padron – preferred name, MrMsAdrien – is a 20-year-old former UCF theater major; and Marrero is a

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23-year-old cardiovascular technology major at Valencia College planning to transfer to UCF through Direct Connect.

The two began dragging in unconventional ways.

MrMsAdrien heard of a talent competition at Pulse – so, feeling spontaneous, he wrote a character and has been performing ever since.

“It was like a thirst I needed to quench, and I knew I had to keep playing the part,” he said.

Marrero took the leap when he heard of an event where the drag performer’s tips would go to charity.

“I have done a lot of other stupid stuff so I thought, ‘why not?’” he said.

Marrero: A lot of my friends were making fun of me, saying I was going to start wearing women’s clothing around, but I just kept it in my head that it was going to be fun. Adrian helped me find clothes and even did my makeup – it was fun.

What is your favorite part?

MrMsAdrien: The audience. There is nothing better than when someone comes up to me after a show and thanks me for giving them the courage to get up, dance and let go.

Marrero: Actually being up there performing. Everything else is just preparation: finding the right clothing, makeup and dealing with the nerves. But getting up there and dancing, there is no backing down. I just got up there and did my thing.

How do people treat you differently when you are dressed in drag?

MrMsAdrien: You can get away with anything when you are dressed in drag. Except a speeding ticket…the officer asked me where I was going – I told him I was going to church.

Marrero: People didn’t know that I was straight, so they were completely surprised and shocked

when they found out.

Everyone in the drag community was so supportive about it and excited to see me perform.

Like I said though, my friends thought it was kind of weird.

How do you think straight men view drag?

MrMsAdrien: People like to group drag and femininity together, but that’s not the case, and it’s not just heterosexual men but it’s gay men too. Not saying anything against femininity, I think it’s beautiful, I mean thank God for women. But they think we are these feminine sissies, but what they don’t realize is this is a job. I come here, put my makeup on, perform and go home.

Marrero: General consensus, they don’t understand it. But my advice to them is, embrace the strange. Anyone could be dressing in drag. Your boss, your friend, your next door neighbor – and they could be having the time of their life doing it.

What does dressing in drag mean for you personally?

MrMsAdrien: I am honored that they even let me in here to do it. I don’t look like any of the other girls and they have embraced me. I am the only girl that performs at the three different clubs in the city, and to be accepted for doing something so off the wall and different in a community that is surprisingly traditional is amazing. Drag is no joke.

Marrero: I feel like I am making a statement. I am showing others that it’s OK to do something crazy and out of your comfort zone and to let go.

If it makes you happy and it brings others happiness, then what’s stopping you?

Top: MrMsAdrien primps before a show at Pulse, a gay nightclub in downtown Orlando.

Middle: Joe Marrero decks out in drag. Courtesy of East Coast Eden.

Bottom: MrMsAdrien and Marrero previously worked together at Pulse.

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One step at a time STORY BY | KENDRA SEMMEN PHOTOS BY | MY-NHON TRUONG

She beat the odds. Now she’s using her experience to give back.

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baby is fighting for her life in a hospital room.

She’s hooked up to IVs, away from her mother, immediately following her birth.

She has hydrocephalus, which literally means “water head.” A condition that affects one in 500 babies per year, it occurs when fluid cannot flow through the brain, causing the head to abnormally enlarge when in the womb.

The baby – Alyssa Kirby – is now a freshman majoring in creative writing at UCF, and she has continuously proved the doctors wrong. It’s been at least five years since she had surgeries for her condition.

“Initially, [the doctors] said they didn’t think I was going to survive,” Kirby said. “They said most people with my condition either end up paralyzed or they can’t walk; a lot of them aren’t toilet trained, have to have assisted living for the rest of their lives [or] don’t get married if they survive. Everyone told me that was going

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to be my future.”

She had her first surgery at 3 days old, 25 surgeries by the time she reached 4 years old and eight more in middle school. But she is living proof that people can overcome the disease. Through working at UCF’s Center for Autism and Related Disorders, she is able to inspire others struggling with illness as well.

“I thought I kind of fit into that category because I’m not on the autism spectrum, but I’m a related disorder,” she said.

Angela Rice, intake specialist for UCF CARD and alumna with a degree in psychology, is one of Kirby’s coworkers and a witness of the triumphant attitude Kirby has toward life.

“You would have never been able to tell that she has had rough patches in her life, which is a great thing,” Rice said. “You never see her without a smile.”

Kirby also volunteers with a hydrocephalus association in Orlando.

She’s using her story to give back to the community.

“I’m an admin for the Facebook page, and so I shared my testimony, and these moms of children and babies who have been told the same thing I was told are really encouraged knowing that I made it – that I’m in college with decent grades and able to make friends and move around normally, use the bathroom and walk,” she said.

Her parents homeschooled her up until high school, when she finally got to experience the public school system.

“The only drawback [to high school] was [that] I can’t do sports because I have a shunt to help the flow of fluid in my brain,” she said.

“I did cheerleading though.”

Kirby’s parents didn’t want her to consider herself handicapped, so Alyssa Kirby has no visible signs of hydrocephalus, just an unrelated birthmark they kept the disorder from her. above her right eye called hemangioma, nodules of extra blood vessels.

She went to the hospital multiple times a year without an explanation Kirby started learning about “There are so many times when I of her condition. hydrocephalus in environmental should have died, so I’m obviously Her freshman year of high school, science and emailing her here for something,” Kirby said. neurosurgeon to better understand Jacquelyn Chlebowski, UCF CARD the side effects of the disorder and secretary and alumna with a degree how to take care of herself. in communication sciences and Kirby suggested that creativity is a disorders, has worked with Kirby side effect of hydrocephalus. For her, since she started in fall 2014. creative writing is an outlet through She can attest to the which she finds expressing emotions determination Kirby has when the easiest. working with CARD. She would create movie scripts for “The fact that, despite her her brother’s comic books, and she disorder, she still had the desire to began writing a novel in November obtain a position at a center for National Novel Writing Month. dedicated to helping others that may “I’ve noticed that whenever I have be going through struggles very struggles with my personal life, with similar to her own is very my disability, I can channel my inspirational,” Chlebowski said. frustration, emotions and dreams into writing,” Kirby said. “When you write a story, no matter what you want to happen, it can happen.”

Her long-term goal is to continue working with an organization that There are so many times helps those with when I should have died, neurological so I’m obviously here for disorders in order Doctors told Kirby’s parents that she something. to comfort would not be able to walk. Here she is, families and give -Alyssa Kirby walking in front of her job at CARD. hope.

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The unschooled degree He’s an elementary school dropout. But soon he’ll be a UCF alumnus.

STORY BY | PAIGE MULLIGAN PHOTOS BY | MY-NHON TRUONG

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hough bachelor’s degrees are traditionally thought of as four-year endeavors, it is not uncommon for them to stretch longer than that.

So completing one degree in eight, while part time, isn’t surprising – unless you stopped going to school after the third grade.

Jonathan Bennett, 30, is a computer science senior at UCF on the cusp of graduation, part of the first generation in his family to go to college.

Bennett was “unschooled,” what Peter Gray, Ph.D., a psychology research professor at Boston College, described in his article, “A Survey of Grown Unschoolers,” published in Psychology Today, as: “where the children did not go to school and were not homeschooled in any curriculum-based way, but instead were allowed to take charge of their own education.”

Unschooled children read up on topics whenever and however they want.

Sometimes they get real-world experience working with family members and shadowing professionals, taking a job or voluntarily supplementing their studies with classes, according to Unschooled.com.

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Guided only by his natural curiosity, Bennett read books about science and philosophy at his own pace. He spent much of his time reading about things that interested him on the Internet – his infinite textbook.

“I don’t think I could’ve done what he did,” said Tiffany Loon, 28, Bennett’s wife. “I didn’t have that fire.”

The Bennett family moved every few years. Jonathan Bennett is the fourth of five children, and the youngest son. The system eventually lost track of all of the children.

No letters or calls came from any state asking about the children’s education, even though most of the family’s time was spent moving around New York and the New England area, the states with the strictest home-schooling laws in the country.

According to the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, New York law requires notification and state approval of the parent’s filed curriculum, and students must achieve a certain score on standardized tests.

In Florida, the government must be notified of home schooling. The state tests children annually to measure progress.

There are few rules other than that.

“

I felt I was ahead in life experience. A lot of people say you find out who you are in college, and I already knew.

-Jonathan Bennett

His two oldest brothers were enrolled in high school, but started getting in trouble and simply stopped going. Chris Bennett, the oldest son, said he was tired of constantly needing to make new friends.

Eventually, their mother gave up.

So when Jonathan Bennett was 9, his mom told him he didn’t have to go to school anymore. What 9-year-old would argue with that?

It was also helpful for Jonathan Bennett’s mother, because he could be home to take care of his brother, Dan Bennett, who is on the autism spectrum.

Jonathan Bennett worked for both of his self-employed brothers.

His second-oldest brother, Brian Bennett, started his own web hosting company where Jonathan Bennett got most of his beginning experience.

He knew enough to work already, but in today’s reality, a piece of paper can mean more than a full digital archive of experience.

Eventually, he decided to pursue a higher education and was part of the first generation in his family to attend college. As he started, that piece of paper grew to mean more to him too.

“I want to actually be proud of something,” he said.

Jonathan Bennett got his GED in Florida when he was 18 or 19. He didn’t even know what a squared number was, but he still tested in the top 40 percent for mathematics.

But, when he first started college, he tested so low in math he was placed in the most remedial math courses. To finish his degree, he worked his way up past physics, calculus III and differential equations.

While working on his associate degree from Santa Fe College, his unorthodox education had taught him enough to work at the University of Florida as a web developer.

Though he didn’t have the high school experience, he said he feels he gained something more important.

“I felt I was ahead in life experience,” he said. “A lot of people say you find out who you are in college, and I already knew.”

Instead of being told what to do in a classroom, Jonathan Bennett chose what he wanted to study, which helped him define what he really wanted to do.

The only way he sees himself held back is some extra difficulty in mathematics.

“I still forget basic algebra rules, make stupid mistakes. I never got that foundation,” he said.

Though he’s played the “what if?” game before, he doesn’t consider his upbringing to be detrimental.

His wife confidently said, “I don’t think he thinks twice about it.”

Jonathan Bennett walks the UCF campus (above) and attends his operating systems class (below) – something he missed during adolescence.

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Empower wheels

Ben Carpenter practices at the Recreation and Wellness Center.

On the power wheelchair soccer court, this UCF student competes at full speed.

STORY BY | PAIGE MULLIGAN PHOTOS BY | KIMBERLY SLICHTER

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oom across the court, but leave room to stop.

There’s no time to hunt down your teammate – lock eyes and pass before someone slams into you, making you kick the ball in the wrong direction.

Well, making your wheelchair guard kick, anyway.

Benjamin Carpenter, a mechanical engineering sophomore at UCF, plays power wheelchair soccer and is the captain of the Tampa Thunder Power Wheelchair Soccer team. He is one of the founding members.

Carpenter started playing in 2006, when he was 10 years old. He has competed at the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro and gives public speeches all over the country and world on behalf of the United States Power Soccer Association, Shriners Hospitals for Children and Junior Achievement.

“Power” isn’t just an inspirational term. It literally means motorized wheelchairs, a distinguishing feature from other major wheelchair sports, including those in the Paralympics. Most are for manual wheelchair users, like basketball and rugby.

Players have a wide range of conditions that limit upper body strength, such as quadriplegia, cerebral palsy and various muscular dystrophies. Most members of the

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Tampa Thunder have a form of muscular dystrophy or atrophy.

Earlier in Carpenter’s life, baseball was his only option for competitive sports. “[It] was nice, but it was an ‘everybody wins’ sport,” he said. “Soccer was actually competitive. There’s not that much you can do that’s not really watered down … a lot of the fun comes out of being able to have a competitive sport.”

Don Gorman, the team coach, said the most difficult challenge is when new players expect to be treated differently.

“You don’t get a trophy for showing up,” he said.

“They don’t get special treatment for being in wheelchairs. It’s very competitive.”

The official USPSA rulebook limits speed to 6.2 miles per hour, roughly the average rate of a jog. However, unlike joggers, players use chairs that can stop in just a few feet and can turn on a dime.

On two occasions, Carpenter flipped his chair on the court, giving him concussions.

They use restraints for their bodies, but imagine the effect this sudden and considerable force has on the game play itself. Only four players, one being the goalkeeper, are permitted. Players must communicate instantly, creating their own codes or risk a shout that could get lost in the roar of the audience, the squeaks on the chairs on the indoor basketball court and yelled orders to other players.

A common penalty is a “2 on 1” offense, in which two players of the same team are so close to one player of the opposing team that the opposing team member is pinned on the relatively narrow court.

“You get to the point with some players where you just kind of know where they’re going to be,” Carpenter said.

This talent for communication is what led him to become captain.

Both Gorman and Tari Carpenter, Ben’s mother and assistant coach of the Tampa Thunder, described his progression as natural after years of playing.

“Before the game, Ben will say to the opposing team, ‘Hey, I know I’m your opponent, but look at this.’ …

The way they looked at [the team], they wanted to learn [to be] like them,” Tari Carpenter said.

“

became more confident on and off the court. It wasn’t long before he was giving speeches to crowds of thousands for multiple organizations.

“It’s about spreading this sport to people that never thought they could play a sport in their lives,” Tari Carpenter said.

Tyler Hernandez, Ben’s teammate and an accounting major at the University of Tampa, said: “It’s a sport that I can play … without a helper. It has taken me to places and introduced me to people that I wouldn’t trade for anything.”

Through his public speaking for Junior Achievement, Ben Carpenter had the opportunity to shadow roller coaster “Imagineers” at Disney.

They told him most designers in the Orlando parks come from UCF, and they gave him an education checklist to roll to the top.

“The main reason I came to UCF is because of roller coaster design,” he said.

He’s ridden roller coasters all over America while traveling for games and speeches.

“Everybody’s equal, everybody’s in the same situation. It makes it more fun to kind of be able to give yourself up to the ride. To be able to say ‘I have complete faith in the engineering of the ride,’ and just enjoy it,” he said. “For once you’re not worrying about having to hold

Ben Carpenter ‘kicks’ a practice ball across the UCF gym.

Carpenter is the captain of his power wheelchair soccer team, the Tampa Thunder.

It’s about spreading this sport to people that never thought they could play a sport in their lives, -Tari Carpenter

Danny Gorman, a Tampa Thunder member, said that Ben Carpenter “is a captain that leads by example with his skills on and off the court … he can go head to head with the best players in the league.”

Head coach Don Gorman noticed Ben Carpenter’s growing potential after he started public speaking. He

yourself up … you’re just kind of rolling with it.”

And that’s not so different from power soccer. At the fastest speed you can handle, ride and roll with the action, taking turns, taking risks.

Really, that’s not so different from life.

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Keep your Chin up

Losing is the new winning A Knight soldiers into battle. A battle to shed pounds.

STORY AND PHOTO BY | ANNE SHIRLEY LEWIS

I

Jordan Chin leaps for his dream: Becoming a professional dancer.

Dancing got him the scholarship. Now he needs help to get to New York.

STORY AND PHOTO BY | MY-NHON TRUONG

H

is dream is coming true, but only partially.

Last year, Jordan Chin, a UCF junior sociology major, received a partial scholarship to attend a semester at the Broadway Dance Center in New York from The PULSE On Tour dance convention.

The PULSE On Tour is a weekend event that gives participants intense training from the industry’s top choreographers and dancers. At the end of the weekend, scholarships are handed out to the best performers.

Chin’s high came to a slow descent after he realized that he could not afford to live in New York for four months. The scholarship was for $500 toward a professional semester at BDC, and while that is more than Chin expected, tuition for the program is $3,700 and the living expenses in New York City are steep for a college student.

Chin said he did not want to ask his parents, Joy and Gary Chin, to cover the cost because they are supporting both Jordan Chin and his brother, Brandon Chin, while the latter is away in Asia.

One day, Jordan Chin asked a friend if it was worth creating a GoFundMe page. They advised him to start one. Jordan Chin said he was hesitant at first, because he was not sure if people would want to invest in him. After the first few donations came in, Jordan Chin was overwhelmed with emotions.

“I sat in my car and just started crying. To me, it just felt like, wow, how can people be so generous to give me this much money,” Jordan Chin said. “I just didn’t know the support I had out there. It becomes realistic once you actually see it.”

In addition to his GoFundMe page, Jordan Chin has

18 | CENTRIC

also applied for scholarships through UCF. During winter break, he won a $1,000 scholarship from Health and Wellness. Also, he updates his social media accounts on his progress regularly and puts up fliers around campus. Through this, Jordan Chin has acquired enough money to cover the rest of his tuition.

Now, he just needs money to pay for living expenses such as rent and food.

Jordan Chin stressed that any amount counts.

“If 4 percent of UCF students donated a dollar, I would meet my goal,” he said.

Even though Chin has only raised about $400 of $2,500, he strongly believes in the idea of ‘paying it forward’ and regularly donates to fundraisers on campus.

“I started thinking that I need to pay it forward and donating to other people because I know how it is and I know how hard it can be to try to raise money,” he said.

“For me, it’s like, help one another if you want to be helped.”

A different type of help came in the form of unyielding support from family and friends, particularly his dance group, Guilty Pleasure.

“I thank the world for them, because without them, without their support, I don’t know where I would be,” he said. “I don’t know if I could have even dreamt of going to New York or even gone to PULSE On Tour.”

Jordan Chin’s friend Rachel Adriano, a UCF first-year nursing student, praised his determination.

“I would say that Jordan is an inspiration and a role model for anyone who’s ever wanted to follow their dreams,” Adriano said. “He knows what he wants, and he’s working hard every day to achieve his dream of becoming a professional dancer.

n a day with seemingly every moment filled, Christie Cajina finds strength in her health.

She begins and ends each day with a workout. However, for Cajina, that was not always the case. When she was 240 pounds, the thought of any physical activity was unimaginable, she recalls.

“Something needed to change deep within me if I was going to make it,” Cajina said.

Cajina attended a private military academy, Norwich University. There she encountered a serious calf injury, so she moved back home to Key West. Cajina attended her local community college before enrolling at UCF and is now a junior studying criminal justice.

Fitness was important to Cajina from the start of her time at UCF. She participated in Tae Kwon Do Knights and UCF’s powerlifting competition during her first semester. Then, the holidays stunted her progress. The weight she had shed in a semester crept its way back in through family dinners and desserts, she said.

Cajina was walking through the campus gym days before winter break when she received a sign, she said. The Biggest Winner Competition was beginning the following semester.

“It was a heaven sent,” she said.

One last obstacle was standing in her way to join The Biggest Winner: tryouts. It was a physical and mental test, adapting students to different styles of exercise.

“It was intimidating. It was a new experience. I really wanted it,” she said.

Out of 25 students who tried out, 20 were selected. Then the real journey began.

The competition has made fitness about more than just her. She now has a team to support. She attends group training with her Gold Team twice a week at 7 a.m., and weekly weigh-ins followed by challenges against the Black Team at 6:30 a.m.

“Christie is extremely hardworking and does every activity to the best of her ability,” said teammate Morgan Pauley, a senior health services administration major. “Whether she knows it or not, she inspires me on a weekly basis to keep trying as hard as I can.”

Already down about 20 pounds, Cajina will continue to work toward a healthier lifestyle with the guidance from The Biggest Winner Competition.

Her fitness aspirations are rooted in her goals for life, as someone with a military and criminal justice background.

“Being an officer in the Marine Corps, you have to be the best of the best,” she said. “For me, that is what I most am striving for in The Biggest Winner.”

Daily Schedule

05:50

Wake up time. Christie Cajina grabs a water bottle and her Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor and bikes to the UCF gym.

07:00

The Gold Team workout begins.

08:30

Her breakfast includes: 3/4 of a cup of almond milk, 1/2 cup of oats, 1 scoop of protein powder and 2 tablespoons of PB2, powdered peanut butter.

09:25

Cajina works a five-hour shift at the John C. Hitt Library and then practices the tuba at UCF’s band practice.

20:00

She laces up her shoes and runs 3 miles.

22:00

She says her prayers, writes her reflections down for the day and flips on “M*A*S*H” until she slips into unconsciousness.

Christie Cajina exercises in the UCF Recreation and Wellness Center.

CENTRIC | 19

Visit our website for exclusive content.

Left: Senior business management major Hannah Jelstrom draws free henna tattoos, seen here on a UCF student. Watch our video online to learn about her designs and motivation to give away henna body art. Photo by Cailin Cooney.

Right: Ellen Arnold travels the world using the money she earns working three serving jobs. Arnold isn’t the only Knight leaving “studying” out of studying abroad. Read our online exclusive to learn about other students with wanderlust.

Photo courtesy of Ellen Arnold.

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