An Embry-Riddle Communication Major

Danielle Van Pelt News Editor

Many students don’t come to Embry-Riddle to pursue a study in Communication. In fact, many students are not aware that the University offers a Bachelor of Science in Communication. However, it is true. Embry-Riddle has around 20 students pursuing a degree in Communication, and I’m one of them.

When students attend Embry-Riddle, it usually is because they have a passion for aviation and air sciences. The majority of Communication majors still share that passion. Not only do we have the option to study Communication, but we can also study Aeronautical Studies, Aviation Safety, Business Administration, Human Factors, Space Studies, and Marketing like everyone else.

However, we want to take our passions and help communicate them in a way the public can also understand. What’s the point of gaining knowledge in a field of study if a person can’t efficiently share it with the public? A communication major’s job is to transcribe the jargon and technical knowledge and translate it to an audience in a way they can understand.

In my case, I study Broadcast Meteorology; I’m looking for a job where I can decode weather phenomena in an easily understandable way. I don’t have a minor like a majority of my colleagues. Instead, I’m in a specific program. By majoring in Communication, I can have a Meteorology concentration to purposely learn how to broadcast meteorology to a mass audience. e latter is a concept — not of my own making — dealing with the reality of Hispanics in America. We are a young and burgeoning demographic, and it is our time — our moment if you will — to shine and add sazón to the American melting pot, to make our presence known and our culture felt. And I believe that a humble cafecito, the same cafecito that started the Daytona Beach LPA’s resurgence, is the start of that. is co ee represents who we are as a people: humble and tied to our traditions, never forgetting where we came from and never forgetting what we’re here to do.

When I learned about this program, I was ecstatic because I realized I could study my specific area of interest. My original plan was to attend Florida State University to obtain my Bachelor’s in Meteorology and my Master’s in Communication/Journalism. With this program, I can kill two birds with one stone.

I take all the weather-related classes that meteorology majors take and communication classes to help me learn how to share my understanding of weather. My favorite courses have to be the ones where I get to work in the broadcast studio on the third floor of the College of Aviation. That is where I’m at my prime.

I can promise you that being a communication major isn’t a waste of time or money. It is a vital career path for those who want to take STEM-related work - something all EmbryRiddle students are passionate about - for people willing to help others understand and develop a passion for science.

Fine, I’ll spill them as long as no one copies our idea! Cuban co ee is a type of espresso from Cuba, sweetened traditionally with natural brown sugar and whipped. Cuban co ee requires patience, love, and feel; Latino Pilots Association-styled (LPA) Cuban co ee is also a product of innovation, brewed fresh — usually every Tuesday — at the Student Union. We start by brewing Bustelo in an induction oven-compatible Moka pot and separately adding raw brown sugar in a measuring cup. How much, you ask? Again, we do it by feeling! Once the pot is brewed, the patience part begins. Ever so slowly and slightly, we start adding the co ee to the cup while getting the sugar slightly moist while stirring constantly. You keep stirring and adding co ee by the drip until you get a frothy and creamy consistency. at way, it looks like a milk co ee without the milk!

It has taken on a life of its own as our fundraising Magnum Opus and part of our identity. It’s the cafecito that could! As for our members, I’d say our co ee sales have impacted the buyer more than the seller. ough that’s not to say it hasn’t impacted us at all. We’ve gained marketable skills in brewing, selling, and advertising. And for some of us, selling co ee gives us the polar opposite e ect of that of the consumer; we feel more relaxed and disconnected from the day-to-day realities of being a Riddle student. It’s as if real life stops for a moment when we sell what is a life accelerator for many people.

To us? e LPA represents the tripartite — family, tradition, humility — and El Momento Hispano. e former is the three things Hispanics usually value most, especially those of us who have just arrived in the United States.

Ancient LPA lore tells of the times of yore, when the group was still a mere pequeñín, in a di cult and transitory period. Members Nasir ‘Paco’ Martinez and Fabian Torres came up with the idea of selling Cuban co ee during a brainstorming session that included other ideas that did not materialize. Co ee was what stuck the most. anks to member Paco’s culinary expertise, we’ve been able to keep it as traditional and high-quality as possible, passing the recipe down from member to member, with slight tweaks to keep up with demand.

Our co ee, especially this semester, has been a bit of a sleeper hit and cult classic on campus, something we didn’t anticipate for something so simple and humble. It got mentioned by Riddle Regards, praised in the most Gen Z fashion as ‘bussin’.

We’re here to give the Daytona Beach community the love, the patience, and the feeling many — myself included — need whenever we feel down and overwhelmed by the realities of being a Riddle student… eir familial-like bond began when a resident named Noel Bell knocked on other residents’ doors to bring them together for the get-to-know-you event put on by their Resident Advisor (RA), Alexis Bondarenko. Almost immediately, it became obvious to the residents that there was enough of a bond between them to form a tight-knit, continuously engaged community. e oor is so close that, since the rst week of the Fall 2022 semester, the residents came together to give each other their call signs. Individual call signs include, but are not limited to: GI (Johanna Archbold), Silence (Joshua Stelmack), Ranger (Landon Barclay), Spaniard (William Burkett), Wildcard (Ti any Smith), and Rocket (Nathaniel Wrobel). Noel, mentioned previously, has the call sign Achilles, their RA Alexis is Alpha, and the author of this article is known as Media. e residents come from a variety of backgrounds and are pursuing a variety of majors. But that doesn’t prevent them from bridging the gaps and having a good time. Such bonding events include watching sporting games on the lounge’s television, late-night runs to One Daytona’s arcade, tea party hangouts in the lounge, and, most notoriously, their Wood Hall Five podcast. e podcast allows the oor to share their rst-year Embry-Riddle experiences with incoming students who have questions about what to expect. Topics to be discussed on the podcast include dining experiences, residence life, classes, and an interview with their RA. ey even plan to have an episode solely devoted to the Aeronautical Science residents talking about the pilot’s experience at ERAU. e podcast is available to listen to on

...Now where have we seen those three things before?

What happens when you combine a group of rst-year students whose only common ground is their love for aviation and a prestigious private university? Hopefully, they will experience the sense of community seen by the residents of the h oor of Wood Hall.

Want to see more photos like these? Check out Wood Hall

Five’s Instagram by scanning here.