News | Campus Student Life - The Independent Florida Alligator

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

Students experience first Spring Break since pandemic shutdowns

By Fernando Figueroa and Maia Botek | Mar. 14, 2022

Last year, UF students did not partake in their long-awaited Spring Break. Administration canceled the break “for the purpose of making the Spring semester as successful and healthy as possible” and instead gave students an extra week of Winter Break. This year, students’ mid-semester break from March 5 to 13 came amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine invasion.

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

Renewable energy could save UF millions of dollars

By Lucille Lannigan | Mar. 9, 2022

A new analysis suggests UF could transition to renewable, cheaper energy and save $100 million, rather than move forward with its current more expensive plan to construct a gas plant. The Rocky Mountain Institute, an environmentalist think tank, presented its analysis to a group of climate scientists, retired professors and Matt Williams, UF’s sustainability director, on Wednesday. It found UF can save money by using clean energy to achieve its energy needs while protecting the natural environment.

UF students climb up and down the stands of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the morning of Saturday, Feb. 26.

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

Students climb for a cause in first annual Ben Hill Griffin relay race

By Elena Barrera | Mar. 2, 2022

On Saturday, Ron Farb, co-founder of The Climb For Cancer Foundation, partnered with members of UF’s Alpha Epsilon Delta pre-health honor society to raise more than $12,000 for their first-annual Gator Mountain Challenge, a relay race up and down the 90 rows of the stadium.

Nearing Cora P. Roberson Park, protestors march down Southwest 6th Street. The protest started at the corner of University Avenue and 13th Street.

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

UF community protests Don’t Say Gay bill

By Fernando Figueroa | Feb. 21, 2022

The UF Young Democratic Socialists of America and Take Action Florida collaborated with Arcenas and Katz to gather 130 students and community members to march from the corner of West University Avenue and 13th Street to Cora Roberson Park. The 1-mile-march protested the “Don’t Say Gay” companion bills HB1557/SB1834 which passed its first reading in the House on Thursday. The bills would prohibit “discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels.” These policies could destroy students’ bonds with teachers, like Arcenas’ bond with Leach at Sebring High School.

UF students and community members gathered at Plaza of the Americas for a commemorative candlelight vigil to honor the victims of the Parkland shooting on Monday, Feb. 14.

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March for Our Lives Gainesville holds vigil to remember mass shooting victims

By Gregorio Ruiz-Perez | Feb. 16, 2022

The vigil, held at the Plaza of the Americas, commemorated the 14 students and three faculty who were killed during the 2018 Parkland shooting and the two students who passed after.

Evangelist Cindy Lasseter Smock, better known as "Sister Cindy" to her TikTok fans, speaks to a crowd of over 500 students at Plaza of the Americas on Monday, Feb. 7.

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

Infamous TikTok street preacher “Sister Cindy” returns to UF, draws a crowd of heckling students

By Fernando Figueroa | Feb. 11, 2022

In a long skirt and a blue T-shirt with the slogan “Ho No Mo,” ‘Sister Cindy’ pranced inside a circle of more than 500 students, blocking the walkways of Plaza of Americas Monday afternoon. “Welcome to the ho no mo’ revolution!” she shouted.

Students play a game of poker at the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom on Friday, Jan. 28. The event was the inaugural Gator Gala, a get-together for students with games, food and a dance floor.

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

Student Government hosts its first UF Gator Gala

By Maia Botek | Jan. 31, 2022

SG and Gator Nights partnered to host the inaugural Gator Gala Friday evening at the Reitz Union. The free event was open to all UF students from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom with live music, poker tables and raffles for free items, including a UF basketball jersey worth $109.99.

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UF hasn’t offered any federal emergency relief this semester; some students worry they never will

By Lucille Lannigan | Jan. 24, 2022

A new federal grant has not been funded for Spring, causing some students to worry as they continue to face impacts from the pandemic.

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

Gainesville gym memberships increase along with omicron cases

By Carissa Allen | Jan. 18, 2022

Despite the surge in Alachua County omicron COVID-19 cases, local gyms’ memberships and business increased this month.

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

UF all-female team takes Florida Hackathon grand prize

By Allyssa Keller | Jan. 18, 2022

The all-female UF team won the grand prize for the Florida Hacks with International Business Machines competition, of which the results were announced Jan. 6. The team won a grand prize of $30,000 and access to a UF supercomputer.

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“To be her friend was to feel true joy.”: In Honor of Sabrina Marie Obando

By Allessandra Inzinna | Jan. 10, 2022

Obando, a 22-year-old Miami native, graduated cum laude in Fall 2021 with a degree in art history. On Jan. 4, Obando was hit by a pickup truck while she was crossing the sidewalk around 12:30 p.m. on the intersection of Northwest 8th Ave. and Northwest 10th St. Following the crash, she was transported to UF Health Shands Hospital where she died from her injuries.

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UF graduate student wins $25,000 award in Deep Space Food Challenge

By Maia Botek | Jan. 5, 2022

The UF doctoral student led one of 18 U.S. teams selected as winners in the Deep Space Food Challenge to each receive a $25,000 prize. The challenge, hosted by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, sought tasty solutions to preserve nutrients in food for years-long journeys to Mars and beyond.

Participants start running during the Gainesville Race for Inclusion organized by Special Olympics Florida on Dec. 4, 2021. Nathan Grinalds came first in the race.

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Special Olympics Florida hosts Inaugural Race for Inclusion

By Thandie Brown | Dec. 10, 2021

The Gainesville Race for Inclusion, an inaugural event, happened on UF’s Flavet Field. Hosted by Special Olympics Florida, the fundraiser had almost $2,000 more than its original goal of $50,000 by the time the event started.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is seen on Monday, Nov. 29, 2021.

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

UF African American Studies Course Title Sparks Controversy Among Students

By Desiree Anello | Nov. 29, 2021

The African American Studies department is offering a course next semester titled “Blacks in Florida” under the course code AFA4225. Some students said the wording of the course title is off-putting and may take away from the intentions of the course. Others believe the course offers a different look into Black experiences in Florida.

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

UF students hold “Squid Game” inspired event

By Jenny Rogers | Nov. 16, 2021

About 117 UF students played the games, modeled after the South Korean show streamed on Netflix, on Nov. 6 as part of the university’s Gator Humans versus Zombies club. The students also peppered in zombie tag and Nerf guns.

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

UF alumni to release new dating app Jungle

By Emma Behrmann | Nov. 8, 2021

Beta testing is set to start Nov. 27 in Gainesville

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

Students, state leaders discuss unease and climate action at Campus Climate Corps conference

By Alexandra Harris | Nov. 1, 2021

To introduce students and other attendees to the worldwide United Nation Conferences of Parties, about 50 attendees tuned in Sunday to the Campus Climate Corps Conference.

Sarah McGrath-Blaser (left) holds a Florida softshell turtle shell while Arik Hartmann (right) points to it, showing how the vertebrae is fused with the shell, at UF's Longo Lab on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. "Turtles can't leave their shells because they are part of the skeleton," Hartmann said.

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UF researchers try breaking misconceptions against ‘spooky’ animals

By Max Taylor | Nov. 1, 2021

While biology may not sound like a creepy affair, some UF researchers are closely studying bizarre diseases that rot amphibians’ skin, along with a new species of worm-like creatures and lizards that eat other animals and their eggs.

Hannah Strickland, 5, surveys the festivities in her Princess Ariel costume during Dance Marathon at UF's Moralloween event at Flavet Field on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021.

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Dance Marathon at UF celebrates money raised to help fight against pediatric illnesses

By Elena Barrera | Oct. 29, 2021

The student-led non-profit organization hosted Moralloween to celebrate its successes during its big fall fundraising push Transform Today. Transform Today was a 26.2 hour period on Tuesday in which Dance Marathon members worked to raise as much money as they could, said Kristina Smith, the organization’s public relations director.

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

Halloween comes to Shands Children’s Hospital patients

By Elena Barrera | Oct. 18, 2021

The hospital’s Child Life Program is working with volunteers, student organizations and community donors to provide the young patients with candy, costumes and fall-themed crafts.