Victoria Chin - The Independent Florida Alligator

NEWS | CAMPUS

Affordable UF cuts course material costs

By Victoria Chin | Aug. 1, 2018

Each year, students at four-year institutions pay an average of more than $1,200 on textbooks they may not even use. A program at UF is lowering this cost — and unnecessary purchases — one orange apple badge at a time.Affordable UF, an initiative that was piloted this Summer and will officially be launched this Fall, shows students which courses require materials that cost $20 or less per credit hour. Classes that meet this requirement get an orange-colored apple badge on their textbook requirement page.

METRO

Alachua County’s youth voter registration decreases, Florida’s increases

By Victoria Chin | July 25, 2018

Adler Garfield said he remembers watching the news after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012. The 19-year-old hoped it would never happen to his community, but it did Feb. 14.

NEWS | CAMPUS

UF discusses options for Confederate monument in St Augustine

By Victoria Chin | July 18, 2018

A marble obelisk stands in St. Augustine, Florida, honoring and holding the remains of Confederate general William Loring, who spent his early life in St. Augustine and was considered a “local hero” for his military contributions.

NEWS | CAMPUS

UF CJC hires 15 faculty members, adds offices

By Victoria Chin | July 16, 2018

The UF College of Journalism and Communications has hired 15 faculty members in an effort to push UF to top three in the U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of top public schools.

Villiance and Viviane Charlestin in June 2018. “It doesn’t matter if a person’s gay, straight, immigrant, black, white,” Viviane said. “They’re a human being.”

Courtesy of Viviane Charlestin

NEWS | CAMPUS

Fifteen years ago, her father was deported. Her family has almost given up on bringing him back.

By Victoria Chin | July 9, 2018

Viviane Charlestin remembers wearing a red dress when her family drove to West Palm Beach on a hot day in 2003.

METRO

Alachua County Victim Services seeks volunteers

By Victoria Chin | June 13, 2018

It’s been awhile since Heavan Papendick became a sexual assault survivor. She found a way to use her experiences to help others when she started volunteering for the Alachua County Victim Services and Rape Crisis Center in 2016.

Artist Jenna Horner helps students apply paint to their hands. Photo by Iryna Kanishcheva.

Courtesy Photo to the Alligator

METRO

Williams Elementary students, local artist paint mural

By Victoria Chin | June 6, 2018

What was once a pair of plain white walls across from the media center at Joseph Williams Elementary School is now a colorful piece of art that symbolizes collaboration, creativity and empowerment.