Family Weekend Bonanza

Walking down memory mall music blaring, BBQ’s in full swing, campus overflowing with students, football tailgating season was in full swing.

Taking part in the festivities the alumni association had a tailgate of their own where more than 1500 UCF parents and students enjoyed a family-friendly tailgate on Memory Mall at Family Weekend 2011.  The event included a full BBQ feast, thoroughly enjoyed by everyone, a photo booth with UCF-themed photo strips for parents and students to keep as a memento from the event, and a UCF tattoo station with fans of all ages showing their UCF support.

Sun setting while everyone was enjoying corn hole, food, and other entertainment, leaving tailgating for the big game was bittersweet.

For the game a Family Weekend 2011 seat cushion was provided to keep everyone comfy;  although, they probably weren’t sitting much, because, as we all know UCF played a very exciting game that lead to a 30-3 victory over Boston College.  GO KNIGHTS!

Alumni Shout-Out!

Our Alumni Shout-Out for this month is Traci Blue!  Traci was one of our panelists this Spring for Knight of Success.  She graduated from UCF in 1990 with a Bachelor's Degree in Organizational Communications.  She did not originally plan to come to UCF and did so because she received a National Merit Scholarship, but once she came here she never wanted to leave.

Traci has worked in the field of Volunteer Management/ Community relations for over 20 years, and her current occupation is as the Volunteer Manager at A Gift for Teaching.  She has been a volunteer for this organization for many years, prior to becoming a member of the staff.  She has a strong passion for volunteerism in both her professional and personal lives.  She spends a good deal of her time serving on several non-profit boards, including the UCF Alumni Association Board of Directors, as well as volunteering. She also tries to include her children in her volunteering as often as possible.

Traci strongly believes in leaving a legacy of service and making a difference.  She feels that it is unwise to complain about the way things are and not do anything to make them better.  When asked what she would say to students, Traci said, "One of the most important things that I try to teach students, inlcuding those as young as middle school and all the way through college, is to learn as much as you can about your chosen profession and try to get as much experience in it as possible before totally committing to it.  I encourage students to volunteer within your field, do internships, job shadow, interview people who work in the field that you are interested in.  This will help you eliminate jobs that are not exactly what you expected and help you find what you are passionate about.  Based on the amount of time that we spend at work, you ought to do something that you love."

4EK Superstar!

Our 4EK Superstar for this month is our current Vice President, Joe Myszkowski!  Joe is currently a Resident Assistant for the Department of Housing and Residence Life and in the Fall will be a Graduate Assistant for this department, as well as a graduate student in the Health Sciences MS program.  He is from a suburb outside of Chicago, IL, Lisle, and lists cooking as one of his many hobbies.

Joe is currently on President's Leadership Council, and has been since the Spring of 2010.  He has been an ambassador of 4EVER KNIGHTS since Fall 2009, and has also held the office of President.  These are just some of the many organizations that Joe has been involved in since he became a student at UCF.  He was also on the KoRT Executive Board and was a member of the LEAD Scholars Program..  He has held the offices of Vice President and Treasurer for the organization Team Chiropractic, and has been a member of the Sigma Alpha Pi National Honor Society of Leadership and Success since Fall 2007.

Joe is extremely grateful for all of the opportunities which UCF has given him.  He came here as an out-of-state freshman and did not know many people.  He thoroughly enjoyed being a LEAD Scholar, as he feels it helped him to meet so many good people and taught him what it means to be a UCF Knight.  Joe believes that being a Knight gives us many important responsibilities.  One of these is to have passion for the university in everything that we decide to pursue, whether it is cheering at a football game or participating in a community service project.  He feels that it is important for us to show our black and gold pride in everything we do!  Academic honesty is also another very important aspect of being a Knight.  Success in the classroom entails completing our education in an honest manner.  Finally, living the UCF Creed in our lives truly shows what it means to be a UCF Knight.  This means that there are some tough standards that we should hold ourselves to, but it shows that we appreciate being students here.  When asked what he would say to his peers, the UCF student body, Joe said, "In my opinion, taking on these responsibilities shows true loyalty and dedication to this institution.  UCF truly stands for Opportunity and I hope that I can make an impact on UCF just as it has made on me.  A quote that I try to live by from our late Dr. Charles Millican states, "the best way to predict your future is to create it.""

Joe has been a fantastic Vice President this year, he is truly an asset to this organization!  All of the hard work and dedication that he puts in really shows in the results that he achieves.  We are very lucky to have Joe as an ambassador and are very excited to see what great things he will achieve in the years to come!

Alumni Shout-Out!

Our Alumni Shout-Out for this newsletter is to Todd Woodard!  Todd is currently the Chair of the UCF Alumni Association's Board of Directors and was also a panelist at our Knight of Success event in the Fall.

Todd graduated from UCF in 1995 with a Bachelor's Degree in Business.  It was by chance that he ended up at UCF.  He had planned on playing basketball in college and had never really considered attending UCF, but when he suffered a serious injury in the middle of his senior year of high school, all of his plans changed.  He grew up in Central Florida and had never visited the campus until he visited with his best friend from high school who received a full scholarship to play football for UCF.  Once he came to the campus, however, he fell in love with it.  At that point he never even opened any of the other letters he received from other universities; his decision was made.

Todd is currently the President of Mosaic Wealth Management Group, Inc.  He started the firm in 1996 and today they have four associates, who are all in fact UCF alumni!  They manage just over $200 million for their clients, who include individuals and families ranging from young professionals to their oldest client who is now 95 years old.  Their clients are parts of many different industries, spanning from business owners and executives, to professional athletes and the lead actress in a new show coming out in Fall 2011 called "Alcatraz" from the producers of "Lost."  Their company started hosting interns from UCF 9 years ago, and now have 3 interns per semester.  They have hosted over 50 people in the last 9 years.  

While attending UCF, Todd worked for a firm and had three and a half years of experience by the time he graduated.  Within six months of working there, he knew that this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.  He loves what he does and now 15 years after starting Mosaic he still feels that he has the best job in the world and works with the best people he could imagine in his office.

Todd is originally from Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and moved to Orlando in 1983 when his father started a John Deere/ Honda dealership on University Boulevard, which still exists today.  He has been married for 15 years to his wonderful wife, Ashley.  They have two children, their daughter Morgan who is 12, and their son T.J. (Todd Jr.) who is 10.  They also have a 2-year-old cockapoo named Gracie and a 6-year-old Bermese cat named Pickles.

Both of their children are TOTALLY brainwashed UCF fans!  One of Todd's favorite quotes comes from his son after a friend of his in their neighborhood (who is unfortunately a brainwashed UF fan!) said that when they go to college they should room together at UF, to which his son responded "I am NOT going to UF... I am going to UCF!"

Todd loves basketball and still plays in a league or two from time to time.  He loves golf and his wife is a good player as well.  They try to play together in tournaments a couple of times a year, but their favorite tradition is playing in the UCF Homecoming golf tournament with their good friends Rob and Kim (former UCF Alumni Board Chair) Strong.  They have even won the tournament on more than one occasion.  Todd loves all things UCF and can be found cheering with his family at most football and basketball games.  They try to catch a few baseball and soccer games each year as well.  

Their daughter is a really gifted singer/actress and he had the privilege of hearing her sing the National Anthem at a recent Orlando Magic game.  Their son lives, eats, and breathes soccer.  In fact, he was recently selected to play on a U-10 team that is going to England to play against 4 English Premier League U-10 academy teams, including Chelsea and Manchester.

When asked what advice he would give to students, Todd said:

"You get your diploma and formal education from UCF…but the best advice I can offer is to get out there and get as many internships and as much work experience as possible.  We are fortunate enough to live in a community that has tens of thousands of UCF alums who embrace the university and students need to leverage that.  We’re NOT stuck in the middle of an rural town like Gainesville or limited to what Tallahassee has to offer students at FSU…we live in a metropolitan city with countless opportunities in many different industries."

Thank you to Todd Woodard for being our Alumni Shout-Out, we greatly appreciate it!! :)

4EK Superstar!

Our Wonderful 4EK Superstar is Melissa Blette!  She is from Coral Springs, Florida, and her major is Marketing and Interdisciplinary Studies, with a minor in Leadership Studies.  She is involved in a plethora of activities on campus, including the following:

President's Leadership Council (Recruitment Chair)

Collegiate DECA (State Vice President)

Phi Beta Lambda (Vice President)

Golden Key International Honor Society (Vice President)

Towers Area Council (President)

Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Honor Society (Vice President)

As you can see, Melissa loves to be involved with organizations and hold leadership roles!  She also completed her Honors in the Major thesis titled "Marketing Trends in Home Health Care: The Four Aspects that Affect Sales."

When asked how she feels about UCF, Melissa said,"I love UCF because it has enabled my to gain valuable leadership skills I never could have learned anywhere else. It has become my home away from home, and I hope to remain a part of the UCF community for many years to come."

We are also extremely proud of Melissa for being awarded Order of Pegasus!  This is what Melissa said about this achievement: "I feel incredibly honored to represent UCF, as well as the College of Business Administration. Being inducted into the Order of Pegasus, Class of 2011, is truly the culmination of my UCF experience, and I am humbled to be in the company of all the other fantastic inductees this year."

Congratulations Melissa!!  We are so thrilled to have you as a member of 4EVER KNIGHTS, you represent UCF extremely well!

January's Alumni Shout Out!

Our featured alumnus this month, Kevin O'Connell, graduated from UCF in 2002 with a degree in Finance.  He decided to go to UCF because he wanted to live in a relatively big city while he was in school, and he also wanted to have the opportunity to pursue internship opportunities that would then allow him to remain in that metropolitan area upon graduation.  He also decided to get his education here because he could tell that the campus was growing with all of the new construction and he wanted to be a part of something that was on its way up and that was building traditions from an athletics and curriculum standpoint.

Kevin is currently a Managing Director/ Financial Advisor.  He decided to pursue this career because he wanted to help people as well as have the ability to control his income.  He saw other people who were in his profession that had successful and balanced personal and work lives and were able to help people retire and protect their family in the event of an untimely death or disability, and he wanted to do this as well.  Kevin was not sure how much he would enjoy the financial aspect of his occupation at first, but he knew that he enjoyed helping people, building relationships and controlling his schedule, so he decided to make this his occupation.  This has now evolved into more of a leadership role, coaching, consulting, and recruiting financial reps.  However, Kevin still enjoys the impact he is able to make.

Kevin was born in New York and lived in Connecticut, but he went to high school in Palm Coast, Florida.  After high school he came to Orlando.  He is now engaged to another UCF alumnus, Lauren DeLarco, and is getting married this fall.  Kevin enjoys sports and travel.  He plays flag football, basketball and running, and he goes snow skiing once a year.  He is also a Magic, Knights, and NY Jets season ticket holder.

Kevin's favorite quote is by Bruce Jenner: "success is not measured by heights attained, but by obstacles overcome.  We're going to pass through many obstacles in our lives: good days, bad days.  But the successful person will overcome those obstacles and constantly move forward."

When asked what he would like to say to students, Kevin said, "dream big.  Set your goals high and keep them in front of you constantly.  Learn who you are and what you're passionate about, and then challenge yourself every day to make small incremental steps to your amazing future."



January's 4EK Superstar!

Our wonderful 4EK Superstar for this month is Anya Kroytor.  Anya is from Miami, Florida, and is currently majoring in Psychology at UCF.  She participates in a variety of activities on campus, including the President's Leadership Council, Volunteer UCF in which she is the Director of Mentoring and Literacy, and she is also a resident assistant in the Libra housing community on campus.  Through her involvement Anya plans volunteer events for students that relate to the issue of Mentoring and Literacy, such as helping children from underprivileged areas become inspired and excited to attend college, as well as tutoring for boys and girls clubs.  Through her work as a resident assistant, Anya is able to help freshmen transition from living at home to now living on their own at university.  Another role Anya has taken on at UCF is that of an undergraduate research assistant for the Anxiety Disorders Clinic and the Children's Learning Clinic in the psychology department.

When asked what she loves the most about UCF Anya said, "I love UCF because I have been given so many wonderful opportunities that are constantly shaping my life and guiding me in the direction of my future career. I also love the diversity of people that attend this university and that I am able to meet new people daily."

If you are interested in volunteering with Anya or with any of the Volunteer UCF directors, just go to the website or stop by the cubicle in OSI!