EN Video: Your hopes for FGCU?

The students of Professor Maria Roca's Integrated Core Senior Seminar have high hopes for the future of FGCU.

On Oct. 12 they marched to President Bradshaw's office, with the single purpose of turning over their hopes for the university to him.

The idea behind this demonstration came from a group of students who, after reading a section title "Courage is Contagious," from Paul Loeb's book, "The Impossible Will Take a While," decided to create an activity involving an act of courage.

Natasha Taylor, a senior majoring in communication, recalled thinking that the group had to do something courageous that involved FGCU specifically.

Each member of the class wrote their hopes on two different pieces of paper. The papers were then collected, mixed together, and redistributed.

Students from the class took turns reading aloud the hopes; they ranged from wanting a school football team to maintaining the environment.

Roca was surprised by the contrast of the students' hopes.

"I was impressed by the large number of students wanting the school to continue being ecological," Roca said.

Carl Bleich, a senior majoring in communication expects a lot of the university.

"My hope for FGCU is that it does not forget about the basic needs of its students when it becomes a big school. That means I would still like to see the school put on activities, have a functioning campus recreation department and just provide entertainment options to students," he said.

After reading aloud everyone's hopes, class members were asked to join Taylor and her group on an "errand."

Little did they know they were in the midst of a courageous act.

After a five-minute walk Taylor, announced to the class her intention of turning over their written hopes to President Bradshaw. "My hands were shaking, holding the paper, but I thought to myself, let courage be contagious, and everyone turned their paper in." Taylor said.

"The demonstration was a courageous act. It is definitely a lot better to perform an act rather than just to talk about it," Bleich said. "It's nice to know that [the president] cares enough to read our individual hopes. I think that in itself says a lot about the community of the university. If the president of the university has time to read one class' work, that's special."

President Bradshaw read each of the hopes he received from Roca's class and responded in a letter of appreciation.

Bradshaw commented that he was not surprised by any of the hopes he received, but that he strongly agreed with students who hoped to maintain a commitment to environmental sustainability.

"We are not perfect in that regard, (but) we are getting better all the time," Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw stated his hopes for FGCU included staying focused on being student centered.

"We must never, ever, forget that," he said.