www.alligator.org
We Inform. You Decide.
VOLUME 113 ISSUE 2
FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018
Not officially associated with the University of Florida
Published by Campus Communications, Inc. of Gainesville, Florida
Surviving: An MSD victim works toward recovery at UF 48 Class of 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas graduates now go to UF
By Christina Morales Alligator Staff Writer
Elizabeth Stout will pick a seat away from the door when she walks into her first UF class. Unlike her yellow thermos that still sits on the desk second from the door in her Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School AP Psychology class. Stout left the cup in Room 1213 of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s freshman building on Valentine’s Day. It has now found its place in the background of the ongoing investigation — along with forgotten chocolates and roses — since that classroom door window shattered and one of Stout’s classmates became one of 17 who died. She left other things behind. Her mental health, her friends and her hobbies — no more cheerleading, no more yearbook. And she almost left her dream of UF behind, a school she’s wanted to attend since she was 5, because she feared leaving her family. “I think about the shooting every day.” But she realized she needed an escape from the town still grieving. Stout, 18, is one of 48 nowUF students who graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in June, UF Dean of Students Heather White wrote in an email. She still has four months to choose a seat as she eases back into the routine with online classes for her first semester in Innovation Academy. Two weeks after the shooting,
Mackenzie Behm / Alligator Staff
Elizabeth Stout, a Parkland survivor and UF political science freshman, shows the cap she made for her graduation from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Stout says she wants it to honor the four seniors who were unable to graduate due to the tragedy: Carmen Schentrup, Nicholas Dworet, Meadow Pollack and Joaquin Oliver. she went back to Stoneman Douglas for about a month until she decided to finish her classes online. In her bedroom, she doesn’t have to worry about the door, but she knows she can’t stay confined to her comfort zone for her whole
college life. “I can’t anticipate it. I don’t know. I just know I’m not going to be near the classroom door.” Though the idea of returning to school scares her, she still has a piece of home down the street in
Gainesville. Her sister Catherine Stout, a UF sustainability studies junior, lives nearby and said the two have only gotten closer since the shooting. Catherine Stout said she will never forget what it felt like to
hug her sister after the shooting, both in tears. “I couldn’t stop telling my friends how excited I was to hug her and feel her like so many other families couldn’t,” Catherine Stout, 20, said. Though Elizabeth Stout knows things could have been worse for her, she’s suffered endlessly as a survivor. She left high school April 2, shortly before being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. “I couldn’t go back,” Stout said. “The school just became nothing at all to me. It was not my home.” For a month after the shooting, her mother Debby would squeeze into her full-sized bed to try and calm her. Still, she’d toss and turn. Knowing the survivors would likely be struggling, the Counseling & Wellness Center, Housing and Residence Education and the Dean of Students Office discussed how to support the survivors, White said. Stout plans to see a counselor at the center and will get help from the Disability Resource Center for her anxiety. Before she started at UF, Stout sought treatment that induced flashbacks. They felt like she was back in that orange classroom, hearing the gunshots and seeing her friends bleeding. She yelled for people to help her friends, like Carmen Schentrup, one of the 14 students killed. Stout’s boyfriend Garrett pleaded with her to look into his eyes and touch his curtains to
SEE PARKLAND, PAGE 8
Career Resource Center changes name, renovates space MORE THAN 200 STUDENTS ATTENDED THE REOPENING. By Dana Cassidy Alligator Staff Writer
The Reitz Union was flooded with 233 students practicing firm handshakes and
mock interviews Thursday morning. What might have seemed like a rave between the upbeat music and free food was actually the grand reopening of the Career Connections Center, formerly known as the Career Resource Center. The newly named center threw a “block party” to celebrate its $9.6 million facility
UF FOOTBALL TEAM SHAPES UP AHEAD OF SEASON
Several developments in the past few months — on and off the field — have defined the Gators. Our alligatorSports staff report fills you in on what you may have missed over summer., pg 13
and 65th anniversary, said Ja’net Glover, the senior director for career services at the Career Connections Center. “We want to make the university community proud,” she said, “and so we were just really excited to be here and celebrate today.” The new space is two stories and double
Welcome to my crib
Greek life gets new multi-million dollar homes, pg. 4
the size of the last location, Glover said. It has seven multipurpose rooms for employment and career opportunities, six different collaboration spaces for students to interact with their peers and classroom technology, such as computers and projectors, for students and faculty to use.
FOLLOW US ONLINE FOR UPDATES
W.W.K.F.D? (What would Kent Fuchs do?)
Fuchs sets off social media frenzy with new first week challenge, pg. 5
@FloridaAlligator @TheAlligator_ @TheAlligator
SEE CCC, PAGE 9