Centric Magazine Fall 2019

CRAFT CHEER UCF fan uses woodworking skills to turn rivals into friends

Inside: SG VP scores goals on and off the field

Actress makes her way from Gemini Boulevard to Broadway

Fall 2019 | Vol. 9

04

Table of Contents

Ice Ice Baby Ice cream means more than sprinkles and hot fudge to this 22-year-old local business owner

06 Read about Courtney LeBlanc on page 22.

Supermoms When class is dismissed, some students go home — but these students go home to a full house

Photo by Lexi Vazquez.

08 Legally Brunette From pointe to politics to Pennsylvania ­— all thanks to a sprained ankle and a pair of Ray-Bans

11 From Grass Fields to Grassroots Seventeen years of competitive soccer prepared SG VP for playing to win in politics

14 La Fiesta Nunca Termina Hispanic Heritage isn’t just a month — it’s a celebration of life for these filmmakers

16 Do As You Wood Be Done By UCF fan tries to put an end to college football animosity by making fans feel welcome at home games

20 A Tough Act to Follow Next stage of alumna’s life is on 51st and Broadway

22 A Modern Modest Feminist Feminism. Faith.

Freedom of choice.

24 Stopping Traffic She Is More Than breaks the cycle of human trafficking in Uganda

26 Pup-arazzi!

Knights show off their furry friends

27 The Wizarding World of Tison Pugh Incendio! Harry Potter professor lights a fire in students’ imagination

28 Fighting for Breath Cystic fibrosis fighter doesn’t take a single breath for granted

Letter from the Editor Whenever I sit down to write something, I plan it out from start to finish. Every comma, every quotation mark and every period is premeditated and placed perfectly. With Centric magazine, that wasn’t the case. I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into — let alone run the entire show. I had no intention of walking in on the first day of class expecting to become everyone’s fearless leader. And I say everyone lightly… there are only seven of us.

My ultimate goal in life is to make history. This issue of Centric magazine accomplished just that with the smallest and first all-female staff. Ever.

These six women I had the pleasure of working with allowed me to be the best version of myself I could be by simply allowing me to bring out the best in them. The best of them is scattered on every inch of every page of this magazine, dedicated to bringing the best out in others.

Every story in this issue of Centric magazine represents a person whose goal is to empower themselves or someone else. Whether it be welcoming a fan of the opposing college football team, setting an example for your child, refusing to give up the fight against disease or running your own business, it’s our duty as Knights to do to others as you would have them do to you.

Between late nights and early mornings filled with texts, calls and a whole lot of coffee, we were able to appreciate the beauty in the process that is telling a compelling story. Annabelle, Lauren, Kathy, Karla, Charlotte and Sabrina made it seem as if I didn’t even need to do my job — that’s how it should be.

I chose UCF because I wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself — Centric magazine allowed me to find that purpose, showcase everybody else’s purpose and share every part of it with all of you. From UCF to Broadway to Pennsylvania to Uganda and back, this magazine has been produced wholeheartedly from cover to cover and I am proud to have been there every step of the way.

PS: I don’t even like coffee.

Editor-in-Chief Daniella Medina

The scoop on a 22-year-old local business owner

By Sabrina Perez

A

s ice-cold nitrogen smoke filled the air, Laura Rahme wore a huge grin on top of her black Frozen Nitrogen Ice Cream T-shirt while preparing freshly-made ice cream for her customers.

Two years ago, co-owner and UCF junior biomedical sciences major Rahme opened Frozen with her brother, Dean Rahme, to bring sweet treats to the UCF area. The two are responsible for overseeing both store locations by UCF and Lake Mary.

Rahme explained that co-owning a store at only 22 years old allowed her to self-reflect and become a better businesswoman.

“Being a girl, it’s very different in the business world,” Rahme said. “I learned that you have to earn your respect instead of expecting it to be given to you.”

Upon starting, Rahme experienced the business world, predominated by men, and was not always taken seriously due to her young age. Many of her employees are also young adults, so earning their respect was another challenge.

Often, she does homework at the store while ensuring the business is running smoothly.

“My favorite part is hearing back from my staff and seeing that everybody is comfortable, happy and that there are no complaints,” Rahme said.

Frozen is run primarily by students.

UCF senior Annelli Román Irizarry began working at Frozen in 2018 as a manager, and said she has grown close to Rahme since her hiring.

Since Rahme and Román Irizarry are both biomedical sciences majors, they both agree they can relate to each other when it comes to life inside and outside the ice cream shop.

“We’re like a family because we’re all the same age,” Román Irizarry said. “It’s a happy place for me. My major and school is so demanding that when I get here, it’s like I have five hours to relax.”

I learned you have to earn your respect instead of expecting it to be given to you.

Román Irizarry helped open the second Frozen Nitrogen Ice Cream store in Lake Mary in April. Currently, she works as a manager at the Alafaya Trail location because of its proximity to the university.

“When we had our grand opening, we were kind of scared as to who was going to come,” Rahme said. “And then we had a bunch of people coming in. To finally see people actually in the store, it was incredible.”

Camilo Restrepo, the third manager on Frozen’s staff, who is in the interdisciplinary studies program at UCF, has been working there since opening day two years ago.

“Our coworkers, our team is really awesome,” Restrepo said. “We all have fun here doing what we do — so it makes it easier to work here.”

Restrepo explained he oversees the store by ensuring employees are on the right track and customers leave happy.

“It’s pretty fun,” Restrepo said. “It’s mainly the families, and putting smiles on people’s faces. We smile because we genuinely enjoy what we do.”

Customers can choose ice cream, yogurt or dairy-free coconut milk as their base and select from 26 flavors and a wide variety of toppings.

Each order is then mixed together and specially frozen with liquid nitrogen cooled to 320 degrees below zero.

“We use the nitrogen to flash freeze the ice cream, creating creamier, smoother ice cream because there is no ice crystals involved,” Rahme said. “Nothing is put in the freezer or already made before.

Everything is fresh ingredients.”

Customers can also choose from housemade combinations such as “Very Velvet,” which consists of red velvet ice cream mixed with brownies, cookie dough and white chocolate chips.

In September, Rahme said she took a break from ice cream to collect donations for the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian’s devastating impact on the island. After posting about it on Instagram, word had spread so far they had to rent a trailer to deliver the donations.

The next morning, Rahme woke up to a video from Bahamians who received the supplies expressing their gratitude.

“The video is what made it worth it,” Rahme said. “It made us want to keep helping. It was like, ‘Wow, I really made an impact on somebody’s life and I don’t even know them.’”

Co-owner Laura Rahme prepares the freshly-made ice cream by flash freezing it with liquid nitrogen at 320 degrees below zero. The ice cream is then churned and mixed together with toppings, eliminating ice crystals with each serving. Photo by Lexi Vazquez.

Co-owner Laura Rahme prepares an order of “Very Velvet,” one of Frozen’s house-made combinations. It is made with red velvet ice cream topped with brownies, cookie dough and white chocolate chips.

Photo by Lexi Vazquez.

Fall2019 2019 55||Fall

Supermoms Juggling diaper bags and book bags

By Lauren Margolis

G

oing to college is hard. Doing it while navigating the world of motherhood is even harder.

More than one in 5 college students are parents, according to data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study.

About 70% of those students raising children are moms.

They balance taking classes, studying and raising a family — and in Barbara Myer’s case, establishing a fresh start, too.

Myers is a 61-year-old UCF graduate who started college as a grandmother.

Right after graduating high school, Myers joined the Navy and met her husband of 34 years there. After he died of lymphoma in 2012, Myers said she decided to further her education and get a bachelor’s degree in English.

She said she chose English to be able to write about her husband’s death and share his story with the world — that degree would help her do just that.

“I figured if I was going to write a story, I wanted to know how to do it properly and have a degree in it and learn how to not just write a memoir just because I can,” Myers said. “I wanted to be able to write something that someone is going to want to publish for me.”

While Myers was working on her online classes, she often traveled around the U.S. or spent time with her grandchild. She now has three little ones, ages 2 and 10 years old and a month-old baby, who all call her “Nana.”

Myers said she was the eldest student in her classes and in most, she was older than her professors, making her feel like they looked at her differently than other students.

“I felt like sometimes I was set at a higher standard or different standard,” Myers said. “I knew I was older than [the professors], but I wasn’t questioning them. I was just wanting to learn from them.”

Despite the relationship she had with her professors, she said they inspired her to discover another passion within the English major: poetry.

“I started writing a lot of poetry and it helped me with my grieving,” Myers said.

Myers graduated from UCF in 2017 at 58 years old. Since then, she started a poetry blog and writes for Odyssey Online, a crowdsourcing internet media company.

She is the eldest writer on the site and has stories published about today’s political climate, feminism and even did some digging into the financial responsibilities of going to college.

School for Myers was a big motivation to feel better after her husband’s death and she explained she viewed it as a fresh start.

She said she finally gets to follow her passion with the help of her English degree, something she’s dreamed about getting since high school, but could never obtain because of her husband’s Navy career. She said she enjoyed college and thinks about going back for her master’s one day.

“I do miss it. I like the classroom and the communication,” Myers said. “I’m a true believer that knowledge is power.”

Full-time store manager and mother of two Britanny Nguyen is another UCF graduate who recognizes the importance of earning a degree. She did it while starting a family.

Nguyen has been the store manager at Plato’s Closet Waterford Lakes since 2011. Upon receiving the job, she said she took a year-long break from UCF to focus on the transition.

She said she went back to finish her degree in 2012, and found out she was pregnant with her first child, Avery, three years later.

Nguyen said she decided to switch it up and go from studying business to interdisciplinary studies with a focus in business management, since the degree was offered online and allowed her plenty of flexibility.

“I would come home from work, I would take care of my daughter, get her fed, get her down for bed and do the whole bedtime routine, and then I would start doing homework,” Nguyen said about her day-to-day life while earning her degree.

She said she would catch up on schoolwork between 8 p.m. and midnight every night. But she said looking at the big picture and planning things ahead made her days less overwhelming.

“It was a lot of looking at everything from like a week standpoint instead of a day-to-day standpoint,” Nguyen said.

Budgeting was also important for Nguyen and her husband Michael, since they were both in college when Avery was born. She said children and college are expensive, and the expenses that pop up for both add up to a lot of money.

“We were making sure that we had like textbooks for both of us and he’d be like ‘Oh I need to buy my parking permit.’

I’d be like ‘Ugh, OK, there’s an extra hundred dollars right there,’” Nguyen said.

After taking two courses per semester for about six years, Nguyen graduated from UCF in 2018. She was five months pregnant with her second child, Emery, and Avery was 2 years old at the time.

Courtney Simmons with 4-year-old daughter Everly and 18-month-old son Bronson. She is studying to be a nurse practitioner and said her kids are her biggest motivation in life. Because of this, Simmons said she chooses to lead by example and show them that hard work does pay off. Photo courtesy of Courtney Simmons.

Nguyen said it can be a challenge balancing everything, but she said she had a lot of help from her support system — her family.

“I’m the luckiest girl in the world,” Nguyen said. “My parents live right across the street from me and my mother-in-law moved in last year... she helps out and she actually does all my babysitting.”

UCF student, aspiring nurse practitioner and mother of two Courtney Simmons also relies on her family to be her support system.

She said her support system includes her sister, friends, stepkids, and husband, who works two full-time jobs so that Simmons can dedicate her time to her education.

Simmons is currently working on her Doctor of Nursing Practice at UCF and plans to graduate in 2021.

She found out she was pregnant with her daughter Everly during her first semester of getting her associate degree in nursing, giving birth to her in 2015.

Simmons said she was terrified when she found out she was pregnant while still in school.

But she said she made it work.

After starting graduate school in 2017, Simmons said she found out she was pregnant again and gave birth to her son Bronson the following year.

Before Bronson was born, Simmons was enrolled in online classes and said she was able to spend more time at home with

Everly. She said she even read her school notes to her daughter.

Everly started school at two and a half years old, but Bronson needed to be put in daycare at 9 months old because of Simmons’ demanding class schedule.

Simmons said she would rather finish up her schooling now before the kids start getting older. She said they’re a big motivation for her but also stresses the importance of education and wants to show her kids that you can do anything.

I can’t really emphasize the importance of education without one of my own.

“Education in our house is a really big priority, so I feel like without doing all this, without getting the degrees, I can’t really emphasize the importance of education without one of my own,” Simmons said.

A typical week for her involves going to clinicals two days a week for nine hours, class on Thursdays and lots of studying in between it all. She said she tries to set aside at least two or three hours a day to do something school related and

like Nguyen, Simmons gets most of her homework done while the kids are asleep.

In order to keep up with her hectic schedule, Simmons said she plans her days well in advance because the hardest part of being a mom and going to school is time management.

“It’s not just myself that I have to worry about and make sure I’m dressed and make sure I’m fed and make sure my work is done,” said Simmons. “I have to do the same for two small people who are relying on me to do that.”

There are some good and bad days but she said she keeps pushing through them.

“I just tell myself I didn’t come this far to only come this far,” said Simmons.

Throughout her time at UCF, she said she has met other moms in the program, proving to her that it is doable.

“We’re a big source of support for each other, not just school-wise, but you know, as parents and as mothers,” Simmons said.

She said she is grateful that UCF is accommodating to new moms and she’s happy she chose the university.

“The more involved, the longer I’ve been going, the more proud I am to be a Knight,” Simmons said. “When all is said and done, I’ll be proud to have said that I graduated from UCF.”

Brittany Nguyen (left) holding son Emery and Nguyen’s husband Michael (right) holding their daughter Avery. Nguyen said her and Michael were both enrolled at school while navigating parenthood with now 3-year-old Avery. Photo courtesy of Brittany Nguyen.

Barbara Myers with her 2-year-old granddaughter Leah. Myers decided to go back to college as a grandma to become more creative in her writing.

She enjoys writing about politics, current events and her experiences with her grandchildren — she now has three of them. Photo courtesy of Barbara Myers.

7 | Fall 2019 7 | Fall 2019

Kailyn Perez competing in the Preliminary Evening Gown competition at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada on April 29. Photo courtesy of Kailyn Perez.

8 | Centric Magazine 8 | Centric Magazine

LEGALLY BRUNETTE What, like it’s hard?

By Daniella Medina

W

ith a sparkly crown on her head and an over-highlighted law textbook in her hand, Kailyn Marie Perez said she always felt like she was in a tug-of-war with competing interests.

But if she hadn’t suffered an ankle injury during her senior year of high school ballet career, she wouldn’t have been able to pursue any of them.

She wouldn’t have had the free time to go to the mall with her sister to buy a pair of blue Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses.

And then she wouldn’t have been “discovered” by pageant maven Peter Morales at the Bloomingdale’s jewelry counter.

And then she wouldn’t have been crowned Miss Pennsylvania USA. Or realize her passion for politics.

Or earn a seat on the UCF Student Body Senate, eventually becoming the chair of the Elections and Appointments Committee.

Or graduate from Stetson University College of Law. Or pass the Florida Bar exam.

Or end up speaking on the U.S. Congress floor pushing healthcare bills and initiatives for the Pennsylvania population.

But it wasn’t always “smooth sailin’ for Kailyn,” as mentioned in her fifth grade class president campaign slogan.

“It was really hard not knowing what was next for me,” Perez said. “But, one door closed and another one opened.”

Perez said she owes her passion for hard work to her family’s immigrant mentality. She is a first-generation American, as her parents and grandmother were all born in Cuba.

“My family came here with nothing,” Perez said. “They had to give up everything.”

Her grandmother, Norma, was able to get out of Cuba when Fidel Castro took over, instilling the values of hard work and determination at a young age.

Perez’s parents divorced when she was three years old, causing her to be raised by a family predominantly made up of women.

She took up dance at the age of 4 and became a professional ballerina by the age of 16 in Tampa, where she grew up. During her senior year of high school, Perez said she suffered an ankle injury from practicing a pirouette in attitude for the role of a Sea Witch in a production of “The Little Mermaid.”

After avoiding surgery, going to physical therapy and trying to rehabilitate the sprain in her left ankle, she said she made the decision to take her talents to the Orlando Ballet and get the most out

of the rest of her ballet career while also attending college at UCF beginning in 2010.

Perez’s first semester of college was nontraditional, to say the least.

While other ballerinas in her company were homeschooled and focused on rehearsals for the next performance, Perez had to switch out of her satin pointe shoes and leotard and into shorts and brown Keds and head to class.

As a political science major with a prelaw track and a minor in business, she said her course load was demanding, causing her to cram for tests during other classes and before school.

Perez said she reinjured her ankle during rehearsals for the Orlando Ballet’s production of “Giselle,” forcing her to make a tough decision.

“I can’t keep doing this to myself,” Perez said. “I love dance, it gave me so much, but the career is just super short, super competitive...I’m gonna focus on my education.”

But, one door closed and another one opened.

She then said she made the decision to make the transition to become a “normal student for once,” and to her surprise, she really enjoyed it.

Perez calls her injury a “blessing in disguise,” because it allowed her to experience all aspects of UCF. She said she was able to cheer on the Knights at football games, dance the night away at Knight Library and storm into the Reflecting Pond for Spirit Splash — things she wouldn’t have been able to do if she maintained her professional ballerina status.

While at UCF, she was also the representative for the College of Sciences in the Senate and became chair of the Elections and Appointments Committee a year later.

All of which she did living in the same dorm for all four years on the sixth floor of Tower II with her two older sisters and UCF alumnae, Katherine Rose, 30, and Kristen Inkelaar, 29, a dentist and attorney, respectively.

Her cousin Gabriella lived right down the hall and when Perez’s sisters graduated, she filled one of the empty beds in that dorm.

“It was a family affair at UCF for us,” Perez said with a chuckle.

Her junior year, Perez accompanied her sister to The Mall at Millenia on the hunt for a blue pair of Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses.

At the jewelry counter, a tall, bald man approached her with the sole purpose of entering her in a pageant.

She said she was convinced by Peter Morales’ dedication to fashion and style, something she had always been interested in.

Morales asked her what her definition of beauty was — and although she doesn’t remember her answer, Perez said this was the start of something new.

He said he would make her gown and prepare her for the Miss Kissimmee USA pageant scheduled a week later. She said her family was skeptical at first, but after researching and meeting all of Morales’ pageant team, all she really had to do was show up.

And she won.

Perez said she credits her win to all her past experiences — dance, stage presence and student government. She said she realized there was “something to it” and tried to understand why girls kept going back to compete.

She had preconceived notions about pageant life, but Perez said those were all squashed once she entered the competition.

“All the girls are smart. All the girls are in school and a lot of them are in doctorate programs,” Perez said. “Everyone was involved in their community...it was a lot about women empowerment and I was like, ‘Wow, I love this so much.’”

Perez said she loved being a leader in her community and enjoyed connecting with other women who shared the same vision as her, so she went back.

After winning Miss Kissimmee USA, she competed in Miss Florida USA in July and placed third runner-up. She competed again the following year as Miss Central Florida USA and was the first runner-up.

She competed in another pageant in the system, Miss World America as Florida and placed in the top 15. She went back to Miss Florida USA one more time and was the second runner-up.

After a total of four years in the pageant circuit, Perez said the hardest part was never winning when she felt she had done everything she could.

“I felt like I had done everything to really win that year,” Perez said. “Being first runner-up, you’re so close but then you’re so far and that was devastating.”

Despite the fight for a crown, Perez said she made a lifelong best friend through it all.

9 | Fall 2019

Kailyn Perez touches up her makeup at the Miss USA competition during orientation at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada on April 22. Photo courtesy of Kailyn Perez.

Kailyn Perez poses with Judge Nick Nazaretian who swore her into the Florida Bar on Sept.

26 in a Hillsborough County Courtroom.

Nazaretian, whose wife was Perez’s history teacher in elementary and high school, also swore in her older sister, brother-inlaw and cousin.

Photo courtesy of Kailyn Perez.

Carlos Velez, a renowned pageant photographer, met Perez when she came in for her portfolio shots about six years ago.

“I work with a million people, but I don’t hit it off the same way I do with Kailyn and now she’s one of my best friends,” Velez said.

They both said they describe their friendship as being “twin souls,” evident in the way they talk on the phone for hours at a time.

“It’s not like we sit down and talk all day,” Velez said. “She’ll be doing whatever she gotta do, I’ll run errands, and the next thing we know, we hang up and we’re like, ‘We’ve spent the day together,’ and we’re in two different cities in two different states.

“Time just flies by.”

Perez said she also crossed paths with Carry O’Neal, co-owner of Regalia Magnificent Apparel, a competitive wardrobe business located in Thornton Park near downtown Orlando, a few times but never got to work with him until her first state pageant seven years ago.

“The pageant world is very small — you either click with someone or you don’t,” O’Neal said. “There’s people that I’ve dressed 20 times and I don’t have the relationship that I have with her.

“It’s more than just a dress.”

O’Neal goes on to speak to Perez’s character, “There’s always been this trajectory that she’s been on that’s never gotten off track. I don’t think pageants are her life — I just think it’s one of the stops along the way.”

Velez and O’Neal both said that Perez’s family is made up of some of the most warm and welcoming people, who they each consider an extension of their own.

Perez said her family of mostly

10 | Centric Magazine

women, who are extremely influential in her life, always instilled the message of being politically active because that was something that was never previously available to them in Cuba.

“They had no right to vote — they had no say in the government,” Perez said humbly. “So when they came here, they became really politically engaged and encouraged me to do the same.”

She even has a photo at 4 years old with Rep. Charlie Crist and Gov. Jeb Bush campaigning at a rally to prove it.

Upon graduating from UCF in 2013, Perez said she postponed her acceptance to Stetson to take a year off to prioritize some of her other competing interests: modeling and entertainment, because she said she knew they were fleeting careers.

She said she used the time to further her love for the stage and was a fulltime model who walked the runway at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and appeared in several commercials — all of which are things she said she wouldn’t be able to do as a full-time law student.

“Let me just take this year to decide if I really want to go to law school, because it is a commitment,” Perez said.

She started at Stetson in 2015 and graduated with her juris doctor in August 2018. During her last semester, she said her course load wasn’t as rigorous and was able to visit her eldest sister Katherine, who was pregnant at the time, in Pennsylvania so often that she decided to move there.

Already living in Pennsylvania for more than three months, Perez was immediately eligible to participate in her final pageant before aging out of the system at 28 — and

since she couldn’t take the Florida Bar exam until February anyway, she did.

And after placing as runner up in several pageants before, she said it made this win more special.

“I felt like I was almost there, almost there, almost there but I never got there,” Perez said. “So when I did win Miss Pennsylvania, it was almost like a dream. It didn’t feel real.”

One of the things that Perez said she was able to make a reality, though, was her passion for politics and government. She is now working with former Pennsylvania state senate candidate Dr. Brice Arndt to boost a healthcare platform called “Patient Centered Solutions.”

Perez said her and Ardnt plan to push five bills to pass before the 2020 election.

Perez even spoke on the Congress floor to ask for support for these bills and is also planning a visit to Capitol Hill.

She found out she passed the Florida Bar exam on Sept. 16 and was sworn in to the Bar in Hillsborough County, Fla. 10 days later.

As Perez acquires a new title, it’s almost time for Miss Pennsylvania USA 2019 to give up her old one. She said she’s trying to do as much for the community as possible before that day comes on Nov. 3.

A combination of the experiences in Perez’s life molded her into the person she is today: a woman with many interests who is open to whatever God throws her way, but is currently focused on furthering her political career with the possibility of eventually running for office.

“I’m gonna be full on my own and go for my dreams,” Perez said. “Hopefully that’s gonna come for me when it does.”

From Grass Fields to Grassroots SG VP hangs up cleats and aims for new goals

By Kathy Ruiz

A

wake at 7:50 a.m.

Car engine on at 8:20 a.m.

Grande caramel iced coffee in hand at 8:45 a.m.

In War and Society class by 9 a.m.

This is how UCF Student Body Vice President Madeline Mills begins her mornings.

The rest of her day is jam-packed with responsibilities such as setting budgets, booking speakers and programming for future events while also responding to emails from student senators, students and registered student organizations.

She also attends meetings with other organizations like the Office of Student Involvement, Knights of the Round Table and the Hispanic businesswomen panel.

Mills, a senior political science major with a minor in global peace and security studies, wholeheartedly gives all her time to improving the lives of students while serving as the vice president.

However, if you would have asked her four years ago what path she expected her college career to take, her answer would have been completely different.

Mills said she grew up playing soccer her whole life and played competitively as a defensive midfielder. She had a solid plan in mind: go straight from school right to soccer in college.

In her senior year of high school, Mills said she had multiple offers and had signed to play with Brevard College in North Carolina, where she said she could see herself playing soccer there.

Mills said she tore her ACL and partially tore her MCL during her senior year of high school in February 2016. She went through intensive surgery and was in bed for 10 days straight after busting her knee open.

“If I moved, my feet would turn blue and I felt like I was gonna pass out,” Mills said, “It was probably the worst 10 days of my life and I have a total fear of being bed ridden after that experience — my mom and I just sat in bed and ate chinese food.”

Between the pain and chow mein, Mills said she called Brevard College, preparing herself for them to pull their offer. To her surprise, Brevard still wanted to sign her. She said they offered to help her with physical therapy so she could get back on the field.

Mills said she had a realization after that phone call, “Oh my God, there’s no way that I’m going to want to do this recovery.

I’m not gonna go play professional soccer.

I’m not the next Abby Wambach.”

She said she declined Brevard’s offer and said no to all subsequent soccer offers. Her college search began again.

Mills toured the University of Florida and said she fell in love.

“I guess I’m a Gator,” Mills said with a chuckle.

She said she never found out if she was accepted, though. Part of her application was never submitted and she said she was never notified about it.

Thankfully, she said she applied to UCF as a backup.

“Right after I graduated [high school], my family was in a financially difficult place,” Mills said.

Without scholarships from soccer, Mills said she was forced to find a new way to pay for college. She said UCF was the only school she could afford on her own by taking out loans.

“I thought to myself, ‘I guess we’re just doing this for the first year.’ I showed up at orientation and was like, ‘OK, you gotta make yourself fall in love with UCF, make yourself fall in love,’” Mills said.

She said it took only 30 minutes to make new friends at orientation.

Mills said she had three self-proclaimed pillars during her freshman year that held up the rest of her college career.

First, she joined UCF LEAD Scholars Academy, a leadership development program for first-time-in-college students.

Next, she joined sorority Pi Beta Phi.

Madeline Mills putting the finishing touches on a garden bed created with the organization she founded, Green Greeks. Photo courtesy of Madeline Mills.

11 11 || Fall Fall 2019 2019

...everything you do starts with the step of saying yes.

Madeline Mills when she found out she and Kyler Gray won the Student Government elections. Photo courtesy of Madeline Mills.

“I will forever make fun of sorority girls my entire life, but that family is unforgettable. Those girls won me by surprise,” Mills said. “As cheesy as it is, they are my bridesmaids.”

Finally, Mills joined the now renamed Student Government.

SG President Kyler Gray said he met Mills their freshman year in the Student Government Leadership Council. SGLC is a committee for student leaders looking for a way to get involved within SG. “We both ran for the same chair position and tied three times — we ended up being co-chairs,” Gray said.

Mills has earned a reputation for being extremely empathetic, kind and passionate about helping others, according to those in her close circle.

“We joke around in the office that she’s the office counselor because she’s easy to talk and vent to,” Gray said.

Mills’ sorority sister and roommate, Syd Carey, senior marketing major, said Mills thrives on helping others.

“Empowering others empowers her.

She does whatever it takes to help others and she’s genuinely down to earth and the kindest person,” Carey said.

When talking about her executive position in SG, Mills said, “It’s honestly the greatest job you can get in college. I think I’m the luckiest person — I want to share the experience with every other female that I meet and give them a spotlight to speak about what they care about and the

12 | Centric Magazine

resources and the funds to do it. Showing them that they have a voice is my goal in the end.”

Outside of SG, one way Mills said she works to empower and support students is through urban gardening as the president of Green Greeks, a student run organization whose goal is to end food insecurity and promote a sustainable lifestyle.

One of Mills’ sorority sisters, Katelyn Fitzpatrick, sophomore psychology major, said Green Greeks has had an incredibly positive impact on her life. Fitzpatrick joined the executive board last year and said she plans on being the next president after Mills.

“It inspired me to do things out of my comfort zone,” Fitzpatrick said. “I’m not a natural leader but seeing Maddy and how much it molded her, I think it was a really important step that helped her be vice president.”

According to Mills, urban gardening allows there to be fresh produce on campus with small scale gardens.

A recent report from The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice indicates that 41% of four-year university students are food insecure, meaning they don’t have access to affordable, nutritious food.

“By the time I end my term in office, there will be 10 fully functioning gardens that were not here before I was a student, which is really exciting,” Mills said.

“It will hopefully add at least 100 pounds a semester to the Knights Pantry produce.”

Knights Pantry aims to serve UCF students by providing basic needs including food, clothing and personal hygiene items to foster continued academic success and increase retention for students in need.

Mills stresses the importance of being involved in at least one of the 600 RSOs available to UCF students.

“Don’t count anything out. I never knew anything about the environment — I was just someone who loved the earth.” Mills said. “I think everything you do starts with the step of saying yes. I want to see what this could unfold.”

Even though Mills said her last choice of college was UCF, she still said yes and now calls UCF her home away from home.

“I think I am more in love with UCF than ever before and it’s because this school has changed my life,” Mills said.

Reflecting on the 10 days she was bed-ridden at the hospital post injury, Mills said she would tell her past self that there would be so much more to college than soccer.

“Change is inevitable and I think it is accepting that change with grace, maybe a few tears here and there, but with grace, and knowing that tomorrow is going to come and we have to meet it when it does,” Mills said. “I would have told myself ‘change is inevitable, go embrace it.’”

Reel Knights

13 | Fall 2019

La Fiesta Nunca Termina

Short film “Acento Latino” shines the spotlight on unifying Latin culture

By Charlotte Trattner

T

here are many words that can be used to describe Hispanic culture, but it seems like the most popular one is “party.”

“In my experience, Latin culture is about making a holiday every weekend — just pulling one out of thin air and just to celebrate life constantly,” said UCF alumna Shannon Gallagher, who was featured in “Acento Latino.”

It’s this spirit of celebration that inspired UCF alumni Andres Gomez and Angelo Guevara-Malavé to create “Acento Latino,” or in English, “Latin Accent.” The five-minute film, released during Hispanic Heritage Month, captures different people, nationalities, qualities and elements of Hispanic culture.

“I’m really proud of Latin culture and I thought why not celebrate it by making a short film,” Angelo Guevara-Malavé said.

The filmmakers chose to release “Acento Latino” during Hispanic Heritage Month to honor the unity they feel within their culture, even though it was filmed last year.

The filmmaking trio had time to perfect it and edit it with a fresh perspective for its 2019 release.

“To be of Latin heritage is to be united.

Everybody [on set] was from separate backgrounds. A lot of people didn’t know each other and then as time went on, it turned into a party,” Angelo said. “They all started getting to know each other. There was a lot of dancing and singing — that was all improvised.”

The short features the directors’ friends and family telling stories about their culture, what they remember from growing up or why they

came to the United States as they stand against bright-colored backgrounds of red, yellow and green.

Angelo said he believes those accents make the film since those backgrounds symbolize the pop of color visible in Latin culture.

Gomez and Angelo met when they were both UCF students and bonded over a shared love of filming and movie making, but it was their cultural background that solidified their friendship.

“We had always wanted to work together, at least direct together, because we’ve had different roles in the past films, but we’ve never really directed anything together ourselves,” Gomez said. “We thought of that, plus adding a Latino flair to it.”

Although the two directors come from different backgrounds, they understand the importance of celebrating all Latin cultures, which is what they intended to do with the “Acento Latino.”

To be of Latin heritage is to be united.

Gomez is from Colombia while Angelo and his sister Isabella are from Venezuela.

“We wanted to make something because we always related to each other with our culture even though [Gomez] is Colombian and we’re Venezuelan,“ Isabella said, a junior integrated business major.

“We always realize there are so many similarities that we wanted to make a film with people that we know that also reflects these similarities and tells their stories.”

Isabella said the similarities range from food to music and dancing. Although one culture might use adifferent word to describe something, it is still a similar concept Hispanics can share.

Since its release, the creators shared it with friends, family

members and different Hispanic organizations around Orlando.

It’s this unity and acceptance Gallagher loves about her culture, and she said she carries it with her wherever she goes.

“It’s about more so your relationship with other people, and you can really, at least in Latin culture, you adopt other people so easily and so fluently it’s really beautiful,” Gallagher said.

Overall, the creators said the film has been well received and widely viewed since those of Hispanic heritage had the opportunity to see themselves represented.

“I think it was nice and important for people to see their culture and not just like the sad aspects of it but to celebrate the beautiful aspects of it,” Isabella said.

Isabella said the demographics from the video show people from other Latin countries have watched the film. Angelo said he received messages from viewers saying it reminded them of home and empowered them.

The five-minute short includes both English and Spanish subtitles since not every Hispanic speaks fluent Spanish and the filmmakers wanted those individuals to still feel as though they were “part of the party,” Angelo said.

Gallagher, although fluent in Spanish, at times feels as though she has to justify her heritage since her dad is an Irish and Native American mix and her mom is Venezuelan. It is because of this that she feels nervous speaking in front of older generations of Hispanics.

Despite being nervous about her Spanish speaking, she still enjoyed the opportunity to tell her story, as did the other individuals involved in the film.

“It was about us hanging out, people telling their stories, feeling heard, having something to say, and having the platform and room to actually have that moment to really reflect and go inside and think about your own story and how it relates to the larger picture,” Gallagher said.

The trio said they have several potential projects they are tossing around from suspense thrillers to telenovelas.

Regardless of deciding what story to tell, they said they know they are excited to lock down a project.

“We’ve gotten this great reception,” Gomez said, “and we don’t want to stop.”

Directors Andres Gomez (far left) and Angelo Guevara-Malavé (far right) pose with their mothers, Sury Romero (second from left) and Sorelena Guevara (second from right), behind the scenes of “Acento Latino.” All four are in the film and were part of the creative process. “Our moms mean the world to us,” Gomez said. Photo courtesy of Andres Gomez.

Christian Arroyo, a subject of “Acento Latino,” was nicknamed “The Puerto Rican Superman” by his older cousin.

While filming he brought a similar costume to include in the film. Photo courtesy of Andres Gomez.

For more: Avstract | Social media: @avstractofficial | Avstractofficial.com

15 | Fall 2019

Do As You Wood Be Done By Woodworking fan chisels out a new welcoming tradition

By Daniella Medina

A

fter being kicked out of bars for wearing a UCF polo and watching a rival team’s fan attack the opposing team’s band director, Keith Casiano said he decided to chisel out a new tradition that calls for one thing: hospitality.

At the past two UCF football home games this season, Casiano gathered pieces of scrap wood from previous projects to create woodworkings of the Stanford University and University of Connecticut logos and presented them to fans of the opposing team.

“I just thought it would be something nice,” Casiano said. “I’m not a representative of UCF, but I’m a fan.

There’s fans that are horrible so why not be an outstanding one?”

Casiano said he chooses the recipients at random and leaves it up to happenstance.

As Casiano wandered around Spectrum Stadium on Nov. 2 in hopes of finding his latest woodworking recipient, he spotted a family decked out in all red sitting in the

16 | Centric Magazine 16 | Centric Magazine

front row of the University of Houston fan section rooting for the Cougars kicker, who happened to be their son.

Lorie Witherspoon was yelling the loudest for her son Dalton, causing her red “UH” earrings to dangle back and forth. Her jersey, adorned with red, white and blue stars and stripes is what caught Casiano’s attention.

After all, it was the Space Game.

Casiano built a 3D woodworking showing off all sides of the Space Game — the Citronaut, UCF’s original mascot when it was Florida Technical University, an astronaut figurine landing on the moon and the Houston logo.

“It was the greatest thing because Houston is a great mecca and NASA is one of the pivotal things in Houston,” Lorie said with a huge smile on her face. “What a great tribute to Houston, what a great gift to us. We come to Florida and we’re presented with this gift about Houston.”

After Casiano explained his motives behind wanting to welcome a fan to UCF, Witherspoon said she is now going to brainstorm to take on the challenge of paying it forward.

“What can I do to give back to somebody that visits our facility? That’s my task,” Witherspoon said. “I’ll have to dream up something great. My husband did 28 years in the Marine Corps so maybe it can be centered around that.”

Speaking of husbands, at the East Carolina University football game two weeks prior, Casiano ran into a woman whose husband calls all the shots.

Or in this case, plays.

Casiano said he walked up to a random family to present them with a woodworking of the ECU Pirate and it just so happened to be the head coach’s wife, Amanda Houston.

While tailgating before the game against the Stanford Cardinal on Sept.

14, he said he went up to a group of fans

wearing T-shirts with the number of a Cardinal player and chatted them up for a bit.

After warning a Stanford mom against driving on Interstate 4 and reminding her that she’s an hour away from “Mickey Mouse Land,” Casiano handed her the wooden cardinal red “S” and said she had the biggest smile on her face.

Two weeks later, at the game against the UConn Huskies, Casiano said he happened to be exiting the Carl Black and Gold Cabana where he said found a couple decked out in navy blue “who looked lost.”

After talking for a few minutes, Casiano presented Dewlyne T. Williams with a wooden Husky and then showed them up to their seats at Spectrum Stadium.

“He said ‘You know what, you guys got your UConn gear on and it was meant for me to meet you,’” Williams said. “He presented us with the Husky and told us why he was doing what he was doing — he didn’t want a UConn family to feel like they were like other teams.”

Williams said she was going to give the Husky to her son Kyle, a senior UConn running back, but instead kept it for the time being.

Although she has been traveling for her son’s football games since his sophomore year, Williams said she was shocked at the gesture and hasn’t seen anything like it. She said the other players’ moms were raving about the experience.

And to think that this passion stemmed from making an American flag for a friend’s wedding gift about four years ago.

The bride specifically asked Casiano for a gift that represents him. Since his friends refer to him as “Mr. America,” he thought it would be perfect to make an American flag.

To Casiano’s surprise, decent wooden American flags retail for about $350 online, and “they’re not even that big and not even a nice wood.”

“If I’m gonna get her something, I’m third-generation in the Army and I’m gonna give them something that I have a lot of pride in,” Casiano said. “F*** it, I’m gonna build [an American flag] and it’s gonna be as nice as can be.”

He said he then went to Home Depot and used that $350 towards hammers and nails and figured it out on his own — for three months.

“It wasn’t the greatest, but it was something that I built and I knew the quality they were getting and they loved it,” Casiano said.

At the wedding, someone saw it and asked him to build another one.

And another one.

And another one.

And another one.

Casiano took this passion for woodworking and turned it into a worthwhile side gig, registered his hobby as a business with the state, launched a website and started a tradition on UCF home game days.

“Everybody’s been pleasant, everybody’s been nice, but not like this gentleman,” Williams said. “He is really for [UCF] — he has the spirit, yes he does.”

Casiano and his three siblings all went to UCF and they have a “4FOR4” license plate to prove it.

He was the youngest of four and often sees a resemblance to UCF football when going up against schools like the University of Miami, University of Florida and Florida State University.

“UCF has always kind of been the forgotten little brother. UCF reminds me of myself, if you think about it,” Casiano said.

“You wanna be one of the cool kids, you wanna be at the dinner table, but someone’s gotta slide over and offer you a seat.”

But surprisingly enough, he didn’t graduate from UCF. Casiano enrolled at UCF in 2004, but in spring 2006, he said his GPA tanked after failing four classes because he forgot to hit the submit button when trying to withdraw from them. He said he was also simultaneously working 70-hour work weeks at a mortgage company.

“I just looked at it like it was a mistake that I made that I can’t necessarily rectify,” Caisano said. “But I figured I can at least support a school that I believed in and own up to my mistakes.”

In the same semester, Casiano’s childhood best friend, Matt, died in a motorcycle accident a month after coming home from being injured on duty in Iraq and

UCF fan Keith Casiano chisels the excess “gummy-like” wood pieces from the UCF logo etched into a slab of wood in his garage workspace. The computer numerical control machine follows a coded sequence to replicate any image loaded onto its program. Photo by Lexi Vazquez.

17 | Fall 2019 17 | Fall 2019

the mortgage company he worked for went under.

That summer, Casiano joined ROTC to “grow up” and “get his life together” while trying to boost his GPA to stay at UCF. But since he couldn’t afford the textbook for his math class after the mortgage company went under, he wasn’t able to pass the class to get off academic probation.

“Even though I got expelled, I owned up to those mistakes. That was my fault and I should have been more proactive,” Casiano said. “But that’s a part of learning as a kid and becoming an adult. You can either live in the past and hold on to that s***, or say ‘OK that’s in the past. What am I doing as of now to move forward and be better in my future?’”

He then decided to start fresh at Valencia College a year later.

“I realized that I need to figure out who I am in life and what I wanna do,” Casiano said. “Knowing what Matt did for people in his unit, I was like ‘I come from a long line of family in the military so maybe this military thing won’t be so bad and then wound up enlisting.”

At 22 years old, he enlisted in the

National Guard Infantry Unit based out of Sanford in 2009. He then made the sniper team about a year and a half later.

Casiano later transferred to Rollins College in 2011 where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in international affairs with a minor in organizational behavior in 2013.

In 2012, Casiano was in a car accident, making it difficult for him to finish his degree. He said he spent 19 months in rehabilitation, with short-term memory loss, slurred speech, and severe herniated discs.

He said he remembers his Spanish professor giving him the option to drop the class, but he made the choice to stick it out and stay up late nights studying while going to rehab three days a week and attend school the remaining days.

Now, Casiano is a licensed financial consultant who said he just enjoys helping people reach their fullest potential, whether it be with their finances, woodworking, or rescuing dogs.

He grew up without a dog but said he always longed for one.

“Growing up without a dog, you don’t realize what you miss out on, like

companionship,” Casiano said, as he rubbed his rescued American bulldog Tank’s off-white head, which was covered in scars from dog bites. “I feel like it’s my duty to be an even better person, for not only [Tank], but everyone else.”

Casiano and his girlfriend, Caroline, have two other dogs in the house. Nala, a German shepherd, and Kayla, a pit bull mix.

He said their goal in life is to eventually move to a rural part of Georgia to have dogs running all over the place.

“It’s nice to have a real partner,” Casiano said about Caroline. “She wants me to essentially just do woodwork full time; leave my job, pursue my career and advance my passion. It’s the first time I’ve ever had that in my life.”

Casiano said he would eventually like to branch out and involve the UCF community in his woodworking tradition, but said he wants to focus on the opposing teams for now.

“You get in life what you put out. There are too many bad things in life,” Casiano said. “How much effort would it take to just really be a good person?”

Keith Casiano presented UConn mom Dewlyne T. Williams with a wooden Husky after bumping into her exiting the Carl Black and Gold Cabana at Spectrum Stadium on Sept. 28. “I was kind of like shocked. That’s a nice gesture. I haven’t seen anybody else do that,” Williams said. Photo courtesy of Keith Casiano.

You can either live in the past and hold on to that s***, or say ‘OK that’s in the past. What am I doing as of now to move forward and be better in my future?’

Keith Casiano uses a computer numerical control machine to ensure that all lines are straight and all carvings are accurate. The CNC follows a coded sequence to replicate any image loaded onto its program. Photo by Lexi Vazquez.

19 | Fall 2019

By Annabelle Sikes

A

t a very young age, Jerusha Cavazos knew she was destined for the big stage.

From school, to gymnastics, to church, to choir, to musical theatre, the New York City-native said that she was always hustling and bustling.

At 10 years old, Cavazos and her family went to see the revival of “Oklahoma” at the Gershwin Theatre in New York City. She said she remembers being mesmerized by the experience. Walking out, she said she knew Broadway would be her life-long dream.

And it came true.

After attending an open call for a developmental workshop for the show “The Prom,” Cavazos was cast in her first Broadway musical at 26 years old.

“The Prom” is based on the true story of a teenage girl in Indiana who wanted to take her girlfriend to the prom, but was denied by the school.

As a result of the discrimination, four big Broadway stars fly down from New York City to make the girl’s dream come true.

The Broadway actress said that the play is about coming to terms with individual prejudice and fear and finding a love that unites everyone. “‘The Prom’ is a love letter to theater and all who love her. ‘The Prom’ gave so many people in the LGBTQ community the chance to be seen and feel represented on stage,” Cavazos said. “And for those of us who are allies, it forced us to really check in with ourselves and think ‘I hope all my friends in this community know how much I love and support them.’”

The Broadway musical was nominated for seven Tony Awards this year, including Best Musical. Although it did not win any, the musical definitely captured people’s attention.

“The Prom” was the first musical of the 2018-2019 Broadway season to be named a New York Times Critics Pick and has also been nominated for 28 awards so far. The musical also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical.

In the musical, Cavazos was a part of the ensemble and played several roles, including a “nerd” character. The actress said she felt lucky to be a part of such a diverse cast, but the most special thing about “The Prom” was that in the show’s playbill, she dedicated her performance to a friend who she said will always be remembered.

“My friend Shane was killed during the Pulse shooting and it forever changed the way I look at life,” said Cavazos. “The show is important because no matter who we are or what we’re into, we deserve to feel accepted and loved and celebrated, because we are worth all that and more.”

Cavazos said she realized this at a young age, listening to her father, John Caleb Cavazos, tell stories about his Broadway career in the ‘80s, where he performed in “Pacific Overtures” and “My Fair Lady.”

“It was never his intention for me to fall into the same craft, but I believe you cannot outrun your destiny. And this is mine,” Cavazos said.

The actress and her family moved to Orlando when she was 6 years old.

Cavazos said her dad ran a musical theater group at her church where she began doing shows like “Annie,” “The Sound of Music” and “Children of Eden,” among others.

...learn to love the sound of your feet walking away from things that are not meant for you.

Five years later, Cavazos said she decided to stop musical theater to focus on singing and sports. It wasn’t until her sophomore year at UCF that she would reunite with musical theater.

“Jerusha always had a very acute understanding and spacial awareness of everything that was going on — both onstage and off,” John said. “I’ve never seen her go halfway and she has drive like no one else. She’s the kind of person who fights for the underdog, makes friends with the outcast kids and has the kindest heart and intentions.”

Cavazos, now a UCF alumna who graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theatre, said that she made the most out of her time at UCF by participating independent studies with professors, performing in multiple shows and working on perfecting her acting, vocal and dance skills.

She said that her time in gymnastics helped her to transfer smoothly into ballet,

jazz and modern dance, while her voice lessons with her father since the age of 14 continued throughout her college career.

She has been part of countless shows including “Evita,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “West Side Story” and more. Cavazos has also made appearances on TV shows like “Atlanta” and “FBI.” Her favorite character so far has been Sarah in “Ragtime,” a show that she did in college. “Ragtime” follows the stories of an upper class wife, a Jewish immigrant, and a Harlem musician who are brought together by the promise of the future. The role earned her a nomination for the Irene Ryan Award, which in turn propelled her energy and passion into more seriously pursuing a career in showbiz.

“There are a million things that make Jerusha special, but the quality that stands out the most to me is her tenacity. We live in a tough city and theater is an utterly challenging field that deflates a lot of artists, but her approach is unflappable,” said Meghan Palmer, a close friend of Cavazos. “She loves what she does and she truly believes that if she works hard enough and if she believes enough, she will rise to the top. If you follow her career at all, you’ll see that she is absolutely correct in that belief.”

Currently, Cavazos is focusing on concert work which includes prepping and auditioning for a plethora of pilot seasons that fit her. Cavazos most recently had a guest spot on “FBI” in October. She is also working on a folk album with close friend, Vasthy Mompoint, and finishing up writing projects of her own.

With her busy schedule, she said she seems to always be working on auditions, workshops, readings, labs and additional works. However, when she does get some down time, Cavazos said she likes to walk her best friend’s dog in Central Park and be a homebody.

Cavazos said that although she loves her job, sometimes hearing “no” after trying out for a role is difficult.

She said that no matter how hard you prepare for a role, there is always the possibility that someone else will get chosen. This is when she starts to doubt her talents and worth, but always tries to stay positive.

“I always say to myself, ‘learn to love the sound of your feet walking away from things that are not meant for you,’ which is definitely easier said than done, but I practice it every day,” Cavazos said. “The more gratitude I can find in all of it the more ready I will be to enter into the next big thing.”

Jerusha Cavazos played a mistress in “Evita” at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival in 2017. “My father had a career on Broadway in the ‘80s and I grew up listening to his stories,” Cavazos said. “It was never his intention for me to fall into the same craft, but I believe you cannot outrun your destiny. And this is mine.” Photo courtesy of Jerusha Cavazos.

21 | Fall 2019

A Modern Modest Feminist Not your typical girl boss

By Karla Grimes

W

onder Woman. Rosie the Riveter.

Frida Kahlo. These are the women that you may think of when you picture a feminist. You may also picture women with signs fighting for their rights or women burning their bras in protest against the patriarchy.

But you might not think of Courtney LeBlanc, a junior studying animation at UCF. Instead of wearing a gold “W” around her head, rolled up denim sleeves or a flower crown, LeBlanc wears her Chi Omega T-shirt, shorts and a warm smile.

LeBlanc, in terms of feminism, said she considers herself a modest one. She said she chooses not to overexpose herself, which can be seen as a sign of rebellion against modern ideas of what a feminist should look like.

“I kind of look at modesty, not in a way to cover myself or hide myself, but in a way to accentuate what God has given me,” LeBlanc said. “I don’t necessarily feel like I have to show all of myself to get the same amount of attention.”

Although she grew up Catholic, LeBlanc didn’t start practicing her faith until junior year of high school. However, this decision to continue in her faith wasn’t pressured on to her⁠— she made the choice to do so.

Her father put her in a Catholic school when she was younger, but never forced her to learn the religion. She said this freedom has impacted her life and the way she chooses to live it.

“I was a tomboy. I wore baggy clothes.

But then as I started to learn more about my faith, and how you don’t have to just show everything, like you should be preserving things if you’re getting married, because it’s an intimate moment,” LeBlanc said. “That kind of thing is tied to my religion, but it’s also part of my personality.”

Her modesty doesn’t mean that she condemns those women who choose to do the complete opposite of her. She said she draws the line when someone’s actions, like walking around with very little on, begin to negatively impact another person.

“If you feel comfortable doing that, awesome, but at the same time I feel like we have to respect each other people,” LeBlanc said. “I feel like there is a big mentality where I can do whatever I want and it doesn’t matter what you think, and to a certain extent it doesn’t matter.”

The freedom in feminism is something that LeBlanc said she faces every day without a negative encounter from someone.

“My goal is to never make someone feel uncomfortable about what they’re wearing, or I would hope that if I’m being more covered up that someone wouldn’t shame me for that,” LeBlanc said.

She does admit that it can be difficult to practice her contemporary modest ideals in her religion.

“It’s hard because there are the church teachings that tell you definitely to cover up more,” LeBlanc said. “The whole spaghetti strap thing makes me mad and that’s something that I don’t come to terms with that often.

A closeup of a sketch that Courtney LeBlanc did of one of our staff writers. One of LeBlanc’s classes this semester is to draw every day things in a 100-page sketchbook. Photo by Lexi Vazquez.

Courtney LeBlanc, a junior emerging media major with with a track in character animation, stands in front of the John C. Hitt Library on a sunny afternoon. Even with her bright personality, she is a determined person who dreams of becoming a director in animation.

Photo by Lexi Vazquez.

22 | Centric Magazine

“Because if my shoulders are bothering you, I don’t get it… at that point it’s a practice of self-control on the man and that has nothing to do with me.”

Although LeBlanc finds herself in this pickle often, she said she is still on her journey of forming her own opinion on how to live with both. Her main focus is to continue to absorb every little bit of information, from podcasts to speakers.

She is also on another journey to become an animator, specifically for children’s movies.

Females account for only 20% of the animation workforce, according to the Animation Guild for Women in Animation, stacking the odds against LeBlanc and other women.

With an energetic breath, she explained her dream of being a director in the animation industry. She said she plans on starting at the bottom, working in different departments like rigging, lighting, modeling and then getting better at it.

“I’m a very determined person so I don’t see myself getting pushed around very much by people in the industry,” LeBlanc said. “I feel like you can’t be a director without having experienced every other part of the field because how are you going to direct then? So that’s kind of my goal right now is to kind of get a taste of everything.”

I kind of look at modesty, not in a way to cover myself or hide myself, but in a way to accentuate what God has given me.

Getting experience in the field of animation is difficult for women today when you look at the numbers. Only 10% of animation producers and directors are women, according to the Animation Guild.

With LeBlanc’s determined personality, she said she wants to put out good content for audiences as an animator. She’s been influenced by the animated movies that helped shape her morals growing up.

She said the most impactful movie for her was Disney’s “Tangled,” because it provided a new generation of princesses that were strong and independent.

She said she believes that there is hope in the future of feminism, though.

“I hope that people can become more understanding… I would hope that when women say that they’re feminist that they understand not every woman is the same,” LeBlanc said. “That’s really what feminism is, not every woman isn’t the same and to have the same beliefs and allowing different beliefs as well.”

23 | Fall 2019

Nonprofit organization rescues girls from horrors of human trafficking

By Charlotte Trattner

A

house is supposed to provide safety and security, but imagine not having that. Many young girls living in Uganda slums have next to nothing to call home or to protect them from potential traffickers.

“There are men that pass by each night and if you don’t have a shelter, you don’t have locked doors, you can be taken or taken advantage of,” said Rebecca Shepps, a UCF alumna and She Is More Than volunteer.

She is More Than is a non-profit organization that works to rehabilitate human trafficking survivors in Uganda to raise awareness and educate the Central Florida community about the realities of trafficking.

Every spring, She Is More Than brings college student volunteers to Uganda to educate them and show them what human trafficking looks like overseas and on a global scale. Human trafficking is also a domestic issue and Orlando is the third-worst in the nation, according to reports made to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

“We believe in awareness and prevention when it comes to human trafficking because we don’t want to always be in the rescue business. We want to stop it from even happening,” Executive

24 | Centric Magazine

Director Lauren Bernard said. “We hope that one day there’s no need for an organization like us because we don’t want to give traffickers or people who would seek to do harm more of a way to do that so we fight it.”

A.C. Black, the founder of She is More Than, said she is trying to bring support services to the Orlando community, like walk-through trials for victims of human trafficking and offer affordable counseling and therapy opportunities.

She Is More Than partners with Seminole County Public Schools and goes into the classrooms to teach students and parents what to look out for. Black said one of the greatest lessons is the proper use of social media.

“It’s really important we bring awareness and tell youth don’t befriend anyone, don’t send photos online,” Black said. “Be careful about what you post, be careful about sharing your location because teenagers are very vulnerable.”

The organization also hosts information nights for college students educating them about human trafficking both on a global and domestic scale.

“If we can get all teenagers and all college students aware of what is going on, they’ll be the ones to protect each other and traffickers won’t stand a chance,” Bernard said.

She Is More Than also works overseas in Africa.

The organization has a live-in facility in Uganda for girls ages 11 to 18 who have been sexually abused, raped, trafficked, forced into prostitution, or becoming a child bride. There, they have access to medical care, trauma counseling, education and vocational training.

“Once they come through our rehabilitation program and they get trauma counseling and they get medical care and back on a path of education or vocational, you see girls completely transformed and set free from their past traumas and that makes it all worth it,” Bernard said.

Black said rehabilitation starts with the basics — teaching the girls proper hygiene and how to love themselves until they work their way up to go to boarding school in the city.

“It’s cool to watch them come in and be so afraid and so scared and so broken and then at the end seeing them completely

different and changed all because you loved them you and offered restoration,” Black said.

Shepps said the slum in Uganda, where most of the at-risk girls are from, is a big community of people living together under the poverty line. Some have a mud-like structure that Shepps said is considered nice, while others live in even worse conditions.

“We visited a woman who has five kids and their home was just a bunch of blankets and a tarp over the blankets, like almost like a tent — a makeshift tent. She has lived there for nine years,” Shepps said.

Education in Uganda is private, so the girls who are under the poverty level cannot afford to leave the slums and go to school. Many of the cases She Is More Than

Rebecca Shepps, a UCF alumna, poses with two girls at She Is More Than’s live-in facility in Uganda.

While overseas, UCF students learn about the realities of human trafficking and the people who are affected.

Photo courtesy of Rebecca Shepps.

Kacie Griffin, a senior nonprofit management major at UCF, traveled to Uganda with She Is More Than in the spring and met girls living at the facility. While there, she saw the girls were so joyful despite their circumstances and past experiences.

Photo courtesy of Kacie Griffin.

To report a tip to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, call 1-888-373-7888 or text 233733 Sources: Lauren Bernard, A.C. Black, Vermont DCF, Internatinal Labor Organization DoSomething.org, National Human Trafficking Hotline

sees are girls from below the poverty line who “helped” provide for their family.

“A lot of the girls’ stories were either family members have died or step-dads are in the picture and they are all struggling to provide for their family and have money for food. A lot of them have like one outfit,” Shepps said. “Some families or whoever they are living with would allow men to sleep with those girls for payment.”

She Is More Than pairs the girls with a U.S. sponsor who helps pay the cost of their education. Ryan Mayer, a senior industrial engineering major at UCF, went on a mission trip in March and sponsored one of the girls who the organization was able to take out of the slums.

“Basically, you pay a certain amount a month, I think it’s $45 a month, and that pays for everything: schooling, housing, food, everything,” Mayer said. “So basically $45 a month to bring a girl out of the slums.”

Sponsoring girls isn’t just about money.

Sponsors like Shepp send letters and gifts to their girls. It is about building a healthy relationship with the girls who have been made to feel less than they should.

“One thing that’s prominent in trafficking victims across the world, you know not just in Uganda but in the U.S. as well, is that girls are and victims in general, are made to feel like they are less than, which is the reason actually why our program is called She is More Than,” Bernard said. “It’s she is more than her pain, more than her trauma, more than her past.”

These pups of UCF always keep it paw-sitive

M

eet Kona, a 2-year-old double doodle who belongs to senior human communication major Samantha Hoo. This cute and cuddly half-goldendoodle half-labradoodle pup is the friendliest Hoo said she has ever met — she might be biased, though. “She wiggles her entire body when seeing anyone. It doesn’t matter what they look like, what mood they’re in or how they treat her. I think that’s how people should treat each other,” Hoo said.

Whether junior biology major Kassidy Hines is gone for an hour or five days, her 2-yearold German shepherd Bindi is always happy to see her. “My dog never fails to make me feel better, even when I’m having a rough day. She motivates me to want to be that peace for other people as well,” Hines said.

Even though Cody is 12 years old, his light still shines as if he were a pup.

Junior health sciences major Natalie Feminella said she loves to give her daschund all the attention in the world. “He lets me be the best person I can be by how kind and caring he always is — he inspires me to be the same way.

He’s such a positive, happy light in my life,” Feminella said.

Take Your Child to Work Day typically applies to young children, but the invitation has been extended to this Weimaraner and pit bull mix, Athena. UCF alumna Juliana Rodrigues said she takes her 3-year-old pup with her to work every day. “She’s taught me how to be more patient and selfless than any human could,” Rodrigues said.

26 | Centric Magazine

Meet Bentley, an 8-monthold schnauzer who knows how to represent the Knights to the fullest. “My pup empowers me to be the best human he thinks I am. At the end of the day, regardless of the day I’m having, he’s always home to make me happy,” said senior health sciences major Juliana Colorado.

At almost 2 years old, this Cavalier King Charles spaniel named Lady knows how to bring out the best in her owner, UCF alumna Lily Hosner. “Little does she know how much she really does affect my life for the better. I owe her so much more than my happiness — she is my best friend, my greatest hype man and more than anything, she is my furry child,” Hosner said.

Move over Hippogriff — this professor’s flying in on a Pegasus

By Karla Grimes

T

ucked in the back of the English department in Trevor Colbourn Hall is Professor Tison Pugh’s office.

Although it’s a small one, there is still room for the many books that he owns. A few are ones he’s published, and there is, of course, the full collection of the “Harry Potter” series in a bookcase beside his desk, where there is a neat pile of rough drafts of his latest project.

On the wall, there are three framed items that could tell you who Pugh is without ever needing to talk to him.

There is an illustration of a page of the children’s classic book, “Matilda,” with a quote that reads, “I would like to read a really good one that grown-ups read. A famous one.” Next to this framed illustration is a poster of the Italian play for Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” which his husband gave him. To the right of that poster is the first page of “Canterbury Tales,” from a replica of the original manuscript.

Pugh started teaching almost 19 years ago, where his first class was all about Chaucer, an English poet in the Middle Ages. But now at UCF, he is recognized mostly as the professor who teaches the “Harry Potter” class.

It’s become so popular that there’s often a long waiting list each semester the class is offered.

The class goes in-depth with each book in the series and allows students to dig deeper into the story that they’ve known since childhood. Students even get sorted into a Hogwarts house, like Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin or Hufflepuff, and

play a game of Quidditch at the end of the semester.

If you ask Pugh which “Harry Potter” book is his favorite, he will say it’s the “Goblet of Fire,” because it’s where the plot of the story changes with Lord Voldemort’s return.

Besides teaching the popular “Harry Potter” class, 2019 has been an interesting year for Pugh.

He’s won three awards in the last couple of months. The one award that hits close to home is the Pegasus Professor Award, the highest academic award a professor can receive at UCF. “It was mind-blowingly wonderful,” Pugh said honestly and without hesitation.

Another side of Pugh is shown in “The Queer Fantasies of the American Family Sitcom,” his book that won the Pop Culture Association Book Award for Best Work in LGBTQ+ Studies.

This book looks at how sexuality is perceived in classic family sitcoms, including, “The Cosby Show,” “Leave it to Beaver,” “Modern Family,” “The Brady Bunch,” and even “Hannah Montana.”

“It’s always nice to receive an award,” Pugh said before explaining the fear of African American sexuality in “The Cosby Show.”

Pugh makes an argument in the book that Bill Cosby’s character Cliff

Huxtable’s androgynous fatherhood is complicated by “his determination to police his children’s sexuality, particularly his daughters’ virginity.” He concludes that this popular sitcom show faced a queer challenge of depicting African American children’s sexuality, especially in the modern cultural images of teen promiscuity and the pregnancy epidemic.

Pugh made another leap with a focus in research, earning the Teaching Literature Book Award for the book, “Jews in Medieval England: Teaching Representation of the Other.” This third award is an international prize for the best book on teaching literature at a college level.

The entire book took five years to make from start to finish. Pugh explains the final product of the book to be pedagogical with trying to help people not to perpetuate England as a holy land. The topics presented in the book can compare to the contemporary world, as the topics discussed relate to otherness and anti-Semitism.

It’s incredible to think that all these achievements are tucked away in the back of the English department. Pugh said he hopes to leave a legacy at UCF where people learn to love the humanities.

“Human history is fascinating,” Pugh said.

“Humanities has so much to offer.”

Professor Tison Pugh is concentrating on his edits one Monday morning in his office in Trevor Colbourn Hall. His office is covered in books, from his own published works to the “Harry Potter” series, which he teaches. Photo by Lexi Vazquez.

27 | Fall 2019

Fighting for Breath Cystic fibrosis can’t stop Avery Engleman

By Annabelle Sikes

T

he average person takes 23,040 breaths a day. For cystic fibrosis fighter Avery Engleman, every single breath used to make her feel like she was dying.

Her lung capacity dropped from 100% to 70% to 50% to 20% in just five years.

To put things in perspective, children with cystic fibrosis lose about 2 to 4 percent of their lung function each year, according to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

Although cystic fibrosis causes persistent lung infections and limits the ability to breathe over time, Engleman said she decided that CF is no longer just a disease, it’s part of who she is.

Now a junior at UCF studying event management, Engleman also works in the student union, took on multiple internships catered towards her major, danced her heart away at Knight-Thon, gave presentations about her journey, served on the executive board of her sorority, Alpha Epsilon Phi, and raised awareness through CF Foundation Great Strides.

But she wouldn’t have been able to do any of that if it weren’t for her dedication to the fight.

“When CF takes over your body and causes it to go into end stage lung disease,

you are left with two choices: keep fighting or die,” Engleman said. “The doctors told me to think about my choice very carefully, but to me, it really wasn’t a choice. It’s pretty simple, I don’t want to die.”

Growing up, the disease grew as Engleman grew, causing her to develop infections that violently attacked her immune system. However, unlike the common cold, Engleman’s CF infections didn’t go away; they just got worse.

By her senior year of high school, Engleman and her family agreed it would be best to get a lung transplant since her lungs weren’t getting any better. But in order for a lung transplant to even be possible, she had to gain weight.

In November 2015, Engleman had gastrostomy surgery, which places a feeding tube in the abdomen to give nutritional supplementation. Through the tube, 3,000 calories were pumped into her stomach every night, and although she still couldn’t hold most of it down, it helped her to gain a few extra pounds.

This is when she decided to begin sharing her journey with the world.

With the help of her family, Engleman created a Facebook and Instagram account to share her story and gain awareness for

CF. From videos of breathing treatments, pictures with her family and friends she met during her journey, physical therapy updates and even videos before and after surgery, she portrayed her journey truthfully and without shame.

“Growing up, everyone knew I had CF but I don’t think anyone realized how sick I was and the impact it was having on me physically, mentally and emotionally, until I started sharing my journey online,” Avery said. “Whether I was throwing up, struggling to gasp for air, had tubes and needles in every part of my body, or even looked like a hot mess, I needed to show people what people with CF go through in their everyday lives.”

Engleman said that she received positive words of encouragement and messages from people across the country who said they were inspired by her journey.

She was no longer alone and she had more than 3,000 followers to prove it.

Engleman was officially placed on the national transplant list to get a bi-lateral double lung transplant on Dec. 21, 2015.

Doctors warned her that it could take weeks, months, or even years to find a donor, and there was no guarantee that it would be a match.

Avery Engleman laying on a sidewalk chalk butterfly alongside powerful words that have helped her fight against cystic fibrosis. “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have,” Engleman said.

Photo courtesy of @myjourney2breathe on Instagram.

28 | Centric Magazine

myjourney2breathe

Liked by centricmagazine and 66,183 others

Feb. 17, 2016

29 | Fall 2019

Just 57 days later, she got the call.

The next day after the call that changed her life forever, Engleman went through surgery to receive her transplant. She was in the intensive care unit for six days and the hospital for two and a half weeks. After a month, was running on a treadmill, something she hadn’t done in over five years.

Engleman quickly turned to her social media to inform her followers of the toll the surgery had taken.

“As sick as I was with my old lungs, they were my comfort zone,” Engleman said. “I could read their mind and that made me feel comfortable because I knew my limits and this gave me an advantage. With my new lungs, I have to relearn everything I know because my new lungs don’t tell me anything. I am scared.”

Exactly three months to the day after the surgery, Engleman and her father returned to their home and their family in South Florida, and ever since then, she said she has lived a relatively normal life. From sleep away camps to traveling the world, Engleman said she had plans at every second of the day because every moment was infinitely precious to her.

From being pulled out of school due to double pneumonia in both lungs to having a port, a vascular access device designed to help receive antibiotic treatments at home, implanted, Engleman said it was not always easy to have a positive outlook on life.

Engleman said that although she lived a relatively normal childhood playing sports, going to school and enjoying time with her two younger siblings, Dakota, 18, and Levi, 16, she also had other responsibilities as well. From taking enzymes every time she ate, to doing breathing treatments every

morning and night for an hour and taking countless medications, she said she was constantly exhausted.

“Growing up with Avery was very difficult, she was always in and out of the hospital, sick, and doing treatments,” said Dakota. “When I was younger it was hard for me to understand why she got so much attention and I became jealous.”

I was given this life because I am strong enough to live it..

Engleman said she remembers her middle school years being interrupted by frequent hospital tune-ups for IV antibiotics and finished high school online through Florida Virtual School. This was when her lung function dropped to 20 percent during a bad fever cycle. At 4-foot-11, she weighed 75 pounds and remembers constantly throwing up mucus, not being able to hold down food.

But what Engleman said she missed more than anything — friends.

“I felt isolated but I never cried,” said Avery. “I had to focus on my health but in the back of my head I craved social interaction and a good group of friends.”

Dakota said that as she grew older and watched everything that her sister went through, she began to admire her for all of her strengths.

“Avery is the strongest person I know,” Dakota said. “I look up to her in so many ways that can’t even be described. She has taught me to never give up, to live everyday like it’s my last, and to be brave.”

The following fall, she decided to continue her journey at UCF. Avery said within her sorority, she found a second family that gave her so many more opportunities than she ever thought possible.

“Avery’s journey is so special because not only does she live her life to the fullest, but she wants everyone around her to live their best lives as well,” Sloane Rosin, a close friend, said. “Avery has always pushed me to talk to new people, get involved in everything and anything, and to do things that make me happy. It really is a true testament to her character.”

Although Engleman has had little complications with her lungs for almost four years now, she still travels every six months to St. Louis Children’s Hospital for check-ups and takes vitamins and medications everyday to keep her healthy.

She said she is endlessly grateful to her donor who gave her something greater than lungs; a chance to live.

“I will live with CF for the rest of my life.

My medications can stop working at any moment and I could die tomorrow, next month or even years from now, however, this doesn’t change anything for me,” Avery said. “I was given this life because I am strong enough to live it and I plan on defying these statistics everyday. Knowing that, I can now truly breathe.”

Avery Engleman poses with her sorority sisters of Alpha Epsilon Phi at UCF. Despite the hardships CF has caused her, Engleman made it a point to live her life and serve on the executive board of her sorority while maintaining internships, working for CF organizations and continuing school.

Photo courtesy of Avery Engelman

30 | Centric Magazine

The First

For Centric magazine

Daniella Medina Editor in Chief

Kathy Ruiz Art Director

Annabelle Sikes Digital Editor

Lauren Margolis Copy Editor

Karla Grimes Staff Writer

Charlotte Trattner Staff Writer

Sabrina Perez Staff Writer

Lexi Vazquez Photographer

Rick Brunson Adviser

Find Us Online!

Website: nicholsonstudentmedia.com/centric Facebook: Centric Magazine at UCF Instagram: centricmagazine Twitter: Centricmagazine

Digital Stories Son with cancer aims to live positively after parents are also diagnosed with cancer UCF student raises awareness of epilepsy through photography Latinx artists coalesce to discuss “Coalesce� art exhibit

31 | Fall 2019

On the other side of the moon, woodworking fan Keith Casiano shows off Citronaut, the mascot when UCF was originally Florida Technical University. Cover photos by Lexi Vazquez.