Startup Week UF

This week Gator Innovators is hosting Startup Week UF, a week of programming for students that have entrepreneurial ambitions.  The first event was last night in the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom.  Events continue through this week and culminate with the "Startup Crawl Through Downtown".  You can find a list of events on the Gator Innovators flyer  below:

GO GATORS: Beat Mizzou!

Good afternoon Gators! This weekend our team will travel to Missouri to play the Tigers in a situation very different than what most of us here in Gator Nation hoped for. When the season started, most fans probably looked at this game as and instantly marked it up as a W in their heads. However, that is far from the truth. The Gators, ranked 22 in the country, will head to Missouri as the underdogs when they play the 14th ranked Tigers.

The Gators are coming off of a tough loss at the hands of LSU last weekend, while the Tigers are coming off arguably one of their program's biggest wins in the recent years when they beat the Georgia Bulldogs last weekend in Athens. It was a victory that shocked the football world. While the Gators held their own against one of the best teams in the nation, their offense implanted many doubts into our fans' heads. The Gators were unable to score even a single touchdown during the loss in Death Valley, although Tyler Murphy proved once again that he was relatively poised and calm for a player with as little game experience as he has.

The bright side is that Florida was able to move the ball up and down the field against one of the better SEC defenses, but problems arose when they got into the red zone all day. The last drive at the end of the game where our offense failed to score any points after getting inside the 20 yard line was hard to watch. Something else that will help us is that Mizzou will be playing without their star quarterback James Franklin, who is the leader and anchor of their offense. If the Gators can protect Tyler Murphy better than they did last week and can actually make some explosive plays on offense, then we could walk away from Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Missouri as victors.

The Tigers are favored by 3.5 points going into the game, so it should be a close battle. The game is set to start at 12:21 eastern standard time, and will be aired on SEC TV. Hopefully our beloved Gators will prove to the nation that they are still contenders in the SEC East and are a force to be reckoned with. This would be a huge bounce-back win for our program. Make sure to tune in and watch Saturday. Go Gators!!

Bring Uber to Jacksonville

Last week, the Alligator published my guest column encouraging the Jacksonville City Council to vote in favor of student safety and pass ordinance 554.  Bill 554 would revise existing municipal laws and allow for alternative transportation options like the popular mobile app, Uber.  This service connects riders with drivers of classy sedans or SUVs, and would provide a reliable alternative transportation option to Jacksonville's current taxi infrastructure.  Please sign the petition and join me in supporting Bring Uber to Jacksonville: http://www.change.org/petitions/bring-uber-to-jacksonville-support-bill-554

Here is my article that ran in the Alligator on October 7:

Every Fall we take our annual pilgrimage to Jacksonville to witness the “War for the Oar,” also known as Florida-Georgia. Each year, Gators get to experience and enjoy the city of Jacksonville but are usually confronted with difficulty getting around one of the nation’s largest cities by land area.

One of the main planks in my platform as student body president is to increase safety for students. After several years of partaking in the Florida-Georgia tradition, I have noticed that safe and reliable transportation is a major issue for students. Jacksonville’s current taxi system becomes easily overwhelmed, which often leaves students wandering through downtown Jacksonville, searching for a way home from EverBank Field or The Jacksonville Landing. Worse, a lack of alternative transportation options could lead to an increase in intoxicated drivers on the roads.

These Jacksonville transportation options could be dramatically improved as soon as next week, as the city council debates allowing the entrance of new ride technologies like Uber to Jacksonville.

Some of you may be familiar with Uber, which is a smartphone app that links riders to on-demand private rides, usually in classy black sedans or SUVs. I have personally traveled to several cities that feature Uber and can vouch for the ease of use, reliability and safety improvements over traditional transportation options. With Uber, the cars go to the riders, not the riders to the cars. No more roaming around downtown Jacksonville desperate for an open taxi.

Uber trips are backed by GPS to ensure fair billing, are linked to your credit card and allow passengers to split fares evenly among themselves. Want to let your friends know what time you’re going to arrive at the game? Use the Uber “Share Your ETA” option so they know exactly how long they will have to wait.

If the Jacksonville City Council is able to pass Ordinance 554 promptly, Uber’s services and others like them could potentially be available for public use in time for this year’s game. If you would like to see Uber and other rider apps available in Jacksonville for Florida-Georgia, I encourage you to email City Council President Bill Gulliford atGulliford@coj.net.

Hope to see you soon in Jacksonville rolling around in safe and classy rides. Go Gators!

OneRepublic Coming to UF!

Thanks to Student Government Productions, one of the many on campus organizations doing great things here at the University of Florida, OneRepublic will be putting on a concert in Gainesville tomorrow night, October 10th at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.

This concert is part of OneRepublic's truthLIVE concert tour, which is sponsored by The Truth, an anti-smoking campaign. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and opening performer TeamMate will play at 7:30. SGP sold out of the 5,560 tickets that were given out for the concert in under seven hours.

To get involved or learn more about SGP and how they bring professional musical talent to our university, visit the Student Government website at www.sg.ufl.edu. To everyone attending Thursday's show, enjoy!

Florida Lottery Ice Cream Social

Photo Credit: William A. England, Alligator

Last Thursday, representatives from the Florida Lottery came to UF to host an ice cream social on the Plaza of the Americas.  I made some brief remarks thanking Florida Lottery Secretary Cynthia O'Connell for her dedication to education in the state of Florida.  Here is a transcript of my speech:

Thank you all for being here today.  I'm sure the reason why most of you are here is for the free ice cream, but I would like to draw your attention to one of Florida's strongest partnerships: education and the Florida Lottery.

Most people view education as the backbone of the American Dream.  Knowledge is empowerment and education is the best way to enable ordinary people to do extraordinary things.  

In higher education policy, accessibility and affordability are the major issues that students face.  Under Secretary O'Connell's leadership, the Florida Lottery is making a college degree more accessible and more affordable.

Across the state of Florida, 96% of in-state freshmen receive Bright Futures Scholarships. Because of this, our best and brightest to stay in this great state and get a degree from one of the country’s top universities, UF of course being the best University to attend. All joking aside, many students sitting here today were afforded the opportunity thanks to Secretary O’Connell, to fulfill their dream of going to College and becoming a Gator.

On behalf of the entire student body, thank you to the Florida Lottery and especially Secretary O'Connell for her dedication to the students at the University of Florida and students across Florida.

Go Gators!

GO GATORS: Beat Arkansas!

Tomorrow, nighttime football returns to the Swamp for the first time since the Gators hosted Florida State back in November of 2011! We are all very excited here in the Gator Nation to watch our Florida Gators battle an SEC opponent under the bright lights of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field. I cannot decide if I am happier that kickoff is at seven p.m. because the crowd will be more energized than it has been in the recent past, or just solely because all of us who will be inside the stadium on Saturday night won't be sweltering in the vicious Florida sun.

The Gators are coming off of an impressive 24-7 win over the Kentucky Wildcats last Saturday, which was quarterback Tyler Murphy's first career start. He went 14-15 on completions, threw one touchdown pass and ran for another. Besides his one interception, it is safe to say that Murphy impressed people around the country last week. He seems more poised and mobile that Jeff Driscoll was, which seems to be just what our offense needed.

Although things seem bright in Gator Nation, Arkansas is a legitimate opponent. They played exceptionally well against Texas A&M last Saturday, putting up 33 points against one of the nation's best football teams. They will want nothing more than to come to the Swamp and up end a Florida team that is seemingly on the rise.

However, they will be entering one of the nation's toughest stadiums to play in as an opponent, and the Swamp will be electric on Saturday night, especially because the game starts at seven. We can all expect a rowdier Gator crowd than we have seen in a long time this weekend. The Gators are favored by eleven points, and with our defense, it will be hard for the Razorbacks to score a lot of points. If we can get our offense going early in the first half, then I believe that this game can be blown wide open.

Stay safe this weekend, and Go Gators!!

Online Course Syllabi

Today I would like to share a resource with you that many students don't know about. The University of Florida provides one website that centralizes every course syllabus, so that it is easy for students to find all the information they need for their various classes.

This is just one of the many ways that UF is simplifying school for our students. Instead of having to navigate Sakai to each individual class's individual syllabus to find out important information such as due dates and assignments requirements, students can find all syllabi at one location.

syllabus.ufl.edu is the website that provides this luxury for all students. Each class is organized by the college that it is taught under, further simplifying students' ability to find their course. This is also a great way to help students plan their future schedules, by giving them an opportunity to see what a class entails before they enroll in it. Along with that, it can also be a back up for those who have misplaced a syllabus. I encourage all students to use this useful resource to their advantage!