Two college seniors are off to a bright and promising future thanks in large part to their four-year experience majoring in motion design at Ringling College of Art and Design. The program, which has been called one of the best motion design programs in the world, allows students to work with animation, design, sound, stop-motion, and so much more.

In addition to the coursework offered through the program, the college hosts an annual event called FutureProof, designed to prepare students for a seamless transition from the classroom into their future careers. The week-long event is hosted by the Department of Motion Design, for motion design students and alumni, and is open to all Ringling students. Packed with industry presentations, workshops, and activities, FutureProof has helped countless students, including Jessica Buck and Steven Dvornik, secure meaningful internships and jobs after graduation.

Jessica Buck is excited to begin her summer internship at Dash, an animation and motion design studio in Raleigh, NC. FutureProof gave her the opportunity to interview for the internship with the potential for a full-time job. Buck will start off working remotely from her family home in Tampa and then spend the second half of the summer at the Dash studio. While she is excited to graduate, she is a bit sad about saying goodbye. “Our class has become like a family to me so graduation will be bittersweet,” she says. “I’ve made so many connections and I’m really going to miss seeing everyone every day.”

Steven Dvornik, a motion design major from North Port is moving to California where he has accepted a full-time position with FutureDeluxe, a global creative studio with offices in London, Los Angeles, New York and Sydney. “Moving to California is a bit out of my comfort zone, but I’m really excited for the opportunity,” he says. Dvornik also credits FutureProof where he met and spoke with his future employer two years in a row.

Ed Cheetham, head of the Motion Design program is thrilled for his students, but not at all surprised that they’ve landed such impressive positions. “The biggest qualities to determine success as a motion designer are creativity and the ability to come up with new things all the time,” he says. “Here at Ringling, we don’t take one technique and get good at it, we give students a variety of image-making techniques so that they have options and a big umbrella view of possible solutions.”

On Saturday, April 29th, the school will host a motion design senior show from 7 pm-9 pm at Soundstage A on the Ringling campus,  at 1370 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Sarasota. Cheetham is inviting and encouraging local businesses to attend to meet the students and take a look at their incredible portfolios. 

Pictured: Motion Design Department Head, Ed Cheetham (center) with seniors, Steven Dvornik and Jessica Buck. Photo taken by Barbie Heit.

To learn more about the motion design department at Ringling College of Art and Design, click here.

Manatee County Extension Service is hosting a 4-H Open House on April 29th to introduce youth and parents to the wonderful programs, clubs, and opportunities offered through the organization founded more than 100 years ago. The event is a great opportunity for students to meet current 4-H members, ask questions, and learn about 4-H clubs, projects, camps, field trips, and competitive opportunities. The Open House will be from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the UF/IFAS Manatee County Extension Office 1303 17th Street West, Palmetto, FL 34221. It will include opportunities to meet some of our 4-H members’ project animals, and the Manatee County Master Gardeners will also be hosting their annual plant sale at the same time! 4-H is a youth development program managed by Manatee County Extension Service for youth ages 5 to 18 years old that offers educational activities, promotes life skills, and encourages civic participation. 4-H club programs cover a wide range of topics, including dog training, livestock, gardening, shooting sports, and photography. The possibilities with the 4-H clubs are limitless with each club allowed to pursue new themes and disciplines. In addition to community clubs, Manatee County 4-H offers summer camps, field trips, and in-school and after-school programs. 4-H also hosts an annual public speaking competition for fourth, fifth and sixth graders, as well as an annual agriculture field trip, AgVenture, for third graders. For more information on 4-H programs, please contact the Manatee County 4-H Office at 941-722-4524. 4-H youth programs are open to all youth (ages 5 -18) without regard to race, creed, color, religion, gender, national origin or disability. 

Colorful underwater volcanos erupting with bubbles and a maze of jellyfish adorned the racetracks at the Suncoast Science Center/Faulhaber Fab Lab's eighth annual Remote Control Custom Car Open (RC Car) competition on April 1, 2023. Over 160 students and their friends and families eagerly awaited the race day extravaganza, the culminating event of an eight-week program designed to provide a unique engineering and design learning experience for local youth.Nearly 60 teams of Sarasota County students from kindergarten to 8th grade participated in the program, which challenged them to customize a remote control car using Fab Lab makerspace equipment. By using 3D printers, laser cutters, vinyl cutters and even a vacuum-former machine, teams brought their "Under the Sea" design ideas to life for the design competition and race day event. Teams battled on two thematic racetracks: a shipwreck-style drag race and an obstacle course with a running waterfall and a pneumatic-powered octopus ramp. Middle school team Burrito Torpedo (Vukan Kovacevic and Mika Nikolich) took home the coveted 2023 RC Car Grand Champion title. Vukan and Mika have been longtime participants in the RC Car program. The team shared that they simplified their design this year and focused more on practicing their driving. Even so, they still won 3rd place in the design competition. A complete list of race and design competition winners can be found at https://suncoastscience.org/2023-rc-car-winners. RC Car was created for students, by students. The 2023 RC Car Executive Committee included 15 devoted high school students who began planning for the event in September 2022. From selecting the theme and leading workshops to designing and building the racetracks and trophies, the student committee fully manages the annual program with support from Fab Lab staff and mentors. Through the peer learning model, both the high school volunteers and RC Car participants have a fun and distinctive opportunity to explore new interests and build technical, leadership and life skills. The 2023 RC Car program was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Deb Kabinoff Fund, Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Steinwachs Family Foundation, Sarasota Arts Museum/Ringling College of Art + Design, Forza Wealth Management, Miao Whiteside Realtor, Bill Wagy Productions and Troll Music.  

Pictured: A crowd of students watches the race closely. Photo courtesy of Suncoast Science Center.

To learn more, visit

New College of Florida and Tallahassee Community College (TCC) finalized a new guaranteed admission program agreement as part of the NCF Transform partner program. TCC joins eight other educational institutions in the NCF Transform Program, which guarantees students’ admission to New College of Florida after completing an associate in arts degree from a partner college. In addition to TCC, the program’s partner colleges include St. Petersburg College, Daytona State College, Hillsborough Community College, Lake-Sumter State College, Florida SouthWestern State College, State College of Florida, Santa Fe College, and SUNY Orange County in Orange County, New York. This agreement will offer TCC honors students who complete their associate degree in arts guaranteed admission to New College of Florida and qualifies them for up to $10,000 for the Presidential Honors Scholar scholarship if they meet the agreement requirements and attend New College beginning in Fall 2023. Transfer students will be assigned their own faculty adviser and nationally certified career coach, as well as receive guaranteed scholarships, making New College a highly cost-effective option. 

“There are a lot of rules to roller derby. It’s not quite as WWE as people think it is,” says Andrea Cannistra with a laugh. “We can’t elbow each other, we can’t hit one another in the face, so our primary hits are hip checks or just taking your body and throwing it into someone. The contact is structured, almost like football. You can’t just start fighting.”

Cannistra–or Zombelina as she’s known amongst her roller derby kin–is a proud member of the Bradentucky Bombers, the only skater-owned roller derby league in Sarasota and Bradenton, with members coming from all over the Gulf Coast. “We are the roller derby team for pretty much all of Southwest Florida (check AP), we have people coming from Fort Myers through Tampa, so we cover a lot of ground,” says Cannistra. “We’ve been around since 2006 and have had a lot of rebranding over the years–we started off as more of a showy roller derby but now we play a more strategy based and athletic game which is really exciting. We’re located in the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex and are really excited to have our first full season since 2019 after taking a couple of years off due to the pandemic.”

The Bradentucky Bombers Roller Derby League is comprised of three teams: the Bomb Squad, their A team which competes all over the country in the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), the Nuclear Bombshells–of which Cannistra is the captain–their B team that competes recreationally against other teams of similar skill, and the Fusion Bombs, their open-gender team. This Saturday, April 15th, the Fusion Bombs will take on the Magic City Mayhem, an open-gender team out of Jacksonville Florida at the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex. “The basics of the sport is this: you have two teams with four blockers and one jammer–the point scorer–from each team. The jammer’s main goal is to get through all of the different blockers on the opposing team, or the pack. Each jam, or point scoring opportunity, can last up to two minutes of pretty high intensity action,” says Cannistra. “The jammer has to get through the pack once to initiate scoring and then every time they get through the pack after that, they get a point for every blocker they pass – you can get up to four points with every scoring pass. Games can be either really high scoring affairs or low scoring defensive battles, depending on the strengths of each team.”

Saturday, April 15th, 5:00 p.m, doors open at 4:30pm, Ellenton Ice & Sports Complex, 5309 29th St E., Ellenton, Florida 34222, at Presale—$10 online; Adults at the door—$15; Kids 6-12––$10 at the door; Kids 5 and under free, https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bradentucky-bombers-vs-magic-city-mayhem-tickets-504852496407, https://www.bradentuckybombers.com/ 

Pictured: The Bombers in action. Photo by Patrick Laughrey.

The 11th Annual Sarasota Cup, hosted in partnership by FC Sarasota and Visit Sarasota County, is returning to the Premier Sports Campus in Lakewood Ranch with a girl’s weekend from April 14th through April 16th, and a boy’s weekend from April 21st through 23rd. With over 400 teams registered to attend and admission free to spectators, the two weekends are expected to see some of the greatest U9-U19 soccer players in the state of Florida. Located within the Bradenton Area community of Lakewood Ranch, the Premier Sports Campus features 140 acres of pristine fields perfect for a soccer tournament of this size. The tournament was moved to the sports complex back in 2015 to accommodate the number of teams coming to the region to compete. Gettel Hyundai of Lakewood will be sponsoring the awards ceremonies at the tournament and will have cars on-site at the event for attendees to tour. A full schedule of game times and events happening during the 2023 Sarasota Cup can be seen here: https://www.sarasotacup.com/ 

When Hurricane Ian swept through Florida in fall 2022, it reaped billions of dollars in damage and unraveled the fabric of so many lives in our region. Damage and loss were immediate, but the full impact is just now being understood. To support long-term recovery, the Community Foundation of Sarasota County is now accepting grant applications through its Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund. This initial opportunity will conclude April 28, 2023, and is for nonprofit organizations serving southern Sarasota, Charlotte, DeSoto and Manatee counties. Thanks to broad community input, an emphasis has been placed on programs that support enhanced individual, family, and community resiliency, helping people live their lives beyond initial emergency relief.

Funding Priorities: Case Management, Children & Youth Services/Education, Home Repair and Housing Needs, Legal Services, Long Term Recovery Group (LTRG) and Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) support, Mental and Behavioral Health. Inquiries about the grant process should be directed to sdrf@cfsarasota.org.

More than $5 million was raised in the immediate weeks following the storm in anticipation of the community needs that would only be identified well after community and media attention subsided. Additional information about the Community Foundation’s long-term recovery strategy is available at https://www.cfsarasota.org/Suncoast-Disaster-Recovery-Fund. 

Home is Where The Art Is | The Ringling debuts its first exhibition of contemporary Native American art, April 2023. 

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