FGCU

Occupational therapists in training at FGCU experience what it's like to negotiate campus in a wheelchair.

The late Luciano Pavarotti ran an international voice competition in Philadelphia in the 1980s and '90s to foster emerging opera talent. Opera Naples and the Luciano Pavarotti Foundation are bringing it back! The competition will be held at FGCU's Bower School of Music & the Arts Thursday through Saturday.

On Dec. 3, FGCU’s Bower School of Music & the Arts performed its annual Christmas extravaganza, “Joyful & Triumphant,” at Moorings Presbyterian Church in Naples. FGCU students Sebastian Plymette and Mia Laboy Reyes performed in the concert as part of the Chamber Choir and share about their experiences.

On December 3, FGCU’s Bower School of Music & the Arts performed its annual Christmas extravaganza, “Joyful & Triumphant” at Moorings Presbyterian Church in Naples. The concert will be broadcast during Christmas week on WGCU HD TV and WGCU FM Radio.

A chance cheek swab for Gift of Life, lead a student to donate a stem cells to a cancer patient. Four years later, the donor and the recipient met mid-court at a Florida Gulf Coast University basketball game.

Karl Smesko, the founding coach of the FGCU women's basketball program, left in November to take a job coaching the WNBA's Atlanta Dream. Chelsea Lyles, a former FGCU player and longtime assistant coach, was tapped to be the team's new coach.

Use of technology and growing more on less land are major keys to survival for the Florida agriculture industry.

Here in Southwest Florida about 30% of the population is 60 and older. That translates to about 1.3 million people, and this population and percentage is growing. Demographic trends show an expected 38% increase in adults over 60 by 2040 and a 62% increase in adults over 70 by that same year. While southwest Florida has been a destination for older people when they retire for decades, this area’s aging population is chronically underserved. We learn about the work being done to address the need at Florida Gulf Coast University’s still relatively new Shady Rest Institute on Positive Aging.

Adaptive Sports Day was a chance for people with disabilities to try out various athletic activities.

A group was told to stop using the FGCU logo and other branding in promoting a political event that occurred on Saturday, Nov. 2.