FTC Accomplishments: Spring 2023

FTC Accomplishments: Spring 2023

The students of FTC Florida have made some amazing accomplishments and STC would like to highlight them for what they’ve done. Special thanks to hype masters Joy Carandang and John Clement for submitting descriptions of their peer’s accomplishments!

Joy Carandang

This past year has been the most exciting and rewarding in my life thus far. In August, I started my graduate school journey at UCF and have since had the honor to learn about the interdisciplinary history and nuances of our field from distinguished faculty. One project that is most dear to me is an Infographic I created on the subject of Food Insecurity within Central Florida which I aimed toward an intended audience of K-12 students. I’ve had so much fun learning about what makes data visualizations effective, and I hope to explore more about it by conducting further research on intercultural communication in the future.

Through becoming part of FTC and STC, I have gained a newfound sense of community and life-enriching experiences in collaboration, leadership, and volunteerism. I’ve enjoyed learning firsthand about what it is like to work in teams to reach collective goals. On a weekly basis, I am fortunate to work with many talented and hard-working individuals in FTC and STC Leadership. The wealth of knowledge and perspectives they have shared with me has broadened my insights into the field, and I am grateful for them as friends and colleagues. 

As part of the FTC Comms Committee, I regularly collaborate with our team to create monthly newsletters and event outreach materials; and afterward, distribute them throughout our socials. The most memorable projects I helped curate were graphics for the STC-FTC Annual Joint Meeting and the Two-Part L3Harris Interest Meetings. I also enjoyed collecting testimonials from FTC Spring 2023 Graduates which I later organized into a spotlight article that we published on our blog. 

Additionally, I have become familiar with the various stages of event organizing. From inviting guest speakers, and planning outreach, to hosting on the day, a lot of teamwork and diligence from all parties go into these offerings. I am more than ever appreciative of the tremendous effort organizers undergo to present such informative, fun, and structured events.  

Some of my favorite STC projects that I had the pleasure to work on include writing Memo to Members articles, contributing to the STC Florida New Member Welcome Toolkit, and co-presenting the STC-FTC Annual Joint Meeting with STC Florida President Bethany Aguad and Secretary John Clement in February, as well as an educational program on MailChimp as a Tool for Community Engagement this past April which I created with my mentor, STC Florida Vice President, Julia Southwick. 

I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities that UCF, FTC, and STC have opened up for me in personal and professional development. Furthermore, I am equally as eager to continue serving our fantastic community in the coming year. 

John had some highlights for other FTC members to share:

New Jobs!

Julia Carney

  • Recent graduate Julia Carney has started a new position at Lockheed Martin as a Technical Writer Associate!

Shannon Maharajh

  • After completing a 2021 internship with Lockheed Martin, Fall 2022 grad Shannon Maharajh accepted a full-time offer for a Lockheed Martin Technical Writer role!
  • She also presented with FTC and shared details about her time as a technical writer so far:  STC-FTC Annual Joint Meeting (Spring 2023) – YouTube

Danielle Porres

  • Rising senior and UCF publications committee member Danielle Porres was very recently accepted into the Lockheed Martin (College Work Experience Program (CWEP) as a Technical Writer! CWEP students work part-time at Lockheed during the school year and gain valuable industry experience.

Zachary Miller

  • Fall 2022 FTC alumni and past leader Zachary Miller has recently begun working at the Orlando Science Center as a Museum Coordinator!
  • Zachary also returned to present with FTC in Spring 2023: “Context Matters: Do You Know How to Use Your Product?”, which you can watch on FTC’s YouTube channel.
  • Lastly, Zachary successfully completed and graduated with recognition for his Honors Thesis research!

Camilo Pallares

  • Also a Fall 2022 FTC graduate, Camilo Pallares soon started working at TikTok as a  Quality Assurance Manager!

Michael Otero

  • Not only is Michael a recent Spring 2023 graduate, but he has just hit over a year at his company VaxCare as a Healthcare Solutions Generalist, in which he has been able to bring value through documentation!

Sarah Vilcnik

  • Spring 2022 FTC graduate Sarah Vilcnik is now almost a year into her work as a Permitting Coordinator at Harris Civil Engineers!

John Clement

  • A Spring 2022 graduate and continuing volunteer with FTC, John began working at L3Harris Technologies as a Technical Writer after graduation and recently hit a year!

Joana Donovan

Dr. Jane Vaughan

  • One of UCF’s esteemed technical communication professors Dr. Jane Vaughan, PhD—or as her students sometimes call her, Dr. V—was recently promoted from Associate Lecturer to the role of Senior Lecturer at the university! She has been lecturing at UCF for nearly two decades now, and we give her our congratulations.

New Grads!

2022-2023 UCF Graduates & FTC Alumni

Congratulations to all of FTC’s graduates from Summer 2022, Fall 2022, and Spring 2023! Not all are listed, but we would like to recognize the following members from our past spotlights and records:

  • Alexandria Ashley
  • Julia Carney
  • Niyanna Jeffcoat
  • Dominck Chiovari
  • Michael Otero
  • Jasmine Boyens
  • Alan Velasco
  • Zachary Miller
  • Camilo Pallares
  • Diana Faruqui
  • Shannon Maharajh
  • Kirsten Bey
  • Amy Toole
  • Nicole Lindquist
  • Julie Diaz
  • Henry Keating
  • Zach Barrish
  • Luis Olivo

Graduate School

Congratulations to Winnie, UCF alumna and current FTC Historian, for being accepted to UCF’s graduate school program! This Fall, she will begin taking classes toward a Master’s degree in Technical Communication.

Volunteerism

FTC members have accomplished great things, been presenters, and created new projects through volunteering and extracurricular club activities over these past few months.

Spark STEM Fest 2023 Volunteers — Feb 2023, Orlando Science Center

FTC @ UCF members are proud to have created and presented a workshop at Spark STEM Fest 2023, an annual event at the Orlando Science Center! Their work included creating a web page, new club brochure, and a presentation on technical communication. The volunteer group was made of:

  • Presenters: Joy Carandang, John Clement, Kaitlyn Pottinger, Cassandra Ortega, Winnie Ou, Dominick Chiovari
  • Contributors: Julianna Schook, Chantal Cyrier, Delaney Gunnell, Jasmine Boyens, and Danielle Porres

Link to website: https://beginningtechcom.crd.co/ 

STC Summit 2023 Attendees — May 2023, Atlanta, GA

The Future Technical Communicators club at UCF is happy to have returned to the STC Technical Communication Summit this year! Here were our attendees:

  • Jasmine Boyens
  • Dominick Chiovari
  • Chantal Cyrier
  • Delaney Gunnell
  • Cassandra Ortega
  • Joined by John Clement, Bethany Aguad, Alex Garcia, and Lori Meyer of STC Florida

The group was able to do significant fundraising for the trip: $2,000 allocated from UCF’s Student Government and $515 raised from GoFundMe, which covered a significant portion of trip costs.

Read about our five student volunteers here: http://memotomembers.stc-orlando.org/?p=4509

Additional Projects

Publications

Articles on Memo to Members & FTC Blog

FTC members and leaders wrote several great articles throughout the school year, including:

Cypress Dome Literary Magazine

Cypress Dome, UCF’s Literary Magazine, releases a new edition of its publication each year. This school year, several FTC members were part of the production team for the magazine! We would like to recognize them here:

  • Jonathan Williams
  • Niyanna Jeffcoat
  • Danielle Porres

You can read a digital version of this year’s Cypress Dome magazine, Issue 34, here: https://cypressdome.org/2023-cypress-dome-issue-34/

Other Publications

Delaney Gunnell was published in Issue 06 of Strike Magazine this semester with her creative written piece “That Girl is Never Alone.” You can read the issue here. She will be on the publication team for both Strike Magazine and Her Campus UCF next school year!

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