Aileen Mack

The UF Community Coalition met to discuss initiatives and current programs regarding excessive and underage drinking. Some of the initiatives involve finding better ways to educate students on alcohol safety to reduce alcohol-related accidents and the use of fake IDs.

Sean Krauth, a professional percussionist who learned programming as a hobby, recently graduated from the Gainesville Dev Academy, a program that teaches software development and code-writing to beginning developers. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, employment for web developers is predicted to grow 20 percent between 2012 and 2022 - faster than average across all other occupations.

University of Florida student, Narayan Kulkarni, recently won Gio Peace's International Essay Contest. His essay, which shares his story on the treatment he received from peers after 9/11 due to his ethnicity, was chosen out of 8,943 essays from 148 countries. Kulkarni will receive his award in Japan this week.

Linda Piper, event coordinator for Gainesville Downtown Festival & Art Show and the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire, will retire in June. Piper, who has run these events for 22 years, looks forward to the next chapter of her life, which includes making more time for family, volunteering in the community and finding new hobbies.

The Bob Graham Center and the George A. Smathers Libraries sponsored a panel of scholars that discussed the work they have done to preserve Old St. Augustine. The panel included experts on archaeology, history and architecture.

The Gainesville Community Redevelopment Agency was awarded a 2015 Bronze Excellence in Economic Development last week from the International Economic Development Council for their creative 2014 annual report. The agency partnered with local artists to present the annual report as a 16-panel comic.

Former Florida Gator linebacker James Bates is a jack of all trades. As a husband, sportscaster and former athlete, he has a hidden talent for painting folk art and landscapes.