Articles by Communication

Hundreds of homeless students in St. Johns County

By Montana Samuels | gargoyle@flagler.edu The five-year spike of homeless students enrolling in St. Johns County schools has begun to taper off, but some experts fear the trend won’t last. “I think the numbers can and will go up,” says Kassy Guy-Johanessen, director of development at…


Microplastics: A macro threat

By Shelby Gillis and Richard Zarrilli | gargoyle@flagler.edu Eight trillion microbeads enter into marine habitats every day in the United States alone. That’s enough to cover over 300 tennis courts every day, according to a research paper published in September in the Environmental Science and Technology…


Engineering a hangover

By Nikki Ross and Shelby Gardiner | gargoyle@flagler.edu Imagine getting a hangover. From pizza. This is what Devin Mooneyhan, a farmer in Starke, Florida, experienced before he became diagnosed with a gluten allergy. “The doctors I’ve been talking to think it has a direct correlation to…


One third of murders unsolved

By Susan Boswell | gargoyle@flagler.edu Six years after his father’s murder, Ryan Backmann hasn’t given up hope on the unsolved case. In 2009, Backmann’s father, Cliff Backmann, was shot and killed during what investigators believe was an attempted robbery. Since then, Backmann has dedicated his life…


Attacks on police stir debate

By Taylor Long | gargoyle@flagler.edu Okaloosa County Deputy Sheriff Bill Myers had just dropped off a domestic violence injunction at a lawyer’s office in Shalimar, Florida, when a man came from behind and shot him in the back and head. Meyers, 64, was killed. The…


Neighborhood’s remarkable birthright: Free tuition

By Montana Samuels | gargoyle@flagler.edu It’s a cloudy day, with rain coming down for most of the morning. Small houses, some with clean, landscaped yards are sprinkled in with the majority that remain on the verge of unkempt. Upon first look, nothing stands out about…


Prescription pills: Deceptively dangerous

By Darby Moore | gargoyle@flagler.edu Most people believe illegal drugs are most likely to lead to addiction. This common-held belief is no longer true when considering modern-day substance abuse. Yet many addicts get their drugs from a place you might not expect: Their own medicine…