Flagler rated among top ‘surf schools’ in the nation

By Laura Croft | gargoyle@flagler.edu

PHOTO CAPTION: If Junior Eric Taylor goes to Flagler College, it must be a good surf school.

This year, Flagler College has again been included in Transworld Surf’s top 10 surf colleges in America.

Transworld Surf Magazine took the liberty of “mapping out some of the best four-year schools in America to surf, party, sling chicks, and still walk away with that diploma.” The makings of a “surf college” consist of a geographic location near great surf and healthy surf scenes and/or surf clubs or teams. They also considered other factors in creating this list: Academics, surf quality, life experience, costs and partying.

Transworld made the point that college surfers have two things: poverty and commitment. This means they won’t be taking surf trips, so they must choose a school near a decent surfing location.

The top ten schools were not listed in any particular order, but the information about location, costs, enrollment, application deadlines and popular majors were listed. The article also mentioned Flagler College is a surf powerhouse, thanks to the Saints being the No. 1 East Coast collegiate surf team.

Prospective student surfers will be drawn to Flagler College because of the easy access to many different beaches. Surf breaks from Jacksonville to New Smyrna give students all kinds of different waves and a chance to escape crowds.

Other colleges Transworld mentioned include:

• University of Hawaii Manoa
• Monmouth University in New Jersey
• University of North Carolina Wilmington
• Salve Regina University in Rhode Island
• University of California Santa Cruz