Hi everyone, my name is Heather Gorenflo! I am a third-year Environmental Engineering major with a minor in Sustainability Studies from Merritt Island, Florida.

During my Freshman year, I was a member of the Internal Committee, which aims to foster community within each cohort of FLEG. We planned many social and community-based events throughout the entire year. As a part of this committee, I grew socially and professionally alongside my peers through planning these events.

At the end of my freshman year, I was honored to be selected for multiple leadership roles within the organization. I was chosen to serve on both the External Affairs and FLEGacy Committees, alongside being one of the Recruitment Committee Directors and an Internal Committee Directors for the upcoming year. As an External Affairs member, I was tasked with contacting industry professionals and university faculty to attend FLEG’s major yearly networking event. Within the FLEGacy Committee, I was able to work on our mentorship program and help maintain SLEG (sophomore and higher FLEG members) connections.
As Recruitment Director, I had the opportunity to lead my peers in planning all of our recruitment efforts. I was able to reach out to potential members of FLEG and interact with many different people throughout this process. Finally, as an Internal Director, I have had such a rewarding chance to watch each of my committee members grow as I guided them in planning and executing our events.

Serving in my director roles has been such a rewarding experience, and I have learned so much about myself and leadership throughout them; Specifically, as Internal Director. It has been so rewarding to watch my committee members grow and blossom into the young gator engineers that they are.

I believe the F in FLEG not only stands for Freshman but also Family, as FLEG has given me this over the past two years. I have made many life-long connections through this organization, and could not imagine my college experience without FLEG. Not only have I met my UF family, but it introduced me to a passion I never knew I had: Leadership. FLEG has helped me experience so much academic and professional growth, and I have discovered who I am as a leader.

As President, my role is to manage the organization as a whole, lead our General Body Meetings (GBMs), and deliver engaging and impactful leadership lessons. I also oversee our leadership team, serve as a mentor, organize our semester schedule, and keep us on track with our goals and values.

I joined FLEG freshman year because of
how welcoming everyone in the org was during recruitment events. I also really liked the idea of getting meet other freshman engineers in other majors and getting to work with them to plan events for the college while gaining leadership skills. FLEG has had such a huge impact on my professional development and time at UF and has really made it feel like a home.

My favorite memories from freshman year are probably spring retreat in St. Augustine and our collegiate committee socials! On leadership last year, I really enjoyed our leadership socials, helping to plan FCF on the External Committee, and being a Collegiate Director.

As EVP, I work to maintain the organization’s professional representation internally and externally. Externally, I am able to do this by communicating with corporate representatives and increasing their engagement with our organization. This is done through information sessions, panels, and other events, for the members to increase their exposure to the engineering industry. Internally, I am able to help the members by creating resources and workshops to aid in their professional development. As Executive Vice President, I also lead the External Affairs Committee to assist me in organizing and executing the Fall Corporate Formal.

In the fall, I hope to expand the local network of our organization and increase the accessibility and visibility of the organization’s professional resources in the College of Engineering as a whole.

Hi everyone! My name is Connor Murphy, and I am this year’s FLEG Secretary. I am a third-year Electrical Engineering major from Jacksonville, Florida. I have been so deeply involved in FLEG because it is so much more than a typical student organization. The relationships, memories, and skills I have made and learned here are priceless, and something that I will keep with me for the rest of my life. I joined FLEG for the opportunity to gain professional skills and meet other engineering students; I stayed because FLEG is a community like no other. Many of my favorite FLEG memories come from our annual spring retreats. My freshman year, our trip to St. Augustine was a moment to unwind from the stresses of an engineering degree and truly get to know my fellow FLEG as our year was winding down. This past year, our spring retreat camping trip was – despite the rain – a great time to bond with another year of FLEG. As Secretary, I manage FLEG’s room booking, calendar, meeting slides, and general organization. Next year, I hope to serve as a welcoming face to the next class of FLEG, while ensuring that the organization continues to run as a well-oiled machine so that another year of memories can be made at FLEG events.

Hi! My name is Michael Logsdon and I’m from Merritt Island, FL. I’m a third year computer engineering student.

As a freshman, I was a collegiate committee ambassador trying to bridge the gap between the resources housed within the College of Engineering and its students! We made events covering research, finding success during the Summer, and event HWCOE bingo. During the last few weeks of my freshman year, I was selected to lead the collegiate committee for the next year in addition to helping out with FLEG’s recruitment process.

Through the Summer and Fall semesters, I will be acting as FLEG’s treasurer. I will help to ensure that all committees have the resources they need to put on amazing events. I’ll be managing all merch, fundraisers, and other facets of FLEG’s budget. If you have any questions on how FLEG’s budget works, please reach out!

FLEG has enabled so much for me during the last few years and my one hope is that I can continue to pass these benefits on to future FLEG classes. I’ve grown to be the leader I am today through the help of FLEG, have grown professionally leading to two summer jobs in my field, and have found a nice niche within UF that I can confide in. Thank you FLEG!