Dr. Jonathan Gueverra, president and CEO of the College of the Florida Keys, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on at the college.
The 11th annual Community Day was held on Saturday.
Dr. Gueverra said, “I observed families who were coming together spending the time. In fact, it was one dad with his two boys, and one of the little boys, my wife and I make the ice cream and he said to the son who stopped at our little ice cream stand, and he said, no, we’re going to eat first, then you come back for ice cream, and I realized that people take it seriously, but it’s a great event. We have so many community partners who show up from various sectors of nonprofit, government, businesses, and they participate. We have folks from a lot of other sectors, like the Key West Junior ROTC, who do the color guard for us at that event, because the event is more than just a coming together. It’s a coming together also to celebrate our veterans, and every year at this event, we also honor our veterans. This is one of the reasons that we do this, and we do the event the weekend before or closest to Veterans Day, so that we don’t interfere with the other activities that celebrate Veterans.”
The Alumni Perks challenge was also introduced.
Dr. Gueverra said, “We started this for alumni who attend. They go through and there’s a variety of things that they do. At the end, they get a pin, they get a badge, so they can walk around as our proud alums. This is especially important for us in our 60th year, because some of them, I said get on upstairs in the library and see our 60th anniversary exhibit, because we had photos from our founding days, to as recently as this past month where the mayor for the county issued a proclamation designating November 2025 as CFK month. So our alum were very, very involved. This was an event, truly a community day event for everybody. Thank you to all our sponsors and your ongoing support.”
Ed Coy and Terry Varney, both Army veterans, alums of the college and employees of the college as well were recognized.
Dr. Gueverra said, “They both have led very, very stellar lives, very respectful men in our community, continuing to do a lot. Ed who retired as a chaplain. I love to tell the story because Ed is a dear friend, and I love to tease him about some of the things that he does. But he became a chaplain after going through a roadblock and not realizing what he had done, and it was a priest that came to his defense that led him to think about becoming a chaplain. He served 30 years as an Army Ranger. He provided all sorts of counseling and services for his service members, including counseling related to PTSD and suicide. He was deployed multiple times. He went to places like Korea, Egypt, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and met his dear wife, and then moved to the Keys, and he came into our marine engineering seamanship program, and today he is one of our faculty members. He also is a big part of our veteran students club, and it’s just an overall wonderful guy. The other person, Terry, who is in charge of our dive training locker, another army veteran. It was interesting because I asked Mayor Scholl, who is a Navy veteran, to help me in proclaiming this Veterans Day in honor of these two, but to have a Navy person saluting these two Army people was a little bit of fun back and forth on that. Terry also spent time in deployments in Germany, Iraq and a number of other places. He was assigned as a unit training advisor. He was a crew chief for Black Hawk helicopters. I mean, just a really, really great career. When he retired, he and his wife, his family, they moved to Key West. He was originally from Maine, and took some classes with the college, and then ultimately, he had an opportunity, and he became the manager for our dive training locker. So to both of those individuals, I salute them. I also like to put in a plug for our son, Julius, who’s in the Navy, and as as they’re all doing this wonderful work, especially at a time where we’re seeing all the government shutdowns and all of the uncertainties that come with that. So thank you to our veterans.”
A virtual event is coming up showcasing the dual enrollment program for students and their parents and guardians. That happens on Wednesday, November 5 at 5:30 p.m.
Dr. Gueverra said, “This is a very important event, especially as we look at the cost of everything increasing, because this gives students an opportunity to start taking college credits while they’re still in high school. The cost to the students and their families, it’s free. The biggest issue we encounter in this regard has to do with the students who are trying to pursue dual enrollment and they want to do career technical classes. So we’re trying, as a college to figure out how we can help those families. Because, one of the things that we desperately need in our community are those men and women who are engaged, whether it’s the construction trades or the other kinds of things, automotive technicians, but those classes have lab fees with them. So I’m encouraging as many people to come to this event, because we’re trying to figure out how we can come up with the financing to help that. But in addition, anyone who comes to this event, and participates, we will provide them with the opportunity to waive the $30 admission fee. But the lab fees are a big piece of what we’re working on, so come and hear about what we have to say regarding that and start your college career so you can get a few classes or, as many of our local students do earn an associate degree prior to graduating high school.”
The annual magazine Keys Currents is coming out soon.
Dr. Gueverra said, “It’s a 32 page color glossy magazine that we’ve been doing for several years now, and it highlights a lot of our accomplishments. It talks about our partnerships, talks about our partners, talks about our alum. It gives you an insight into where we are with the things that we’re doing, where we plan to be. It’s just a great opportunity for people to see all of the great things that we do at the college. So if you haven’t got a copy, please let me know. We will try to make that happen. I look forward to reading it all the time, and I’ve observed that it’s become a keepsake for many of our of our families to receive this.”
Dr. Rice, College of the Florida Keys Chief Science and Research Officer, will be participating in a panel discussion coming up at the Tropic Cinema for the 50th anniversary of Jaws the movie.
Dr. Gueverra said, “They couldn’t have asked a more passionate person about this. Dr Rice is all about the sharks, and he will spend as much time as you will give him talking about this. So it’s great that he’s going to be a part of this and lending his expertise. He has been involved in several projects over the years, including developing things like shark repellents with the National Geographic and a variety of other entities. He’s he’s often one of the people that will be called when there is some unfortunate event involving a shark or something that’s unusual. So he’s very, very much an expert at this.”
The spring semester will be here before we know it.
Dr. Gueverra said, “It certainly is, because classes begin on January 9. Our application deadline for new students is December 1. We like to encourage people to plan ahead, because there’s a lot to think about, a lot to do, the schedules, getting the right classes you want, not being put on a wait list, getting the times that you want, and, of course, being able to pay for it. I talked about that earlier related to the dual enrollment, and we want to have as much time as possible to help people think about all the different payment options that are available. So we ask you to go to our website or to contact our manager of recruitment, Miss Marissa Owens, and she will set you straight, and will direct you to where you need to be so that we can get you enrolled in classes. I want to thank the the county for proclaiming November CFK month. As we speak, I have been sitting in my car, and I am headed to the Key West City Commission meeting where the commissioners have indicated they are planning to proclaim March of 2026 which is the month where we will hold our 60th Anniversary Gala as CFK month.”
For more information on the college, click here: https://cfk.edu/