To commemorate its 130th anniversary, Florida Memorial University turned its annual scholarship fund-raising dinner into a gala and found a new venue in Miami Beach’s Fontainebleau. A sold-out crowd of 500 showed up Friday night to see the changes in effect.
“[The dinner] was at the Broward Country Convention Center last year, and we wanted to move to Miami Beach to be more mainstream and in the hottest location in South Florida,” said Joyce R. Forchion, director of public affairs for the university, who served as event co-chair. “We usually have a scholarship banquet, but we put a spin on it this year and upgraded it to a gala because of the anniversary.”
The crowd included more than 100 sponsors, politicians, and local media, who arrived early for a V.I.P. reception in the hotel’s presidential suite with the gala’s honoree, Miami Dolphins linebacker Jason Taylor. Forchion scheduled the night’s main program to start at 7:20 p.m. in the Fleur de Lis ballroom, but had to extend the V.I.P. reception by nearly an hour due to Taylor’s late arrival.
“We had a lot of our major sponsors and elected officials, and we wanted to give them time to mingle with [Taylor] and take pictures,” Forchion said.
Once it started, the night’s program included two students who presented essays about the school’s history; a performance of the Negro National Anthem, "Lift Your Voice and Sing," by the university's ambassador chorale ensemble; and a video chronicling the university’s 130 years. Board of trustees chairman Charles George presented Taylor with the 2009 Florida Memorial University Community Leadership Award for his efforts to promote the benefits of advanced education to elementary and middle school youth.
After the presentations, the hotel served a two-course dinner of a salad and roast salmon fillet with braised cabbage, fava beans, carrots, beet puree, and horseradish cream. Instead of a plated dessert, the Fontainebleau set up dessert and coffee stations in the back of the ballroom to cut down the length of the event.
“People go to so many events like this that they get tired of a long evening,” said independent planner Roy Campbell of Delaware-based C&C Entertainment Group, who helped coordinate the night. “This way, if they have to get home for childcare, they can; otherwise they can stay and mingle.”
