Florida Institute of Technology, Jensen Beach Campus, 1974

Florida came up in conversation yesterday, and I mentioned that I went to school there for one semester in 1974, at the Jensen Beach campus of the Florida Institute of Technology. I left quickly because I decided I wanted to study photography, not Oceanographic Technology, and I was in a hurry to start my new life. Parts of the area however, were mysterious and magical, and I hoped to find pictures that captured that.

I scanned these from my photo album. I didn’t have any pictures of the area alas, but a lot of the people I went to school with. I’m embarrassed to admit that I don’t remember any of their names, except for my roommate, Elisa Caridi. (And I apologize about not remembering names, it’s nothing personal, I have a very poor memory.) But I’m putting them up here in case any of these people googles “Florida Institute of Technology, Jensen Beach Campus,” as I did, and then they will see pictures of themselves from 1974! There’s a shot of me at the end, which I think I may have posted before.

UPDATE: I’ve gotten names for some of the people below from FIT alum William Davis and others, and I’ve captioned the pictures with their names. If anyone can identify any of the people who are still listed as unknown, let me know and I will update this page with their names.

Row 1: Mike Edsell on the left, Mike Edsell and John Kipp on the right.
Row 2: On the left, Chet King, possibly (don’t know who is next to him), no guesses for the guy on the right.

Row 1: No guesses.
Row 2: On the left unknown, Bill Atwill, English teacher and crew coach, on the right.

Row 1: That’s me on the right, with my roommate Elisa Caridi.
Row 2: Doug Koontz.
Row 3: Unknown.

And yes, except for a token shot or two my of roommate, all the pictures are of guys. Come on, I was 18!!

Row 1: I can’t remember his name (this is not personal, I just have memory issues), but I remember he was very nice and would give me rides on his motorcycle, which I loved more than anything. I still remember those rides, the scenery was amazing.
Row 2: Unknown.
Row 3: Unknown.

Row 1: Elisa Caridi on the left, Denny something? on the right.
Row 2: Unknown.

Row 1: On the left unknown, on the right Don Cuozzo.
Row 2: On the left unknown, but I remember he was another really nice guy, on the right Doug Koontz.

Row 1: These guys in both shots are unknown.
Row 2: Walter LaFluer.

Okay, this one, where I was trying to get “action” shots of Elisa dancing, shows something of the beauty of the area.

I’m pretty sure I didn’t take this picture. The guys in the picture gave it to me, and the guy on the right is Denny Something?

And this is the picture I believe I’ve posted before. These were taken for a local newspaper article about the crew team. I was the coxswain. For the record, I was a lousy coxswain. I apologize crew team of 1974!

This is Ken Henke.