Feature Pieces

UCF student's journey from courtside manager to crowd favorite

Since he was a kid in Bangkok, Thailand, Poohpha “Pooh” Warakulnukroh has been drawn to seemingly divergent pursuits — sports and science.

“It’s almost impossible to balance the two things, but I know college is the best time to do it,” said Warakulnukroh, a redshirt sophomore guard on the UCF men’s basketball team and mechanical engineering student.

He began his UCF basketball career his freshman year in 2021 – not as a player, but as a student manager. Before he even bounced a ball on the co

UCF ROTC and Singing Knights catch eyes at NFL Pro Bowl

UCF’s ROTC and Singing Knights had a bigger-than-usual audience on Feb. 4.

The groups performed for nearly 6 million TV viewers and 55,000 fans who packed into Camping World Stadium in Orlando for the NFL Pro Bowl, according to Sports Media Watch and the Orlando Sentinel.

The game propelled the Knights once more to the national stage, building upon a substantial 2 million viewers that tuned into the Gasparilla Bowl in January, according to data from the Black and Gold Banneret.

The NFL Pro Bo

In Winter Garden city commission races, it’s neighbor v. neighbor

Candidates for District 2 and District 3 hail from the same neighborhoods. What does that mean for voters?

Winter Garden’s city charter says that candidates must live in the district they wish to represent for at least a year before running for office. But in the same neighborhood? On the same block? It’s enough to make you wonder if there’s something in the water.

Aubrey Jewett, PhD, an associate professor of government and politics at University of Central Florida, has studied state and loca