{"id":25198,"date":"2024-11-08T14:40:46","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T14:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=25198&#038;post_type=story"},"modified":"2025-07-16T16:21:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T16:21:19","slug":"why-i-love-orlando-is-why-i-love-ucf","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/why-i-love-orlando-is-why-i-love-ucf\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Love Orlando Is Why I Love Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the years, the moments when our community has come together in extraordinary ways are forever parts of my memory. During challenges and in good times, seeing Orlando united has always given me immense pride as the city\u2019s mayor.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why I\u2019ll always remember the night in January 2018 when downtown Orlando was filled with Black &amp; Gold as we celebrated the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ football team\u2019s undefeated season and Peach Bowl win over Auburn University. Alumni, students and fans from across the community packed Church Street to honor the team\u2019s 13-0 season, capped by a win over the Tigers in Atlanta.<\/p>\n<p>But the evening wasn\u2019t just a recognition of the Knights\u2019 incredible year. We were also celebrating Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and our community \u2014 our shared success and growth.<\/p>\n<p>I bring this up because when I think about how far Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ has come in the more than 22 years I\u2019ve served as mayor, this is one of the memories that stands out.<\/p>\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n<p>When I started my first term as mayor in 2003, sadly, there weren\u2019t a lot of people wearing Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ gear around town \u2014 and you\u2019d see even less Black &amp; Gold around the state. At the same time, there was a sense that Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ graduates weren\u2019t particularly interested in sticking around and living in our community. They had visions of going to the \u201cbig city\u201d and<br \/>\nwanted to pursue their dreams in places like New York, Chicago or Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>Depending on who you talked to, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ was either a sleeping giant or a scrappy underdog of collegiate academia and athletics, or somewhere in between.<\/p>\n<p>Many of the same comparisons were made about Orlando. We were a city with \u201cloads of potential,\u201d which is a polite way of saying we had lots of work to do.<\/p>\n<p>But something magical happened over the past two-plus decades. Alongside one another and in partnership, <strong>Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and Orlando grew and matured<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside one another and in partnership, <strong>Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and Orlando created shared visions<\/strong> for what we could be \u2014 <em>and should be<\/em> \u2014 and brought them to life.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside one another and in partnership, <strong>Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and Orlando became places where people wanted to live and pursue their dreams<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Today, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ is one of the most vibrant universities in America \u2014 located in one of the most vibrant cities in America. In the classroom, in the community and on the field of competition as a member of the Big 12 Conference, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ is leading with innovation, creativity and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/partnerships\/\">partnership<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ has become The University <em>for<\/em> the Future, at the same time Orlando has become a city for the future.<\/p>\n<p>As Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and Orlando continue to grow alongside and in partnership with one another, we will continue to diversify our economy and create high-quality jobs for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ graduates. This is evidenced by our partnership to create the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/downtown\/\">Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Downtown<\/a> campus in Creative Village, which solidifies Orlando\u2019s reputation as one of the nation\u2019s largest hubs for video<br \/>\ngame design and development. With <a href=\"https:\/\/fiea.ucf.edu\">Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½\u2019s Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy<\/a>, which is ranked <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucfs-fiea-ranks-as-worlds-no-1-graduate-game-design-program-for-4th-time-in-5-years\/\">the top graduate program in the world<\/a>, we\u2019ve created a talent pipeline for Electronic Arts, which develops some of the world\u2019s most popular games, like EA SPORTS <em>College Football 25<\/em>, right here in our city.<\/p>\n<p>Today, you can\u2019t go anyplace \u2014 a city park, a grocery store, a restaurant \u2014 without seeing someone wearing a Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ shirt or hat. And when you talk to recent Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ graduates, so many of them can\u2019t wait to tell you that they love living, working and putting down roots in Orlando.<\/p>\n<p>So when I think about the shared future ahead for The City Beautiful and its hometown university, my memories take me back to that night in 2018 when I saw nothing but Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ supporters and a sea of Black &amp; Gold that was indicative of our city\u2019s love for Knight Nation.<\/p>\n<p>I love Orlando. I love Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½. And what I love most is what we\u2019ve built in partnership together and the future that lies ahead \u2014 and that Orlando and Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ will continue to Charge On together.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Buddy Dyer is Orlando\u2019s longest-serving mayor, with his first term starting in 2003. He received an honorary Doctor of Public Service from Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ in 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":25323,"template":"","categories":[1000],"tags":[1590,101],"class_list":["post-25198","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-why-i","tag-community-impact","tag-partnerships","issues-fall-2024"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mayor Dyer: How Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and Orlando Grew Up Together<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From sparse Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ gear to Black &amp; Gold everywhere, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer reflects on 22 years of partnership between the city and its hometown university.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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