August 6, 2012

For Some Students, College Really Is a 3-Ring Circus

For Some Students, College Really Is a 3-Ring Circus 1

Kendrick Brinson for The Chronicle

Performers show their all-around enthusiasm for Florida State U.'s Flying High Circus. The student circus stages summer performances under a big top in Pine Mountain, Ga.

By Lawrence Biemiller

Pine Mountain, Ga.

Sunlit arcs of muscle and sweat come one after another, back and forth, back and forth, against a blue Georgia sky. It's late afternoon at the outdoor trapeze at Callaway Gardens, summer home of Florida State University's Flying High Circus. Several students who aren't in the aerial acts—a juggler, half of a roller-skating duo, a woman who rides the bicycle built for five—have come out to fly.

Mind you, they could be napping. It's a steaming-hot day, and they've already