Spotlight on UGA students

UGA student honors grandfather with charity golf tournament

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The following guest post is from Cole Calfee ’17, a student at the University of Georgia. Cole is a member of the Student Government Association and the Order of Omega. He co-founded Bowtie Brand, Inc., which was sold in 2014 after three successful years of operation. 

My name’s Cole, I’m a third-year business student at UGA, and I’m organizing a charity golf tournament on Friday, October 2 in Athens.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve had October 3 marked on your calendar for quite some time. No loss is easy, but watching the clock tick to zero in the Georgia Dome in 2012 hurt more than most. Alas, the Bulldogs face off against the Alabama Crimson Tide in what is the most hyped SEC crossover game of the year on the first Saturday of October.

My thought for the golf tournament arose this past Easter, when I was in the room when my grandfather, who has Alzheimer’s disease, forgot my mom’s name. It tore me apart. A day later, I had the idea for this event and started working from there. Knowing how many folks would be coming into town for the big game, I thought it sounded like something that had the potential to raise a lot of money and ultimately do a lot of good in fighting a disease that affects so many of us.

The tournament is a 2-man scramble, and every penny we raise will go directly to The Alzheimer’s Association. I’d love for you and a partner to join us as we bring together alumni and students from both the University of Alabama and the University of Georgia for a morning of golf before the game the next day.

UGA students row for hemophilia research

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In June 2016, UGA students and avid rowers Jacob Pope ’17 and Chris Lee ’16 will be rowing 2,400 more, from California to Hawaii, in the Great Pacific Race. The campaign is called Row for Hemophilia and is designed to raise money and awareness for Hemophilia of Georgia (HoG). The UGA Alumni Association invited Jacob to guest blog about his upcoming adventure.

HoG, a local-non-profit pharmacy, exists so people affected by bleeding disorders may live as normally and productively as possible. The only agency of its kind in Georgia, HoG sponsors outreach programs for the bleeding disorder community, such as Camp Wannaklot, leadership opportunities for those interested in community advocacy and legislative issues, as well as social support and services.

Jacob and Chris didn’t pick HoG simply because it was a good cause: they knew if they were going to take on a challenge as great as the Pacific Ocean, that they could also make lasting changes to a community that is close to their hearts. Jacob was born with hemophilia and has firsthand experience with the services HoG provides, like outreach nursing, attending Camp Wannaklot and participating in an exchange program to Germany to learn more about hemophilia across the globe.

L-R: Jacob Pope and Chris Lee 

Row for Hemophilia hopes to raise $125,000 in total, which would be enough to gain access to the safest rowing boats and navigational equipment necessary to make the journey, as well as enough to fully sponsor Camp Wannaklot in 2016 – an impact that would provide more than 100 young children with hemophilia the opportunity to experience a great adventure.

To learn more about Jacob and Chris, the Great Pacific Race and Row for Hemophilia, visit www.rowforhemophilia.com and follow the guys’ story on Facebook.

As always, Row Dawgs!

UGA Majorette is No. 1 College Twirler

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While Nicole Jensen ’15 has lit up Sanford Stadium with her flaming batons and show-stopping gymnastics moves as a UGA feature twirler on game days, she is also making her mark on the national stage. She has garnered attention for UGA and continued the legacy of national champions after winning the highly coveted title of Miss College Majorette of America. This is the highest award given to a college twirler at the National Baton Twirling Championships, held each year in South Bend, Indiana.

Nicole has been a UGA feature twirler for the past four years. This is highly sought after position among top twirlers in the nation. Nicole, a senior marketing major from Iowa City, Iowa, was selected through an intense audition process and has enjoyed every minute of her time twirling between the hedges at UGA.

Nicole is no stranger to success. She was on the USA World Team, where she was a silver medalist, and has traveled and performed in Peru as an ambassador. She has won hundreds of awards and titles in her twirling career, including the Collegiate Women’s Solo National Champion in 2012.

Representing UGA as the reigning top college twirler, Nicole has been touring the country this spring and summer, performing at events and competitions as an ambassador of her sport. This past weekend by performing at Notre Dame in the National Baton Twirling Championships, Nicole performed her final duties as College Miss Majorette of America. Make sure to check out Nicole, in her final season, and the rest of the UGA Majorettes at every home football game this fall!

UGA mascot Hairy Dawg joined Nicole for her final performance at Notre Dame

Once a Dawg, Always a Dawg

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“Mine was the best seat in the house at the 2015 UGA graduation exercises last Saturday in Sanford Stadium.  Not because I was a special speaker or honored guest but because I was sitting next to my youngest daughter as a member of the graduating class of 2015.”

Bulldog 100 business owner Frank Raiford’s (BBA ’15) story is a bit unique. Originally a student in the late 1970s, Frank left UGA to start his business career – just three credits shy of graduating. He intended to return and finish his degree, but months turned into years and the family (Frank’s wife, Melanie, is a member of UGA’s Class of 1984) and business continued to grow.

Flash forward to the fall of 2011. Frank’s youngest daughter, Meredith (BFA ’15), is a freshman at UGA and tells her father how much it would mean to her if they could graduate together.

“I had promised Meredith that I would “finish” the last class that I needed to graduate and walk with her during her graduation. I will always remember this brief and unique time spent with “my” graduating class. I could feel the energy of youth and sense their expectations as they moved across the field and transitioned from being students to graduates.”

After graduation, Meredith said “I was so proud and honored to graduate with my dad. It’s because of his hard work and dedication over the past 30 years that I have been able to succeed today. It was only fitting that we got to celebrate our accomplishments together Between the Hedges. We both enjoyed every minute of it.”

Earlier this year, Frank’s company, Police & Sheriff’s Press, Inc. was recognized by the UGA Alumni Association as a member of the Bulldog 100 Class of 2015. The business was also recognized in 2014.

Frank had this to say about this unorthodox path to a degree, “Graduation was a long time in coming. My peers from ’76-’82 are ordering senior coffee, receiving letters from AARP and showing off pictures of grandchildren. My new peers have the world before them and are ready to begin their journey. My hope for each of them is to dream big, work hard, cherish the friends they have made at UGA and enjoy the journey.”

Whether you consider him a member of the Class of 1982 or 2015, we know that Frank, as well as Meredith, will represent the Bulldog family with pride wherever they go. Congratulations on graduating!

Spotlight on UGA’s recent award recipients

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Recently, several UGA faculty and students have been in the spotlight for receiving prestigious scholarships and awards. The UGA Alumni Association is proud of these outstanding individuals as they further the university’s mission and enhance its reputation.

Torre Lavelle ’16 has been named a 2015 Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation Scholar which is awarded to an undergraduate pursuing a career focused on environmental or Native American policy. Lavelle is a third-year student majoring in ecology and plans to pursue a master’s degree in environmental management as well as a Juris Doctor in hopes of becoming a conservation policymaker. Read more.

Juanita Johnson-Bailey (MED ’93, EDD ’94), director of the Institute for the Women’s Studies at UGA, is the recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Fund Award, an honor given by the American Association of University Women for outstanding contribution to equality and education for women and girls. Johnson-Bailey has authored and co-authored more than 100 journal articles, book reviews, book chapters and monographic. She has also delivered nearly 120 conference presentations and chaired nearly 30 completed doctoral dissertations. Read more.

Kathleen Wilson ’16 was named a 2015 Truman Scholar receiving a $30,000 scholarship to attend graduate school. Wilson is pursuing bachelors’ degrees in economics and international affairs. She plans to earn a master’s in public policy and Middle Eastern studies after graduation in 2016. Read more.

Megan Ernst ’15 was awarded the James Madison Graduate Fellowship which provides up to $24,000 for individuals who desire to become outstanding teachers at the secondary school level. Ernst will graduate in May with Bachelor of Arts in journalism, Bachelor of Arts in political science, and a Master of Public Administration from the School of Public and International Affairs. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in teaching from the UGA College of Education. Read more.

Lauren Dennison ’15, Erin Hollander ’15, and Karishma Sriram ’15 received 2015 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships, exclusive undergraduate scholarships in the field of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. The scholarships cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year. All three students are enrolled in Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and plan to earn doctoral degrees related to biomedical research. Read more.

Ayan Hussein (BS ’12) is one of the recipients of the 2015 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. This fellowship supports the graduate education of students who were born abroad but have become permanent residents or naturalized citizens of the United States. Hussein, a 2012 UGA graduate, is now earning a Ph.D at Yale University studying biological and biomedical sciences. Selected from a pool of 1,200 applicants, she will receive tuition and stipend assistance up to $90,000 in support of her graduate education. Read more.

Sixteen UGA students have been awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. The highly competitive awards recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.These fellows were selected from more than 16,000 applicants nationwide for the 2015 competition. Read more.

Shabbat 500 creates home for UGA students

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Recently, Executive Director Meredith Gurley Johnson (BSFCS ’00) had an opportunity to attend the Shabbat 500 dinner. 

Thanks to generous Georgia Fund gifts, University of Georgia student organizations are able to apply for sponsorship dollars from the UGA Alumni Association. This is an important way for alumni to support the diverse student groups on campus, including UGA’s student Jewish center, The Rohr Chabad House.

Since 2011, the UGA Alumni Association has been a proud sponsor of the Shabbat 500, an annual free dinner for UGA’s Jewish community in celebration of Shabbat. As a sponsor of Shabbat 500, we help fund the 500-person event hosted by The Rohr Chabad House.

The Chabad House is located near the Spec Towns Track and is a home-away-from-home for Jewish students that offers fellowship and an opportunity to celebrate the holidays. Rabbi Refson and his wife, Chana, have five children, yet they are still able to provide unparalleled hospitality to UGA students through their work with The Chabad House. Every Friday evening, the couple welcomes approximately 60 students for a free dinner in their home. The UGA community is lucky to have individuals like Rabbi Refsen and Chana who provide such special moments for students to gather and celebrate Judaism.

I was able to attend this year’s Shabbat 500 with UGA Alumni Association Vice President Ruth Bartlett (BBA ’76). I witnessed a number of UGA’s student leaders participate, enjoyed seeing the special connections these students have with one another, and loved hearing the prayers, blessings and singing that took place! The students’ energy reminded me how wonderfully diverse the University of Georgia student body is and it made me proud that the UGA Alumni Association sponsors this program.

I greatly admire Rabbi Refson’s family and appreciate the role they play in building a welcoming community for students on campus. I am proud to call them my friends and hope the entire Athens community knows how lucky we are to have them as a resource for students. I invite students, parents and alumni to investigate Chabad of Georgia and The Chabad House to find their role in supporting Rabbi Refson and this special organization on campus.

Executive Director Meredith Gurley Johnson (BSFCS ’00), Student Alumni Council Member Reed Turry ’17 and Vice President Ruth Bartlett (BBA ’76)

I look forward to our team sponsoring this event, which promotes campus diversity and inclusiveness, again in the future. Thank you to The Chabad House for hosting Ruth and me!

Meredith Gurley Johnson (BSFCS ’00) is the executive director of the UGA Alumni Association. 

Amazing Student: Sarah Huber ’15

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From the moment she stepped foot on the campus, Sarah Huber could tell that UGA was the perfect place for her. Nearly four years later, the future dentist calls the journey an “extraordinary experience.”

Throughout my four years at UGA, I have experienced significant development in my character and drastic change in my approach to life. I entered college with an outlook that was enthusiastic, yet full of uncertainty in my surroundings and in my hopes for the future. Today, my recent acceptance to dental school and each of the incredible relationships I have formed at UGA serve as reminders of the extraordinary experience that this university has provided me over these past four years.

Read more about Sarah’s incredible four years at UGA.

UGA’s Amazing Students: Colby Ruiz

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Colby Ruiz ’15, a senior majoring in biological sciences, has successfully focused on his research since stepping foot on campus and has his sights set on becoming a physician.

University highlights, achievements and awards:

As a student of the Honors Program and a recipient of the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities Honors Scholarship, I began participating in undergraduate research in my first semester. I am studying a family of proteins that includes Ras, which is mutagenic in 30 percent of all human cancers. I have presented my research numerous times including at the UGA CURO Symposium and a regional research conference within my field. While I’ve made a very small contribution to the scientific community, I can’t begin to convey the value of my work to my learning experience; this project has taught me to manage my time, approach complex problems and communicate complicated ideas to audiences with a range of scientific understanding. The lessons I have learned though my research involvement couldn’t have been taught in a classroom, and I am forever thankful to CURO for providing such a valuable learning experience.

My extracurricular involvement has been focused on recruiting talented students from rural areas of Georgia for UGA and particularly the Honors Program. As an Honors ambassador and a member of the Georgia Recruitment Team, I have traveled to high schools to speak with potential applicants and met with dozens of potential students on campus to discuss my experiences at UGA and help connect them with academic programs that fit their needs and interests.

In the summer after my junior year I was selected to participate in the Summer Undergraduate Research Program at New York University; three out of the 35 participants in this program were from UGA, chosen from a pool of over 1,000 applicants. I spent the summer at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the City of New York where I worked on developing a protocol for processing biological evidence samples from crime scenes.

After three of the best years of my life, I’m excited to see what my senior year at UGA holds. I can say with confidence that I could not have chosen a better university, and I plan to be involved on campus in a significant capacity for many years to come.

After graduation, I plan to: 

Become a medical student. I’d like to be trained as a surgeon. The one UGA experience I will always remember will be: Every Saturday between the hedges is a Saturday I’ll never forget. Go Dawgs.

Click here to learn more about Colby.

Brothers make business a family affair

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How do two brothers from tiny Hopeful, Georgia, manage to take Atlanta’s entrepreneurial spirit to a new level? Well, ask the Shirah brothers, Benjie (BSFR ’07, MFR ’10) and Jamey (BBA ’10). Since leaving Athens, the business-savvy brothers have embarked on a number of successful endeavors, including The Ivy Buckhead and Atlanta-based companies Kill Cliff – The Recovery Drink™ and Vida-Flo: The Hydration Station. Now, the brothers are heading in a new direction – your feet.

This fall, Benjie and Jamey launched their latest project, JL The Brand, a flair-filled sock company. Together with friends, the brothers are working to add a little jazz to the mundane black and blue men’s suit with top-notch socks.

Designed with unique patterns and colors, JL The Brand offers affordable high quality socks that add a subtle yet sophisticated pop to any outfit. JL The Brand socks are the perfect gift for any guy this holiday season!

With the Shirah brothers’ keen eye for business development, these young alumni are sure make a lasting mark on Atlanta’s entrepreneurial scene.

Keep up with the Shirah’s businesses on social media:

@theivybuckhead
@govidaflo
@jlthebrand