The Danielle TimesSunday, May 2, 2010

There are countless graduates of Auburn University; so many of them have gone on to do incredible things, shouldn’t they be recognized for their achievements? Auburn and the Student Alumni Association (SAA) agree! The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes recipients for outstanding achievements in their professional lives, personal integrity and stature, and service to the university. According to the SAA website, the award was established in 2001 to honor extraordinary accomplishments by members of the Auburn family. Recipients of Lifetime Achievement Awards are selected by a committee of Auburn administrators, trustees, faculty and alumni.

The 2010 Lifetime Achievement Awards will be held on March 6, 2010 at the Auburn University Hotel and Conference Center. The announcement of recipients was made in November of 2009 and the 2010 recipients of Lifetime Achievement Awards are: founder and leader of the international containerized ocean shipping industry, Robert Kenneth Johns ‘57 of Summit, NJ;

insurance mogul J. Smith Lanier II ‘49 of Lanett, Ala.; space shuttle rocket motor designer Gerald W. Smith ‘61 of Huntsville, Ala.; and retired astronaut Kathryn C. Thornton ‘74 of Charlottesville, Va.

“The Lifetime Achievement Awards is a night to celebrate everything these great alumni have done in their careers,” Tanja Matthews, Alumni Programs Coordinator, says. It is a black-tie event that influential members of the Auburn University community attend as well as the award recipients and their friends and family.

“The Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest award the

alumni association gives out,” Matthews says. Some of the past recipients of the award are: Dr. Ralph Brown Draughon, Dean James Edgar Foy, Dean Katharine Cooper Cater, Coach James Ralph “Shug” Jordan, and Dean George Petrie.

Anyone is welcome to nominate an Auburn alumni for the Lifetime Achievement Award. Starting March 8, 2010 nominations for the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award will be accepted. You can call or email Tanja Matthews with your nominations: 334-844-1113 | tanjamatthews@auburn.edu

Know an outstanding Auburn alumni? Nominate them for the Lifetime Achievement Award!By: Danielle Sherman

Attendees of the 2009 Lifetime achievement awards mingling.

Anna JohnsonNashville’s newest working girl

Anna Johnson, 22-year-old Auburn University graduate, is the Sustainable Solutions Group (SSG) of Smith Seckman Reid’s newest employee. Anna accepted the job as Marketing & Project Assistant after several months of job hunting. After being hired Anna described the opportunity to work for Smith Seckman Reid (SSRCx) as, “the job of my dreams,” she said.

Anna graduated from Auburn in December 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations. While at Auburn Anna participated in various activities and received several awards and honors. For example, she participated in the AU Public Relations council and National society of Collegiate Scholars, and she received honors like the William Brooks Scholarship and the PR Alumni Scholarship.

After graduation Anna began her job search, looking specifically to work for a PR agency in Nashville. Anna described her job search as stressful but exciting. “I guess you could say,

‘I have been bitten by the PR bug’ because I can’t imagine working in any other field,” Anna said, “I never knew people got excited to go to work, until I met PR professionals. I have found my passion and something that excites me every day.

After months of job seeking she found SSRCx, which as it says on their website is a team dedicated entirely to addressing the market of sustainable design, construction and operations. SSR provides LEED facilitation, LEED feasibility studies, sustainability consulting, and development of Architectural and Engineering guidelines, energy modeling, energy audits, new building commissioning, retro-commissioning and Continuous Commissioning services among others.

As the marketing and project assistant, Anna oversees all marketing tools including proposal design SOQ, RFP and RFQ design. “I am the in charge of making sure every piece we

send out as a company contains no spelling errors, looks nice and brands the company as we wish,” Anna said. “I also make sure my boss, Jamie Qualk the vice president of SSRCx, has everything he needs to complete a proposal.

Anna uses skills she learned in her classes at Auburn on a day-to-day basis. “I spend about 4 hours a day on InDesign getting things ready for a client to take a look at,” Anna said. “Robert French’s Style &Design in PR Messages class taught me everything, it is why I have this job today.” Her Campaigns in PR class was very helpful in preparing her for her job as well. Her campaign for Alabama Power Company and Russell Lands and helped develop editing skills and now that she work with proposals every day she better understands what to do.

By: Danielle Sherman

“I can’t imagine working in any other field,” Anna said, “I never knew people got excited to go to work, until I met PR professionals.”

The Danielle Times

“Okay, now we are going to jump over the river,” Clarke Bear, senior in the Teacher Education Physical Education program explains to her 5-year-old students. “Don’t step in it because, there are snakes in the river!“[Students scream with excitement]

This is just a normal Tuesday at Jeter a Pre-Kindergarten school for young girls and boys. Bear has the students jumping over two jump ropes about two feet apart on the ground telling them it is a river with snakes. “Each week we teach different lessons pertaining to a specific skill like jumping, kicking or ball handling,” Bear says.

According to the Auburn University website, the Physical Education Teacher Education program is to produce teachers with the capacity to create curriculum and instruction practices that help children achieve an active lifestyle which will continue in and throughout adulthood.

The program provides students with knowledge about exercise, physical activity, and instruction, provides significant clinical experiences, develops reflective teachers, and utilizes the most up-to-date methods for assessing teaching ability and skills.

The students of the Teacher Education Physical Education program spend most of their

time outside the classroom getting real field experience.

They travel around the Auburn-Opelika area teaching at several different schools throughout the semester. “It is really great experience because you get to see what you will actually be doing after graduation,” Bear says, “and it is also a very rewarding experience because you know you are helping the students and their schools.”

“There are snakes in the river!” By: Danielle Sherman

Every year the Davis Arboretum celebrates Arbor Day with a photography contest to exhibit just how amazing nature is. The annual photo contest provides the Davis Arboretum with images to choose from when putting their yearly calendar together. The 2010 Photo Contest theme is “The Spirit of the

Arboretum.” All photo entries must be received by 5 p.m. on April 22, 2010. The contest is open to any amateur photographer. There is an adult category and a children’s category for photo entries. The one main guideline for the contest is no man made objects may be in the photo. There are various categories for entries, such as: mammals, reptiles and amphibians, flowers or just anything inside the Davis Arboretum.

Starting in 2009 all the photo contest entries were displayed in the main hallway of Biggin Hall for a week and several art and design classes were given

assignments relating to the exhibit. This year the photos will be displayed in Biggin Hall from April 23rd until May 5th. A ballot box will be in place so everyone can vote for his or her favorite. An award ceremony will take place April 29th in Biggin Hall beginning at 5:00 PM. Awards will be given for each of the categories as well as “The People’s Choice Award.”

“The Arboretum is a great place to come take pictures,” Patrick Thompson, Arboretum Specialist says, “there are lots of fun things in bloom right now, so come on out!”

2010 Davis Arboretum Photo ContestBy: Danielle Sherman

The Danielle Times

The Danielle Times

The Danielle Times

With wedding season fast approaching, the students of the Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRMT) program are hard at work attempting to satisfy every bride and groom. The women and men of this program in the College of Human Sciences are educated in the global hospitality and tourism industries. According to the College of Human Sciences Web site, the program concentrates on service excellence, social and ethical responsibility and diversity in a practically oriented and intellectually challenging learning environment. The program teams with the Auburn University Hotel and Conference Center to provide real life experience to students.

HRMT is not just for students who want to be wedding planners. Graduates of HRMT program are in demand in

a variety of health-related, hospitality, and foods industry careers. HRMT also places 100 percent of their graduates in jobs.

Ever since the 2001 blockbuster The Wedding Planner starring Jennifer Lopez there has been an influx of women and men wanting to be a wedding planner. Mary Louise Gore, an HRMT senior, is studying to be an event planner, specifically a wedding planner. She has had a passion for event planning since she was 8 years old but it was not until she was in high school that she knew she wanted to be a wedding planner. She now works part time at Opelika First Baptist Church as their wedding coordinator. She is the contact for the church for couples that are planning to get married there. She helps every bride and groom plan their perfect ceremony. “I will help the

couple do anything from choosing colors to helping design the invitations, I don’t really have set tasks, just whatever they need,” Gore says.

She explains how her classes have taught her the necessary skills to be successful in the industry. “Everything that was taught to us was applicable,” Gore says. Her favorite class in HRMT was Events and Catering where she helped plan a gala for the entire HRMT department. She also found her flower arranging class enjoyable and applicable for her desired career in wedding planning. Being engaged to be married herself, these classes and her experience from working at the church have been a huge help in planning her own wedding.

Wedding Season in the College of Human SciencesBy: Danielle Sherman

The students of HRMT designed and sent out invitations to the Gala to Auburn Alumni and Faculty.