Highlights from the Highway

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We arrived in Augusta around lunch time and my good friend from college came and picked me up to steal me away for the day. It was fabulous! We got to lay out and catch up. :)

At dinner I saw Crystal Smith Flemming ('06) whom I cheered with during my short stint at Shorter in 2005. It was great to see her and catch up on all that has been going on in her world since I've seen her last which includes a husband and an eleven month old baby boy! He is presh!

I finally met Lloyd and Susan DeFoor (class of '73 I believe) and it was nice to see them at the event tonight. They brought with them a few incoming students and their parents. The students were pumped to get their first Shorter University t-shirt and I was pumped to give it to them!

Today was a good day. Do you know why it was a good day? Because not only did we have a stellar event this evening, but today was one day closer to tomorrow and tomorrow we go home!!! (After our lunch event in Macon of course) Woooooo!!! I miss my bed and my family and my friends!! And tomorrow is the day I can get back into the normal swing of things. :) Good night!

Mal

Morning! Macon is on the way to you too!! ;)

What an amazing turnout we had in Augusta tonight! Not only did we have alumni present, but also current and incoming students. I tell you what, people in this area have got it together, and have such a passion for Shorter and its success!

Lloyd & Susan DeFoor both class of 73 graduates served as our alumni hosts for the evening. They are both truly incredible ambassadors for the school. I wish we had more people that stepped up like they have.

On a side note - Susan's roommate Mary Lynn Lester Eubank '73 was able to join in on the fun. Throughout dinner I kept catching a glimpse of them laughing and carrying on. Watching them made me happy.

It was so great to see Crystal Smith Flemming '06, Josh '05 and Lindsay Kirves Byers '05. While at Shorter, Crystal and I cheered together. She is a charismatic leader that gets things done. I admire that quality in her. Josh and I have known each other since summer orientation our freshman year. We haven't kept up much, but seeing him tonight was like we hadn't missed a beat. Get this - he serves in the Army doing military intelligence. Isn't that amazing!?! I was so intrigued by his job, so he shared the details he could with me. Lindsay is an amazing woman to handle all the stress and secrecy. Their little boy Ethan also came along - he is a doll baby and very well behaved. Parenthood suits them both very well.

It was great to see Mary Kate Lollar '12 and Kyle Timberlake '09 too. They sat with the slew of incoming students and did an amazing job as ambassadors - not surprising!! They are both wonderful!! I really enjoyed talking with all the incoming students. We had a women's golfer, baseball player, transfer lacrosse player, and a potential nursing major. Conversation with them was a nice change of pace. They are about to begin the best days of their lives!!!

Augusta was by far one of the best events we had on this trip! As we were leaving the DeFoors and Crystal were discussing creating an alumni chapter in the area. I can see great things coming from this area!

In case you haven't gotten the point yet - Augusta was amazing!!

Leaving at 7:30 in the morning for Macon. It's our last event of this leg of the tour. I'm sure it will be great too!

Till next time,

Rach

I really enjoyed the Augusta stop of our Road Tour.  We got into town around lunch and I was able to catch up with one of my high school buddies, Charles Dixon who I haven’t seen in about 12 years. 

This was the first event I wasn’t sure if we would ever make it to.  Our GPS couldn’t find the address of the restaurant so we found an intersection close by to navigate to and figured it wouldn’t be a problem to find the restaurant.  Thirty minutes later and two calls to the restaurant, we finally pull up. 

We had a nice size crowd already at the restaurant waiting for us.  Lloyd and Susan DeFoor had helped us find the location and had invited several students who were either already students at Shorter, transferring in, or joining us a freshmen next year. 

Alumni in attendance included Mary Lynn Lester Eubank who was Susan’s roommate at Shorter.  At our table I got to catch up with Matthew Harding who was a fraternity brother of mine in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and well as Josh and Lindsey Byers and their son.  One of my wife’s classmate and Ep Sig sister Crystal Smith Flemming joined us as well.

Augusta has a great bunch of alumni and future alumni and I hope we are able to have another Shorter University event soon.

Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.

Chip