The second full week

It's Kira Chaloupka, here, writing about the second full week of the semester. Yes, it's the first week of February, but if you read Seth's post or if you were in Alabama last week you'd know we had a few "snow" days plus the MLK Holiday the week before.

I'll give a brief update of things going on in the Dean's Office...
We've been hard at work gearing up for the shortest, yet busiest month of the year. Next week I will be assisting Amanda, "the lady I work for," with the Annual Hall of Honor Banquet hosted by the Agricultural Alumni Association. Five great gentlemen will be recognized and honored for their accomplishments and advances in the agriculture industry. The week following I will be helping coordinate and lead the FFA Spring Judging Clinics with over 700 high schoolers visiting campus over the course of 2 days, learning about topics from nursery and greenhouse to livestock and horses. Lastly and two days after the Clinics, I will help with Inside Ag Hill -- an event for admitted students to experience the College of Agriculture and meet with students and faculty in their department. Dispersed between all these events are the many campus visits that run through our office. It keeps me busy, but keeps me going. Here's a quick shoutout to Amanda, my boss and mentor, who is the reason I stay busy, but also why I am still going -- Thank you, Amanda.

Cruising in the PT -- Amanda & Kira

See what's going on in the College of Agriculture by checking out their blog:
http://wareaglewords.blogspot.com

The big event this week was the day long interview process to determine the next cohort of pubic horticulture students. Our candidates included Molly Anne Dutton, Jayne Funderburk, Heath Gober, Patrick Thompson (all from Auburn) and Evan Ware from Virginia Tech/Louisville. We welcomed each of them with our words of wisdom and experiences and can't wait for some (maybe all) of them to join us in May!

L-R: Heath, Jayne, Evan, Molly Anne, Monte, Leah, Kira, Patrick, Hanna

It's been a good week and I'm looking forward to the next three. We'll catch up in a month or so when I'm up to post again. Till then, stay warm!

KLC