Kimberly P. Johnson M ’10

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Johnson pictured with members of the Friendship 9. From left, civil rights activist David Boone, who took part
in 1960s sit-ins, and Friendship 9 members Clarence Graham, James Well, Willie McCleod and W.T. “Dub” Massey. CHARLOTTE OBSERVER

Righting History

In 1961, nine young African-American college students were arrested for sitting at a whites-only lunch counter at McCrory’s Five & Dime in Rock Hill. Instead of posting bail, they became the first sit-in participants to insist on doing jail time — 30 days hard labor — that served as a model for future sit-ins and protests.
For 54 years, historians have credited the men — known as the Friendship 9 — for actions that revived the civil rights movement. But their story was little known outside Rock Hill residents or civil rights scholars.
Until they met Kimberly Johnson.
Johnson, a graduate of Clemson’s youth development leadership program, is an award-winning children’s author living in nearby York who met the Friendship 9 by chance at the same McCrory’s Five & Dime in 2011. After her conversation with them, she knew it was a story to be shared.
She released her 17th title, No Fear for Freedom: The Story of the Friendship 9 — a children’s book — in 2014. The book received a wonderful reception locally, but Johnson was restless to do more, inspired by her research on the Friendship 9 and the civil rights movement as a whole.
Moved in particular by Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, which emphasized the creation of unjust laws, she approached the Rock Hill-area solicitor to see if the Friendship 9’s convictions could be overturned.
On January 28, 2015, in a packed courthouse and the eyes of the nation on them, the solicitor presented their case — and a judge threw out their convictions.
“There is always something that we can do to make things better,” said Johnson. “This case, in a small way, has opened the door for bigger conversations about race and diversity — it also sends a message to children and adults alike that justice is possible.”
Johnson says that message was reinforced during her time in Clemson’s youth development leadership program. “The program helped me understand that we are all change agents and that we can make a difference, starting with our own communities,” she said. “In that process, we can even begin to change the world!”
More information about the Friendship 9:

New York Times: South Carolina Court clears Friendship Nine in 1961 Sit-in (includes video of court appearance)
 New York Times: Decades After Sit-in, South Carolina Seeks to Make Things Right
For more information about Johnson’s work with the Friendship 9 go to www.simplycreativeworks.com/.

Raymond E. Jones ’86

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raymond jones
Problem solver on an international scale
What Raymond Jones learned in mechanical engineering at Clemson was how to learn and how to solve problems. And he’s doing that at ExxonMobil Development in a big way.
A vice president with ExxonMobil Development Company, his region of the world is Asia Pacific (Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam). The company executes multi-billion dollar projects around the world, and Jones manages a portfolio of projects aimed at bringing oil and gas to market. “Our role,” he says, “is to take resources identified by our exploration company, develop an economic concept, design the facilities and execute the project for turnover to our production company for operations.”
His biggest challenge, he says, is trying to get all of the constituents — including foreign governments and foreign contractors — to line up on a common objective and execute the project flawlessly. He has worked in Qatar, Australia, Nigeria and Europe; now he’s based in Houston, but travels regularly to the countries in his portfolio, checking in at different stages of the projects, making sure everybody is “pointed in the right direction, trying to tackle the same hill.”
Jones came to Clemson in 1982, wanting to be an engineer, but he says he “didn’t really know what an ‘engineer’ was. The professors and staff at Clemson opened my eyes to opportunity and, for that, I will always be grateful.” He joined Exxon (now ExxonMobil) Pipeline Company after graduation as a pipeline engineer, designing pipeline systems to move oil and gasoline from fields to refineries and from refineries to terminals.
The longer he stayed in his career, he says, “the more it was about knowing how to learn, how to solve problems, how to take details and put it in a form others could understand — to communicate the ideas.” And that’s what he passes on to the new engineers who come in: “Just learn how to learn and learn how to communicate.”

R. Adam Kern ’12

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Adam Kern
Using technology to improve quality of life for children with special needs
Adam Kern ’12 was working with autistic students as a behavioral therapist when he found himself frustrated with the lack of technological tools to help his clients.
“Every day I went to work, knowing that technology exists that could improve my clients and their family’s quality of life, but that technology hadn’t been applied to help them,” said Kern, who graduated from Clemson’s Eugene T. Moore School of Education with a degree in secondary education.
Out of this experience, Kern co-founded ExcepApps, a startup focused on creating technological tools to benefit children with special needs.
“In 2014, we have technology like the PS3 or the XBOX One, but our advances in technology aren’t being used to help the children who could benefit from it the most,” said Kern, who lives in Mauldin. “ExcepApps seeks to change that.”
ExcepApps released its first product, Color Countdown, in August. Color Countdown is a simple tool that works by representing time through colors, shapes and numbers, Kern said. He and his business partner, Ryan Poplin, designed the product to help individuals with transitions, task behavior and time management.
“Color Countdown is a tool that I wished existed while I was a therapist,” Kern said. “It can be used in a classroom when completing time sensitive assignments, in a therapy session or during every day tasks.”
ExcepApps’ second product — a communication tool designed to allow parents, teachers and therapists to track a child’s language development as they learn to speak — launched in November. ExcepApps created the tool for non-vocal children who already rely on technology to communicate, Kern said.

Riley M. Csernica ’12, M ’13 and Chelsea L. Ex-Lubeskie ’12, M ’13

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Csernica_ExLubeski

From senior design class to entrepreneurial success

When Riley Csernica and Chelsea Ex-Lubeskie were bioengineering seniors, they were assigned to a senior design group with the orthotics and prosthetics division at Greenville Health System. They worked with research scientist Chuck Thigpen to design a shoulder brace for shoulder dislocations.
At the end of the class, they knew the product concept was good and that there was a market for the product.
That product became the Tarian Pro Shoulder Stabilizer, the first product in the growing line for their company. The custom-fitted functional shoulder brace is designed for individuals with shoulder instability who want to return to athletic activity. It works by providing compressive support to the shoulder rather than strictly limiting abduction of the arm. The brace has earned praise from professional hockey players to college athletic trainers to high school coaches and athletes.
Both women prepared themselves for their venture into business by obtaining graduate degrees from Clemson. Csernica earned a master’s degree in business administration with emphasis in entrepreneurship and innovation. Coupled with her experience as a teacher’s assistant in a SolidWorks engineering class and her proficiency in the program, she has been key in the continued product development. While working on her master’s degree in bioengineering, Ex-Lubeskie worked part-time at the Clemson University Research Foundation where she learned about patents, licenses and contracts. Diplomas in hand, they moved home to Charleston to work on the product and grow the company.
While pursuing ongoing product development, such as a new fully customizable ankle brace that utilizes a heat-moldable material as the structure of the brace, Csernica and Ex-Lubeskie travel to trade shows, meeting collegiate and professional athletic trainers to market their products. They also believe in giving back to Clemson by speaking to classes about their experiences and their plans to keep Tarian Orthotics a growing business — showing how a design class can become an entrepreneur’s dream come true.
To learn more about Csernica and Ex-Lubeskie’s company go to www.tarianorthotics.com.

My Clemson: Daniel Licata ’09

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When I transferred to Clemson in the fall of 2006, I was looking for a better “college experience.” The university I had left behind was low on school spirit; they didn’t even have a football team.
Clemson did not provide me with an experience; it transformed my life. I found a new family in those “Hills.” The color orange was no longer something to add to my wardrobe, it became my wardrobe. And while the “Hills” were certainly special, “The Hill” was sacred.
In the long history of Clemson, approximately 50 other students have had the same perspective I did when I first stepped to the top of The Hill on Labor Day Monday in 2007. With limited vision, gasping for air and fighting off heat exhaustion, I stood in front of the Death Valley faithful, ready to lead our team on to the field. The “C-L-E-M-S-O-N” chant that overcame the stadium, physically shaking my helmet, will forever be engrained in my mind. As the cannon sounded, I knew my life would never be the same. During the 2007-08 school year, I prowled the sidelines during a 23-21 victory in Columbia and an ACC Tournament in Charlotte that had our team in the championship game.
After graduating summa cum laude in the spring of 2009, I returned to my home state of New Jersey to begin a career in education. I love exploring the subject of social studies with my high school students, but if you were to ask any of my students where my true passion lies, they would all answer, “Clemson!” My students know that the Tiger does push-ups after every score, that Friday is always solid orange, and that my mood on a Monday in the fall is largely dependent on the Saturday that precedes it.
Daniel Licata is a social studies teacher at Palmyra High School in Palmyra, New Jersey. He recently won the teacher of the year award and led the varsity baseball program to their second consecutive division championship, the first time for the school since the 1930s.

William S. Gaillard Jr. ’40

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WWII Soldier

Gaillard_William-graveHistory and travel enthusiast, Rhonda Bailey Antonetti ’87 (NURS) of Charleston wanted to take Tiger Paw flags to place on the Clemson alumni WWII soldiers’ graves in the American Cemetery in Normandy, France. Little did she know the amazing, serendipitous venture this gesture would uncover. She was able to place only one flag on her visit, and she snapped a picture of the marker. When asked about her trip by a co-worker, Antonetti showed her pictures. This co-worker, Staci Gaillard, was surprised to see the name on the marker was a name familiar to her — one shared by her father-in-law, husband and son. The soldier was William S. Gaillard Jr. ’40, her husband’s great-uncle. The present generation of the family had not known much about his death and service. Antonetti assisted the family in researching information. On Clemson’s Military Heritage Day, his nephew, William S. Gaillard II; great-nephew, William S. Gaillard III ’03 (MKTG); William III’s wife, Staci Gaillard; and Antonetti visited his stone at the Scroll of Honor Memorial. Staci and William have a son, William S. Gailliard IV.
Gaillard_family
 

Celeste “Clete” Boykin ’79

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Lifetime of Achievement

Clete Boykin graduated from Clemson with a degree in horticulture, so when she began working as a lobbyist for DuPont 21 years ago, her focus was on agricultural issues. Since then, her portfolio has broadened to include trade secrets, defense, transportation, chemical plant security, immigration and education.
The job and the issues demand flexibility and adaptability. “No two days are the same,” she says. “I start out the day saying, ‘I’m going to do ABC today.’ I end up doing D and Z. And you meet some of the most interesting people with different backgrounds.”
This past summer at the Washington Government Relations Group’s Annual Tin Cup Awards Dinner, Boykin received the Reginald “Reg” Gilliam Lifetime Achievement Award from the non-partisan volunteer association founded to enrich the careers and leadership abilities of African-American government relations professionals.
Her job may not be nine to five, but she still finds time every summer to get together with a group of 10 to 12 other Clemson alums who lived together on the fourth floor of Benet Hall. They call themselves the “Benet Babes.”
“After all these years,” Boykin says, “I still consider them my best friends.”
She’s a proud Tiger Band alum, and can still be seen sporting her Tiger Band jacket when the weather gets chilly.

Chris Bandy ’92

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Spreading the Small Town Gospel

The American South and cotton have a troubled relationship. But thanks to Chris Bandy and his homegrown apparel brand, Southern Fried Cotton, things are changing.
When Bandy first entered Clemson as a textiles major, he hoped to have the same job that his dad had in the pulp and paper industry. Instead, he jumped straight into sales after graduating in 1992 instead of heading to N.C. State like he once planned.
Some 26 years later, he’s a co-owner of TigerTown Graphics — a Clemson tradition started by his partners, John Earle and Chuck Rice, in 1988, when Bandy was a freshman at Clemson. The three are also the proud co-creators of Southern Fried Cotton, a Southern-themed apparel brand that has grown from one store in Greenville in 2012 to a second store in Clemson and more recently, 200 retailers selling their t-shirts throughout the Southeast.
“I remember hand-combing cotton and learning those properties involved in making cotton softer. It has been very interesting being in the apparel industry as all the new blends change the T-shirt world, and some of the softest shirts are made,” said Bandy.
The sign in the back of the store is of a John Cougar Mellancamp quote: “I was born in a small town and I can breathe in a small town.” For Bandy, that’s what these Southern-themed T-shirts are about — “roots, being homegrown and small towns.”
That “small town” feel that his shirts evoke come from his heart. He and his wife Maggie, who he met while in college, have raised their two sons JT and Carter in Clemson. He helps coach local rec teams and volunteers at his church. Southern Fried Cotton is about sharing that feeling of belonging — the sensation of someone memorizing your coffee order — with people who have had to move on from their own hometowns.
“Almost 10 years after returning to Clemson to live, I still don’t take it for granted. I’m not getting special treatment; that’s just part of living in a small community,” said Bandy.

DeAndre “Nuk” Hopkins

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S.M.O.O.O.T.H. operator

Former Clemson football standout and now starting wide receiver with the NFL’s Houston Texans, DeAndre “Nuk” Hopkins has always been a smooth operator on the football field. But he can be just as smooth off the field.
Hopkins teamed up with his mother, Sandra Greenlee, and founded S.M.O.O.O.T.H Inc. — Speaking Mentally, Outwardly Opening Opportunities Toward Healing — an organization devoted to helping women and children heal from domestic violence situations. Greenlee, a victim herself, along with Hopkins, wanted to help end the cycle of domestic violence through education and empowering women and children. Hopkins has stood by her side and shared his perspective as a child who witnessed a bad situation, lived through it and is now successful.
With the help of sponsors, they have been able to provide children with school supplies as well as food, secure educational speakers, and set up booths promoting self-defense, anti-bullying and higher-education opportunities.
“This is an important issue, and if we can do anything about it to help people get around it, then we want to,” Hopkins says. “So we want to show people you don’t have to have a lot of money to overcome this. It’s something my mom went through, and she wants to reach out to people and help them.”
Hopkins also serves as an ambassador and spokesman for the Houston Food Bank and Souper Bowl of Caring. He hopes to raise awareness about hunger and help bring about hunger relief throughout the Houston community through volunteer activities, appearances and nutrition education.

Tiger Mascots

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Celebrating 60 Years of The Tiger

Sixty years ago, the Clemson family grew by one, one who quickly became one of the most recognizable, lovable and iconic members of the family: the Tiger mascot.
He’s been to every football game since his welcome to the Clemson family, done thousands of push-ups, visited hospitals and even danced at weddings. But only the select few actually have had the honor of bringing life to the Tiger.
With around 350 appearances each year, committing to being the “man in the suit” is no small feat. These men must travel frequently and train extensively, spending hours brainstorming and executing creative and entertaining stunts, mastering the mascot’s mannerisms and practicing hundreds of push-ups in preparation for sporting events all while still balancing a full student workload.
Michael Bays ’97, M ’99, Tiger mascot from 1994 through 1997 and record holder for most push-ups in his career, organized a reunion of former Tigers during Homecoming to share stories and memories of their glory days behind the mask as a celebration of the Tiger’s 60th birthday.
“Not only did being the Tiger bring me closer to my school,” said Bays, “but it also brought me closer to many people and taught me that the most important thing is putting a smile on a person’s face.”
An impressive total of 35 alumni and former Tiger mascots gathered together to tailgate, reunite at Death Valley and honor the birthday of their beloved mascot. Among others, this group included several Tiger legends such as Zach Mills ’80, inventor of the push-up tradition, push-up record-setters like Bays, and the oldest living Tigers, Billy McCown ’60 and *Steve “Frog” Morrison ’63.
“I think all of us feel a special connection to Clemson that nobody else can ever understand,” said Bays. “When the Tiger is around, it is magic. All I can say is that with 35 Tigers around, the magic is indescribable.”
For more stories of Mascots though the years, go to clemson.edu/clemsonworld and click on “Alumni Profiles.”