{"id":23812,"date":"2021-06-04T11:13:23","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T15:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/?p=23812"},"modified":"2021-06-04T11:13:23","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T15:13:23","slug":"alumni-story-summer-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/alumni-story-summer-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Clemson Made Us Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nWhen Megan Barnes \u201901 was moving to New Orleans from Singapore for her job in the federal government, she didn\u2019t know a soul. After a quick search of the Alumni Association\u2019s website, she found the New Orleans Clemson Club, along with the contact information of the club\u2019s then-president, Miles Thomas \u201900.
\nThomas chartered the club when he transferred his law practice to New Orleans from South Carolina in 2007. \u201cThe first [Clemson] game rolled around, and I didn\u2019t have anybody to watch the games with,\u201d Thomas says.
\nBarnes wrote Thomas an email from Singapore: \u201cI\u2019m very interested in meeting some fellow Tigers as I don\u2019t know anyone in New Orleans! I look forward to hearing from you and hopefully meeting you and some other Clemson grads soon.\u201d Thomas immediately invited her to the next watch party at the local watering hole Fat Harry\u2019s on St. Charles Avenue.
\nAfter a couple of meetings, they became friends. \u201cMiles started eating all of my food whenever I ordered at the bar,\u201d Barnes laughs.
\nBarnes stayed in New Orleans for four years before she moved to Bogot\u00e1, Colombia. But she and Thomas kept in touch. When Thomas found out there was a Gamecock fan in Barnes\u2019 office, he had the Alumni Association send her a box full of Clemson swag.
\nEventually, Barnes had the opportunity to move to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and just like in New Orleans, she started attending the Grand Strand Clemson Club and connecting with fellow alumni. One of those connections introduced her to her future husband, Cory Johnson, a lifelong Clemson fan.
\n\u201cI wanted Miles to like Cory because Miles has been like a brother to me,\u201d Barnes says. She introduced Johnson to Thomas at a Clemson Football game at the top of the Hill, and when the couple got engaged, Barnes asked Thomas to officiate their wedding.
\nThe result was a ceremony filled with laughter. \u201cI threatened to do the Cadence Count in the middle of it,\u201d Thomas laughs.
\nNow, Thomas is a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors, but he\u2019s still heavily involved with the New Orleans Clemson Club, something he considers a success evidenced by his relationship with Barnes: \u201cEverything worked the way that I wanted it to because a person who was coming from the other side of the world, literally, found me by email. And Clemson made us friends.\u201d
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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