Archive for category: My Clemson

Micky ’75 and Amy Scott know the vital role the forestry industry plays in South Carolina’s economic vitality and environmental health. 

The Scotts, with Micky’s brothers Bill and Hank, are fourth-generation owners of wholesale lumber and pole manufacturer Collum’s Lumber Products in Allendale, S.C. Collum’s was founded in the 1930s and has grown into one of the most advanced sawmill and planer operations in the Southeast. 

Now, the Scotts have given more than $1 million to the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences to create three endowments that will support the recruitment and retention of students in the college; provide enrichment opportunities to students in the forestry and environmental conservation department; and fund scholarships for students to participate in Forestry Summer Camp, a seven-week experiential learning curriculum to build skills essential to professional success in the forestry industry.

“That scholarship was one of the reasons I was able to stay in forestry.”

Dean Keith Belli said the Scotts’ gift will help the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences recruit and retain the best students and enhance the forestry curriculum with hands-on learning opportunities. Billy Fox, a veteran and junior forestry major from Wallkill, New York, is one of those students. Fox participated in the Forestry Summer Camp and said the experience honed his skills and opened his eyes to the array of careers in the forestry industry.

“I’m a hands-on learner, and I need to experience things for myself to learn them best,” Fox said. “I wouldn’t have been able to afford Forestry Summer Camp if it hadn’t been for scholarship money. That scholarship was one vof the reasons I was able to stay in forestry.” 

Micky Scott, whose bachelor’s degree is in forest management, is chair of Clemson’s Timberland Legacy Advisory Committee and a board member of the Wood Utilization + Design Institute.

 

Ben Rook ’68, M ’74, the owner of Design Strategies in Greenville, has spent his career working on many different solutions to one question: “How can we make that happen?”

He and his wife, Becca, make things happen in many arenas: education, architecture, business and community-centered philanthropy. At Clemson, their latest gift of $100,000 will provide opportunities for architecture students by funding an endowment created in the name of mentor and friend George C. Means Jr.

Means established a health-focused studio in the School of Architecture at Clemson that has grown into today’s Architecture + Health graduate program. As the program celebrates its 50th anniversary, the Architecture + Health studio will officially carry the name of George C. Means Jr.

Ben said that when he first came to Clemson from Newberry, South Carolina, he had no idea what architecture really was. “I knew I liked making art, and I liked building treehouses,” he said, adding that Means had a gift for molding young people into “what they would be, even when they didn’t know what they could be.”

Ben graduated in 1968 and earned his master’s degree in 1974. In between degrees, he met his wife while working in Charlotte. After a long courtship, they married, with George Means as best man.

For a few years, Ben taught full time at Clemson and was an assistant campus planner. Becca educated younger students in Anderson and earned a master’s degree in education at Clemson. Ben’s career led them to Greenville, then to Charlotte and back to Greenville.

Ben wants people to remember that Means was a man with big ideas and an unparalleled devotion to students. Through the many lives he shaped over the years, Means’ influence traveled far beyond the studio that now bears his name.

The Rooks said they want their gift to the Means endowment to help keep Clemson a place where extraordinary teachers can deliver extra care and individual attention to each student. “That is what makes Clemson great,” Ben said.