This week we had out Grand Opening Celebration — complete with Ribbon Cutting!
As I have said before, this has been a 20 year dream and there has been so many amazing “firsts” along this path — the first design, first shirt printed, first sale, first time we walked into what is now our shop, first pieces of the wood floor put down, first day of “move in”, the first day we opened the doors….
But this was THE Grand Opening — the day we could celebrate that we did it — we took this from idea and dream to reality. Filled with food, friends (both old and new), and fellowship and it was an awesome day!
President Meehan and Cocky himself joined our staff, friends, media, and customers for our Ribbon Cutting of officially opening the store!
While we enjoyed our cake (made by our good friend Sharon Alexander with Sweet Sensations of Newnan, Georgia) and chocolate fountain with lots of dippers (including red stuffed Oreos for the occasion!), Cocky ran outside and went up and down the square pointing our store out to drivers and pedestrians passing by!
We are so proud of our store, proud to be Gamecocks, and proud to be in Jacksonville!
Last night I had the privilege of being apart of the first meeting of the South Atlanta JSU Alumni. I have lived in south Atlanta 11 years (ok, THIS time, I’ve only lived here 6 other times before in my life—army brat, you understand). Most of the Atlanta Alumni meetings I have attended, have resulted in road rage along the way to get to the meeting normally held in North Atlanta.
Kaci Ogle of the alumni office and I got to talking and I started naming off many of the alumni on the south side, the number of Band Directors on this end of town (seems like the majority of schools have a former Southerners leading the music departments) so we thought — what the heck, we’ll try an exploratory meeting to start a group down here.
About 20 of us met at Partners II Pizza in Tyrone last night and had a ball…you might have known someone before you came (I think I knew one) but before you knew it, the people around you knew someone who knew someone and so forth. The great common denominator was we were all Gamecocks — some of us Southerners, others 92J jocks, drama peeps, and even athletes — but we were all Gamecocks.
What wasn’t surprising to me was that we all loved our time at JSU and couldn’t help but share that with the group — it molded us to be who we are, who our extended family ended up becoming, and where we tell any young person around us about the University we love and why they should love it to.
I know many people that have gone to other schools and when they talk about their college experience I hear about how they went there but it wasn’t the experience that Jacksonville State seems to impress on those who go there. They just went to college — no big deal and have never been back since.
I wish I could explain how a modest size University in a small sleepy town at the Foothills of the mountains in Northeast Alabama becomes the place that changes your life…but it does…and last night proved it 20 times over…
PROUD to be a Gamecock!
