GLENWOOD SCHOOL DR. JULIE GRAHAM, Principal
Dr. Julie Graham lights up when she talks about her 260 children. Four of those, ages 8, 7, 6 and 5, belong to her. The rest are her “adopted kids”—the students at Glenwood where she is the elementary school principal. When she graduated from Glenwood in 1999, Julie never thought she’d go back, but after graduating from Hunting- don College and getting her master’s at Troy University, she returned as director of guidance for the private high school. After spending seven years in that position and earning an Ed.D from Argosy University, she then stepped up to become princi- pal in the lower school.
She sees the job she’s held for three years as a natural progres- sion since she was already handling many administra- tive functions. The Phenix City native was a little ner- vous about transitioning from working with older
334.297.3614
glenwoodgators.org
kids to what she affectionately termed at the time “the land of little ones.” She quickly became acclimated. “These kids still love school,” she explains. “They are not jaded yet. They want to be hugged and loved, and you want to help shape them to become better people.” The students she oversees range from 18 months to 12
years old, and Dr. Graham says she sees a little piece of herself in each of them as they grow and change. Her goal is to be with the students, and so she spends as little time as possible chained to the computer in her office. “You’ve got to be involved with the children,” she says. Due to that philosophy, she knows them and their families and the issues they may be facing.
In addition to her Glenwood family, Dr. Graham also teaches adults and college-aged students at night as an adjunct professor at Columbus Technical College, Troy University and Georgia Military College.
Balancing all that work with her family can be difficult and tiring. Parents at Glenwood expect her to be “on” all the time at school. Her kindergartener through third- grader need her to be mommy at home. Faith, family sup- port and her husband make it all possible, she believes, and even allow her some time to play tennis and exercise.
BATSON-COOK CONSTRUCTION
Rebecca Gaston is a woman in a male-dominated indus- try – construction. She likes it just fine.
“I have learned that, unless I speak my mind or offer my gifts without thinking of the fact that I’m a woman working with men, they won’t know what I have to offer,” Gaston said recently. She’s learned not to be shy and to be “very comfortable” working as part of the team. Gaston is marketing coordinator for Batson-Cook Con- struction, based in West Point. The company, which was founded in 1915, now has offices in Atlanta, Jacksonville, Fla., and Tampa, Fla., and builds a variety of facilities throughout the Southeast. Recently, Batson-Cook is known for their work as gen- eral contractor on the Chattahoochee Whitewater project in Columbus and Phenix City, and for constructing the National Infantry Museum. They also built the Columbus Public Library on Macon Road and the Corn Center on the Columbus State University Riverpark campus. Gaston’s job, among other things, is to coordinate and produce Batson-Cook’s responses to requests for proposal, or RFPs. She is, she said, the “keeper of the proposals.” Gaston also writes or coordinates press releases, designs ads, coordinates events and tries to find ways
70
706.643.2177
batson-cook.com
REBECCA GASTON, Marketing Coordinator to keep the Batson-Cook name in front of people. She
provides speakers to many civic organizations and coor- dinates such events as the annual Veterans Day Honor Bus.
Honor Bus is a special Veterans Day project, which involves bringing Veterans by chartered bus to visit the National Infantry Museum to enjoy a special day in their honor. It’s always emotional to see the older veterans pull up in the bus to be saluted by younger soldiers, Gaston said. “I cry every year.”
Clays for a Cause is an annual sporting clays tourna- ment that has raised nearly $700,000 for a variety of chari- ties, including Twin Cedars in Columbus and the Musco- gee County chapter of the American Cancer Society. Both events are near to Gaston’s heart. Among many reasons she loves her job are that “no two days are ever the same,” Gas- ton said. And it’s like working with your family, she said, add- ing, “We genuinely care for each other and work together as a team. It’s a fantastic environment to work in, and I know I am blessed to be a part of it.”
Columbus and the Valley JUNE 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90