Hey there, hi there and hello there to one and all mothers!!! Can't thank all the mothers, whether grand or the aunt style, for all that you've done for me over the years to help me get where I am today:)
Hanging out at the duck the last few weeks has been a whirlwind, but amazingly exciting as we just finished up our annual Employee Appreciation Week celebration. It's pretty impressive to see a company this big take so much time to recognize our employees, well, mostly with food I suppose! I was on the Executive EAW committee this year and got to help plan the event and volunteer throughout the week. The powers that be even asked me to ride around with our CEO, President and Executive VP and help announce our tenured employees at our various locations ... guess all those years as the voice of the Mustangs is helping to payoff now;)
Friday morning was the big finale at the CivicCenter where all of our employees and some of our associates gathered together for a rock party, the Aflac Family Values Tour where I had the pleasure of being a correspondent in the crowd to give away some money. A few weeks ago I even had the chance to be Monty Hall, the 70s game show host of Let's Make a Deal ... and yes, that suit is polyester! Gotta love Aflac:)
I finished up my final presentations a couple weeks ago for my Spring courses, of which I think Project Management was one of my favorite of my time thus far. That leaves me with only two classes left this summer to start in about a week, Cost Accounting and Leading People/Organizations. Crazy to think about how fast that time went at Emory, o, and where all those miles on the Honda went! I'm thinking this Fall may bring a new educational adventure at Columbus State University in the Masters of Servant Leadership program. A big focus on coaching and organizational development makes me pretty excited about the possibilities.
Easter back home was one great time as well, thanks mom/Dan for the tickets! Hadn't been back home in about four months, so it was good to go back to see all the family and friends. Four Easter celebrations in three days was a bit much, but so worth it! Even had a chance to meet with th old MMU SIFE team and friends at Fat Wally's for some pool action. Won't be back until the 4th of July, but a bachelor party will be awaiting:) And o yes, Jenny caught her first fish ... wasn't quite ready to take it off the line though!
The weekend after Easter, Jenny and I with a bunch of friends all went up to Gatlinberg, TN for a camping trip at the Yogi Bear campsite, yes, the Yogi Bear:) Saturday we all got up early for some campside breakfast and a trek into town for some adventure on the white water rapids of the Smokies. 
I had only been white water rafting once before, but this trip was pretty awesome hitting some class III/IV rapids whilst floating down the cold rapids. Then we all went zip lining before spending the rest of the trip by the campfire eating mallows and hot dogs, great experience indeed!
The volunteer front has been pretty exciting as well. I had a great chance to speak to the PTA Presidents and Principals about how to gain and retain volunteers, which was a great public speaking experience that has sparked my interest to figure out how to get more gigs like that, more to come:) Back in April, we had a Live United Youth Camp reunion with about ten of the students back at the Habitat for Humanity Rennovation Station where we helped organize and move around materials for the store. 
Even better was the success story of one of the campers, Chariena. She came to the event that Saturday with a car full of clothes that she had collected during a clothing drive at school/church to donate to the Open Door Community House. Still working with the United Way staff and volunteers to try and institute a new Stuff the Bus campaign to gather school supplies for those students in need ... more to come, but could be a great good time for the city and UW. Still trying to figure out how to raise some money for the Literacy Alliance and have a couple calls out to some local CEOs to see if we can get some local sponsorships, fingers crossed!
Don't know if I could fit more into the month, but this one has already started off with a bang and later tonight Jenny, some friends and myself are going to go kick it old school with an NBA playoff game where my Bulls take on the Atlanta Hawks, should be some good times! Hope everyone finishes up a great Mother's Day and has a wonderful week!Alwayz,
nate
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