It really is awesome to work with so many fun-loving and just all-around cool people at the Emory Alumni Association (EAA). I am totally not trying to be a sycophant, either. I promise!

Yesterday, right when the clock struck 5:00 p.m., Kristin (far right), Matt (in the chair), and I (far left) decided that we wanted to take an intern picture together. Since the summer is coming to a close, we want to make sure we will always remember the fun times we’ve had at the EAA—which, in a nutshell, consist of things like lunch outings, field trips, helping each other with various work projects, and Facebook chatting each other while in the office (I promise we get our work done!).

GOOOOALLLL!

The Emory alumni soccer team in Washington has been successful in not only keeping up their Emory spirit, but also in stomping other alumni soccer teams.

I had the opportunity to speak with one of the players, Krister Holladay 90C, who updated me on the team’s progress and success.

The Washington, DC Chapter of Emory Alumni, first joined the Capital Alumni Network (CAN) co-ed 7 vs. 7 soccer league three seasons ago. They were first coached by Steven Hunt 98Ox 01PH and his wife, Heather. Rob Rutland-Brown 01C coached the team with Tahir Duckett 08C last year, and in 2010, Duckett and Dana Alsen 06C led the squad.

Under their leadership, the Eagles alumni soccer team recently won the CAN sports league 7 vs. 7 soccer championship! “It was a long, hot couple of back-to-back games, but well worth it,” Holladay said.

The Eagles finished the regular season with five wins and three losses, but really hit their stride in the playoffs, first defeating Tulane (5-0), then Boston College (3-2, OT). In the semifinals, the Eagles started off slow in the sweltering summer heat against Elon College. Elon scored the first goal and then a second goal on a penalty kick in the first half to take a 2-0 lead.

However, the Eagles soared back in the second half scoring three unanswered goals, the clincher from Drew Mincheff’s 06C, to cap a 3-2 come-from-behind win.

After a much-needed half-hour rest, the Eagles took to the field again for the championship game and quickly scored two goals against Wisconsin. Emory dominated the rest of the game crushing the Badgers 4-1 to win its first CAN soccer title thanks to Philip Goo’s 06C hat trick and a goal from Jeff Collins 06C.

“I moved to Washington after college and found myself working in a small office of five people,” Alsen said. “Involvement in the alumni community was an opportunity to broaden my social circle and make friends in a new town.

“With the CAN team sports, it has been a way to see a group of alumni on a weekly basis, allowing us to get to know each other while working together as a team,” she continued. “And it’s been a great way to celebrate the blue and gold.”

Not only is being a part of the Emory alumni soccer team a way to meet new people, it is a good way to “win with class, have unselfish play, and perform with hard work,” Duckett said. “To win a championship in any sport you have to like your teammates, and that's never been truer for me than with this team.”

The rewarding experience of being a part of the Emory alumni soccer team stretches far beyond a championship. “Our Emory bonds have stayed with us long after we left campus, and that shared loyalty to Emory provides an instant network of friends who socialize, play, and in some cases, work together,” Holladay said. “The DC alumni group is a dynamic, diverse, and talented group of people of which I very much enjoy being part. We had a great soccer team this past season and winning the championship against our friends from other peer institutions was really a great feeling.”

Learn more about DC's CAN alumni softball team ...

-- Farah Shackelford, communications intern, EAA

Swoop's ready for a late summer vacation!

Are you?

In the aftermath of the January 12 earthquake that devastated Haiti, the United States Navy was among the first to respond with humanitarian aid. Leading the way was the hospital ship, the USNS Comfort, and in command of the Comfort was an Emory alumnus, CAPT James Ware 76Ox 78C.

Ware visited the Emory Conference Center and Hotel Tuesday morning as the keynote speaker for "Disaster Response Utilizing Academic Institutional Resources," a symposium dedicated to demonstrating the symbiotic relationship between academic and public health institutions regarding emergency response and preparedness. The conference, which concludes tomorrow, is presented by Emory's Southeastern Center for Emerging Biologic Threats (SECEBT), and three other entities.

Ware's personal story of his and his staff's experience in Haiti put a compelling human face on what was a necessarily clinical agenda.

"The emotional aspect in these times is as important as the academic aspect," said Ware of his crew's approach to their work in Haiti. The Comfort arrived in Port-au-Prince less than a week after the quake, although the ship had already seen its first patients--the most critical ones had been airlifted onto the ship while it was still at sea.

In other words, the "care" part of health care was just as crucial to saving earthquake victims' lives as medical skills of the Comfort's doctors.

As he spoke, Ware flashed though more than 100 slides highlighting the Comfort's staff (more than 1,200 doctors nurses and other personnel, both military and civilian) what they accomplished under remarkably stressful conditions (834 major surgeries, conducted in the 10 weeks docked in Haiti's capital city), and even some interesting trivia (162,000 pairs of gloves were used in the first 30 days).

In many ways, Ware and the Comfort were ideally suited for the Haiti mission. In 2009, the ship and its commander took part in "Continuing Promise" a humanitarian medical mission that visited more than a half dozen nations in Central and South America and the Caribbean. One of those was Haiti, and during that time Ware became acquainted with Haiti's Minister of Health Alex Larsen.

Larsen was the leader of Haiti's domestic relief efforts and Ware learned early on that assisting him would save more lives more quickly. "I saw myself working for the minister of health," Ware said. "And I told my staff of 1,200 that you work for the minister of health, too."

In his 50 minute address, Ware deftly translated his team's complicated mission for his audience and outlined its many successes without bragging. He also provided advice directly related to the conference's theme of disaster preparedness: have a plan in place to identify an optimal medical package for earthquake victims.

You'll never know how many people you'll need, he said, noting that the Comfort was chronically short on nurses the entire time. It also needed more pediatric kits ... 35 percent of the Comfort's patients were children. As a combat hospital, the ship wasn't set up for that kind of volume.

A native of Savannah, Ware graduated from Oxford in 1976, then earned his bachelor's in biology from Emory College in 1978. In 1983, one year after receiving his doctor of dental medicine degree from the Medical College of Georgia, Ware entered the service.

His assignments have ranged from peacekeeping missions in Lebanon and other international assignments in Japan and Kuwait to stateside tours stretching from Florida to Maryland to Texas. In June 2008 he was named commanding officer of the USNS Comfort. Including its mission in Haiti, the Comfort has treated well over 100,000 patients and completed more than 2,600 surgical operations.

Ware has earned a Bronze Star, Navy Meritorious Service Medal, and many other commendations.

-- Eric Rangus, director of communications, EAA

“Now this could only happen to a guy like me, and only happen in a town like this…” So begins Frank Sinatra’s classic ode to the Windy City that I could not get out of my head last weekend during the EAA’s Regional Leadership Conference – Central.

Come beginning of fall or spring semester, the long, winding lines and rush to buy books will no longer be at the Dobbs University Center (DUC). That’s right students and parents, it’s about time to turn around and hop on over to the Oxford Circle Building. Today is the official opening day of this massive, three-story bookstore—we will no longer have to peek inside tinted windows to try and get a glimpse of what’s inside! Welcome, Barnes and Noble at Emory University!

A big plus about working at the Emory Alumni Association (EAA) is that we can channel our inner child and sometimes take short field trips during the day. Don’t worry, these ARE work related field trips, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun!