See more photos from the 100 Senior Honorary induction and reception.

See individual photos of the 100 Senior Honorary inductees.

The aptly named 100 Senior Honorary inducted three-digits-worth of new members from the Class of 2011 on Wednesday, February 2. Following the induction ceremony at Glenn Auditorium, everyone adjourned to the Math and Science Center for a continuation of the celebration.

One of the EAA’s newest and most exciting traditions, the 100 Senior Honorary debuted in 2005. Many previous recipients have matured into alumni leaders, and one of the responsibilities asked of the 2011 class is that they continue this strong pipeline of leadership.

Members of the 100 Senior Honorary were selected based on their outstanding contributions to the Emory community, including academics, athletics, leadership, volunteering, and mentoring.

Each of the University’s undergraduate schools, Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Goizueta Business School, and the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing is represented, and several of the 100 for 2011 are Oxford College continuees.

The 100 Senior Honorary is selected by a committee consisting of staff members from campus life, residence life and housing, athletics, and undergraduate deans.

-- Eric Rangus, director of communications, EAA

Monday night, November 8, with the help of Mark Wallis from Atlanta Wholesale Wine , many members of the Emory College of Arts and Sciences' senior class had the opportunity to learn about wine tasting in the first Life 101 event of the year.

Each year, the Student Alumni Association (SAA), an interest group of the Emory Alumni Association (EAA), hosts Life 101, a series of events and seminars that is designed to teach students important life skills they may not necessarily learn during their normal college experience, such as etiquette at a business dinner, how to change a car tire, or what a credit score means.

For this kickoff Life 101, the Class of 2011 sampled eight different wines. Although some of the attendees had already had some exposure to wine tasting, this was a great event for seniors to not only continue to learn about wine, but also to spend time having fun together.

It was a great night and everyone had a wonderful time and learned some valuable information about wine and wine tasting!

Photos from the event can be found on the Senior Experience Facebook Group.

The SAA also co-sponsors the 100 Senior Honorary Award, for which nominations are now being accepted online. For more information on the SAA or the Life 101 Series and other events offered for students by the EAA, visit www.alumni.emory.edu/students.

-- Stephanie Cohan 11C, vice president, senior experience, SAA

Nicolai Lundy 09C is one of the newest additions to the Emory College Office of Admission. A native of Denver, Lundy moved to Atlanta in 2005 to attend Emory. As a student, Lundy was a member of the Student Alumni Association (SAA), co-founder of Greeks Go Green, and co-captain of the men's track & field team. He served as president of Alpha Tau Omega, and was also a tour guide for the college.

Upon graduating from Emory, Lundy received the University’s highest student honor – the Marion Luther Brittain Award – and began working as an admission counselor at the Emory College Office of Admission.

He recently spoke with the Emory Alumni Association's (EAA) Drew Dotson, coordinator of regional programs and here's what he had to say.

DD: How did you learn about Emory?
NL: Being from Colorado – a state with a handful of Emory freshmen every year – I’ve asked myself the same thing. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was a diligent college researcher. I made spreadsheet comparisons of all my schools; I read all of the college books out there; I sought suggestions from people I respected. I even liked reading all of those pamphlets and shiny pieces of paper that you get in the mail. Looking back, it’s a good thing that I was so proactive because an Emory rep never came to my high school and I didn’t know anyone that had gone to Emory. As I brutally whittled my list down to a quasi-reasonable number of applications (seven), I made sure that Emory was never removed.

DD:What made you choose Emory?
NL: April 2005 came around and I had received my Emory admission letter, among others, but I had never been to visit campus. I knew that I couldn’t make a decision without seeing the buildings and meeting the people. Complicating matters, my AP English teacher was ruthless. He wouldn’t excuse an absence so close to the AP exam. With track meets on the weekends, I was left with only one possible day – the Senior Class Ditch Day. I missed my tour and information session, so I approached students on my own. There was such amazing diversity! The students and staff were all so hospitable and intriguing. I remember sitting on the quad on one of the white benches when I made my decision. It felt right. All the stats were there, like the small class size, but it was also a place where I felt comfortable, which wasn’t easy for a high school student on a college campus.

DD: What did you enjoy most about your experience here?
NL: I would get this question a lot as a tour guide. My answer changed over the years, but as I saw more and more semesters whiz by, I formed closer and more meaningful bonds with the people who live and work and study here. I met people who were unlike anyone I knew at home. They opened my eyes in a way that a textbook can’t. As early as the first month of school, I went to a celebratory dinner at the end of Ramadan. Reading about the Muslim faith is one thing, but seeing people practice it and tasting a little bit of it yourself does so much more to help you appreciate the similarities and the differences. The people here, and the things you stand to learn from them, have been what I love about Emory.

DD: Why did you choose to work in the Office of Admission?
NL: It was 2009. I was a philosophy major. I had a harder time landing a job than finding Waldo. When the admission office wanted to hire me, I wasn’t about to say no! Being an admission counselor offered a chance to continue something that I loved in college. At the end of every tour I gave, no matter how stressed out I had been beforehand, I felt this rush, this high. It felt better than winning one of my races. Having a meaningful role in the life of a young adult (in this case making college decisions) does that to you, I think. For the previous two years, I had seen some of my older friends go on to take jobs that they thought they would love, but it didn’t really work out for them. Luckily my experience was different. It started out as a one-year gig, but it’s hard for me to leave when I’m having so much fun. I want to sign up for another year.

Who knew that service could be one big party?

All the telltale signs were there for the start of Emory Cares International Service Day on McDonough Field Saturday afternoon: Gold, helium-filled balloons. Music blasting from the stage. And lots and lots of happy, excited people.

An estimated 1,000 Emory volunteers packed McDonough, where they signed in and gathered with their groups (30 in all) for transport to their service projects around Atlanta. Some of the trips were pretty quick (shortly after leaving McDonough a couple dozen volunteers were aleady hard at work planting tree and beautifying Cox Ravine about 150 yards away), and others were far enough away (Jonesboro, for instance) that volunteers just drove straight there.

Every participant earned an Emory Cares t-shirt, and they flew off the tables, fast and furious. All the small and mediums were gone immediately, it seemed. And despite the masses of humaity, the entire sign-in process ran smoothly thanks to to the students from Volunteer Emory and the Student Alumni Association (SAA) staffing the tables.

MCdonough opened at 12:30 p.m. and by just after 1:00 p.m., most everyone was gone and on their way. Registration was a model of happy efficiency and the first step in what would be an exciting--and meaningful--day across the Emory community.

-- Eric Rangus, director of communications, EAA

Apparently I missed out my sophomore year. But I made up for it Wednesday night.

I attended the soon-to-be time-honored tradition of the “Sophomore Pinning Ceremony.” Co-hosted by the Emory Alumni Association and the Office of Residence Life and Housing, this even marks Emory College sophomores’ official induction into the community of Emory alumni. The pinning ceremony is a relatively new addition to Emory’s long list of distinctive rituals and traditions, having begun in March 2006. The event honors students’ successful completion of two semesters at Emory.

Students, faculty, staff, and alumni all gathered in the Cox Hall Ballroom to celebrate Emory’s newest—and youngest—alumni. The event opened with the Emory Alma Mater. We all stood as the Sophomore Singers led us in song. Three speakers followed: Andrew Remissong 11C, co-president of the Student Alumni Association; Paul McLarty 63C 66L, president of the Emory Alumni Board; and Gary Hauk 91PhD, vice president and deputy to the president. Each offered his thoughts on the significance of the pinning ceremony.

When Hauk took to the podium, he dished out a little Emory trivia, explaining the meaning behind some of the language on the pin. "Emory"—named after John Emory, an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church (long before any of us were around). "University"—emphasis on “unity.” And then were was something in Latin, "Cor Prudentis Possidebit Scientiam"—flew right over my head at the time, to be honest—which loosely translates to, “The wise heart seeks knowledge.” A verse from a proverb, these are the words of the Emory motto.

After the addresses, the Class of 2012 neatly filed to the front of the room to receive the commemorative alumni pins from the guest alumni. The evening wrapped up with a spread of tasty treats, including a decadent chocolate fountain (Yum!) and a cake adorned with the face of the alumni pin. The guests ate, talked, and laughed. I think it’s safe to say that everyone there was proud to be Emory alumni—I know I am.

See the slide show from the event on the EAA's Facebook fan page.

-- Cory Lopez 10C, communications intern, EAA

Earlier this year, Lori Northcraft 09A 10PH (left) received an email notifying her that she'd been nominated for the Emory Alumni Board (EAB) Leadership Scholarship, and award so new she hadn't heard of it ... and hadn't applied. Until she got the email.

"As I started completing the application and thinking back to what I had been involved in at Emory," Northcraft said. "I started realizing that, you know, maybe I actually had a chance at this scholarship."

More than just a chance as it turned out.

Northcraft and Sacha Munro 11C (right) are the first recipients of the alumni-financed EAB Leadership Scholarship, and a more worthy or personable pair would be extremely difficult to find.

The EAB created the Leadership Scholarship in 2007 to recognize students whose actions, beleifs and passions have improved their community. For Northcraft (the graduate recipient) and Munro (her undergraduate counterpart) that statement couldn't be truer.

In early September, Munro and Northcraft sat down with me to discuss what the EAB Leadership Scholarhip (and Emory) means to them. Their edited conversation is below. To listen to the full podcast on iTunes U, click here. (You must have the iTunes program on your computer to access the interview.)

Eric Rangus, EAA: Tell us a little about yourselves.

Sacha Munro 11C: I am majoring in political science, and I am involved in various things around campus. One of my main commitments is the Residence Hall Association. I’m the vice president of programming. And I’m also a member of the Student Alumni Association.

Lori Northcraft 09A 10PH: I am a dual-degree physical therapy and public health student. I am a native Oregonian who chose Emory specifically for this brand-new program. One of my main accomplishments has been participating in the South Georgia Farm Worker Health Project, where physical therapy students and faculty members go to South Georgia and team up with physician’s assistants and physician assistant students to provide pro bono medical care to migrant farm workers and their families.

Read more of the abridged interview in the October 2009 issue of EmoryWire.

The full interview (which is about 10 minutes) is here.

--Eric Rangus, director of communications, EAA

For the past three years, Emory students have come together on Wednesday afternoons in an effort to improve student life, community, and collaborative efforts at Emory. Clubs, organizations, and causes set-up tables on Asbury Circle to promote their current projects, get some free publicity, and learn of opportunities for collaboration with other organizations.

Essentially, the new Wonderful Wednesday (I'm sure many alumni from 1982 and earlier fondly remember Wonderful Wednesdays when they were students) is a weekly networking celebration on Asbury Circle—just substitute light hors d’oeuvres for a free slice of pizza and business cards for free pens. What could be more natural than utilizing this weekly networking celebration to spread the work about E-Connection, Emory’s new online networking community, to students?

This past Wednesday, March 18, members of the Student Alumni Association (SAA) did just that. A team of dedicated SAA members invited their fellow students to learn more about Emory’s new online networking community and to set-up their own account on E-Connection. For students, E-Connection has the potential to be a hybrid—think Facebook meets LinkedIn with a LearnLink (Emory’s much-loved undergraduate email system) flair—I heard one student explain. Essentially, we are talking the professional community of a student’s dreams. The online community aspect this generation of student has never been with out, with the possibility for tremendous professionalism (re: no inappropriate pictures from Fraternity formals).

With the recent launch of E-Connection, the EAA has extended the collaborative work of programs such as Wonderful Wednesday to include alumni. Alumni might not be able to make it back to campus every week, but can hopefully find a spare moment in the day to sign into E-Connection and check for opportunities and confirm their latest friend requests.

--Megan Kruer 08C, 2008-09 fellow, Emory Annual Fund/Emory Alumni Association