Amber Myers first gave to the Clemson Fund as a Student Alumni Association (SAA) member while she attended Clemson. Five dollars of her twenty dollar SAA member fee went to the Clemson Fund as a gift, and established her as a donor to Clemson. Amber has continued to be a donor to Clemson since her student days, by contributing to the Clemson Fund each fiscal year. Amber was a very active student at Clemson. She graduated in May 2003 with a degree in chemical engineering. She was active in her sorority, held the office of president for Student Alumni Council, the leadership council of SAA, served as Panhellenic Recruitment Chairman, and was a member of Blue Key International Honor Fraternity.
As an alumna, now living in Kingsport, Tennessee, Amber has continued to keep herself busy with both her career and volunteer work. She is currently a Manufacturing Associate at the Weyerhaesuer Company, which manufactures white copy paper. Amber works with the process control engineers at the company. She also volunteers with the Boys and Girls Club, and serves on the Outreach Committee for the United Way. Amber has wasted no time in keeping her ties to Clemson strong. Currently, she is the Tri-Cities Clemson Club president. The Tri-Cities Clemson Club has been involved with several events over the past year, which included a student send-off event that was held before students came back to Clemson last fall. They coordinated viewing parties with local alumni and friends of Clemson. The club also coordinated a gathering of local alumni to watch President Barker accept his award from the Boys and Girls Club in Kingsport.
Amber encourages Clemson students to join Student Alumni Association, because “It is important to go ahead and establish a relationship with Clemson and the Alumni Association so that you don’t lose the Clemson bond. When you graduate, even though you are not physically at Clemson, you’ll always be a part of it.” For recent graduates, sometimes it seems impossible that they can afford to give back to Clemson when they are just starting out on their own. Amber reminds us all that, “It isn’t how much you give, but the fact that you give what you can. Even $10 a year can make a difference.”
The fact that even $5 a year can make a difference has been proven to Amber. The $5 portion of her SAA member fee, along with many other members’, has transformed an idea into a reality at the Cooper Library. For two years, SAA has directed the members’ combined gifts to the Clemson Fund to the Cooper Library. The SAA gift has been used to establish an outdoor study area at the library. Outdoor furniture was purchased and placed on the library balcony overlooking the Strom Thurmond Institute this past April; just in time for students to study in the fresh air for April exams.
Amber explained why it is important to her to continue to give back to Clemson, “I had such a great experience at Clemson, that I want the students of future generations to have just as good of an experience.”
Although Amber has now entered into another phase of the Clemson Experience, her alma mater continues to be a big part of her life. “As a graduate, I can really tell that we have a Clemson family. When I started my job in Kingsport I didn’t know anyone at first, but I quickly discovered that I had so many (Clemson) people looking out for me.”
It matters
Business management graduate Benson Hall Driggers ’03 is in his second year of law school at USC. He says, “It’s tough bleeding orange down here in Gamecocktown, but my fellow Clemson brethren and I wear our hearts on our sleeves.” He also wears his Clemson ring with pride.
Driggers not only dedicates his heart to Clemson, but gives of his time and efforts as well. He believes in Clemson’s goal to become a top public university and knows that alumni commitment is essential to accomplish it. This initiative and Driggers’ sheer passion for his alma mater are the reasons he continues to give back. In fact, he began giving while still a Clemson student through Student Alumni Association (SAA).
As a member of both SAA and Student Alumni Council, Driggers broadened his Clemson experience, developing connections with other students and with alumni. He was active in Blue Key, the IPTAY Student Advisory Board, Sigma Nu, the Reformed University Fellowship and Omicron Delta Kappa.
Driggers returns to Clemson as often as he can for sporting events and Mac’s Drive-In. In the meantime, he relies on SAA, Clemson publications and his enduring friendships with alumni and students to keep up with Clemson happenings. Above all, Driggers pledges to remain connected to the place where he spent what he calls the best four years of his life — the benefits of which he will forever try to repay.