Advancement; College of Science

Clemson Young Alumni Council to present the 2020 Roaring10 young alumni awards

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This September, the Clemson Young Alumni Council will present its Roaring10 awards to ten outstanding individuals who received undergraduate or graduate degrees from Clemson University within the past 10 years and who exemplify Clemson’s core values of honesty, integrity and respect. Recipients are recognized for their impact in business, leadership, community, educational and philanthropic endeavors.

Members of the Clemson Family nominate potential Roaring10 honorees, who are then selected by the Clemson Young Alumni Council.

This year’s recipients are:

Caroline Aneskievich
BMW Group’s talent management specialist for the Americas

Residing in Greenville, South Carolina, Aneskievich, a Hanahan, South Carolina native, has Clemson undergraduate degrees in Spanish and international trade (2010) and marketing (2011). In 2015, she earned two master’s degrees, in business administration and international business, through the dual MBA/MIB partnership between Clemson’s Greenville-based MBA program and the IÉSEG School of Management in Paris.

Her professional career began in 2011, when a Clemson student internship with Piedmont Natural Gas led to her becoming the first associate in the company’s Business Leadership Development Program. She held posts in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Greenville and was selected for the company’s Compass Program for leaders and change agents.

She joined BMW Group in 2015 as an associate in its highly selective Global Leadership Development Program and had the opportunity to work in Munich, Germany and San Luis Potosi, Mexico. In her current talent management role, she is an internal consultant with BMW entities from Canada to Argentina for building long-term strategies for human capital success and works with colleagues at Plant Spartanburg on Upstate recruiting and human resource marketing initiatives.

Through the Greenville Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Greenville program, Aneskievich was a lead volunteer in the effort to reopen and revitalize the teen center in Pleasant Valley, a historically underserved neighborhood in the city. She also is active with Upstate SC Alliance’s “It All Adds Up Campaign” to promote living and working in Upstate and is a board volunteer with Upstate International.

As president of Clemson’s MBA Alumni Council, she led alumni support of the MBA Student Association’s One Main Roar, an annual event that has raised more $25,000 for ALS clinics in the Upstate. She frequently participates in networking and mentoring activities for MBA students.

Dorothy H. Askins
Doctor pursuing an anesthesiology residency at Tulane University

Askins, a resident of Greenville, South Carolina, graduated from Clemson in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences. She graduated May 2021 from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville. Having completed her Doctor of Medicine degree, she will pursue a residency in anesthesiology at Tulane University in New Orleans.

She was the legislative and advocacy intern for the South Carolina Medical Association before advancing to serve as vice chair, chair and ultimately board of trustees representative of the medical student section. She promoted resolutions for consideration by the state association on issues ranging from coverage of HPV vaccinations to education regarding domestic violence awareness and prevention. 

Nationally, she rose through the ranks of the American Medical Association to serve as the vice chair of the medical student section, representing more than 55,000 medical students across the country. She was honored by her peers with induction into the Gold Humanism Honor Society of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, which works with healthcare professionals to ensure that compassion, respect and empathy are at the core of all healthcare interactions. 

Askins spearheaded the creation of a philanthropic gala that in its first year raised more than $10,000 for the Greenville Free Medical Clinic and medical student scholarships. She chairs the team planning the second gala, which will raise funds for student research, advocacy and engagement on a national level.

For Clemson, Askins served as the medical student lead for CURE (Clemson Undergraduate Research Engagement), which provides undergraduate students with research, lectures, mentors and help with medical school application preparation. She participates in numerous other alumni leadership opportunities, including TigerLink, a campus-wide mentoring initiative and career connections service. She also supports IPTAY, Clemson’s athletic fundraising organization.

Jordan M. Burns
Financial advisor and field director with Northwestern Mutual

Burns — a Greenville, South Carolina, resident and Florence native — graduated from Clemson in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in financial management. He joined Northwestern Mutual as a Clemson student and has risen to become one of the top 10 advisors out of the Greenville, Spartanburg and Asheville offices.

In his first year as an advisor, he reached Pacesetter 40 status for his success in selling Northwestern Mutual Insurance products, something few new advisors accomplish. In 2019 and 2020, he reached a major professional milestone by earning membership in the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), a Premier Association of Financial Professionals®. MDRT membership is recognized internationally as the standard of excellence in the life insurance and financial services business.

Locally, he was named one of Greenville Business Magazine’s 2019 “Best & Brightest 35 & Under.”

An active community volunteer, Burns coaches church youth basketball and supports several local charities, including Miracle Hill Ministries, the Meyer’s Center, United Way of Greenville, Family Effect and the Mitchell Road Christian Academy Scholarship Fund. He and his wife, Chelsea — who met in a Clemson swing dancing class — are community group leaders for Grace Church Downtown Campus and volunteer in the church’s children’s ministry and Mosaic ministry, which serves children and adults with disabilities. 

Burns supports the ClemsonLIFE program, which provides a college experience for young men and women with intellectual disabilities. Additionally, he speaks on campus every semester to Alumni Master Teacher Kerri McMillan’s financial management class, offering insightful advice and personal experiences to her students. 

He is a member of IPTAY, Clemson’s athletic fundraising organization, and contributes to the Chandler Lewis Burns Scholarship Fund for students majoring in construction science and management. The fund is named for his late brother and was established by his grandparents Billy and Ann Powers of Florence. 

Brittany M. Hall
Certified nurse midwife (CNM) with Prisma Health Baptist Easley Hospital/Mountain View OB/GYN

Residing in Easley, South Carolina, Hall, a Cheraw native, graduated from Clemson in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in health science and earned an accelerated second bachelor’s degree in nursing at Shenandoah University in 2013. With the ultimate goal and calling to become a midwife, she attended Vanderbilt University to complete her 2015 master’s degree in nursing, specializing in nurse-midwifery. She became board-certified to practice as a CNM in 2016.

As a CNM, Hall — who recently became a proud new mother herself — has delivered more than 360 babies and has cared for countless women. She is lead CNM at Prisma Health Baptist Easley Hospital/Mountain View OB/GYN, which she joined in 2018. Before then, she worked for two years at the Sumter Family Health Center’s Carolina Women’s Specialists location, which provides comprehensive OB/GYN and midwifery services. Her tenure at this federally qualified health center laid the groundwork for her mission to improve obstetrical outcomes and experiences for those underserved. Hall has served in underrepresented areas of South Carolina throughout her career and plans to start a birth center in the future.

She is an active volunteer for several organizations, including Freeway Church, the March of Dimes, the Littlejohn Community Center in Clemson, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Dabo’s All In Team Foundation and Clemson University Athletics.

In 2017, she participated in a service trip to Haiti with Sensabaugh Mission Moon to donate and distribute shoes to children, schools and entrepreneurs there.

As part of the Clemson football program’s P.A.W. (Passionate About Winning) Journey leadership initiative, Hall was a chaperone and worker for a trip to Bangkok, Thailand, in 2019 to volunteer at a local Mercy Centre school dedicated to helping individuals who are underserved academically, socially and financially. She and her husband, Rashard, are donors to IPTAY, Clemson’s athletics fundraising organization, and aid in developmental programs for student-athletes.

Spencer C. McLeod
Operations Manager with McLeod Farms

McLeod of McBee, South Carolina, graduated from Clemson in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural mechanization and business. In 2014, he completed his Master of Business Administration degree in Clemson’s Greenville-based MBA program.

He is operations manager for McLeod Farms, representing the fifth generation of his family to run the business that was named a South Carolina Centennial Farm in 2016 and the state’s Outstanding Farm in 2017.

He also is co-founder and president of AgriLinx, a startup company offering an economical computer technology platform that farmers can use to monitor, measure and manage functions ranging from irrigating crop to tracking equipment.      

McLeod is a member of the South Carolina Peach Council, serves on Clemson’s Pee Dee Research and Education Center advisory committee and was Chesterfield County’s 2014-2016 representative on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency County Committee. 

He is an elder of McBee Presbyterian Church and a speaker for Clemson’s Palmetto Leadership Program for the Environment, Agriculture and Forestry (PLEAF), which is designed to cultivate and nurture current and future leaders engaged in agriculture, forestry and all aspects of stewarding South Carolina’s natural resources and environment.

He also is an entrepreneurship educator for Clemson classes in the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences (CAFLS) and the Cultivate.CAFLS initiative to promote the development of entrepreneurial ideas and skills.

Ansley Cartee Minor
Co-owner of Carolina Superstars Baton and Dance

Minor of Anderson, South Carolina, graduated from Clemson in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in management. During her time as a student, she was the featured twirler for Tiger Band and received the Carolyn Willis Creel Endowed Grant-in-Aid for the Clemson University Marching Band Majorettes.

Carolina Superstars Baton and Dance has more than 600 students, having doubled its clientele in the past 4 years. To accommodate that growth, the company moved from renting a small facility to owning a 6,000-square-foot state-of-the-art studio.

Minor teaches dance, baton, ballet, tap and tumbling to students ages 2-18 and manages the company’s social media accounts, inventory and relationships with the parents of students.

She also coaches the Gold Medal winning Junior Olympics Baton Twirling Team, South Carolina State Champion Team, Southeastern Regional Champion Team and AAU Junior Olympic Gold Medalist.

From 2009 to 2012, Minor was an ambassador from the United States to teach the Carnival twirling routine to baton twirlers in the Virgin Islands. She received a silver medal at the 2012 World Twirling Championship in Switzerland, representing Team USA, and she was the South Carolina State Twirling Champion from 2001 to 2012.

In 2019, she participated in Rotary of Greater Anderson’s “Dancing for our Heroes” event. She and her partner represented AnMed Health and won the People’s Choice Award, raising over $35,000. In 2018, she received the Lee Tate Spirit of Clemson Award from the Anderson Area Clemson Club for being the best representative of the Clemson Spirit through passion, enthusiasm, dedication and service.

For Clemson, she assists with coaching the current Tiger Band featured twirler, is social media chair for the Women’s Alumni Council and serves on the board of the Clemson University Tiger Band Association.

Edwin Sabuhoro
International conservationist and assistant professor at Penn State University

Residing in State College, Pennsylvania, Sabuhoro, a native of Rwanda, graduated from Clemson in 2018 with a Ph.D. in parks, recreation and tourism management. He earned a Master of Science in Conservation and Tourism from the University of Kent in the United Kingdom in 2006 and a Bachelor of Legal Laws from the University of Rwanda in 2002.

He is currently an assistant professor in both the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management and the African Studies Program at Penn State University.

Before joining Clemson, he chaired the Rwanda Chamber of Tourism, a national tourism umbrella organization, and served on the board of the Institute of the National Museums in Rwanda.

Sabuhoro has been a leader in community development and conservation in Rwanda and Uganda. He is the founder of the award-winning Gorilla Guardians Village in Rwanda, a community program that protects endangered mountain gorillas and improves the lives of the people who live in the surrounding community by providing significant opportunities for food, education, health, financial resources and security.

Among his many awards and recognitions, he was honored by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as the 2008 Young Conservationist, invited to the White House by President Barack Obama as a 2010 Young African Leader, selected as a 2015 CNN Hero and presented with the 2015 United Nations Great Apes Survival Partnership (UN-GRASP) Ian Redmond Award.

For Clemson, Sabuhoro has encouraged and mentored students to engage in international humanitarian projects and has given lectures and presentations to groups ranging from global health classes to the university’s board of trustees. He has helped build awareness and respect for Clemson in America, Africa and beyond.

Rebecca Leigh Stratford
United States Army Captain

Stratford of Clarksville, Tennessee, graduated from Clemson in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in genetics and a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Army via Clemson’s Army ROTC program. She served as an ambulance platoon leader at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and then deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom XII-XIII as a medical company executive officer responsible for 75 soldiers.

While overseas she was placed in charge of medical logistics and operations for a 1,500 person brigade combat team and was selected for the Army’s Long Term Health Education and Training (LTHET) program to attend the Clinical Lab Officer Course at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. 

After successfully completing the course and becoming a board certified Medical Laboratory Scientist, she was assigned as the deputy chief of Core Laboratory Services at the Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon, Georgia. In that role, she led a team that, within four months, set up a fully accredited and functional mobilization laboratory at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, capable of preparing 800 soldiers a day for deployment operations. For her exemplary work at Camp Shelby, she was awarded the Army’s Meritorious Service Medal.

Also during her time at Fort Gordon, Stratford was selected a second time for the LTHET program to pursue a master’s degree in clinical laboratory science. She chose to attend Augusta University, where she earned a Master of Science – Clinical Laboratory Science in 2020.

In September 2020, she returned to Fort Campbell to become laboratory manager at the Blanchfield Army Community Hospital.

Stratford has served as a volunteer for numerous community activities, ranging from Forces United, which connects service members, veterans and their families with programs and resources to help them in times of need, to the Alliance for Smiles, which provides free comprehensive treatment for children with cleft lip and palate anomalies in underserved areas of the world.

Her service to Clemson includes mentoring other Clemson alumni who are soldiers as they begin their careers. She became a donor to IPTAY, Clemson’s athletic fundraising organization, when she was still a student, and often travels back to campus for athletic and other events. She also has supported Clemson alumni activities in the various communities where she has lived.

Josh Tew
Real estate professional

Tew — a Clyde, North Carolina, native and Greenville, South Carolina, resident — graduated from Clemson in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. In 2014, he completed his Master of Business Administration degree in Clemson’s Greenville-based MBA program.

Before joining Pintail Capital Partners in 2019, he spent seven years with Flagship Properties of Greenville, including five years as commercial division vice president. He also is a founding principal of Kairos Development, whose diverse tenants are largely nonprofits and locally owned and operated small businesses. He is an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and the Urban Land Institute and obtained his Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designation in 2016.

His work in developing partnerships to reposition over 100,000 square feet of office, retail and flex space, largely in Greenville’s Laurens Road corridor, has drawn praise from city officials.

Tew is a leader in community organizations, including the Greenville Free Medical Clinic and the Aberdeen Village Neighborhood Association. He is a 2019 graduate of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Greenville program and is chair of Buncombe Street United Methodist Church’s long-range planning committee.

For Clemson, Tew co-led the re-launch of the Clemson MBA Alumni Society, served as its vice president and president and represented it on the Clemson Alumni Council. He is a member of Clemson’s Greenville Luncheon Club and supports both academics and athletics as a donor.

Lauren Harroff Trondsen
Environmental engineer with Sanergy

Residing in Ithaca, New York, Trondsen, a native of Concord, North Carolina, graduated from Clemson in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in biosystems engineering. She then earned graduate degrees in biological and environmental engineering from Cornell University, including a Master of Science in 2017 and a Ph.D. in 2019.

A Fulbright Scholar and recipient of two National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, she now works for Sanergy, a social enterprise in Nairobi, Kenya, that uses market-based approaches to provide safe sanitation management in Nairobi’s informal settlements. In her role, she works with Sanergy’s advisory arm, partnering with governments, utilities and organizations to expand sanitation coverage in new cities.

She focuses on improving living conditions in developing countries through delivery of safe, cost-effective and dignified sanitation services while addressing environmental impacts and climate change.

In New York, Trondsen collaborated with the State 4-H Career Explorations program for four years to lead workshops for high school students to introduce them to the field of environmental engineering, including energy recovery from waste, harnessing the power of microbes and natural resource management.

For Clemson, she serves as a mentor to high-achieving students in the Honors College and the National Scholars Program, especially those interested in Fulbright scholarships. She is an Honors College admissions application reviewer and has served as an interviewer for the National Scholars Program for several years.

She also currently has two Clemson undergraduate students interning with her at Sanergy for the spring semester.

The primary mission of the Clemson Young Alumni Council is to support the goals of the Clemson Alumni Association specifically on matters pertaining to young alumni. The Clemson Alumni Association is an open-membership, nonprofit organization that exists to connect alumni with their alma mater. Through a variety of programs and services, the Alumni Association works with alumni around the world to ensure they have a Clemson Experience every day.

The 2021 award presentation will occur during March 2022.

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