In October 2014, AIRROC announced the third recipient of the Trish Getty Scholarship to a St. John’s University student. The annual award was established to honor the organization’s founding Executive Director. The 2014 honoree, Abigayle Claflin, and her grandfather recently met Trish for lunch…
Abigayle Claflin, our 2014 recipient of the Trish Getty Scholarship Fund at St. John’s University, wanted to meet me since I was unable to travel to New Jersey to present the award to her at the Commutation Event in 2014. Hallelujah, since I love to meet and learn about the recipients. Abigayle was home in Tennessee for winter break so her grandfather, Norman Turcotte, drove her to Atlanta to meet me for lunch.
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Abigayle and learning more about her desires in business. Her grandfather, however, almost stole the show with his charm and stories! He is 80 but looks 60, and in great shape. His vegetable gardens are his joy. What impressed me most was the work ethic of Abigayle’s family from grandparents and parents down to her. That’s what America is made of.
Abigayle has one and a half years left in her studies at St. John’s. Since she is Catholic, the time she spent at mass at St. John’s at 5:30 PM was somewhat of a respite from the “nose at the grindstone” in studies, etc. She plans to work in the U.S. for a couple of years after graduation, then move to Europe for a while. When she talked about this, her grandfather’s head dropped; she knows that grandfather doesn’t like the idea.
Abigayle has worked part time at Allianz. The company is sending her to Switzerland for a month this June (when she will turn 21) for further experience in the international market. We talked about travels throughout Switzerland.
It has been a wonderful experience to meet Abigayle and we plan to meet again along with her parents.
Refer to page 23 in the Spring 2015 issue for article. https://www.airroc.org/assets/docs/matters/airroc%20matters.%20vol%2011%20no%201%20spring%202015.pdf
