A Buford women-owned, omni-channel branding firm has landed a 2022 Award of Excellence from the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts’ Communicator Awards. The award came from their first jointly-written ebook entitled Unconventional Entrepreneurship. The Edge Agency won this award out of over 4,000 entries from firms all around the world.
Tatum and Radford. Provided.
The partners are Lauren Tatum and Alex Radford, who says: “Not only was this our first e-book, but it is the first time we’ve submitted our work for such a prestigious industry award.” Tatum adds: “It shares our own unconventional journey from start-up to success while offering invaluable tips for burgeoning entrepreneurs, as well as established company leaders looking to scale to the next level.”
The company began in 2017. It has demonstrated exponential growth in its revenues, client base and creative team in the five years since its launch. The firm offers free consultation to companies seeking a creative partner to establish their brand or expand their current marketing strategies.
Tatum grew up in Buford, is a Buford High graduate, and completed college at Austin Peay State University. She lives with her husband and three girls in Milton. Radford grew up in Buford and graduated from Mill Creek High before going to the University of Georgia. She lives in Flowery Branch with her two sons.
Project SEED at Georgia Gwinnett provides hands-on learning
From violets to the virus: Area high school students spend summer doing real-world research at Georgia Gwinnett College
High school students from three Gwinnett County schools got hands-on research experience at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) this summer, thanks to an innovative program targeted toward youth with under-served backgrounds. The American Chemical Society’s Project SEED summer program brought students to college and university campuses for eight-to-10 weeks at host institutions like GGC, where they work alongside faculty to conduct scientific research.
The mission of Project SEED is to advance and enrich the chemical science enterprise by providing sustained STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) research, learning and growth opportunities for high school students with diverse identities and socioeconomic backgrounds.
GGC started its Project SEED program in 2017, and 15 students completed the program by 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. The program was held virtually in 2020 and 2021 and restarted in person this year with six high school students participating in three different research projects:
- Studying the medicinal properties of Australian violets, which is part of a research grant from the National Science Foundation.
- Designing antimalarial molecules and antivirals that can resist the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the virus that causes COVID-19.
- Synthesizing and characterization of pharmaceutically active self-healing, soft materials.
The students work from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday with Drs. Ajay Mallia, Neville Forlemu and Simon Mwongela, all GGC associate professors of chemistry. The students hail from Shiloh High School, Peachtree Ridge High School and The Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology.
The real-world experience looks great on the budding scientists’ resumes and gives them a taste of what their lives as scientists will be like, says Dr. Mallia. There is also a tangible monetary benefit as each student receives a $3,200 stipend for their eight weeks of research.
It’s a mutually beneficial relationship, as GGC shares knowledge about its research programs by participating.
Dr. Mallia says: “Since 1968, the Project SEED program has given research opportunities and career guidance to more than 11,000 high school underprivileged students, thus helping them to learn problem-solving skills. This program helps GGC to publicize its research programs to students and the community, and is well-aligned with the mission of GGC and its School of Science and Technology.”
Active within the program since 2011, Dr. Mallia says every student who has participated in the GGC program has gone on to college. What’s more, Project SEED students who join a chemistry or biochemistry-related undergraduate program are eligible to apply for up to $20,000 in college scholarships.
Jane Yoo, a rising senior at Peachtree Ridge High School (PRHS) in Suwanee, says: “This project is exciting because it isn’t just a controlled experiment created for an educational purpose; this is research that can genuinely impact the field when done right. I learned so much the past few weeks by working on this project, which helped me develop more confidence in my learning ability. I am not the same student I was two months ago, and working on research this summer has inspired me to work even harder in school as my trust in what I’m capable of grows.”
Yoo’s fellow Project SEED participant Rahul Pandit, a rising junior at PRHS, said obtaining practical knowledge and conducting genuine research was very appealing to him as a prospective medical student. “The program’s educational structure has helped me maintain the academic routine I developed during the school year, helping me stay focused as I head into my last two years of high school.”
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