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Targeting Excellence: A Community of Citizen Leaders

July 2004

Four community leaders were selected by the Auburn University Summer Semester Multi-professional Leadership class because of their outstanding accomplishments and contributions as citizen leaders for their communities. Those honored were Dr. Terry Jenkins, superintendent of Auburn City Schools; Mrs. Shannon Moser, manager of the Auburn Wal-Mart Super Center; Mrs. Evangeline Farrier, elementary school educator in Tuskegee; and Pastor Steve Scoggins of First Baptist Church of Opelika.

The class recently held a reception honoring citizen leaders in the Auburn/Opelika community. This reception was sponsored by the Multi-professional Leadership class, the Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Technology, The Truman Pierce Institute, and the Auburn University College of Education.

Ellen Reames, who lead the course, opened the ceremony with remarks detailing how this project developed. Through much preparation and teamwork by the members of the class, community leaders were nominated, evaluated and selected.

Jenkins has been an educator for more than 35 years. For 25 of those years, he has been a school superintendent in Alabama and Georgia. He has also been a teacher and a coach, and an elementary and high school principal. He now serves on the Alabama Teacher Retirement and PEEHIP boards, the State School Superintendents Advisory Council, and the Auburn Chamber of Commerce. He is president-elect of the Alabama School Superintendents Association and beginning this fall he will participate in Leadership Alabama. His passion for education and the strong belief that every student deserves an equal education make him a tremendous citizen leader.

Moser moved to the Auburn/Opelika area about three years ago from her hometown of Geneva. She began working at Wal-Mart when she was 18 years old. She worked her way through the ranks and served as co-manager of the Auburn Wal-Mart for two and a half years before becoming manager six months ago. In that time, she has helped secure and donate $21,000 in charitable funds to organizations such as Auburn City and Lee County schools, the United Way, Children's Miracle Network and local fire departments. Her personal motto is helping others and because she lives, she is a true citizen leader.

Farrier has been a model community leader for many years. A resident of Montgomery, Farrier is a first-grade teacher at Washington Public Elementary School in Tuskegee. She teaches reading, math, science, social studies, health, art, music and character education. She also does volunteer work, primarily tutoring for the Tuskegee Housing Authority four evenings a week in an effort to reach more young people than her own students. She is a community program organizer as well. She coordinates holiday pageants, youth plays, a youth choir, black history programs, computer and leadership development training, and a junior resident council for youth. A good leader inspires and strengthens others to institute change and become leaders themselves, and Farrier does this for all she comes in contact with.

Scoggins began preaching at the age of 15. After spending a year between his sophomore and junior years in college doing youth evangelism with the Baptist Home Mission Board, he was ordained to the gospel ministry at age 20. He has been a pastor of churches in Oklahoma, Georgia, North Carolina and Alabama. He has been involved in many mission efforts in Scotland, Germany, Bermuda, Africa and Haiti. It is not uncommon to find this citizen leader ministering to the Lions Club, Hospice and several area nursing homes. Scoggins is an excellent example of a good leader because of his compassionate, never-ending love for people and his devotion to the community.

The ceremony was planned in their honor. After Reames' opening remarks, Interim Dean Frances Kochan and Cindy Reed, director of the Truman Pierce Institute, briefly shared their thoughts on community leadership and commended the class for their efforts to reward and recognize the actions and leadership of these community members. Then the chosen class representatives introduced each of the citizen leaders, highlighting what made them strong leaders in their communities.

Pictured above are the nominating group, Ellen Reames, and citizen leader Shannon Moser, third from the right.

Pictured above, from left, are Terry Jenkins, Pastor Steve Scoggins, Evangeline Farrier, and Ellen Reames.

The ceremony concluded with Reames being honored by the members of the class for her guidance, enthusiasm for teaching, and her meaningful instruction regarding leadership. She truly exemplifies a citizen leader.

Last Updated: Jun 16, 2011