Our Interns

MELISSA TRAN

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." -Anne Frank-

SARAH GATES

Sarah Gates is a sophomore at Auburn University. She was born in Cumberland, Maryland and has lived in Madison, Alabama for the last six years. Sarah has been involved in sustainability since she was a child; her father is also interested in the sustainability movement. Sarah is currently majoring in Graphic Design, though her ultimate goal is to get a degree in Animation. She loves Hayao Miyazaki movies, particularly Princess Mononoke, and is interested in working on games and movies that both entertain and educate others about sustainability and the environment.

STEVEN GAFFIN

Steven was born in Abington, PA. on January 30 1986. His family moved to Mobile, AL. when he was three years old to start his father's Podiatry practice. As a child Steven was very active in scouting and Earned the rank of Eagle Scout at the age of fifteen. He also played soccer and was heavily active in the Navy Junior ROTC at his high school. Steven graduated with honors from W.P. Davidson high school in 2004. He attended Auburn as a Mechanical Engineering major but switched to Industrial Design during his Junior Year. He became interested in Sustainability and "Greening" efforts when he was surfing YouTube late one night and has been hooked ever since. During a Designing Green Competition, hosted by Industrial Design, Steven met Matt Williams who told him about the intern position applications. He will Graduate with a Bachelor's in Industrial Design in the spring of 2009.

BRITTANY BRANYON

Brittany Branyon is a junior majoring in Political Science with a Sociology minor and enjoys the outdoors, listening to U2 and the Beatles and being a nerd. On any given night you can find Brittany watching South Park and the Colbert Report while simultaneously browsing the Internet for new documentaries. Brittany first became involved in the sustainability movement after a favorite professor informed her of Mountaintop Removal among other environmental tragedies taking place today. Full of energy, Brittany brings spunk and passion to the Auburn University Sustainability Initiative. If any statement describes Brittany it would be a quote by Jim Morrison: "I see myself as a huge firey comet, a shooting star. Everyone stops, points up and gasps 'Oh look at that!' Then - whoosh, and I'm gone…and they'll never see anything like it again, and they won't be able to forget me - ever."

PHILIP SHELL

Philip Shell is a junior at Auburn University. He is studying Landscape Architecture and is working on a minor in Business. He grew up in Fayetteville, Georgia which is approximately 30 minutes south of Atlanta. Apart from his internship with AU Sustainability, he is involved with Campus Crusade. Philip loves being outdoors and admiring God's beautiful creation. His primary focus this year with AU Sustainability is Parkerson Mill Creek, which runs under campus and through the intramural fields. His goals are to remove all invasive species and scatter native plants along the bank with hopes of creating a scenic focal point on campus.

"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden." -Thomas Jefferson-

LEIGHANN ELMER

LeighAnn is a senior from Birmingham, Alabama, majoring in Graphic Design. As a Sustainability Initiative intern, she is particularly interested in promoting sustainable design practices in the design community at Auburn and practicing sustainable design in her work for the Initiative this year. Upon graduation in May 2008, LeighAnn will marry her fiancé, Ryan, in late June. They will reside in Miami, FL, where she is hoping to work as a graphic and web designer. She plans to advocate sustainable design in the workplace and to incorporate its methods into her future work as a designer.

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