Ten former students and one friend of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College will be honored for their accomplishments at the annual ABAC Alumni Association awards luncheon as a part of the 2018 Homecoming Celebration on April 6 at 12:30 p.m. in Gressette Gymnasium on the ABAC campus.

The ceremony will recognize ABAC alumni who impacted the college and their communities in significant ways.  Tickets to the event are $25 per person.  The deadline to purchase tickets is March 28.  There will be no tickets sold at the venue on the day of the event.

Tickets can be purchased from the College Advancement Office by calling (229) 391-4900.  For more information on the 2018 Homecoming Week, interested persons can visit the web site at www.abac.edu/homecoming.   

ABAC Alumni Association award winners this year include Jimmy Hill from Dawsonville, Distinguished Alumnus; T.E. Moye from Newton, Master Farmer; Ada Beth Spruill from Hartsfield, Helen Brown Sasser Award; Dr. Anna Daniel Reddish from Atlanta, J. Lamar Branch Award; Steve Spooner from Sumner, Outstanding Business Leader; Nancy Purcell Hyte from Atlanta, Outstanding Educator; Claire Byrnes from Tifton, Outstanding Health Care Professional; Ben Kennedy from Bluffton, S.C., Outstanding Young Alumnus; the family of Clarie Whitfield from Worth County, Family Legacy Award; Spencer Highsmith from Wray; Rising Star Award; and Senator Jeff Mullis from Chickamauga, Honorary Alumnus.

Hill is a 1968 ABAC graduate who is now the Engagement Director for the FarmAgain/AgrAbility program in Georgia under the auspices of the University of Georgia.  He is the former president of the Georgia FFA Alumni Association and the former chairman of the Georgia Agribusiness Council.  Hill, a former president of the ABAC Alumni Association, is the president of The Hill Group, Inc., and the founder of Hill Photography.

Moye, a 1968 ABAC graduate, is the president of the Georgia Federal State Inspection Service.   He is also engaged in a farming operation and won the Southeast Peanut Farmer Profitability Award in 2010.  Moye is a former chairman of the Baker County Board of Commissioners and still serves as vice president of the Board of Directors of the Baker County Farm Bureau.

A 1973 ABAC graduate, Spruill served as the editor of “The Stallion” and as editor of “The Agriculturist” as an ABAC student.  She also received the prestigious George P. Donaldson Award as the top graduate.  Spruill is a former member of the Board of Directors of the ABAC Alumni Association.

A veterinarian with the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), Reddish graduated from ABAC in 2006.  She now serves as the Eastern Region Assistant Director for Student Initiatives for the AVMA.  Reddish was selected for the Georgia Veterinary Medical Association Power of 10 Leadership Program and has received the AVMA Performance Award.  As an ABAC student she was a member of the tennis team and the ABAC Ambassadors.

Spooner, who attended ABAC from 1964-66, owns S&S Marketing, Specialty Sales-Seminole, and is the manager for Specialty Sales Company in Sumner which is the primary assembly facility for Monosem planters in the southeast.  He has patented a twin row vacuum planter and a drum punch planter.  Spooner received a Georgia Peanut Special Award in 2015 for making a significant contribution to Georgia’s peanut farmers.

A 1971 ABAC graduate, Hyte is a second-grade teacher at Rivers Elementary School in Atlanta.  She is the former state president and former Metro Atlanta chair of the Georgia Association of Family and Consumer Science.  Hyte has been named the Georgia Family and Consumer Science Association Educator of the Year and the Teacher of the Year by the Peachtree Presbyterian Preschool.

Byrnes is a 2004 ABAC graduate who is the Senior Vice President for Ambulatory Services for Tift Regional Health System (TRHS).  An employee at TRHS since 2008, Byrnes provides executive oversight for the system’s ambulatory division including physician clinics, oncology, hospice/palliative care, musculoskeletal services, rehabilitation, wound care, neurodiagnostics, and more.

Kennedy, a 2002 ABAC graduate, owns Brighton Builders, a custom home building business in Bluffton, S.C.  He also owns two other companies, Driftwood Homes USA, LLC, and Brighton Development, LLC.  Kennedy is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Hilton Head Area Home Builders Association.  He is also a partner in New South Living, LLC, an investment and land development company.

Whitfield was a member of the Class of 1971 at ABAC.  Since that time, family members who have attended ABAC include Lauren Whitfield Newman (1980), Catherine Whitfield Orr (1984), Suzanne Whitfield Smith (1989), Kandy Whitfield (1992), Jimmy Whitfield ((1995), and current students Abby Smith and Austin Sumler.

Mullis is a state senator who represents the 53rd District.  He has received the Walker County Community Service Award, the Presidential Citation from the Georgia Historical Society, the Governor Zell Miller Public Policy Leadership Award from the Georgia Economic Development Association and the Legislative Service Award from the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia four times.

Highsmith, a 2014 Magna Cum Laude ABAC graduate, receives the first ever Rising Star Award.  This award will be presented annually to alumni 29 years old or younger who have distinguished themselves through professional achievement, community service and service to the College. Highsmith received the George Washington Carver Freshman Campus Teacher of the Year award this year.  He is the FFA advisor for the school.