Experience Magazine

20-21 / 24

SPRING 2016 SPRING 2016 20 21
KYLE AND MICHELLE WOOSLEY
Michelle Woosley arrived onto Clemson’s
campus in 1988, pursuing an elementary
education degree. She was drawn to the resident
assistant (RA) program and requested a change
from her initial residence hall (Byrnes) to
the Clemson House because she wanted the
diversity of a coed residence hall. While serving
as an RA at the Clemson House, she met her
husband Kyle, who had come to Clemson
in 1989 in pursuit of a degree in electrical
engineering. When they met, he was also
an RA in the Clemson House.
The Woosleys have a unique tie to Clemson’s
campus, since they happened to meet while
they were both RAs in the Clemson House.
This experience — along with Michelle’s time
as a conference assistant — proved to be helpful
training in providing positive service for others
and has helped her immensely in her job as
a teacher. Kyle said his RA experience helped
keep him focused on his studies and helped
him stay connected to other students, who
were driven to do their best and be successful
academically.
Because of their joint experiences as RAs, they
“built a really strong friendship…through [all
of their] RA activities,” and they also admit to
having made good friends and having many
positive experiences. Michelle also said she
enjoyed living on campus for the summer and
meeting so many great groups of people: from
Elderhostel participants to barbershop quartet
groups to young sports camp participants. Both
of their on-campus experiences were positive
ones, and Kyle even lived in the Clemson
House all four years.
Michelle is now a second-grade teacher in
Holly Springs, N.C. Kyle is a sales engineer
for semiconductor companies. They have two
children, who they said have been “groomed to
be Tiger fans,” Carson, 17, and Jordan, 14.
PETE STONE
Pete Stone arrived at Clemson University
in 1999 from the small town of Chester, S.C.
His father, Dr. Samuel Stone, MD, graduated
from the University in 1976, and the legacy
continued through one of his sons, the other
having gone to his mother’s alma mater,
Winthrop University.
Stone double majored in philosophy and
English, and he was also very involved
in organizations around campus and the
surrounding community during and after
his time as a student at Clemson. He was
president of the Clemson Philosophical
Society, a member of the Ethics Debate Team,
a production manager at Clemson Cable
Network, a mic-man for the football team,
youth director at the local Presbyterian Church
and was featured by The Tiger newspaper as one
of Clemson’s five “Most Interesting Seniors.”
In addition to all of these positions, Stone also
came up with a concept to “Save Our Mascot”
that eventually led to his involvement with
Tigers for Tigers (T4T), which is a national
coalition of colleges whose mascot is the
tiger. They focus on trying to save tigers from
imminent extinction in the wild. He is now
in charge of extending the mission beyond
students to fully rally alumni and football fans
behind the effort to “Save Our Mascot.”
Although he liked living off campus, Stone
said he missed the energy of being on campus
that he’d grown accustomed to the first two
and a half years of his college career. In
response to the Douthit Hills project, Stone
said it seems promising. He is also pleased it
is intended to be used in part for the Bridge
to Clemson program.
In his 12 years post-graduation, Stone has
covered a lot of ground. He first attended a top
film school and started a production company,
but he then decided to go to medical school
so he could become a doctor in a third-world
country. However, after two years of medical
school, he realized that his true way of giving
back lay in his production work, writing and
teaching. Stone said, “So what I am doing now
is ‘following my Bliss’ and encouraging others
to change the world through doing what makes
them most ‘True, Beautiful and Free,’ as local
Chester poet Dr. Vivian Ayers puts it.”