Recognition Series: pt. 17 - Maddie "Mazzie" Z

I actually only just met Mazzie this year but already I consider one of my closest friends from college. Our meeting place was actually from Central Spirit, a club that I was a part of until my final semester at Clemson. The club regularly does T-shirt sales to help raise money for our organization in addition to promoting athletic events at Clemson.

The way we get people to work the sale is basically just an online sign up sheet, and each member is required to do an hour or two over the semester. It just so happened that Mazzie was signed up for the same hour that I was that day, and so we both showed up at the required time to "pay our dues" so to speak for the organization. I usually try to talk to the people I work with, if only to make the time go a bit quicker but in this case we got on well and chatted a good bit. She had given me her email that day in order to make some change because she wasn't getting the emails from the listserv for the group, and later that day I emailed her asking about getting lunch some time.

The rest is history. We ate a good number more meals together, and hung out at the Central Spirit events. One interesting thing was that she got involved with a sorority and still hung out with Central Spirit. It is not often that this happens, a, because of the type of people that are in spirit groups, and b, because Greek chapter meetings are often on Sunday nights, the same day of the week as Central Spirit meetings. She did manage to balance both, and that is certainly admirable.

Though she just finished freshman year and I just finished Clemson in general, she'll definitely be missed. The one year we did have together enriched my life and opened the door to some great times, whether it be lunch, study time in the library or at my house (where I tried to play mom and get her to study her chemistry), time out on the boat, or a companion to go to church with. Believe me when I say her man has got himself a lucky catch.

One last bit before I sign off on this one -- during that first email conversation we had about lunch, she said some really amazing things about me. And I treasure those to this day. It's the kind of thing that you really save and hold on to, because when the going gets tough, and it most certainly will, you can look back at those amazing things people said to you and about you and it makes your day a hell of a lot better. Her and I always watch each others' backs, and are always there for each other in a tight spot. I have no doubt we'll keep in touch!