Ponte Vedra’s own Brooke Lynch has not only recently graduated with her master’s in international business from the University of Florida, but she was also the recipient of the prestigious Heavener Hall of Fame award.
The award is considered the highest recognition and given to a graduating student from the school’s Warrington College of Business.
According to Lynch, the award highlights a student that has exhibited superior leadership and academic achievement and left a legacy within the Warrington community.
“I was thrilled to receive such an honor because I’ve dedicated a lot of time to making Heavener (UF’s School of Business) the best it can be for its students,” Lynch said.
She demonstrated that dedication by being involved in many leadership opportunities, with one of the highlights being that she helped organize and create the Women of Warrington.
Women of Warrington is an alumni database that was designed to help converge and open streams of communication between old and new alumni.
“The mentorship in college can suddenly stop after college,” Lynch said. “We wanted to bridge that gap.”
Lynch also took on a role as director of recruitment where she worked on helping recruit freshmen to Heavener.
“I helped revamp the recruitment process, which was all about making Heavener feel like home to these new students,” Lynch said.
She also represented her school in the Heavener International Case Competition, which UF hosts annually and featured 14 of the top business schools from around the world, including five from Europe and one from Asia.
It has been a busy last couple of weeks for Lynch, who received the award during a ceremony April 20 and graduated on April 29.
During that time she has found herself looking back and reflecting on not just her college experience but also her time growing up in Ponte Vedra and attending Ocean Palms Elementary School and Landrum Middle School before moving with her family to Chicago and attending high school there.
However, she and her family have since moved back to Ponte Vedra and her younger sister attends Ponte Vedra High School.
“The community is just so committed to getting stronger, and I appreciate how much they put in,” Lynch said.
Lynch’s plans now that she has graduated include going to work for Procter and Gamble in a sales position.
Now that she is an alumna of UF, she wants to continue working on the Women of Warrington database, especially with it being such a new organization.
“I’ve been grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had, and I want to make sure the school is even better off moving forward,” Lynch said.
