Cyndee Perdue Moore

"Being a leader in the community also means identifying people around you who are willing to step up and take charge," Moore said.

That was the case with Nighthawks Student Opportunities for Accelerated Readiness (SOAR), which targeted economically disadvantaged and English as a second language youth who are prospective first-generation college students. The inaugural Nighthawks SOAR welcomed middle school students from Athens-Clarke County, Oconee County and Commerce City school districts in June 2019 for a science, technology, engineering, art and math experience.

As a former public school educator herself, Moore knows middle school is a time when students can fall behind. She had an idea to aid these students, then went about finding supporters and sponsors.

"I have the ability to see a bigger picture. Then I find people who can get excited about that vision and figure out how to make it work," Moore said. "I try to inspire people to dream big, to understand that if you can see it, it can exist. You just have to figure out how to make it happen."

Moore and her faculty and staff sought to make the Nighthawks SOAR students feel at home at UNG.

"We greeted them with UNG T-shirts. We showed them around campus so they could relax and feel secure in their new environment," Moore said. "We had excellent, enthusiastic teachers in place to lay out the plan for the three weeks they would spend with us and terrific hands-on activities to keep them engaged." 

Moore earned a 2019 Diversity Champion Award for her efforts that led to Nighthawks SOAR.

The annual Oconeefest scholarship fundraiser in October is another example of how Moore has empowered people to feed their passions while helping UNG.

"When I heard Jennifer Herring's dream job was to be a florist, I asked her to do the centerpieces and she knocked it out of the park.  I know that my assistant, Sarah Gilbert, is really good at organizing an auction, so that was her project," Moore said. "Our amazing Facilities team understood the atmosphere we were trying to create during the event, and they made that happen. I believe the secret is communicating the vision clearly."

Similarly, in February 2018, Barbara Arnold, associate director of Student Counseling, pointed to food insecurity among students. Moore asked Dr. Gary Adcox, director of campus success and strategic initiatives, to research what could be done. After consultation with faculty member Dr. Carly Redding about the Food Pantry on UNG's Gainesville Campus, Moore and Adcox worked with Tim Aldridge in Facilities to identify a location, and Nigel's Nest opened within three weeks of the initial comments. The pantry recorded 328 student visits from March 2018 to October 2019.

Moore is grateful to be part of a dynamic community at UNG that meets challenges head-on.

"I have an amazing team of people on this campus and in the community who come from a place of 'Yes and let's do this,'" Moore said. "That makes being in a leadership position a wonderful experience."

Moore also volunteers with the Pilot Club of Oconee County, which deals with brain health and brain-related injuries; chairs the program and events committee for the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation; leads Relay for Life efforts for Oconee and Clarke counties, which benefit the American Cancer Society; and is a member of the Rotary Club of Oconee County.