Southern Fall/Winter 2022

“I established lifelong connections at BSC with some of the most amazing,
impressive, and important people in my life, even 15 years later. Some of
these have been enduring relationships over this 1.5 decades, and others have
been new or rekindled connections that are equally as treasured. I have been
fortunate to cross paths with several BSC connections through work and
reestablished relationships, mostly based on our common Hilltop bond. Two of
my BSC friends, Emmaline Walters Barnhill ’07 and Emmie Silvernail Blaze ’07,
have become my lifelines and support system during the most difficult year of
my life, and I truly would not have made it without them. We have shared ups
and many downs, and it is amazing to watch our children now playing together.
Another BSC friend, Monica Hill Carlson ’08 — we call my “third sister” — drove
five-plus hours with her husband and two babies to celebrate my youngest
son’s first birthday and to make the amazing cakes for his party. Yet another
sweet friend from BSC, Dr. Elizabeth Orr ’07, is my children’s pediatrician, and
my wonderful friend and former BSC roommate, Dr. Meghan Kilgore Harrison
’07, is my whole family’s veterinarian. Another of my closest friends from BSC
(and graduate school), Dr. Coty Hulgan ’07, is our periodontist and serves
on an HPV vaccination nonprofit board of directors with me. His wife Tara
Watts Hulgan ’07 is also among my very best friends, and I am honored to be
the godmother of their daughter. It is actually quite a misnomer to refer to
these individuals as “friends” since they are most certainly an integral part of
my family. And all of this is such an abbreviated list and doesn’t
nearly do justice to the lifelong connections I made and have
maintained from BSC! I truly do not go a single day without
talking to at least one of my fellow alums and am so
blessed to have received not only an amazing education
on the Hilltop, but also to have been blessed with
meeting the most amazing people one could ever hope
to. And my connections go deeper than that. I was a
“Summer Scholar,” both of my sisters, Dr. Amanda
Daniel Pendergrass ’03 and Lindsey Daniel Ray ’12,
are also BSC graduates, and my parents Thomas and
Lynda Daniel were married in Yeilding Chapel in
1977. Birmingham-Southern has been and will
always be a second home to me.”
– Casey Daniel ’07, Director of Epidemiology and Public Health and
Associate Professor at University of South Alabama College of
Medicine, 2020 Outstanding Young Alumna
26 / ’southern