After Carter's birthday party on the 7th, we all got ready to head to the annual Green Forest Alumni Banquet. A couple of weeks prior, the Alumni President, Amy, contacted me and said that Josh had been selected as the Outstanding Alumnus of the Year! I was so excited for Josh, but knew that it would take a miracle and a little scheming to pull this off because my only job was to get him there without him knowing about the award. I knew it would be hard since it was the same day as Carter's birthday and Josh knows that I would never do anything to mess with something like that. After taking a day to think about it after talking to Amy, I decided that the ONLY way to get Josh there on Carter's birthday was to make him think that it was my Dad getting the award. I had my mom call me one night and act like she was telling me about dad being selected, so when I got off the phone, I had to tell Josh what she had told me. He completely fell for it. He was even trying to get in on how we could fool my dad into not finding out about it. A sick part of me almost said, "Hey Josh, how about we tell dad that it's YOU getting the award!", but I just couldn't do it. Josh said, "Hey, we can just tell your dad that we're coming because I'm having to speak to the alumni about the master planning I've been working on for the campus.". Wow. This was working out perfect, not only did I have him completely fooled, but now he was trying to help me fool dad! ha!! Josh kept telling me how excited he was for dad to get the award, so that made it hard, but the look on his face when he realized it was actually him getting the award was priceless! I loved every minute of it and am so proud of him. He's done a lot of work on our alumni campus to make it beautiful! Congratulations sweetie and I love you!
Also, a big thanks to my mom & dad, Courtney & Josh and Kate for helping me in my scheming and keeping it a secret! :-)
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| My dad and Aunt Linda. She came from Texas for her 45th reunion, so she was able see Josh accept his award as well! |
I had to do a little write-up about Josh, so here is what I wrote and what was read before he accepted his award.....
After high school graduation in 1997, he attended the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, where he studied architecture. During his time in college, he was able to travel through the architecture school to Peru and visit the ruins of Machu Picchu. He also traveled abroad and was able to study in Rome, Italy for 6 months in 2000. He graduated in May 2002 with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture with a minor in Art.
Upon college graduation, he married Carrie Collins, class of 1996, on June 8, 2002. A week after marrying, they moved to Kansas City, Missouri where he worked for H.O.K. Sport (now known as Populous) for 3 ½ years. This firm specializes in stadium design which gave him a great wealth of knowledge and experience in this area. He was able to work on several professional sports teams’ stadiums and played an integral role in the design of the Washington D.C. Nationals baseball stadium as well as Sabina Park cricket stadium in Jamaica.
In 2005, he and Carrie moved back to Northwest Arkansas where he worked for Tucker Sadler Architects, based out of San Diego, and for Provision Development. During this time he was blessed with the opportunity to design an orphanage, Esther’s House, in Malawi Africa for the Bigger Than Life Christian Foundation. In August 2008, he was able to travel to Malawi for mission work through his church, Cross Church, and to help with the construction of the orphanage he got to design.
Upon his return from Malawi in August 2008, he started his own firm, Modus Studio, along with long time college friend Chris Baribeau. Their first project, that was integral in the launch of their firm, was the Green Forest Middle School which was completed in August 2010. They have since then gone on to design the new Tiger Stadium here that opened in the fall of last year. In September 2011, Modus Studio received a design Merit Award at the State AIA Convention for their design of the Green Forest Middle School.
Modus Studio has been a labor of love for him and he is so thankful for that first project that Green Forest awarded him. This has led to several other school, residential, multi-family/student housing projects as well as designing the new Carroll County airport. Their firm has grown from just the 2 of them to 9 now and is located on the square in Fayetteville.
Out of all his accomplishments, his greatest accomplishments are his two boys, Collin-age 5 and Carter-age 3. They love him so much and have inherited his artistic talent. His favorite times are spent with his family, whether it be playing out in the backyard, fishing with the boys or playing golf with them. His great love for his family and his faith in God is something to be admired and he knows that he would not be where he is without all that. He is such a humble person and is thankful for every opportunity that has come his way in life and work.
