class in high school prior to coming to
Alabama, and I was hoping that I would
enjoy it once I got here. I absolutely
love it.”
Before Torman arrived on campus,
she said she was worried and didn’t
know what to expect, especially since
she came from a small town.
“That first semester was really
rough for me. Being away from home,
being away from friends and family.
It was completely new, difficult and
challenging. But once spring rolled
around it got a little bit better, and the
next thing you know you’re done with
the first year and you’ve made friends.”
Although her time on campus was
not easy at first, she said her faith
helped her through her first year.
“It's always really nice knowing
no matter what you go through it’s all
going to be OK. It doesn’t matter if you
succeed or not.”
She is now well-settled in life on
campus, and she does not seem to be
passing up any opportunities that come
her way.
“I know once I start doing something
I enjoy it. I just have to do it. I just have
to get there.”
As part of the STEM Business Honors
class, students work on a business
innovation project every five weeks.
They are given a theme and are charged
devising an idea for a new product
or business.
“Megan came to me and said, ‘Dr.
Morgan, if you told me a year ago
that I would spend all of my free time
dreaming up ideas for new products and
businesses, I would have told you that
you are crazy, but now I’ll be walking
around campus thinking about what new
product or business I can come up with
to solve problems,’” Morgan said.
“It’s stuff like that, that really makes
you feel blessed about what you’re doing
as a teacher,” he added with a smile.
Those first-year jitters are long
gone. Torman has not looked back, and
she has not been busier. She also seems
to find time to volunteer for projects
outside of her class projects. She
volunteered for the Avon Foundation
Breast Cancer Startup Challenge earlier
this year. The worldwide challenge was
open to university students and offered
the opportunity for teams to develop
business plans for breast cancer
inventions. Torman’s team nominated
her to serve as CEO.
“I am one of those people who goes
after every little opportunity I see.
I have no experience whatsoever in
breast cancer research or that kind of
science, pharmacy science, other than
chemistry. So I texted a few friends
from class whom I had worked with on
previous projects and got them together
to talk about it. We decided, hey we’re
gonna do this thing. Why not?”
The team had a month of crunchtime
to prepare for the challenge for which
they had to create a 10-page business
report and present via phone to
executives from the Avon Foundation
and National Institutes of Health.
“We hunkered down and divided up
the tasks, researched and researched
and researched. We spent every single
moment of free time the last two weeks
making final preparations. We were
working on it literally up to 2 minutes
before the deadline for submission.
Once we turned it in and pushed the
button to submit, it was such a relief.
We felt so accomplished,” she said.
Her enthusiasm and positive outlook
shined through during the entire
interview.
“It didn’t even matter if we won or
placed. It was such a great experience
getting to know each other that much
better and seeing each other grow along
the way and having that contact with
our advisers.”
Three teams from UA participated in
the challenge. All three teams, including
Torman’s, were the only undergraduate
teams in the competition. The other
40-plus teams were composed of
graduate students.
“It made us see that we are capable
of so much more than we think we
are sometimes,” she said. “The entire
college experience so far has just been
proving that over and over. I look at
myself from when I just came in and
now what I’m doing, and I would not
have seen myself doing these things. It
definitely surprises me whenever I try
something new. That’s why I like trying
something new, because you push
yourself and get out from behind the
wall and experience new things.”
If that’s not enough, Torman also
volunteered for the Target wellness
competition. Her team members
came up with a business model for
“Live Healthy, Live Happy,” where
they created a display at Super Target
stores. The in-store display included
recipes and the food items for creating
healthy meals. Target was impressed
with the presentation. The four-member
UA team won first place and received
$4,000.
When asked about the future and
career opportunities Torman is taking
a wait-and-see-where-the-road-leads-her mindset, but she did hint at what
she finds interesting.
“I just read an article about
Proctor & Gamble. They have a baby
department in the diaper segment of
the company where they sit and observe