The Executive - Fall 2014

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.