By Chris Moffitt
The pride Tempe Prep holds for the members of the Zimmerman family has surely not dissipated just because they no longer attend our school. As TPA alumni, they have gone on to display our virtues of truth, beauty, and goodness in a number of different ways.
Camille Zimmerman, the family’s most recent graduate, continues to shine on the basketball court. This year her hard work and dedication have taken her to the courts of Columbia University in New York City. In just the first four weeks of the Columbia Lions’ women’s basketball season, Camille has been named Ivy League Rookie Player of the Week three times!
In another success story a little closer to home, Camille’s sister, Emma Zimmerman, and her father are improving American dieting and culture with their father-daughter business, Hayden Flour Mills. Emma’s entrepreneurial success and vision led to the business receiving the Martha Stewart American Made Award this year. As Martha Stewart Living Magazine reports, “[Their business] is devoted to producing the freshest and most flavorful flours and baking mixes from some of the world’s oldest varieties of grains. Beginning with growing White Sonora wheat and stone milling out of a garage, the company now grows ten different heritage and ancient grains and sells to local chefs and home bakers.”
Emma attributes much of her success to her TPA education and the way it has influenced the decisions she has made with her business. “I always thought of TPA as a ‘Community of Learners’ where there is less emphasis on the final grades and more value put on process of learning. Likewise we want to create a business that does more than just make flour, we want to value the people and the process. Early on we made it a goal to build a community around our business — to create an infrastructure for farmers, chefs, and bakers to thrive in. And so far we have been able to do that and I’ve found it to be more fulfilling than just milling flour.”
Whether it be on the court or in the workplace, we can follow the Zimmermans’ example and use our TPA ideals to achieve success at any time and in any place.
