Bridges Sinyard, President of the Deerfield-Windsor School Alumni Association announces the 2016 Distinguished Alumni and Outstanding Young Alumni Awards.  Created in 2012 by the Alumni Association Board, these awards were recently presented at Homecoming.

The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes alumni who have provided outstanding leadership or attained recognition on a local, regional, national or international level within their profession or business and/or have provided extraordinary service to their community.

The recipient of the 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award is Dr. J. Chandler Berg ‘71. Berg was a member of the first football team at Deerfield School.  A graduate of Georgia Tech, he received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the Medical College of Georgia.

Owner of the Berg Eye Group, Meredyth Eye Surgery Center, and Berg Optical, Berg was the Chief Resident in Ophthalmology at Emory University.  He is certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology and the American Board of Eye Surgeons. He is past President of the Dougherty County Medical Society and a past Board member of SB&T Bank and Security Bank.

Berg and his wife, Karen, have three children: Lindsay, Lara, and Patrick, all of whom graduated from Deerfield-Windsor School

The Young Alumni Award recognizes alumni who are 40 years old or younger at the time of nomination, and have achieved excellence in their business, profession or vocational endeavors and/or have made outstanding contributions to community service locally, regionally, nationally and/or globally.

Co-winners of the Young Alumni Award are sisters Katie Hughey Gatewood ‘02 and Callie Hughey Walker ‘05.

At Deerfield-Windsor, Gatewood excelled in the Arts and all things creative. A third generation business owner at Hughey and Neuman Inc. Real Estate, she serves as Public Relations Chair for the Albany Board of Realtors and will serve on the upcoming State Directors Board.  She serves several community organizations and local non-profits. Gatewood is married to Crisp Gatewood of Americus, and they have two children, Fleming who is a member of the DWS Class of 2030 and James Crisp who is a future Knight.

At DWS, Walker excelled in athletics and leadership. She is a graduate of the University of Georgia and earned her M.B.A. degree from Georgia Southwestern State University.  Walker is also a third generation business owner at Hughey and Neuman.  She serves as President of the Albany Board of Realtors and is active in community organizations. Walker is married to Grant Walker, also a DWS graduate.