Mountaineer is Photo of the Year

Nov. 3, 2008

More than 800 PolyLink Alumni Have Spoken:
Mountain Climber is PolyLink Photo of the Year Winner

SAN LUIS OBISPO -- The votes are in: some 840 PolyLink members have cast their ballots in the PolyLink Photo of the Year competition during October. 

And by a clear margin -- 265 votes -- PolyLinkers chose '02 software engineering grad Matthew DuPuy as the winner for his shot of himself climbing The Matterhorn (the real one) in Switzerland in 2005. He wins the first place prize: a $100 gift card for Cal Poly Gear at El Corral's online store.

Placing second with 157 votes was a nostalgic black and white shot of ag engineering senior "Kep" Keplinger on spring break in 1953. Third place with 107 votes was everyone's favorite couple, Steve and Suzen Plath, out on a date in 1972's latest fashions. 

Our thanks to the 840 PolyLink members who cast their ballots. All voters were eligible for a $50 El Corral gift card good for Cal Poly Gear -- just for voting! PolyLink member David Mason, a '90 engineering technology grad, was selected in a random drawing from among the voters and is the winner of the $50 Cal Poly gear gift card.

Next year's Photo of the Year winner could be YOU. Create a photo album in PolyLink and upload some of your favorite photos about your life, your family, where you've been -- whatever you want. PolyLink's editors may pick one of them as the Photo of the Month -- winning you a very cool Cal Poly Alumni window decal.

This year's Photo of the Month winners will be on the ballot for the 2008-09 PolyLink Photo of the Year. It could be you...


The Results from the Photo of the Year Balloting:

October 2007 Animal Science Grad Matthew Leon (B.S., Class of '99), at work with Nova the emu. It's just another day on the job at Green Chimneys Farm and Wildlife Center in New York, where he works. The center introduces at-risk children and teens to wildlife and nature.
November 2007 - 1st Place, 265 Votes Matthew DuPuy  (B.S., Computer Engineering, 2002) was the winner for this shot of him climbing the Matterhorn in 2005. DuPuy is  software engineer. He says his day job finances his mountain climbing. And he's got one of the most extensive photo albums in PolyLink.
December 2007 Three-year-old Mia Brown, daughter of alumni couple Monica (B.S., Ag Business 1999) and Matt Brown (B.S., Computer Engineering 1997, M.S., Electronic & Electrical Engineering, 2000), shows off her new Cal Poly Cheer outfit at Homecoming. Monica Brown captured the December 2007 Photo of the Month award for the shot.
January 2008 -  3rd Place, 107 Votes   After his tour of duty in Vietnam ended in 1969, Steve Plath (B.S., Math, 1967) let his hair grow. This photo was taken in 1972 -- with the future Mrs. Plath. "I'm not sure when I finally got it cut, but it was much shorter (around my shoulders) when Suzan and I got married in 1974. My ears reappeared in the 1990s." Today he's the president of a high-end contracting company in Marin county. He's also got great photos from 'Back in the Day' at Cal Poly on his PolyLink Personal Page.
February 2008 This is not Katie Cooney. This is a photo she took of a coffee vendor in Cappadocia, Turkey, on one of her trips. Cooney, a Human Development grad (B.S., Class of '99), is a professional photographer in San Jose. She has one of the most extensive travel photo albums in PolyLink.
March 2008 Meghan Thompson-Payne (B.S., Environmental Horticulture Science, 2004) and her husband Austin Payne  (B.S., Civil Engineering, 2004) took this shot while they scootered around Isla de Mujeres, Mexico, in 2007. They were there for a friend's wedding.
April 2008 Business alumnus Jamie Gaiser (B.S., Business Administration, 2003) enjoys a little down time in this photo. When he's not racing motorcycles, Gaiser is a C-17 transport pilot for the U.S. Air Force. This year, he embarked on one of life's biggest adventures: parenthood.
May 2008 Second-generation Cal Poly engineering grad Bjorn Adams (B.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1998) carves up the slope in the Canadian Rockies during a 2005 ski trip. When he's not snowboarding, he's working in the family engineering firm in Southern California.
June 2008 Julie Goldzman (B.S, Ecology and Systematic Biology, 2003) and a Polar Bear relax on a trip through bear country in Manitoba, Canada in 2007. Goldman works for Natural Habitat Adventures, a company that leads ecotours throughout the world.
July 2008 Gary Gatel (B.S., Business Administration, 1977) in 1975 - a back-in-the-day shot from his time at Cal Poly. He turned his love of motorcycles into a career. Gatel is the President of Rifle Fairings, a company that makes and sells fairings for motorcycles. What's a fairing? It's the cool and frequently colorful aerodynamic body piece under the windshield that channels air around the rider. And of course, Gatel is still riding motorcycles when he's not at work.
August 2008 -  2nd Place, 157 Votes   The year was 1953, the car was a 1939 ford and the place was Berkeley. Ag Engineering Seniors Don Lindquist (left) and Miller "Kep" Keplinger (right) headed up to spend some time at the Lindquist's family home during spring break. Keplinger (B.S., Agricultural Engineering, 1953) won the August PolyLink Photo of the month title - and a cool Cal Poly Alumni window decal - for this shot of the friends on break.
September 2008 Melanie Usas Crabb (B.S., Applied Art and Design, 2003) and husband Gavin Crabb (B.S., Industrial Engineering, 2002) -- in their neighborhood: New York City. The couple live in New Jersey and work in Manhattan. After earning his MBA at UCLA, he's now working in finance. She's a designer at an ad agency. They returned to San Luis Obispo to tie the knot Sept. 6. And they won the Photo of the Month prize for this shot of them in front of the Brooklyn Bridge.