Retired schoolteacher, volunteer to receive Clemson Alumni Association award

CLEMSON - Former elementary schoolteacher Margaret Segars Bond, a Sumter native, will receive the Clemson Alumni Association's highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award.

She earned a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education from Clemson University as a member of the Class of 1984. She went on to teach for 15 years at schools in Georgia and South Carolina, including at Wilson Hall Academy in Sumter, which she attended as a student and where she was named teacher of the year.

After she retired, she and her late husband, Steve, established the Margaret and Steve Bond Award for Teacher Achievement. It is presented annually to an outstanding Wilson Hall elementary teacher. Recipients receive a travel stipend for a destination of their choice, which creates an educational experience to be shared in the classroom with their students.

The Bonds became major advocates for the Clemson golf program. Steve was a 1980 graduate and a letterwinner on the men's golf team. With Margaret's encouragement, he, along with others, established the Golf Paws program, which encourages financial support for the golf teams. For the past eight years, Margaret has continued to chair the program and support men's and women's golf.

In appreciation for their gifts to the program, the Steve and Margaret Bond Golf Practice Facility is named in their honor.

The couple also created the Bond Distinguished Athletes Award, which recognizes Clemson alumni athletes who demonstrate exemplary character, citizenship and service to their alma mater, community and family. Margaret presents the award each year during Clemson's homecoming football game.

Margaret was active in the Sumter Junior Welfare League and chaired numerous projects benefitting the Sumter community and Sumter County. She was president of her Sunday school class at Trinity United Methodist Church in Sumter and later was an active member of Belin United Methodist Church in Murrell's Inlet. As an elementary teacher, Maragaret was a member of Alpha Delta Kappa, a teacher sorority for women educators. As a Clemson student, she was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority and a little sister of Kappa Alpha fraternity.

In addition to her support for Clemson's golf program, she is a supporter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, contributes to coach Dabo and Kathleen Swinney's All In Foundation and has served as an ambassador for Dabo's All Access Training Camp for more than five years. She is also a mentor of the football program's P.A.W. Journey personal leadership development initiative.

Margaret is a member of the Clemson University Board of Visitors and is a major donor to academics as a member of the President's Leadership Circle. Her generosity has benefitted the ClemsonLIFE program, the Grace Clements Scholarship Endowment and the Samuel J. Cadden Chapel.

Margaret's father, Ray Segars Jr., was a 1949 Clemson graduate. She attributes her love for Clemson to him. The Clemson connection has continued throughout her family with many graduates and current students.

The Clemson Alumni Distinguished Service Award is based on three main criteria: personal and professional accomplishments; dedication and service to Clemson University; and devotion to community and public service. Members of the Clemson family nominate potential honorees, who are then selected by the Clemson Alumni Association as outstanding alumni, public servants and examples to others. The 2024 award presentation will occur in April.

The Clemson Alumni Association is an open-membership, nonprofit organization that exists to connect alumni with their alma mater. Through a variety of programs and services, the Alumni Association works with alumni around the world to ensure they have a Clemson Experience every day.