(left to right) Lauren Toler, Logan Vinson, Mary Werner
SuperCorrExpo, the largest corrugated packaging trade show in the Western Hemisphere, took place on Aug. 8-12 in Orlando, FL at the Orange County Convention Center. TAPPI (Technical Association of Pulp and Paper Industry) and AICC (Association of Independent Corrugated Converters) hosted 17 sessions and more than 250 exhibitors over five days.
Clemson University students from both Food, Nutrition and Packaging Sciences (FNPS) and Graphic Communications (GC) entered into packaging and scholarship competitions hosted by AICC and were awarded at this year’s SuperCorrExpo. Click here to read more about the competitions and Clemson’s student winners.
Clemson’s two Troll Scholarship winners, and one student representative from the first-place group winner of this year’s Student Packaging Design Competition, attended SuperCorrExpo to accept their awards on-stage the morning of Monday, Aug. 10.
“It was an absolute honor to receive the J. Richard Troll Memorial Scholarship and attend SuperCorrExpo this past week!” said Mary Werner, packaging senior. “Throughout the week, I visited exhibitor booths where employees and owners spoke about the part they play within the corrugated industry. I made many connections with companies who were thrilled to meet the younger generation of the packaging industry and see them participate at a large event such as SuperCorrExpo.”
First place winner, “Trove: Quarantine Chest.”
“SuperCorr was a great experience and anyone who has the chance to go in 2024 should,” said Logan Vinson, a packaging senior from the student design team. “It was not only a honor representing Clemson at this event and being able to accept this award, but a privilege. I learned more than I would have imagined. The networking opportunities and great people in the industry I met was overwhelming. Overall it was an outstanding event and I encourage you to seriously consider joining AICC as well as TAPPI if you haven’t already!”
The Sonoco Institute also partnered with Poteet Printing Systems to create a corrugated display for their booth at SuperCorrExpo. The Institute’s summer print lab intern, Tucker Nelson, packaging senior, produced a functional golf hole representing Clemson University (go Tigers) to fit the theme of Poteet’s exhibit this year.
Clemson’s display in the Poteet booth
“Tucker did an amazing job trying to figure out the different options for printing and assembling the artwork,” commented Kenny Tucker, Nelson’s supervisor at the Sonoco Institute. “He was very patient with cutting and gluing the slices. It took him many hours to work on this.”
