Tag Archives: Graduation

Confessions of a UNCW Undergrad

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Though Graduation draws near, my Seahawk spirit will never die. My four years at UNCW has taught me well more than just academics. When I moved in to Galloway in August of 2009 as a young, naïve, eager boy, I had no idea the experience I was about to begin. Even though home is a mere 20 minutes away for me, my move to Wilmington was my fresh start. I decided I no longer wanted to care about what others thought of me and wanted to finally express myself instead of keeping it all bottled inside. My first step was something that I always wanted to do – I tried out for the UNCW Cheerleading squad. It was one of the best decisions I ever made and truly enhanced my college experience. I learned new skills and made great friends along the way. These are experiences I will never have the chance to relive again, so I cherish them very much. The rest of my freshman year was a fast, fun blur. I engaged in lots of campus activities such as Alpha Phi’s “King of Hearts”, and also “Mr. Galloway”. I made countless friends and learned a few life lessons as well.

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After goofing around like a social butterfly for my first two years, it was time to decide a major. Initially, I wanted to major in Education (though I never declared). However, after taking a few Education classes my freshman year, I decided it wasn’t for me. That left me in a pickle. It is easy to decide what you don’t want to major in, but extremely difficult to decide what you do want to major in. After chatting with a few friends, I was talked into taking COM 105. “It’s an interesting class and if you don’t like it then don’t major in it.” I figured I had nothing to lose. After learning more about the discipline, it caught my attention. I became intrigued in what Dr. Weber was teaching. In addition, I liked the fact that it is a very flexible major. By the end of the semester, I decided that this was the major for me. That was another one of the best decisions I’ve made.

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Though I met struggles along the way, my desire to succeed kept me going; however, I never would have have made it through without my friends, cheerleading, and the wonderful COM faculty. It still feels surreal that I’m graduating. I feel like I haven’t changed that much, but when I think of that boy that moved into Galloway, I realize I have. Leaving this school is definitely bittersweet. As I said earlier, I cherish my memories here. I couldn’t have asked for a better all around college experience. That being said, I realize that I’m ready to enter the work field and start the next phase of my life. And as I prepare to say goodbye to UNCW, I know I’ll always retain my Seahawk pride.

-Jay Reilly

The Time Has Come

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Here we are. Ten days until graduation! The past four years have been the most incredible years of my life. It’s almost overwhelming to think of all that has happened to get to this place.

Growing up in Wilmington, I always said I would go to college anywhere but UNCW. However, when it came time to actually look at colleges, I realized how many opportunities UNCW provided. And at the end of four years, I cannot imagine going anywhere else, even though I tried. After changing by major about three times (because I could not figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life), I decided to try to get into the Sonography (ultrasound) Program at Cape Fear Community College. For three semesters, I took classes at UNCW and Cape Fear trying to figure what I wanted to do. In that last semester, I took COM 105 and absolutely loved it. Dr. Weber sold me on the greatness that is Communication Studies, so I changed my major again. After taking a few COM classes, I decided to fully “recommit” to UNCW and stopped pursuing the Sonography Program.

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During this “two-school” phase, I also got engaged and married to the best guy ever! My dream had always been to have a fall wedding, so we got married in October (yes, in the middle of the semester), but it worked out perfectly. Since then, we celebrated our one-year anniversary, got our first dog, Hudson, bought a house, and got a second dog, Winnie. Needless to say, graduating from college is the next step in growing up!

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Looking back at all the reasons I changed my major, landing on Communication Studies makes perfect sense. I wanted to be an art major for a while, and Communication Studies requires a huge level of creativity. I wanted to be a business major, and Communication Studies teaches things vital to the business world. I wanted to be a Community Health major, and Communication Studies teaches how to conduct research, how to advocate, and how to effectively present findings. By choosing Communication Studies, I finally felt like I was able to get all I wanted out of my educational experience at UNCW. I have truly enjoyed my courses and have been stretched to learn more and engage in projects that have impacted education. Taking all I have learned in the major I hope work in the field of advertising to combine the aspects research, business, and creativity that I was looking for all along.

With the support of all of my family, teachers, and friends, these past four years have been a wonderful journey. I cannot thank you all enough for the study sessions, wedding festivities, and moving boxes. I am truly excited to move into this next phase of life.

-Laura Tippett

This is The End

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It is absolutely unreal to be sitting here writing my senior blog post. As of today, I graduate from UNCW in less than 2 weeks. I visited UNCW before my senior year of high school, and instantly fell in love with the place. Growing up ten minutes from UNCC, I was quickly drawn to how different UNCW was, and it was in that moment that I realized where I wanted to be for college. I received early acceptance into UNCW, and I could literally not wait to be here. During my senior year of college, I remember more than anything the feeling of just wanting to get out of Charlotte and see and experience something new. Upon arriving to UNCW/Wilmington, my wish was commanded.

My time here at UNCW has been everything I could have ever wanted and much, much more. I have met so many different kinds of people and gained friends that will surely last for a lifetime. The memories and experiences I have gained here are surely ones that I will never forget and will cherish forever. It is certainly a bittersweet time in my life right now.

When I first arrived to UNCW as a freshman, I was unsure of what to declare as my major. My older brother recommended Communication Studies. I looked further into the major, and I remember thinking that it was the fit I had been looking for in a major. I could not have made a better decision. I have taken a wide range of different courses at UNCW, and without trying to sound biased, I have to say the courses within the Communication Studies major have provided me with experiences and skill sets I just did not receive in other courses. The difference being the experiences and skill sets I encountered within my Communication Studies major will benefit me in many different aspects of my life, not just for my career, and for the remainder of my lifetime.

With all that said, I am forever thankful for the knowledge, experiences, friends, and professors I have encountered during the time I have spent at UNCW. This time period in my life certainly holds a place dear to my heart, and I have become a better person because of it. Here’s to the next chapter!

Callie Fenlon

Reflections on Graduation

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When I first started my journey at UNCW, like many other freshmen I was disoriented, puzzled about my future and overwhelmed with what college had to offer.

I have lived in Italy for 16 years and living with two cultures has always been part of my life. The quest I went on when I decided to move to the United States for college and apply to UNCW was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made in my life. I took more than one risk but I can honestly say that in the end I don’t have any regrets. If risks aren’t taken in life, then it’s truly not worth living. Overall the decision I had to make was not an easy, nor a quick one, but either way I knew that it would be a life changing one. For me, “personal success” is more than just maturing academically, and UNCW has allowed me to achieve this and beyond. I am proud of my dual citizenship and all the pros and cons that have come with it. My experiences and background have helped enhance my experience at UNCW, and it was well worth the journey.

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I believe that my education is the first and most important building step towards achieving my life goals, and UNCW has allowed me to do just that. Classes like Capstone and many other I have taken in the Communication Studies Department have not only prepared me for the future but, most importantly, they have excited me about my future. As someone who has lived in the United States for less than five years, I can honestly say it is not only relieving, but also rewarding to know that I am one of the youngest graduates in my class and that I have successfully achieved the same level of academic recognition that people who have lived their whole lives here have.

Throughout the years my family has allowed me to further shape myself into the person that I am now. My parents were in fact the ones that let me take on the most important experience that I’ve had so far in my life. I don’t see graduating from college as the successful termination of a chapter of my life, but rather the beginning of a new chapter in which I prove to my parents that all their support and everything they have done for me has allow me to successfully accomplish my dreams.

The pressures to start my career and succeed in life are two things that have been more and more often on my mind, I’m sure like many others of my fellow college graduates as well. I could not go to the point of saying that UNCW guaranteed me success in my future career, but I can truthfully say that it has given me the confidence and preparation I need to leave the UNCW “nest” and enter the real world; and this is more than I could have ever asked for. Ultimately, part of the post-grad adventure is really trying to figure out who you are and what you value. As I said earlier, for me, graduating from college is the final move (or leap) into adulthood.

It is now 13 days until the day of my graduation and as I am writing this final blog post, looking back on where I was four years ago and where I’ve came from, I can honestly say that I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

- Sasha De Vecchi

Time Flies Faster Then You Think

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Our three years here at UNCW has been a nonstop learning experience. We have not only gained knowledge in classes, but have also gained valuable and unforgettable life experiences. Laura transferred to UNCW after her freshman year and since she has been in Wilmington has had three very valuable internships. The key to getting a job in this market is to have experience in your field of interest and being able to effectively market yourself to potential employers. In our IMC 1 class we had an assignment where we had to market our personal brand and why we should be hired over our competitors. It is crucial to understand how and why your brand is better than the kids sitting next to you. It is not only important to know why your brand is the best, but you also need to understand how to market your experiences and internships to fit the qualities for your potential employer. Taking advantage of internship opportunities, especially for credit through the Department of Communication Studies, is a great idea for anyone and everyone. Without those experiences we would not be as prepared or as knowledgeable about our field of interest as we are now. So, when you’re thinking of what to do with all your time during the beautiful summer in Wilmington, think about taking an internship or think about how you can make your brand stand out among others.

Another important piece of advice is to get involved on campus. Once you are a student, UNCW becomes your home away from home. The best way to find comfort is meeting and bonding with other students who are in your exact situation. UNCW has over 200 clubs and organizations for students to become involved in. The only hard decision you have to make is: which club should I join? Tennis, TealTV, Communication Studies Society, the choices are endless. The moral of the story is this: get involved on campus and make your presence known. You only have four years, which believe me, flies by in a blink of an eye. The friends you make in college become your friends for life. It is important to make your college journey memorable, exciting, and one that you can laugh about 40 years down the road reminiscing with your old college friends.

Lastly, as a college student, one of the most important things you do is research. Whether it’s writing a report, putting together a presentation, or simply watching the news on TV to catch the latest events, you are gathering information to analyze. Some of this information will be forgotten shortly after graduation, if not before you even cross the stage to get your diploma. However, some information you have gathered through your college career will stick with you for a lifetime and will become helpful in future career situations.  Learning doesn’t just stop when you get your diploma. The research skills you learn to use as a student can be used for the rest of your life, as you strive to be an informed individual.

So just remember, time flies. Before you know it you will be walking across the stage to receive your diploma.  Don’t just be a beach bum, at least, not all the time. Do something that will show your future employers that you did something with your short time here to make a difference.

-Laura Simmons, Brooke Keller, Ashley Oliver

What’s Your Unique Brand Style?

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UNCW’s Communication Studies Day includes an informative Dress for Success Fashion show for college students of all ages and levels. The fashion show will also include skits demonstrating the importance of an elevator speech, professional attire, portfolios, and how necessary it is to be prepared for interviews. This year the theme, “Will You Make the Cut?” is based upon the Food Network show “Chopped.”

One idea about IMC manifested in this fashion show is that company image and brand management is very vital for growth and success. Individuals, as well as companies, have always had their own image and have to manage their own brand. It is sometimes hard for college students to transition from a student image that they have had for the past 13 years to a business professional image. The great part about the fashion show is that it shows students how to transition from their current image and brand to something more professional.

Whether people realize it or not, we are branding ourselves every day through the types of clothes we choose to wear in professional or unprofessional settings. Your unique brand style can be a description of who you are in a job interview setting. It is very important to make interpersonal connections with job interviewers through your developed style and authenticity that will make you stand out from others. Branding yourself when looking for a job is very similar to branding a product. Basically, you are selling yourself as a product to your potential employer with the goal of standing out amongst the rest. Are you casual business, formal business, chick, trendy, preppy, classic, or a hybrid of several?

By: Laura Simmons, Mollie Berthold, Dorothy Conley, Christina Stevenson

Time Flies, When You’re In College

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I can remember kindergarten graduation like it was last week. I had on my white dress, frilly socks with my shiny, white shoes (I never understood this style) – big white bow in my curled hair, and lipstick. I remember being incredibly embarrassed when I walked across the stage to get my diploma; simply because when they announced my name and my aspirations of being an ice skater when I grew up: the crowd burst into laughter. My graduating kindergarten class of 1996 was full of future firefighters, doctors, teachers, policemen, and then there was me – the future ice skater. Needless to say, where I am from we do not have ice rinks; we barely even get snow every other year.  This experience at an early age, to realize that I was different and had an imagination, paved the way for how I would now approach my life. I branded myself creative. From this point on, I decided that I was going to be me – no matter how many people laughed at me.

Fast-forward 15 years and here I am graduating college.

It honestly feels like just yesterday I was moving into Cornerstone Hall on UNCW’s campus, a ‘fresh’ new student straight out of high school. When people say “time flies when you’re having fun,” they are referring to college. I cannot grasp the fact that in 10 days I will be a college graduate; time has definitely flown by. Before this semester began, I thought I had it all figured out, and that I was “ready” to graduate. However, I had it all wrong! My current feelings are similar to Peter Pan’s in that all I want to do is scream “I will not grow up! You cannot make me!” But, I realize that I am not Peter Pan and I do not live in Neverland; I am a Communication Studies student who is about to step foot into the real world. It may be scary, and I might not like it at first, but its life. I shouldn’t worry though – I am prepared for it. I have taken so many different classes at UNCW, have experienced so many different things, and have learned from all of them. I have dealt with my share of “crazy” roommates, the difficult realization that UNCW will never have a football team, and also a climate that is all but predictable. As I am about to graduate, I can honestly say that I am a better person after my time spent as a Seahawk. Although I am not 100% sure what I want to do with the rest of my life, I know that UNCW has prepared me for anything.

An excerpt from Robert Fulghum’s book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, is the list of things learned in kindergarten – with the insight I have gained over the past 15 years in parentheses:

  • Share everything. (but write your name on it, roommates sometimes steal from you!)
  • Play fair.
  • Don’t hit people. (it is against the law when you get older)
  • Put things back where you found them.
  • Clean up your own mess. (if you don’t, no one will)
  • Don’t take things that aren’t yours. (you will get caught)
  • Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
  • Wash your hands before you eat. (getting sick in college is not fun- your mom can’t make you soup!)
  • Flush.
  • Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. (but you should probably visit the Rec Center too)
  • Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
  • Take a nap every afternoon.
  • When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. (especially when you ‘go out’ downtown)
  • Be aware of wonder.
  • Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we.
  • And then, remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK. Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
  • The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living. Take any of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm.
  • Think what a better world it would be if all – the whole world – had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had a basic policy to always put thing back where they found them and to clean up their own mess. And it is still true, no matter how old you are – when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Some things change and some things stay the same but in the end we all have to grow up. But for the next week and a half that I have left as a student, and for everyone else that has time left here, and for the future Seahawks – I suggest we listen to the lesson that Jay-Z and Alphaville live by and stay “Forever Young.”

– Jordan Hill