Category: UNCW Graduating Class Spring 2020

The University of Never-ending Catastrophes in Wilmington

April 25, 2020

What we’re experiencing now is unexplainable. I am a senior at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and have survived at least two disasters every year since starting in 2016. What is it like to choose a university that continuously experiences disaster after disaster? Beautiful Chaos.

From the first semester, the class of 2020 should’ve seen what was coming. After experiencing the 2016 election when multiple professors canceled classes for a week in disappointment, came hurricane Mathew, hurricane Maria, hurricane Michael, hurricane Florence, hurricane Dorian, and now the coronavirus. The Spring 2020 class will not walk across the stage commemorating their achievements in May; they will not have their last look at the campus after their final, final. The class of 2020 will look back and remember the time of their final semester at the university they chose and love, closing and sending them off two months early. But I wouldn’t change my university for anything.

In the words of Kourtney Kardashian “Kim, there are people dying;” trust me, we all know how selfish we sound right now. We get it people are dying and the world is going through a pandemic, but for one second can’t we just mourn the loss of our senior spring semester? I am now 21 years old, living at home, finishing class online with my two boomer parents who would like nothing more than for me to “walk the dog, vacuum the kitchen, and if you’ve got time could you empty the dishwasher?” I’m supposed to be at school. I was supposed to be going to beach bars every Thursday until I graduate and have to be an adult. Where are my friends and why does my dad keep spraying me with Lysol?!

What I can say about this experience so far is, it is terrible. If I wanted online classes I would’ve enrolled in online classes. Every professor is using a different form of communication. Why? Some are on Slack, some have their own website, some are on Zoom, and some are on Canvas. A bit of advice for the university, if this does happen again, make all professors use one outlet of communication because checking four different outlets is crazy and I’m tired. I want to be in my perfect building of Leutze laughing at something Dr. Olsen wrote in an email or how long Dr.Weber’s emails always are.

Online courses are death, and I mean that. Who on Earth wants to sit in the same room all day and do homework? Who’s idea was this? I want to walk to Leutze and sit in a class of students and complain about having to be there. Do you want to know why I want that? Because no one was actually mad they were there. Everyone was thrilled to leave their apartments and see their friends that they never saw outside class. The only part of the complaints I can actually say was true, was group projects and if you say you liked them then you were the slacker that made everyone hate them.

In the last two weeks, I have gone from spring break to quarantine spring break, moved out of my dorm, moved home, and started a semester online. During this very busy time I have had little time to think, but when I did, I thought of my time at UNCW. I know this will sound crazy, especially if you aren’t a senior, but I miss walking to class. I found a university that was so much my home that I dreaded graduation. I hated summer break when I had to leave and I miss it more than words can tell you. If given the chance right now I would start over at freshman year, and I wouldn’t change anything. I would genuinely retake chemistry just to fail so I could replace it with prehistoric life (yeah you can do that) if it meant I could have four more years.

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You know how everyone says “you’ll be ready when it’s here”? Well, that was never me. I faked every minute of pretending to be sick of studying, I loved it. Even when hurricane after hurricane hit I never regretted my choice of coming to UNCW. Now that it’s over, and I’m at home taking classes online, I realize my time there was the ‘good old days’.

If you’re a student at UNCW, take one bit of advice from me – DO EVERYTHING. Take too many core curriculum classes, change your major, add a minor, drop both and be undecided, take acting for non-majors with Mike (I promise it’s so worth it). If you’re a student at UNCW and you think your time isn’t going to go by too fast – you’re wrong. A cliche but true. UNCW is the place to make memories (some to remember and some you wish you could forget). This is the time and the place to do it all. Oh, and skip class at least once a year for the beach, you’re never going to regret that choice.

So what has it been like going to UNCW from 2016-2020 and now dealing with the coronavirus? It’s beautiful chaos and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

 

Zoe Coleman, UNCW COM Class of Spring 2020

Born and raised in Durham, North Carolina. Zoe is a Senior at the University of North Carolina Wilmington graduating with a B.A. in Communication Studies focused on Integrated Marketing Communication. She is a member of Kappa Delta Sorority Theta Xi chapter. After graduation, Zoe will pursue a career in sales with the company Red Ventures in Charlotte, North Carolina. When Zoe is not working in the classroom she enjoys reading the latest novels available and exploring Wilmington.

 

This Is Home

April 25, 2020

A transfer student and only at UNCW for 2 years, I decided to take advantage of my time here and be as involved as much as I could. I got plugged in with a campus ministry where I met some of my best friends, and eventually become a student leader. I had the opportunity to work with a team that brought the Monster Energy Music Festival to Wilmington three times. I also managed one of the largest social media accounts in Wilmington. I can definitely say I have made the most of my time here and don’t regret a second.

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However, there have definitely been some stressful times for me at UNCW. Let’s start with how both fall semesters, in the 2 years I have been here, were put on pause for a period of time because of a hurricane. Or how about a global pandemic stealing my last 2 months of college and the cancelation of Graduation. If life at UNCW has taught me anything, it is to expect the unexpected and don’t let adversity stand in the way of your dreams. Just keep your head up and a smile on your face because tomorrow is going to be way better than today.

I decided to stay in Wilmington over the summer to take classes and I think it was one of the best decisions I could have made. The summer classes were not easy and they were very time consuming but I got through them. I got a job working in Wrightsville Beach at the largest boat dealership in the world. I made new friends that were local to the area. But, most of all, I fell in love with Wilmington.

To future UNCW students, I’d say to take any opportunity that presents itself. Your time here is short and believe it or not, it goes by very fast. So look for ways to make your time meaningful. Join a club, make new friends, skip class to go on day trips, go too cookout at 2am, hit up Islands after 5pm, serve your community. Just find something you love and stick with it!

             You have the opportunity to make an impact at UNCW, take it!

                                             Thrive! Don’t just survive.

 

Jay Carr, UNCW COM Class of Spring 2020

An open letter to UNCW…

April 25, 2020

I spent my whole life dreaming of going to NC State, I wanted to be a veterinarian. During my senior year of high school when it came time for decisions to go out, I got deferred from my dream school. At the moment I was extremely devastated, my plans were not going accordingly but at the same time, God had other plans for me. Shortly after receiving my deferred notification from NC State, I got my acceptance letter to UNCW and that’s where it all began.

UNCW was my second choice but looking back on it, it’s been the best choice. My time here at UNCW has been nothing short of interesting, from hurricanes and worldwide pandemics to becoming an RA on campus. My freshman year I knew I was where I was supposed to be because of the friends I met and the experiences I had gained. Sophomore year felt the exact opposite, my friends made new friends and I thought I was going to change my career path and have to transfer schools, it was a mess. However, junior year I applied and was given the offer as a Resident Assistant on campus which changed my life. The people I met, the lessons I learned, the life experience I gained, and the responsibility I held is something I will never forget.

I am a first generation student and the baby of the family, I had no clue what I was doing when I got to college. I just felt it was necessary to go with the motions and follow along with everyone else, but I began to discover that most people were like me – didn’t know what they wanted to do. My whole life I wanted to be a veterinarian, but as I went through my years of high school I realized how bad at science and math I was. So it was up to me to decide on what I wanted to do as a career, or so I thought. I thought I was alone. I started my journey in the Communication Studies department my freshman year with COM 101 – Public Speaking. The UNCW Communication Studies department has some of the most caring professors I have ever seen. I grew up in a small town and my high school teachers cared about our success, but college seemed so big to me that I thought we’d be treated like numbers. The COM professors have been nothing but awesome. They genuinely have cared about my success and have given me the tools necessary to do what I want to do. They have pushed me to be a better version of myself and to get out of my comfort zone. The advice they have given me and the questions they have helped me answer has been such a huge help for my personal and professional development.

Now going back to the idea that my four years here at UNCW have been nothing short of interesting. I remember my freshman year when hurricane Matthew rolled through and classes were canceled for a day or two. Then my sophomore year there was a “snowstorm” that caused us to miss a week of classes. Junior year was hurricane Florence and man that was quite the adventure. This was my first year as an RA and we had to do a campus wide evacuation to get the students out as quickly and safely as possible to beat the storm. The uncertainty of not knowing what was happening to campus or when we’d be allowed to return had all of us going crazy. I had a fairly smooth transition when coming back to campus after Florence, it wasn’t hard for me to get back into the swing of things besides all of the maintenance that was going on around campus. The devastation that struck people who had countless hours of research in Dobo Hall, the residents who lived in the University Apartments, the homes in Wilmington that got destroyed, it was just heartbreaking to see. But the comradery of the people of Wilmington was so overwhelming, everyone banded together to recover. Then senior year rolled around and Hurricane Dorian struck meaning another mandatory evacuation. This time around the University was a bit more prepared about updates and the “next steps” of what to do. But then the unexpected… Covid19, a worldwide pandemic. This is something that no one could have predicted and that no one is even sure how to handle, yet here we are at our own homes finishing out our year online. All I’m going to say about that is that there’s a reason that I didn’t sign up for 4-5 college courses online.

With Covid19, graduation has been postponed, classes are online, campus is closed, my hometown is in lockdown and I can’t  sneeze in public without getting a death stare. I have lost the opportunity to live out my last year of college, to get to the point we have worked so hard for the past three years. I won’t get my senior experiences. I had to leave my friends earlier than I had planned for. I was let go from my RA position because we were no longer needed. It’s just a whole lot of “new” in a very strange time.

Despite these challenges though, I will always be proud to be a Seahawk. The pros outweigh the cons in every aspect of all four years during my time at UNCW. If I could talk to myself as a senior in high school, I would’ve said not to worry about NC State, not to have been so closed minded because it was about to be some of the best four years of your life. I will always bleed teal and always have my wings up.

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Casey Buchanan, UNCW COM Class of Spring 2020