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  • The Victory Lap

    If these were supposed to have been the most exciting years of my life, then I think I could die happy knowing that… Although this four and a half year haul might not have been the typical American student collegiate experience. I was fortunate enough to go to school in my favorite town for four and a half years. Having some personal tragedies in high school my grades suffered the most crucial year and I resorted to Cape Fear Community College (because I knew I always wanted to live in Wilmington) for my freshman year. I know some people are hesitant to face the fact that going to a community college instead of a university is what’s best for them after high school, but I knew I needed a less overwhelming amount of school work to adjust to this new lifestyle. It can be easy to get caught up in the “slack” they give you (like being able to miss 9 classes per class ha-ha) but hey, I made it out and I got to extend my education to UNCW. Community College ended up being just the smooth transition from education and motivation I needed to get the heck out of there and on to better things…

    I wanted to come to UNCW with an open mind to anything from classes, to making new connections and getting myself out of my comfort zone. That started with joining a sorority. I didn’t think Greek life would ever be anything of my interest, but I took it as an opportunity to meet new people. I am not a full time member as of my extra semester here, but I have made lifelong friends through these organizations. I also participated more throughout the community thanks to volunteering and the philanthropic events. I learned through Greek life a very important lesson that could be learned in many different aspects of life, that what you put into something is what you get out of it. I got to know all the girls in my pledge class and made connections with older girls and in other sororities that way as well which I will be forever grateful for.chio

    Confining myself in the bubble of one sorority started to make me realize I wanted to get out of my comfort zone again and I decided to study abroad in Spain during my spring semester junior year. Communication studies being my major, it allowed me to do this! It was hard missing my best friend’s graduation that were a year ahead, but I knew it would be worth having the experience of a lifetime. I intended to go into another country alone, but luckily I was surprised to find two friends from my sorority going to the same country as well. This made traveling to other countries in Europe a lot safer. I was able to make connections in infinite amounts of places instead of just throughout Greek life on campus.ronda

    Returning for my senior year I had the advantage of living on Wrightsville Beach ocean front with two of my best friends. They were both a year ahead of me so that motivated me to get my schoolwork done since they never had any. This is when I really realized that working hard lets you play hard. After my technical “senior year” came to an end, I started to realize how much is going to change after graduating and I was thankful I had an extra semester this past fall to really indulge with my time here and appreciate every moment for what it’s worth. Whether it be making deeper connections with my professors, networking myself on campus to get internships or just soaking up the last moments in my beach house with my best friends. I have been extremely grateful for all my moments here at UNCW and it has taught me that these awesome learning experiences we have allow us to apply our knowledge to real  life situations like work and travel. I have also learned that once school is over, you don’t just stop learning because life is school. We are always going to be students, it just depends on whether you want to participate and enjoy it or be a robot and just do what is expected.beach

    That being said, I will not be doing what is expected after graduating such as get a job, get a house, pay the bills, repeat. I am lucky enough to travel to Southeast Asia for a month and visit my cousin who is teaching English abroad. I am hoping to gain insight from her and maybe find a country fit for me to teach English in and continue using my Spanish in third world countries such as Guatemala. After traveling, I hope to take my skills from school and help expand a family tree business from Charlotte into Charleston, SC. Who knows though? The possibilities are endless, after dedicating my time to education for about 20 years the next move is up to me.

    Cheers class of 2015!!

    -Julia George

  • Life is a Highway

    Emoji6I remember my first trip to the Wilmington area as a younger child embarking on a family vacation to Wrightsville Beach. My older sister was starting high school and talked my parents into touring the UNCW campus. The beautiful campus and scenery left quite the impression on my sister; three years later I was back in Wilmington with my sister for her freshman orientation. It was 2006 and I was 13 years old with no idea that I would be graduating from this very same school nine years later.

    It was never in my plans to go here. I lived, ate, and breathed football since I was 5 years old- there was no way I was going to UNCW! But I was wrong. While all of my high school classmates were beginning to tour campuses seeking their next step on the educational ladder, I was taking official visits, sending out highlight tapes, and talking with a plethora of college football coaches seeking the next step on my athletic journey. I took the SAT and got Emoji7a score good enough to merit full athletic scholarships from the schools interested in me. My parents, always pushing me, signed me up for an SAT class to help improve my score “just in case something happens”. I took the class as a joke, received the same score on the SAT, and turned my back on academic progress because I thought I had my next four years lined up. Well, as always, my parents were right- something happened.

    I fractured my left wrist and tore every ligament my senior year under the Friday night lights against our rival. I never told the coaches the severity of my injury so that I Emoji4could continue to play and wore a ‘club’ on my wrist for my final five games. Once the season was over, it was time to handle my injury and proceed to rehabilitation so I could be well prepared for my first collegiate season. Unfortunately, after dozens of doctor and surgeon visits, I found out that there was only one surgery to possibly correct my wrist which involved a major tendon. Unfortunately again, 75% of people in the world have that tendon, and I fell into the 25% of people that do not. I felt as if the rug had just been pulled under my feet.

    With teary eyes, telling every coach interested in me that I would never be medically cleared to play football, I had no answer to what I was going to do next. It was already late into my senior year and every school that I Emoji5applied to was on the basis of playing football, except one. In the whirlwind of college recruiting, I never realized that I had actually applied to UNCW months prior as a potential backup plan, something I can thank my advisor and parents for making me do. I did not have much to go by; I chose UNCW as my backup because my sister went here and because there was no football team. I knew if I was not going to be playing football, I did not want to be around it.

    After four and a half years at this school, I have come to embrace the phrase: “Everything happens for a reason.” I started my journey at emoji8UNCW as a lost individual seeking my place in a new environment. I didn’t know what it was like to not be on a nutrition plan, to not have to work out every day, to not study film. I had to learn what it was like to embrace the identity as a student and not as an athlete; and to put it lightly, I struggled. I skipped class all the time; I gained weight; I turned my back on things that used to bring me joy; I flushed a healthy relationship down the drain.

    EmojiI found myself in a “mid-college crisis” halfway through my junior year. My whole life I had dreams of being a lawyer. However, my choice of being a political science major was driving me to the brink of insanity and I struggled to grasp many concepts. How was I struggling academically? My dad had me doing long division before my first day of kindergarten; I was the Accelerated Reader winner every year in grammar school; I was the spelling bee winner every year in middle school; I excelled taking all Honors and AP classes in high school; I was grounded if I ever made anything lower than an A my whole life (yes, I have a strict dad); I could not fathom how my GPA was under a 3.0!

    I sought a change in my educational experience and wanted to take classes that I both enjoyed and challenged me academically to strive for greatness. The Communication Studies department enabled me to do this. The reason I began to take my studies serious and the reason that I am now preparing to begin graduate school in the Fall of 2016 is because I switched to being a communication studies major. The competitiveness I learned from the gridiron transitioned to competitiveness in the classroom. I wanted to excel in COM 200 and have the best possible RP1 and RP2; I wanted to have the best conspiracy theory paper in Rhetorical Theory; I wanted to have the best group in Advertising; I strived for the best GPA possible; I stopped being another college student trying to make it through a class and grasped the initiative to learn. I could not be more thankful for my time here at UNCW and as a student within the Communication Studies department. I appreciate every teacher within the department that I have taken a class with, how they pushed me to educate myself while showing me the guidelines to do it, and the abundance of post-grad opportunities this major offers, although I am seeking a Master of BusinPeaceess Administration degree. College was truly a learning opportunity for life. I’ve embraced the city of Wilmington, love all of the close friends I have made, and am so excited for the next step in my life. I don’t know where I’ll be in four and a half years, but I will always cherish my four and a half years here.

    Stay Classy Seahawks

    Griffin Weidele

  • Seven Years of College Down the Drain

    College. That place where mannequins come crashing through Friday night frat houses, and beer don’t cost nothing. Well, I may be thinking of Animal House, but college is like that, right? While my college experience was one of a kind, I cannot say that I have ever stolen a rump roast from the corner Piggly Wiggly. Or did I?

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    It started like this, graduated high school with honors, got accepted into a quaint Christian college, and the rest is history. For most maybe, but not for me. While I pursued mechanical engineering and swam for the school swim team, I never felt like I was home. A semester in, I decided that college just was not for me, so I quit school to work night shift at Amazon. It was a smart plan until about a month in I realized that manual labor did not sound appeasing for the rest of my life. Jumping back into the college plan, I took some classes at the local community college to work my way back into higher education. After 3 semesters, I transferred to a place called UNCW. Although it was not my first choice at the time (#1 PSU), I welcomed the university with open arms.

    Two and a half years later, and I cannot believe that I am about to leave my home away from home. Having such a negative experience starting college, I had given up on finding the school that I could call my own.  Somehow, whether it was within my major, or the various student groups I became involved with, I now dread the day when I have to leave this home of mine. This school has given me so many opportunities to improve and better my communication skills.

    Looking forward I am excited to see where everything that I have learned, from my time at UNCW and within the COM major, will take me. Fingers crossed I end up in the brewing or automotive industry.

    Cheers to us, the class of 2015!

    o-CHEERS-LEONARDO-DICAPRIO-570

    -Joseph Hines

  • Thanks for the memories

    Unlike many graduating seniors, I do not have a countdown to graduation.  The realization that I am leaving Wilmington, and UNCW, has become all too real to me these past few weeks.  Where have the past two and a half years gone!?

    My first two years of college I spent in the tiny town of Bridgewater, Virginia attending Bridgewater College.  While I had a great time on the equestrian team there, and a couple of my professors helped guide me to become a Communication Studies major, I knew that I needed something different out of my educational experience.635838983244815899-1532719637_1536_front

    When I found UNCW while researching colleges outside of Virginia (something I had failed to do while I was in high school) I thought it sounded too good to be true.  It took some convincing to get my parents to support my decision to apply, but they finally agreed it was a perfect fit for me and  were ecstatic when I got my acceptance letter.

    My time at UNCW has been even better than I had imagined.  I have met some of the most driven,bright, inspiring people I have ever encountered in my life.  The COM Studies Department has truly helped me more than I ever could have expected, giving me invaluable experiences and teaching me skills that will help me far beyond the classroom.

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    Although I am sad my time at UNCW, and most likely my time in Wilmington, is coming to an end, I am so thankful for all of the growth (both academic and personal) I have encountered during my time here.  I am excited to see what the next phase of my life holds, but part of my heart will always be in my favorite little beach town.

    -June Wilkinson

     

  • Four (and-a-half) years later…. *Spongebob voice*

    I always knew I would come to UNCW. Heck, the only application I completed was to UNCW (looking back, that was not a good idea). And to be honest, I didn’t have a strong reason to come here. However, four-and-a-half years later, I know I was supposed to be here.

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    That feeling was reassured when I entered the Communication Studies Major. The major facilitated opportunities for me to grow and learn. I tried to make the most of these opportunities because I know the experience I gained from them will pay-off later. Being able to apply my knowledge in classes is something I will not take for granted.

    It hasn’t really hit me yet that I will be leaving friends, classmates and professors that I’ve built strong relationships with. And that will be the hardest part. But the things I’ve learned from them will stay with me forever.

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    Looking forward, I know the skills I’ve obtained at UNCW and the COM major will propel me to where I want to be. For this, I am forever grateful.

    Go do great things, class of 2015!

    Oh, and happy birthday to me!

    – Patrick

  • If You’re Reading This…. I Graduated

    Okay, I didn’t graduate yet… but I cannot believe I am getting ready to graduate in a few weeks. College, where have you gone? The thought of leaving Wilmington had not really hit me until this morning, when I was packing up my car with most of my stuff to go back home for Thanksgiving.

    I spent my freshman year in New Orleans studying at Loyola University. Bourbon Street was fun but I wanted something else, something more. I spent the summer after my freshman year and first semester of sophomore year off finding myself in New York. While in New York, my parents decided they were going to move from Michigan to North Carolina by the summer. I knew I didn’t want to go back to NOLA and decided I would just apply to schools in North Carolina. I never actually visited UNCW; I saw some videos on YouTube, researched the university, and I knew that this is where I wanted to go. I am a firm believer in what you put out in the universe, you will attract. So, I would spend hours out of my day imaging myself at UNCW (this is absolutely weird, I know) but hey, it worked! I was so excited when I received my acceptance letter.

    My two and a half years at UNCW have been different than I imagined. I came here with the idea that I would be a double major in Marketing and Management Information Systems. After two semesters I knew that, once again, I was looking for something more, in particular with my major. Also, side note, it was going to take me 3 more years until I could have graduated with a business degree. And I did not have the time for that. So after doing some research, I thought Communication Studies sounded interesting but I was not exactly sold on being a COM major. After being in business, switching to COM seemed like the easier major and would be less rewarding than business.

    So, now that I am about to graduate what do I really think about COM? It is the opposite of what I originally thought; it is not just an easy major and it is more rewarding than I ever could have imagined. COM was the perfect major for me—I was able to take classes that I was interested in, got the opportunity to develop great friendships, was able get to know professors and bond with them, all while discovering my true potential.

    Since the beginning of my college career, I knew that before I graduated I wanted to have a job with a company that had opportunity for advancement, a great salary and benefits. For the past four years in the back of my mind, this is what I have been picturing for myself (refer back to what you put out in the universe, you attract). It was not until this past semester in Ms. Chin’s COM 400 (by the way take her class, it’s worth it, I promise) I knew that I had a shot at my goal.

    I applied for a position with one of the top companies in the world and got an email for an interview! After that interview, I made it to the second round and finally to the third and final round. I was in a real treat for the final round; I had a 30-minute interview, take a 15-minute test, give a 10-minute presentation and conduct a 20-minute role-play. I spent about 40+ hours preparing for all of this over the course of two weeks. I do not believe that I would have made it this far if I had not switched to COM or if I was not in Ms. Chin’s capstone class.

    I have spent all of college preparing for this moment, interviewing for a job, and I knew that I was ready to shine. I was able to use what I learned throughout my COM degree to help differentiate myself from the other 35 candidates at the final interview. Most of which were business majors. My hard work has paid off and I am happy to say that I have reached my end goal. I have accepted a Sales Representative position at a technology firm in Research Triangle Park.

    Coming to UNCW has been the most rewarding experience and I am so appreciative for the opportunities it has presented to me during my time here. I want to thank my mom and dad for their love and support throughout these years. I also want to give a shout-out to Dr. Bolduc, Dr. Olsen, Meghan and Debbie in the COM Department for hiring me as their work-study student for the past year and a half. I am going to miss the candy, laughs and especially seeing you all everyday. It has really been a pleasure and an enriching experience to work in the department.

    So long UNCW, thanks for the memories!

    -Carey Shetterley

  • An Extra Semester Never Hurt…

    It is hard to believe that in just 18 short days, I will walk across the stage in Trask and become a college graduate. Though my journey did not start off at UNCW, I am very thankful my collegiate career ended here. Most transfers come with a unique story regarding their arrival to a new college, I am happy to say I was one of those transfers. The past two years have made a significant mark on my life and have prepared me for my future endeavors; I am pleased to say that I will be a graduate of the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

    If you had asked me four (and a half, #5thyear) years ago if I would be a UNCW graduate, chances are I probably would have told you no. Growing up in a small town, I thought I wanted to live the glamorous city life. However, after two years in Charlotte, NC, those city lights stopped being so inspiring, and I was ready for a change. Moving to Wilmington, NC has been by far one of the most rewarding decisions of my life. UNCW could not have been a better fit for me. I have made lifelong friendships, created lasting memories and found a field that brings excitement and joy to my life as I embark into this next chapter.

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    As a transfer you have the distinct opportunity to be able to compare one experience to another, this is something that not all students are capable of doing. This ability enabled me to fully appreciate my time here at UNCW and just how exceptional the Communication Studies department is and the numerous doors this major has opened for me; more specifically, a great internship opportunity in the heart of downtown Wilmington at Bon’s Eye Marketing Firm. I have focused much of my coursework in Public Relations and Integrated Marketing Communication studies. As I go forth into the “real” world, I hope to pursue a job in one of those fields.

    While the idea of graduating is exciting, it is sad to see this chapter of my life come to an end. It has been by far, some of the best years and I never knew that four years could fly by so quickly. Though, I am nervous to see what the next chapter holds, I feel confident that my time here at UNCW has fully prepared me for my future and what lies ahead for my professional career.

     

    -Mary Carney