Farewell – Online & Organizations Editor: Whitney Yount
When I first stepped on to the High Point University campus, I was a junior in high school. I was just beginning my college search, and I was nervous and ambitious and excited and hopeful all at once.
As soon as I drove through the front gate (which, admittedly, was much less impressive in 2010 than it is now), I was in love. A North Carolina girl who’d moved to Mary- land as a child, I was thrilled to be back in my home state. I loved everything about HPU – the people, the weather, the communications program, the food (the ice cream truck, the arcade, the parking spot with my name on it…).
I still had many more colleges to visit and apply to, but I think I knew from the beginning that this was the place for me. It felt instantly like “home,” and I could picture myself here so easily. I continued to visit other schools, but then I came here a second time, and it was the only college where I was even more excited during round two.
It’s been five years since that first visit, and as I’m preparing for graduation, I’m more sure than ever that I made the right choice.The past four years feel like they’ve passed in the blink of an eye, but at the same time, I feel so comfortable here that it’s as if I’ve lived at HPU forever.
As an incoming freshman, I was accepted into the inaugural class of the Media Fellows program, which has absolutely been one of the best experiences of my college career. Through the Media Fellows, I met my best friends, traveled to Los Angeles and the 2012 Democratic National Convention and studied abroad in Winchester, United Kingdom. The other Media Fellows (and our advisor and fearless leader, Charisse McGhee-Lazarou) have truly become my second family over the past few years.
I have also been on the Campus Chronicle staff for three years. In high school, I was the editor-in-chief of my school’s newspaper, and coming to college, I was very excited to work for the Campus Chronicle. During the activities fair, I sought out the newspaper table and signed up immediately. Despite my excitement, I ended up only writing one or two articles my freshman year. Luckily, at the end of that year, I saw an ad for editor openings, and I applied. Since then, I’ve served as the Chronicle’s online editor, and this year, I also became the Organizations sec- tion editor.
Looking back now, my college career is a bit of a blur – it all seems to have passed so quickly, and I can’t believe that I’m actually graduating in less than 2 weeks. I can’t wait to come back for alumni weekends and see all the ways that HPU has continued to grow and change, and I will always keep the memories that I made here. I’m so excited to take on the big bad world, and I’m very grateful to all of the people who have helped me along the way – friends, professors, coworkers, classmates, and everyone else that I’ve met and bonded with over the past four years.