Hometown: Vestavia Hills, Alabama
Favorite Experience: My favorite overall experience here at the University of Alabama has been without a doubt the various volunteer organizations that I was and am able to be a part of. I started my volunteering journey with a couple of honors college classes. The first class I took mainly centered around renovating a school, but my favorite part of this experience was when we would take breaks and read books and hang out with the middle schoolers. Since the kids were my favorite part of my first volunteer experience at UA, for my next volunteer class I chose a class that centered around mentoring and providing homework help to at risk youth in a local Tuscaloosa school. I felt I could have a much bigger impact on the community in this role. Helping these kids with school and life led to a realization that education is the most important tool we have in order to solve inequalities in not only Tuscaloosa, but the United States as a whole. My junior year of college I discovered the Brownhouse volunteer organization. This organization is an after school program that provides educational help and recreational relief to kids in the Tuscaloosa area. I have been volunteering there ever since my first semester of my junior year. I believe I have had an impact on these kids lives, and I know they have had an impact on mine. My four years at The University of Alabama have been packed with memories and experiences that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
Favorite Course: UH 103 Honors Action: Alabama Action, this is a one week p/f class that you are able to take through the Honors College before your freshman year of college. You get to move into your dorm a week early and serve the community the week before schools starts. Our project was at a local middle school where our group completely redid the landscape and parking lot to make the school a place the kids would be proud to attend. At the orientation for this class the leaders (who were upperclassman college students) kept telling us how you meet people in your group who end up being friends for the rest of college. I figured this is what they tell everyone, and that the likelihood that I stay friends with anyone in my group besides my roommate were slim to none. As a senior I can safely say I was mistaken, the people that I met in this one week class became some of my best friends in college, I am so glad I chose to take this course, I cannot imagine where I would be without some of these people in my life. This class was so important to me because of the friends I made and it kickstarted my passion for volunteering at UA.
Future Plans: Law school