The High Points of Fall 2016

         

College?

As I continue to hear about the misunderstanding between High Point University and West Point Military Academy whenever I bring up High Point in general, it always makes me laugh because it reminds me how much of a small school it is. However, due to its recognition by newspaper and journal outlets in the past several years, it astonishes me how people have really never heard of this beautiful institution. I grew up in Stratham, New Hampshire, a small town in New England that is approximately twenty minutes away from the Atlantic Coast of our state.

Stratham, NH

The University of New Hampshire always remained as one of the top universities that people in my high school graduating class would attend, but for me, I realized that I needed to extend my boundaries and go somewhere else. Somewhere warmer and somewhere that gave me more opportunities. High Point University was the place to go.

            Moving into the R.G. Wanek Center was perhaps one of the happiest days of 2016 as I was able to move forward with my new life as a Panther. It was the day I met my new best friend, or my roommate for the 2016-2017 school year, Brittany from a small town in New Jersey. As much as we initially and still do have in common, our interests were still far apart. It pretty much starts at the moment when I told her I was an International Relations and Spanish double major when I found out she was totally against history, politics, and language. In contrast, she is an Exercise Science major with strong interests in math and science, so whenever she needed help with homework that concerned economics or democracy, I helped her!

Brittany and I, September 2016

            Besides from our differences concerning education, she has been the best person I relied on because of her experiences in the past, which included the deaths of both of her parents. Along with little interaction she’s had with her brother, she has proven to me what true strength looks like. Luckily, we both had classes that started around the same time and I always relied on her to yank me out of bed; I am eighteen years old and I still have not adapted to waking up at 7am almost everyday.  While she went to her anthropology course at 7:50am, I went to my First Year Seminar called The Arab Spring. The most interesting thing, I believe, about having a roommate that is studying something completely different from me is that I can listen to her about what she likes and dislikes. Listening is a key virtue when developing a relationship with a new roommate, and from what I observe based off what she says, I’m able to understand her point of view.

            One of the attributes of High Point University that grabbed my attention from the very start was its focus in the study abroad programs. From the very beginning, I have always wanted to travel and continue my education in Spain because that is the origin of the Spanish language. Although this country has a different dialect than other countries like Chile or Mexico, I believe that it can teach me so much about communication within the Spanish language. So far, I’ve been studying the language since the sixth grade and it has always been important to me due to my Mexican heritage. With a professor from Chile during the fall semester, I was able to embrace more of my background because she would always share stories as a little girl and explain what her life was like when she first moved to the United States.

            I think one of the most prominent professors I’ve had so far was Dr. Graeber, who is part of the Political Science and International Relations departments, simply because of his passion for teaching. The first day he walked in he introduced himself with a short timeline of his life, and this really helped me understand how he was going to be as a professor. I consider himself a younger professor than most, but he still had the passion and knowledge of the course that I was taking; it was my Intro to International Relations course, a major requirement. Although I had only obtained a B+ in his course, we discussed rigorous topics among economics, diplomacy, and solutions that would solve the information and commitment problems within governments and militaries across the world. Even though I had known that I wanted to pursue a career in government, this class motivated me to express more activism concerning the previous election and my passion for spreading democracy and human rights.

            I never expected the fall semester to go by quickly the second I landed in Boston for Christmas break. I exited the plane knowing that I had put in my best work I had ever done, but it still astonished me that I was still in love with High Point University despite the work. As I reflected with my mom about the up’s and down’s of the semester, I could tell that most of my experiences reflected more positively because I had enjoyed almost every second of the semester that this institution offered me. I may have lost a few friends here and there, but through the amount of clubs and programs, I was still capable of expressing who I really was and found friends who loved me for me.