A Freshman’s Response to Convocation

 

A student’s freshman year can be vital to their success in college.  With this in mind, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke (UNCP) takes a proactive approach in making its new students and faculty feel welcome at UNCP.

Each year, the university holds Convocation during the first couple weeks of school to mark the beginning of a new school year.  While all students are encouraged to attend, freshmen are a primary focus in hopes to reiterate the importance of these new students achieving goals by earning the best possible grades while in school.

Upon entering the Givens Performing Arts Center (GPAC) on the morning of Wednesday, August 27th, one would not initially notice anything out of the ordinary for a college or public assembly.  GPAC has acoustics in place for all types of events, from guest speakers like Nancy Grace and Nikki Giovanni, to Broadway shows such as Hairspray and Thoroughly Modern Millie.  Usually, GPAC has a hushed, quiet atmosphere despite the crowds that inhabit it, yet this day the entire building was filled with an almost offensive roar of unidentifiable conversations, laughter, and cell phones.

Shortly after the program began, it became clear that two groups of people were attending: those who wanted to be there and those who didn’t.  Faculty, staff and a few upper upperclassmen were mature throughout the hour long event, but a majority of the freshmen attending were more tuned into their iPods and cell phones than the motivational assembly.

One freshmen, Rachel Johnson, 18, a resident student from Lumberton, North Carolina was both alert and delighted to attend.  She said she was required to attend the convocation for her Freshman Seminar course, but was happy to do so because she “had never been to [convocation] before, and didn’t know what to expect.”

Johnson says she noticed the general disinterest and chatter among many of her fellow classmates around her that morning, but when guest speaker, Andrea Mosby-Jones started speaking, “it was like someone cleared the air and people started to enjoy it.”  Rachel and her friends compared the speech and the event as a whole to the professionalism of the convocation to their high school graduation ceremony.

Despite Johnson’s biggest distraction, the lady signing for the hearing impaired, Rachel was also inspired.  She “immensely enjoy[ed]” the main guest speaker, Andrea Mosby-Jones, and said she related directly with the message of making good, sound decisions because she “sometimes let[s] fear of the unknown stand between me and something I want or wish to do.”

Johnson said she felt proud to be a member of the diverse population at UNCP after attending the convocation.

Johnson took away from the convocation exactly what UNCP intended for her to; a sense of belonging at the university, and confidence to succeed in all her endeavors in life.  Johnson said from here out she plans to “push past the fear,” and “not let [other] people decide…how [she] will live [her] life.”