It’s hard to believe that I am already through my second year at UT and that I am halfway through my college career!
I love being able to spend time with good friends and I have had lots of time to spend with some of my closest friends! From hiking a too ambitious trail in the Smoky mountains and getting blisters, getting up at 4 am to go see the sunrise on the Foothills Parkway, to simply meeting at the Campus Steak n Shake and scuba diving in Florida I have truly enjoyed my friendships that have been forged here at UT. This Spring has helped me see how people remember college as the “best time of their lives” when it sometimes feels like the biggest grind of my life.
My friend Cerys and I had a blast cheering for our favorite truck, Whiplash!
I was also recognized as being in the top 1% of the University of Tennessee’s Fraternity and Sorority Life by being inducted in the Order of Omega. Order of Omega is an honor society for members of Greek life, regardless of affiliation that focuses on academic achievement, personal growth and professional development. Additionally, my sorority, Pi Beta Phi, held a scholarship banquet to recognize women in our chapter who have a GPA over 3.4, and I was among the over 40 women who were able to attend.
I also enjoyed helping with my sorority’s fundraising event Pancakes with Pi Phi which raised money for our international philanthropic cause, Read>Lead>Achieve. I love this event and philanthropy because I have seen the excitement in kids eyes as I help them with reading through Champions Are Readers events at local schools, including Pond Gap Elementary.
One of my favorite aspects of being in Chancellor’s Honors, besides community service, is the Becker Series of engaging and inspiring Lectures that I am able to attend. This Spring, one of my favorite lectures was on La Crosse Virus Encephalitis and the speaker was Dr. Rebecca Trout Fryxell. I was absolutely fascinated by the fact that there was a mosquito-borne disease as unique as La Crosse Virus Encephalitis and that no one knows about it in the areas were it is found. I found this disease to be especially interesting to me as there has been a suggestion of it relating to ADD and that it impacts the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina region that I attend college in. This topic interested me so much that I actually centered my final project for Foundations of Behavioral Neuroscience around one study on the disease and it’s long-term impacts.
I love Remote Area Medical (RAM) and their clinics that offer free healthcare to those who need it and am thrilled that I have found an organization that so closely aligns with some of my personal values such as honor and respect for all people and philanthropic service to others.
This semester I was able to work at the RAM clinic in Knoxville for my second year in a row! I loved this opportunity to help people in my community get the healthcare they need and deserve. I always enjoy helping with this clinic most of all because I feel like this is the perfect way to help those who make my time here in Tennessee so sweet.
This Spring, I continued to take some new courses that I have never taken before and have learned so many new perspectives and outlooks from each of them.
Foundations of Behavioral Neuroscience and Neuroanatomy both solidified my decision to change my major to Neuroscience and I can’t wait to see what next semester has in store for me as I continue my course of studies.
I also loved the process of taking an idea to reality in my Introduction to Entreprenurship class. In this class my team and I developed an idea for a subleasing app and conducted market research, customer discovery interviews, and a full feasibility analysis.
This semester I was also inducted into the National Society of Leadership and Success, and have really appreciated the leadership development that I have received as a part of this organization.
I closed out this semester on the Dean’s List and am so grateful for all the opportunities I have had this semester.
This summer, I am taking the History of the Hillbilly, an honors course, and working at Knoxville Utilities Board. I am also planning on some road trips and going home to Houston, TX for a couple of weeks!
As always, Go Vols!
Caroline
