“I wanted to see the school, and when I brought my transcripts in, they accepted me on the spot and picked out my classes for me. Everyone immediately took me in and tried to be helpful and get me under their wing. It was such an amazing experience all around that I decided on the spot that this is where I wanted to go.”
Meet Courtney, a psychology and political science student at Athens State University. After moving to Huntsville from Florida with her family, she was on an urgent mission to transfer to a new college that would accept all of the credits she had earned from universities she had attended back home. After seeing a billboard for Athens State while her family was traveling back and forth from Orlando to Huntsville, she decided on a whim one day to visit campus. “I came here with no intentions of being accepted that day. I hadn’t sent in my transcripts or even thought about sending them in yet,” she explained. “I wanted to see the school, and when I brought my transcripts in, they accepted me on the spot and picked out my classes for me. Everyone immediately took me in and tried to be helpful and get me under their wing. It was such an amazing experience all around that I decided on the spot that this is where I wanted to go.”
Upon transferring, Courtney received a scholarship based on her outstanding academic achievements. “Being a scholarship recipient makes me feel really special. It makes me feel like all my hard work has come somewhere and that I’ve done something good,” she said. Courtney admitted that it is easy to get discouraged during your college years because at times it feels like the finish line is so far away. Receiving a scholarship based on her hard work helped revive her and gave her the motivation to keep pushing forward.
Courtney did not waste any time getting involved on campus either. She is currently an Athenian Ambassador and holds a work study position. “I pretty much hit the ground running within the first two months of being here, and now all of a sudden, I’m a part of everything,” she said. Courtney confessed that she lacked a desire to get involved with student activities at the two schools she had previously attended. “Everything at Athens State has been really fun and easy, which is different for me. Getting involved on campus was such an immediate thing for me here because of how much fun I was having in my classes and how much the faculty and staff cared about me. It really motivated me to get involved.”
During her time at Athens State, she has discovered how important it is to get involved on campus and finds herself enjoying college significantly more because of it. She hopes to be an example to other students to do the same, saying, “Definitely get involved. When I first started, I didn’t, and it was really hard for me. Getting involved and making friends is definitely going to help you through college.” She also stressed the importance of picking a school based on what meets each student’s individual wants and needs. “Pick somewhere that you like not based off of a name, football team, or anything like that. You need to go somewhere that you’re actually going to enjoy and focus on what you want to do, not what everybody else wants to do,” she stated.
After graduating from Athens State, Courtney plans to attend law school. Her dream is to work on the government side of law and possibly become an intelligence analyst. With a sincere heart, strong work ethic, and genuine passion for her community, Courtney is sure to make a lasting impact in the lives of countless people in her future endeavors.
