Involvement

During my time at the University of Georgia, I was
involved with some pretty great organizations on campus and in the community.
Take a look to see how I invested my time in Athens. 

TEDxUGA

I was involved with TEDxUGA since the first day of my freshman year. TEDxUGA is an independently organized TED event run by students and employees of UGA. It's an annual event that features multiple speakers and performers as they present their ideas worth spreading. In fall 2015, I became the TEDxUGA Student Council President. In that role, I managed the group of students that handled event planning for our two events: TEDxUGA and the Student Idea Showcase. These were events of 1,500 and 600 respectively, and I was a leading organizer for both events. This role included planning and running bi-monthly meetings and assisting in the teaching of the upper-division elective NMIX 4200: New Media & TED. Through TEDxUGA, I made friends that became family and grew tremendously in my leadership abilities. Each year, I became more proud of the amazing group of students that put on such incredible events, and I am so thankful to have learned from them.   

younglife

YoungLife is an international ministry that seeks to spread the Gospel to "unchurched" kids. I was a WyldLife leader, meaning that I served middle school kids at Oconee County Middle School. In this role, I worked with a team of leaders to plan bi-weekly "club" for around 40 middle school kids. These events featured games, skits, songs, and a message. But our work as leaders didn’t end at club. We were more than leaders to these kids; we were their friends. We went to their school in the morning, ate breakfast with them, watched their sports games, and supported them in all of their weird middle school glory. We tried to teach them a thing or two about faith along the way, but they taught us a whole lot too.  

New Media Institute  

In spring 2015, I began working as an intern at the New Media Institute. Eventually this role became a part-time job as a Program Assistant for the NMI. The New Media Institute is a certificate program housed within Grady College at UGA, and each semester, the NMI teaches between 500-600 students technology-based skills to make them "techknowledgable." At the NMI, I helped with TEDxUGA organizing efforts, maintained and updated two WordPress sites, advised current and prospective students, and occasionally I spent hours decorating for any major holiday that might have been approaching. The NMI gave me a home away from home at UGA by providing me with a family of coworkers that helped me grow as a student, employee, and team player.