May 2009 Graduation Honors

The Office for Adult Students would like to recognize those Adult Students who have received recognition at graduation for academic achievement!

Summa Cum Laude: Students graduating with a GPA between 3.90-4.00

• Andriyenko, Denys
• Asbury, Suzanne Jolly
• Atkins, Evelyn Louise
• Bennett, Donna Melton
• Bennett-Bradshaw, Jodi
• Blanchard, Tracie A
• Bocock, John
• Brafford, Jordan Marie
• Brannon, Sherry Callahan
• Carter, Terry Tyler
• Chambers, Laura Sayers
• Cox, Catherine Helene
• Davis, Rebecca Brown
• Denny, Nancy Meeler
• Essic, Forrest Edward
• Fulcher, Bobbie Knoll
• Garrity, Anna L.
• Johnson, Joshua D
• Killman, Emily Erin
• Lester, Kathiann
• Lilly, Jennifer Michelle
• Marsh, James Marion
• McDonnell, Stephanie D
• McKibbin, Denise Nicole
• McLean, Donica Gentes
• McLeod, Ashley Adams
• Miles, Eva Suzanne
• Moon, Marcella Bernadette
• Mottershead, Faith Elizabeth
• Nordan, Patrick W.
• Partrick, Mary Caroline
• Powers, Betsy Miller
• Prizer, Teresa Lynn
• Prueter, Karen
• Rudin, Brandy Lynn
• Shook, Benjamin Earl
• Smith, Donna Rochelle
• Snyder, Devana Lynne
• Wakefield, Heather Lynne
• Whitley, Heather Diana

Magna Cum Laude: Students graduating with a GPA between 3.70-3.89

• Adams, Laura
• Adamski, Sharon Ann
• Albright, Jason Parks
• Barham, Rebecca
• Barohn, Lauren Alexis
• Bober, Jacqueline F.
• Bowman, Rebecca Lynn
• Branon, Anna Nicole
• Devers, Lindsay Allison
• Ellenburg, Elizabeth Leona
• French, Jennifer Ashley
• Giard, Kenneth Louis
• Gove, Robert
• Griffin, Marcia Milner
• Hill, Gina Michelle
• Hobbins, Jacqueline
• Hopkins, Teresa Marie
• Jehlicka, Allison Marie
• Jones, Tracy Champion
• Joyner, Elizabeth Ashley
• Kitchen, Christian Heath
• Long, Joshua G
• Magruder, Thomas Paul
• McDaniel, Angela Denise
• Myrick, Robyn Annette
• Parrish, Jessica Lynn
• Puerta, Ricardo Andres
• Puryear, James Ethan
• Roberts, Ethan Aaron
• Roop, Amy E.
• Russo, Linda Jane
• Sanders, Muriel Swinton
• Schafer, Ronald James
• Shore, Michelle Anne
• Swanson, Janice R.
• Venable, Jessica McGarril
• Vernon, Britney Marie
• Voss, Ann Marie
• Whalley, David Benjamin
• Willis, Donald Andrew

Cum Laude: Students graduating with a GPA between 3.50-3.69

• Albright, April Martin
• Baianonie, Baian Mohamed
• Baker, Jennifer Lockhart
• Blose, Bridgett M.
• Brown, Laura A.
• Burroughs, Sarah Jane
• Campion, Michelle Leigh
• Cates, Lisa Sharpe
• Causey Johnson, Jennifer Ann
• Charron, Linda Bellville
• Eldridge, Melanie Ann
• Feeney, Karen Elizabeth
• Gladstone, John Stephen
• Haszto, Sherry Dunn
• Hollis, LaChina Moore
• Horton, Wanda Graham
• Howard, Michael Ryan
• Hutchinson, Crystal Kindley
• Kim, Eunju
• Kite, Gregory Stevens
• Lancaster, Dawn Marie
• Lanning, Angel Nicole
• Lu, Tingting
• Marshall, April Ann
• Masese-Amadi, Florence Mariamu
• Metcalfe, Sarah Amanda
• Miller-Mcdowell, Kimberly Antonia
• Mitchell-Seibles, Justina Shontell
• Monge, Ana Lagos
• Moon, Cho Seung
• Moore, Gregory Nathan
• Muniz, Holly Fender
• Narby, Lee Bennett
• Nemitz, Elizabeth A.
• Olson, Todd William
• Patel, Samirkumar Shantilal
• Peele, Wendy M
• Perry, Carol Marie
• Poillot, Melissa Genevieve
• Porter, Lauren Allison
• Reid, Kristin Renee
• Ridewood, Rachel Michaela
• Salamone, Jennifer Komasara
• Sanders, Jennie L
• Sanders, Rebekah Sue
• Sands, Katie Leigh
• Scanlan, Jordan Burritt
• Schmidt, Robert Matthew
• Sharpe, Jill Anne
• Sumpter, Adrian Derek
• Tan, Zhenzhen
• Youngblood, Katherine Hodgin

Golden Chain Inductees

The Office for Adult Students is proud to congratulate the following Adult Students on their induction into the Golden Chain honorary in Fall 2008!

Alan Buck: Alan Buck remembers thumbing through UNCG's undergraduate bulletin in 2006 as he contemplated returning to school. He chanced upon the honor society page, noticed The Golden Chain Society among the groups represented, and thought, "There's no way."
       Now, two years later, Alan is a rising senior who says that he was "ecstatic" when he received an e-mail telling him of his acceptance and upcoming induction into the select group.
       Alan grew up in Augusta, GA, and graduated from North Augusta High School. He briefly attended Coastal Carolina University in Myrtle Beach as a traditional-age student. He remembers that first attempt at college, with the beach too close by, with a wry smile and the comment, "Hence, the failing out."
       "I got very fortunate," he recalls of the time after he left the school. "I got a job at a local TV station running the teleprompter for the morning show. I got my foot in the door and got promoted pretty rapidly."
       Alan would spend 12 years at "The W-B" before it became "The C-W." That transition, he says, seemed to mark the perfect time to go back and finish his degree.
       At the TV station, Alan had supervised people who held degrees; he knew that he could do his job without one, but still, he says, "there was something missing." His parents are college graduates, and his grandfather attended Georgia Tech "back in the 30's."
       At the age of 30, after years of experience as a media professional, Buck entered UNCG to pursue a degree in media studies.
       The rising senior is now Station Manager for Spartan TV, the campus station. Asked about his on-the-job philosophy, he replies, "Half of it is to let the students find out what it's really like to shoot news on deadline; I want them to find their niche. Also, I want broadcasting and cinema to be a viable tool for the university. I want the entire university to use it."
       The election season was an exciting time for Spartan TV, he says. "We held the only televised U.S. Senate debate [of Democratic candidates during the primary]."
        The station manager serves on numerous campus committees, including the Office for Adult Students' Program Review Committee and the Bryan School Student Advisory Committee. He is a member of the Sigma Alpha Lambda and Alpha Lambda Delta academic/service fraternities.
       "It's more than just good grades," he explains. "You have to be humble in your approach and give something back to the University. "I think it's not so much that a degree gives you a specialty for what you like--it's the holistic education approach and that you start something and you finish something."
       Buck is finishing this piece of his journey with a flourish: he has been named the Broadcasting and Cinema Undergraduate Student of the Year. Graduation won't mark the educational finish line for Buck, though; he plans to earn a master's degree in media management.

China Hollis: China Hollis, 31, says she has been "very busy" earning a nursing degree from UNCG while working full-time in her job as Manager of the lab at Wesley Long Community Hospital's Women's Hospital.
       Surely, "very busy" must be an understatement. How has she done it? "I've had to really learn time management all over again," she muses "I make every little bit of time count, and I make a lot of lists."
       Hollis began her college career at the University of South Carolina as a traditional student, where she earned a bachelor's degree in biology. After graduation, she was hired by LabCorp, where she worked in microbiology for two years while pursuing a graduate degree in business administration. The company downsized its facilities in the area, and gave Hollis the option of a transfer to its Burlington, N.C. offices. She and her husband decided to make the move (he now works in Community Relations with the City of Greensboro).
       With her May graduation looming, Hollis reflects on the opportunities for service she has had while at UNCG. Among them are volunteer efforts at Partnership Village. She recalls that she helped to organize a Halloween Carnival, during which volunteers also "taught the kids about their teeth--an oxymoron," she laughs. "And we've done fire safety and a bike rodeo with them."
       In April, the senior says, she will travel to Honduras "to provide medical care for the Garifuna tribe."
       She has also served as Secretary for the Nursing Class of 2009, arranging the class composite photos as one of her duties.
       "I'm really looking forward to [working as] a nurse,' Hollis enthuses, adding that she is "toying" with the idea of joining the Army as a nurse. "Ultimately, I want to do oncology. I had a clinical in oncology at Wesley Long, [teaching and] working with the families."
       Hollis has been recognized for academic excellence prior to being notified of her selection by the Golden Chain Society. For example, she was chosen to receive the Phyllis Shavitz Scholarship in nursing.
       What does induction into Golden Chain mean to her?
       "It's really an honor for me," she reflects,"because I was nominated by professors that I really respect, and they respect me, too. It really makes me proud to be in the School of Nursing, especially with this being the second time around--you go to school with no other expectations but to go to school and come home."

Jesse Russo: Jesse Russo ponders the question of what motivated her to return to college as an adult before answering, "It was always stuck in the back of my head, [but] I didn't do that well at Florida State, so I didn't know if I could mentally do it."
       She has answered her own question with a resounding, "Yes, I can!"
       Russo, 29, will be graduating in the Spring of 2010 with a degree in media studies, a record of lots of involvement in campus organizations, and membership in The Golden Chain Society.
       Russo's performance as a traditional-age student at Florida State was less than stellar, she admits. She quit short of graduation and went to work as manager of "Town" restaurant in Charlotte.
       During her years on the job at the restaurant, UNCG began to call her name. "My sister [Katie] graduated from here in 2007," she explains. "She always said it was really great how much everyone cared about you here."
       After experiencing UNCG for herself, Russo says she has discovered that what Katie told her was true.
       The sisters live together in Greensboro. Katie, who is younger (people usually mistake Jesse for the younger sister) teaches at High Point Central High School. Living with her sister "has been good for support," Russo notes.
       What else has helped her succeed in such a big way?
       "I think I'm much more mature this time around," she responds, "and I really want it bad--I'm putting myself through school and I'm really passionate about it." Thanks to that passion, her performance landed her an adult student scholarship this year.
       Russo has been passionate about more than academics during her time at UNCG. She is a member of the Student Conduct Team, is an Orientation Leader, and has served in Student Government for two years--this year as an elections chairperson.
       "Last year, we held the first safety walk in 11 or 12 years," she recalls, describing Student Government's efforts to discover "areas of opportunity to make [the campus] safer."
       How does Russo see her future? "I plan to work in the broadcasting business--I want to be a sportscaster and work my way up from local TV to ESPN."
       The experience she is getting on Spartan TV as co-host of "The Sports Cycle" should be valuable when she starts her career.
       Her induction into the Golden Chain Society, she says, "was a big honor. The Broadcasting Department does not have an honor society specific to them, and I really wanted to be part of one. It's not just grades; it's leadership and character and service--the whole person. My sister was in it when she was here. I watched her when she went through the ceremony. [At my induction], she was there, so the tables have turned."

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