There are a lot of reasons why people choose their college: scholarships, location, programs, money, extracurriculars, etc. As a lot of you know, I am from New York. That always begs the question, "Why did you come to ODU?" There are a lot of factors as to why I chose Old Dominion. Personally, I believe I made the best decision in coming here.

As a sports management major, this was the best program for me. My mother is an expert in the educational field, having been a teacher for over 30 years. She knows what's up when it comes to educational programs. This has been a challenging curriculum that includes an internship requirement. An internship always looks good when you're job-hunting after graduation. Also, they gave me scholarship money so that's kind of a big deal when you're paying out of state tuition.

I love the weather.... about 80 percent of the time. It is MUCH warmer than New York. We get less snow down here and spring rolls around a little sooner. However, it does rain and flood at a higher rate, but that doesn't discourage me. I love walking around in shorts in the month of March. When I go home for spring break it's just called, "Break" because spring hasn't come yet...I'm never anyone's weather gauge because I'm used to the cold so whenever Virginia natives ask how cold it is outside, it is never the answer they are looking for.

The campus is very diverse, but we still have a long way to go. Do we have a good mix of ethnicities, religions, backgrounds, etc? Yes! Is everyone good about sharing the same space and respecting everyone? Not so much. There's still a lot of brokenness on campus and I feel called to help bring that unity. These changes won't happen overnight, but I can do as much as I can while I am still here. ODU is primarily a commuter school. Seventy-six percent of our student body is actually commuter students so it can be tough to have unity when people are constantly coming and going. This leaves the other twenty-four percent who either live on campus or very close to campus to try and hold down the fort.

So, who makes up the other twenty-four percent? The answer to that is that it is mostly people from the Richmond area or Northern Virginia (NoVa). And then there's a small percentage of those from the Blacksburg area or Fredricksburg, and then a random amount who are from out of state and international students.

There's definitely a good mix of people and I like that. The campus is nice, but not overdone. You know those campuses that are just over-zealous (Cough Cough JMU Cough Cough)? We have our own little community and then downtown Norfolk is just a quick drive as well as the beach. I do enjoy the beach, but I burn so easily that it's not even worth it sometimes.

I've met so many great people here at ODU and have been abundantly blessed. All I want to do is make sure I give back to the community that gave me the opportunity to express myself and be the person I've always wanted to be. ODU has allowed me to do that and I will forever be a Monarch!