An ambassador for Carolina
"As a tour guide for the University, I found new appreciation in this place and its people, and felt gratitude for the exposure and growth that I have had access to as a Tar Heel."
I will be honest. I was skeptical at first.
Growing up just four miles from Carolina came with familiarity and a little bit of uncertainty about how my 18-year-old self could possibly know whether it would be the best school for me to spend the next four crucial years. I could not yet grasp how a place so close to home could feel any different from the Chapel Hill I knew.
I listened when people told me it would be novel, that it would feel like a whole new world, but I always took their enthusiasm with a grain of salt. No one could have prepared me for what came next — I had to experience it for myself.
At some point over the first few weeks, as I moved into my room on the fifth floor of Ehringhaus and adjusted to my classes, being at Carolina stopped feeling like summer camp and seamlessly evolved into a new conception of “home.” It became a place where I felt supported and challenged, and where I was encouraged to push myself outside of my comfort zone. I applied to the University’s Admissions Ambassador program for this very reason — to expand beyond the amazing group of friends I was fortunate enough to come to Carolina with. As a tour guide for the University, I found new appreciation in this place and its people, and felt gratitude for the exposure and growth that I have had access to as a Tar Heel.
Each year, graduating ambassadors lead senior tours and give senior moments in front of the program that has given so much to us. I did not realize how much I was looking forward to these milestones until they were gone.
My senior tour was supposed to be an opportunity for my family and friends to see me doing what I love so much — sharing all that Carolina has to offer in the hopes of inspiring the next generation of Tar Heels. I wanted one last chance to talk to prospective students about the journey to finding the right place for them and the lessons that come along the way. I wished I could have lifted up the stories of the incredibly passionate and driven people I’ve connected with at Carolina from various backgrounds one more time.
I did not realize the last time I shared my “Why Carolina” would be the last, and that I wouldn’t get to say it again in front of a tour group and my friends at the Old Well while making eye contact with my dad who made it possible for me to have these incredible past four years.
I was already well into the process of reflecting on all of the growth I have experienced at Carolina and formulating my senior moment to share with my fellow ambassadors in the hope that the lessons I’ve learned could help someone else. It was supposed to be the perfect chance to express my gratitude for the incredible foundation Carolina gave me — in public health, in friendships and my own identity. I had to come to terms with the fact that I won’t get to lead one last tour or share my senior moment the way I’d hoped.
Fortunately, Carolina taught me to see the bigger picture: that I can still create opportunities to celebrate the stories of the people around me and share gratitude no matter where I go next. Nothing can take that away from me.
