Student Blog | Chelsea Kovach

This past week has been nice.  I was able to go shopping with my best friend who lived in the residence hall room next to me and was able to meet another great friend for dinner in Virginia Beach, VA.  I sure can’t wait to get back to Chowan to see everyone again.  Of course, I also miss the movie nights in Squirrel Park and all the fun activities held in the Hawks Nest.

It's hard to believe that the first week of my summer is about over.  The softball team went undefeated this year in the CIAA Conference!  As conference champions we automatically got a bid to the NCAA Division II Regional Tournament in Bloomsburg, PA.  It was an awesome trip even though we lost the first two games.  But, we were the first CIAA team to score runs in the tournament.  This has been an awesome season and I sure have made some great friends!

Right now I'm in Asheville, NC for a Ministry Internship Training along with other ministry interns across the eastern part of the U.S.  I'm so excited to start my ministry placement with the youth in Moyock, NC.  We have a lot of awesome plans but I know that August will soon be here.

Although it was tough seeing everyone leave on move out day, it'll be great to see everyone move back in during August.  I can't wait to see my Chowan friends and to make some new ones.

See you in August!

Chelsea

Student Blog | SOAR | Isabel Moreno

The saying goes, “the early bird catches the worm,” and on the April 24th SOAR, I was the early Hawk!

I woke up at 6:00 a.m. and left my house at 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning. After my two and a half hour drive to Murfreesboro, North Carolina, I made my way to Student Orientation Advising and Registration – we call it SOAR – at Chowan!

As we pulled into campus, butterflies began to flutter in my stomach. I walked toward the registration tent and everything came alive! College was once so intimidating, but after SOAR it’s become less scary.

There were so many smiling faces and blessed greetings were all around me. I did not see one familiar face in my future class as the opening program began. But, once we divided into small groups I was able to learn more about student life and academic life at Chowan and I got to meet many new friends in the Chowan University Class of 2014!

At first I realized that we all must have felt the same way since our group events were quiet. When we went to eat lunch, I decided to introduce myself (with the help from my Admissions counselor) to my new classmates. I met a few guys from the Code Blue Dance Team at Chowan. I met international students who were from Africa, and I met students involved with a little bit of everything at Chowan.

Everyone was so nice and welcoming – I began to feel right at home! After lunch we went to the Kerr Gazebo to play games and learn more about life as a student at Chowan. I learned how to play corn hole and ladder ball: two games I had never even heard of. I watched current students that were not even involved in SOAR flood the campus and enjoy the games with us new students.

The butterflies in my stomach flew away and anxiety about my next step was gone. I know I belong at Chowan: a small university with so many opportunities and ways to get involved. When I left campus after SOAR I had new friends and knew without a doubt that this is the place I’m meant to be. I’ll move into my residence hall room on August 21st, and begin a new chapter in my life. I know it’s the right step. I’m now a Chowan University Hawk. We don’t flutter, we SOAR!

C-U in August,

Isabel, Class of 2014

Student Blog | Student Life | Jamarr Royster

I never thought that I would end up at Chowan University or any university for that matter, but I believe there’s a reason why I’m here. I first came across Chowan because of my high school football coach. He explained that I should look into Chowan to try to walk on with the football team. Of course, that sparked my interest and I visited Chowan. What I didn’t expect was to fall in love with this university so quickly. I can’t stress enough how blessed I am to be here attending Chowan University!

When I arrived for the fall semester I felt like I had a new start to make friends and set academic goals. I recall my first dinner at Chowan: I sat by myself because I didn’t know anyone, but after about five minutes of sitting by myself a nice young lady approached me and asked why I was all alone. I simply shrugged and she insisted that I sit with her and her friends. “By the way I’m Rebecca,” she said. I didn’t know until later that night that she was the Student Government Association President at Chowan. I was thinking to myself how much she cared and she saw to it that I didn’t feel like an outsider. Before I knew it I had made a handful of friends.

I became active in various clubs at Chowan. I worked hard in and out of the classroom including Federal Work Study. “Faith in your future” is all I heard and it is a fact! I have one-on-one time with my professors and a lot of help from friends. I never expected to receive any of that attention because I figured they wouldn’t care but I was wrong.

Romans 12:12 says, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” My blessings were going to come; all I needed to do was to be patient. Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Sure enough, I’ve made even more friends and some very best friends!

I certainly stood out more in my second semester than I did first semester. I was now working out and practicing with the Chowan University Hawks Football Team. I’m a club officer and continue to be involved in several other on-campus organizations. I am currently working in Admissions as a tour guide and I love getting the chance to meet new friends and their families and showing them around my home away from home. I am very blessed to say that I’m a student at Chowan University and the Christian atmosphere that it portrays.

Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”

In Christ’s strength,
Jamarr, Class of 2013

Student Blog #1-Miranda

In the fall of my senior year of high school I came across an email in my inbox from my high school promoting free college application week. I clicked the link enclosed and found myself on CFNC.org looking at a list of private schools in North Carolina that offered Allied Health as a major. A few weeks later I received acceptance letters from all the schools I had applied to during free application week. As the weeks followed, I noticed one of those schools kept sending me mail and emails and calling my house. That school was Chowan University.

It all started with an offer for the Presidential Scholarship followed by “check ups” on how I was doing and how school was going for me. I received an invitation to attend Leadership Scholars Day where I would have the chance to interview for a $6,000 scholarship renewable for 4 years. I made my RSVP for the event thinking if I received this scholarship then the school I wanted to go to would offer me more money to be competitive, what I didn’t expect was to fall in love when I came to Chowan for my initial visit.

I arrived December 5, 2008. The weather was extremely cold and Murfreesboro appeared smaller than my town back home. Murfreesboro was everything I didn’t want (or so I thought it): a small town with cold weather that reminded me a lot of home. The Dean of Admissions, Chad Holt, changed my opinion of what I wanted about 15 minutes into my visit. Before I even introduced myself he came into Turner Auditorium, found me, and said, “Hi Miranda, I’m Chad Holt.” This impressed me, I hadn’t introduced myself and he already knew who I was, this showed me I wasn’t just an another application. I was not a number or file, but I was already a member of the Chowan family!

As Leadership Scholars day went on I found myself getting more and more comfortable at Chowan, with the atmosphere of Murfreesboro, and the Chowan family. I completed my interview and took a tour. My day ended after talking to a couple of Admissions counselors and grabbing my housing and medical forms. As my mom and I were leaving I told her that Chowan was where I saw myself continuing my education. My mother was shocked by the fact I changed my mind after one day. Chowan was the first and last campus I visited. A couple weeks later I received a call from my personal Admissions counselor, who told me I had received the Leadership Scholarship! I remember paying the advanced tuition deposit the very next day – it was definitely one of the best decisions I’ve made for my future.

Miranda
Chowan University Class of 2012