Garrido 1 Holli Garrido Robert Arnold Honors 1100: UHP Freshman Seminar 13 September 2011 An Afternoon with Andrew

Andrew Fann could be called your average college freshman, he has one older brother and one older sister, and was born on August 10th, 1993 so that he left all his friends and headed off for college right after his seventeenth birthday. His home of Granite Falls, North Carolina puts him around an hour and a half away from where he grew up and also makes him the first in his family to attend UNC Charlotte. As the two of us sat down in the bustling Student Union I learned more about who Andrew was, and why he was here at Charlotte to begin with. In high school Andrew played a lot of sports, and when asked he talked in particular about playing basketball and track. Considering his height it can be assumed that both sports came naturally and easy to him, though he does not plan on playing for the sports teams at UNCC, mostly due to a lack of time, he says. Intramural sports still hold some appeal, as well as the campus Model UN group, another of Andrews hobbies in high school. Though some of his interests are able to stay with him into college, something new to Andrew is his participation in the University Honors Program where I met him and the reason for this interview. Andrew, like myself, joined the program because it is no secret that being a member of the honors program looks good on your transcript, though he also was keen on the people the program introduces you to and the chances for involvement on campus. Not only that but the program, as supported by

Garrido 2 the Honors Seminar required by all entering freshman, allows Andrew and others to be challenged academically, something else he admitted he was looking forward to. Even more exciting is Andrews pursuit of his major and his plans for the next four years, and for your average freshman he is decided and determined to do what hes interested in. While not the most popular or well-known major, Andrew is here to study law and to hopefully become a lawyer, a job that he knows pays good money, and looks particularly cool in the movies he admits with a laugh. He applied to UNC Chapel Hill but with no luck, so he plans to enjoy himself at UNCC for undergrad, and is hopefully transferring to Chapel Hill for grad school and beyond. While here he plans to get a degree in Political Science and go on to work specifically in Sports Law, an even lesser known facet of the field. Andrew knows what he wants to do and how to accomplish it, even if it meant being the first to break his familys Mountaineer traditions to come revel in the city life and excel in his science major and in the University Honors Program. As our interview started to come to a close and we found ourselves drifting away from the academic discussions, Andrew surprised me with the casual question of what kind of music I listened to, so naturally, I asked him the same. Anything really, except country he says defiantly, and I couldnt agree more since I myself despise the genre. His favorite movie was a lot more defined than his music taste, and in an instant he answered with the recent Batman movie, The Dark Knight, a film he admitted to seeing five times just in theaters, and probably countless more after its release. As we got up to leave I could easily come to the conclusion that Andrew was not just your average college freshman but someone who is set in his academic path, and very certain of his interests. In a world where just about everyone is unsure of what they really like, and going into college undecided is the norm, Andrew proved to be one of a rare few.