 I'm Maddie Powell, I graduated from Spain Park High School and I'm from Hoover, Alabama. I actually was the one, the one kid who wanted to go out of state and be different, but then I just convinced myself to come at least go on a tour and finally got to see what the university was all about and that completely changed my mindset. I saw a completely different side of campus from game day or what I was really used to, always coming to campus, seeing all the game day festivities and tailgating and once I came on campus and actually heard about the academic side of things and all the different opportunities that were available to me, I saw that other side of the university that I had never been exposed to in high school. One of my favorite parts about campus being a larger university is that walking across the quad, I can sometimes see a new face every time I go across the quad, going to different classes or sometimes I can run across someone that I know from my hometown and can wave at them as I'm walking across the quad, but most days I'm seeing completely new faces and being able to get involved with different student organizations on campus, there's always something going on and because we have so many different types of students on campus I've been able to find different friend groups where I'm connected all across campus not just in one area of friends, I can get across campus and a different variety of friends that I have.