 sitting there today in an open house, wondering how I'm going to make the decision, what I should be considering. I would tell you to take a deep breath and look around you. Look at who's sitting to your right and to your left. Take the opportunity through all your activities today to get to know someone. Because the best advice I can give you is to invest in those relationships because the people around you are the people who hopefully you'll be living with for the next four years. When I was looking for a college to attend at a high school, I was looking for a college that made me feel like I was at home and a college with small class sizes, with proactive faculty and staff at the university and I found all those things at ECSU and I was immediately drawn. The faculty was very welcoming and supportive and that's why I chose ECSU. It's different about it because you're surrounded by teachers and individuals who care about your success. They're here to help you. They want to get the best out of you. They want you to be beneficial in the working force. They want you to be the asset that every company wants. They're going to push you and get the best out of you and help you get the job or internship that you need to help you get to the next level of your life. I can also say that about all my professors, every single person in this department has helped me in some way get the job I've always wanted. Hey guys, if you're interested in science, like how I am, I'm a science major, regardless of what field you want to go into, doesn't really matter, take the time out and talk to the professors that are here for you at Open House. I promise you they're very easy to talk to and they want you to succeed and they want you to be the next doctor, veterinarian, nurse, pharmacist, anything that you want to be. I have to just take the time out and say hello. They might say hello to you back. And I can definitely say that I did experience actually having a great time with my roommate through everything. Watching movies, talking, gossiping or just even talking about how long our days were in classes and things of that nature. So it was definitely a great experience and I think that every transfer student or any student here at Elizabeth City State should experience that. Also there are several Greek organizations on campus. I'm currently a member of CAP Alpha South Fraternity Incorporated and it's been a very wonderful experience. I've gotten to do a lot of community service that actually helps me get a better look into the community and bond with them a lot more. So it's actually been a great experience being able to help people through the school. I would have to say that my biggest takeaway here at Elizabeth City State University was the foundation that I received in the science background. Now I completed four years here at Elizabeth City State University and that was exactly what I needed. It helped me to compete with other students from all around the world in the pharmacy coursework and in the pharmacy degree. I love how small the classrooms are. I like how you engage with the professor and it's very face-to-face more I say versus being in a school where it's 100 students. I feel that connection and even if whenever I do feel like I want to talk to the professor I can just go into their office or call them or email them. That's something that I've actually enjoyed here in terms of academic life and the faculty is great as well especially in my department which is communications department. One of the great things about ECSU is that it is the only aviation science program in North Carolina and it's great to get in while it's still a new and upcoming program and to get in on the ground level and progress with the school as it ventures forward. That's a great thing to be a part of. You see a lot of advancements, a lot of improvements. We have coursework in navigation and radar. I am currently enrolled in weather and meteorology and I love that class. I didn't think it was going to be one of my favorites but I've really come to like it. They're just all kinds of programs that we offer here. I'm a business major and being that ECSU has one of the top business programs in the state. I definitely had to go with it and I've always been a businessman since I was a little kid and selling candy and everything else that I didn't have a use for. The business program has definitely done me justice here at ECSU. In terms of the arts, I'd say that Northeastern North Carolina, our neck of the woods, I like to describe as hitting way above our weight class. We have a greater level of talent here than most people would believe coming to our region. And arts are really integral to our programs at ECSU as a whole. We believe in the liberal arts core. Every student in every major takes the general studies core and that means that they've got several classes that they have to take within fine arts and communications. Which means that we've got biology majors taking courses in music appreciation with our faculty. We've got students taking courses in art and in drama and other disciplines in the arts. And that is integral to their experience here. We firmly believe in that. I myself was educated in a liberal arts institution and so I believe that over specialization kind of takes away from any major that you have to have a rounded base and learn how to write and how to think coherently and how to express yourself clearly. And the arts is absolutely integral to that in communicating in our society. Well for us, one of the main skills that you definitely need to be successful in computer sciences is to have a good, solid foundation in mathematics. And so here at ECSU the mathematics and computer science are together in one department and so we really nourish our students on having that solid foundation in their initial computer science courses as well as in their mathematics courses. And so we hone them in. We do some things on web design and so that's one of the focus areas that we have. We also partner some with the engineering on cyber security and we're even working on exploring a master's program and that because that's really the next cutting edge, cyber security and so that's where we're going. What I plan to do with my degree is to live a successful aviation lifestyle. I want to fly planes first and foremost, that's what my passion really is but at the same time I love the air traffic control science program and that's what I'm minoring in is air traffic control. I love the call-outs and the terminology that we use every day, talking to pilots and I think it's just really fantastic. Here at ECSU I majored in physical education, the concentration in aquatics and fitness. After completing my degree in the concentration in aquatics and fitness I returned to get my teacher's certification. The reason I decided to major in physical education is before I got here I was told that this was a great physical education school to come to and they were right. With the degree that I have earned I am now in my fifth year teaching and I'm also in my third year coaching. I believe that this foundation that was granted me allowed me to have a successful career. When I think back to my time at ECSU I think that the one thing that really truly stands out to me is the degree of attention that you get from your professors or even from those in the administration or in the admissions office. That individual attention I think pays tremendous dividends. Had I went to a larger school I may have been setting an upper level history classes with 50 or 60 people rather than the 20 to 30 or even sometimes 10 that I sat in the classes with and that degree of individual attention certainly paid dividends in my career as a school administrator. Our students have been very successful. Our past computer science majors are employed at places like IBM, CIA, US Coast Guard. We have several students who have gone on to pursue their master's degrees from places like Old Dominion University, North Carolina A&T, Indiana, New Hampshire and even currently we have several of our students pursuing PhD programs at colleges all across America. The best advice that I can give you today for your open house is to get out, talk to people, talk to the students, talk to faculty, talk to professors, talk to your neighbor, talk to the person right next to you. Take full advantage of this opportunity to get different perspectives. You want to know, feel the environment. You want to know how it is for other students to go here. You want to know what your neighbor feels about going here or what they have in their mind and what degree paths or future paths they have. But get out, talk to others and see what your fit is. There's an enormous difference between going to high school and being in college. In high school your life is completely structured around you. You're told where and when to be. In college the choices are all yours and that's daunting to a lot of students. But it's also an enormous power. You have the opportunity to figure out not only who you are but who you want to be and you can do that here and we want you to take that chance. Thank you all for joining us here today. Please make the right decision and come and join us here at Elizabeth City State University.