When I graduated from Forsyth County High School in 1969, I entered Gainesville College as a freshman and was delighted with the small campus that was so close to home. After settling into college life, I began to visit friends at other college campuses but remained very happy where I was with no plans to change. One weekend, however, my best friend and I visited the University of Georgia campus and it was so beautiful that it took my breathe away. I immediately fell in love -- with the beautiful setting, the wonderful people, the busier pace and even the City of Athens itself -- and knew immediately that this was where I wanted to be. I went home that day and told my parents that I wanted to transfer to UGA as quickly as possible. My friend did the same and the next thing we knew, we were roommates at Georgia! I have many fond memories of Gainesville College and I am grateful that I was able to be a part of that wonderful campus, but on that fateful day, the University of Georgia truly stole my heart away and I've been here in Athens ever since.

In 1972, Athens suffered one of the worst hail storms in its history and the memory of that storm is indelibly etched in my mind. I was a senior at UGA, living in the Alpha Xi Delta sorority house on campus. The storm hit very quickly that day and I remember so clearly all of us standing at the window watching in awe as the hailstones stormed down around us. I remember the smell of the rain, the sound of the storm pounding on the roof and the amazing sight of those incredible hailstones bouncing off of everything they touched. What I remember most, however, was the closeness we all felt standing at that window together, watching our beloved campus take such a terrible beating. It was one of those bittersweet moments that we all experience in life - very scary at the time but so very sweet in retrospect.