Enrique Carrion '99

Born on June 14, 1977 in Reus, Spain (One hour South of Barcelona, by the Mediterranean Coast). Lived in Venezuela, South America from age 2 to 18 when I graduated from high school and decided to come to the United States to go to college, learn English, get a tennis scholarship and get a degree in journalism.

My freshman year I attended Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) in Tifton, GA where I played for the tennis team. My sophomore year I attended Southern Polytechnic State University (Southern Tech) in Marietta, GA where I also played for the tennis team. Then, I decided to attend UGA because I was told it had a very good journalism program. I attended UGA my junior and senior year and graduated May 1999. I got an internship at CNN en español during the summer of 1999. Then, I was admitted at the Grady College Grad School Program and two and half years later graduated with a Master’s in Mass Communication. Within those two and half years in Grad School, I started the first radio show in Spanish at the UGA WUOG 90.5 FM radio station. Four years later, I am still hosting the show along with some other Hispanic students every Monday night from 8 to 10 p.m. I have been in Athens for seven years now. For the past five years, I coached tennis to children and adults at Bishop Park in Athens to earn  money for extra school expenses. I  interned at the Athens Banner-Herald during my last year in Grad School, helping to proofread and edit a weekly newsletter in Spanish. One week before graduation from Grad School, a friend of mine showed me a classified ad looking for a native Spanish-speaker for a new project by the Athens Banner-Herald. I applied for the job, interviewed for the position of editor of a new bilingual magazine and got the job days before the graduation ceremony. I have been working as the editor of Eco Latino since December 9, 2002.

I am still very active playing tennis. Finished rank #1 last year in the USTA Men’s Open division and practice with my friends on a regular basis at the tennis courts located at the UGA Intramural Fields.

I love UGA and Athens and consider myself very lucky that I can still live and work close to its beautiful  campus and attend all its sports and cultural activities. While many students can’t wait to finish their four years at UGA and leave, I look forward to always visiting UGA one more time.