From Failing to Fulbright

How a non-traditional route in life turned out perfectly for me.

Coastal Carolina University, Conway, South Carolina. Home of college attempt #1.

I like to tell my students I retired in reverse. After attempting college at the traditional age of 18, I lasted all of three semesters before I basically failed out. Leaving with only a handful of credits, academic probation, a bruised ego and a lot of memories, I moved back home to do what seems to be a rite of passage for those in my shoes: waited tables. Little did I know that the academic probation part would stay in place for over a decade. Luckily, the waiting tables did not. After seeing my high school friends graduate from college, get married, start careers, I decided to stop living casually and to start living purposefully. This decision helped me discover my first calling: television news. They must have really needed help because I sure wasn't qualified, but for whatever reason, I was blessed that day and got a part time job as the morning show teleprompter operator for the local CBS station in my hometown: WRDW in Augusta, GA. This position was the bottom of the bottom in terms of both skill and television hierarchy, but I didn't care. It got me in the door, and I loved everything about it. With a lot of help from others, I soon taught myself every position in the Production Department. I found myself quickly transitioning into the News Department as a News Videographer, and it was this job that changed the course of my life. I stayed for a few years and then left for larger television markets, shooting News for three stations and becoming a Director of Promotions for a fourth. I loved everything about my career; however, I was starting to feel burnt out. If watching the news gives you stress, imagine producing it every day, year after year after year. I needed a break. It was at this time that the television station where I was working got sold, and it seemed like a perfect time to go back and finish that degree I started. I eventually graduated from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a degree in Media Studies. This time around I graduated with many honors and accolades, decided I loved higher education, and enrolled at Elon University to graduate with a Masters in Interactive Media. It wasn't easy, though. When I left my career, I was a manager to a staff who all had degrees, and I made a nice salary. I didn't need the degree, so it seemed more than a little crazy to leave that for a part time job and four years of school. Furthermore, when I attended Elon I was married and had a six month old baby at home.

After years as a professional adjunct (that's another story) at many colleges and universities, I am fortunate enough to have been at Meredith College as an Assistant Professor of Communication five years. While at Meredith, I have had the opportunity to travel to some fascinating places and to meet some incredible people, from interviewing non-profits in Rwanda and famous treasure hunters in New Mexico, to teaching a class in Costa Rica and attending media conferences in New York City. Along the way I realized that travel changed me. Through television I was already a story teller, but when I combine that with travel, I feel my skills and talents and interests combining. I love meeting new people and learning about new and different cultures, and feel that with my outgoing personality I am making a small but positive difference in this world. Having heard of the Fulbright Scholar program my entire career, I hesitated to apply. Nevertheless, in December 2020 I got the email that I had been awarded a Fulbright, truly leaving me speechless. It was as if I was made for this!

“The Fulbright Program aims to bring a little more knowledge, a little more reason, and a little more compassion into world affairs and thereby increase the chance that nations will learn at last to live in peace and friendship.“

—Senator J. William Fulbright

So after many months of planning and many meetings, I leave on June 23rd for Eswatini to carry out my Fulbright duties with fellow scholars at the University of Eswatini. Eswatini is a small land-locked country located in Southern Africa. I've been to Rwanda before and fell in love with it, so I feel very lucky to be returning to Africa. I know it will be different from Rwanda, but I look forward to seeing those differences and learning about a new place and a new culture. Along the way I will be blogging about my travel experiences, the food, and the project itself. Hopefully I can do this project justice through the lens of this blog. Please do keep checking back! Thank you so very much. #Fulbright #ExchangeOurWorld #MeredithCollege