Mariah Anderson, Staff Writer
As the spring semester comes to a close, Wingate seniors are looking forward to graduation and life outside of campus. Some will go on to graduate school, while others have found internships and jobs, and still others will make these decisions after graduating once coursework is behind them. We interviewed three graduating seniors to find out what their plans are and how their time at Wingate prepared them for life after graduation.
Marissa Vittorio is currently an Exercise Science major, a member of Tri-Sigma sorority, and program assistant of Employee Resources. Her wide involvement on campus at Wingate has prepared her for graduate school.
She has been accepted as a graduate assistant at Emory University to study Campus Recreation and is also waiting to hear back from Georgia State University’s Sports Administration Master’s program. Marissa says that she will miss the people at Wingate University: her friends, sorority, bosses, coworkers, and some professors.
Looking ahead to life after Wingate, Marissa said, “It’s scary to go from a set, protected schedule to do all these things on my own that I’ve never done before.” She also commented on the uncertainty of the future; even at this point in the semester, she is still waiting to hear back from different programs so that she can make concrete plans. In high school, we all knew where we were going after graduation by April; post-college plans are not as easy to decide on.
Kaitlyn Meyers, an Athletics Training major, is currently busy attending clinicals with the Wingate football team every day while also participating in the Athletics Training club. Next year, she will work as a graduate assistant at Georgia State University, where she will work as an athletic trainer while earning her Master’s degree in Sports Administration.
She is currently waiting on her results from the Board of Certification test, which will allow her to work independently as a certified athletic trainer. In addition to being nervous about her test results, she is also nervous about living on her own for the first time and finding an apartment. She says that what she will miss most about Wingate is the family atmosphere, since everybody knows everybody and it’s caring environment.
Dani Wolfe is also majoring in Athletics Training, and is a member of the Athletics Training club and the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority, and currently works with the football team. She does not currently have a job lined up, but she is waiting to hear back from a couple of Physical Therapy schools.
She hopes to be accepted to one and continue with her education as a physical therapist. If she is not accepted to a physical therapy program this year, then she plans to work as an athletic trainer. She is concerned that her post-graduation plans are not yet set in stone, but she knows that she has options available.
Looking back on her time at Wingate, Dani said, “I am not ready for these four years to be over. It’s crazy how fast they’ve gone by.” What Dani will miss most about Wingate is living with and seeing her best friends every day, the family dinners, endless laughs, athletic training clinicals, and the friends that have turned into family over the past four years.
Even though the seniors do not all know what the future holds, they all share four years of memories of their time at Wingate and will take what they have learned here to excel in their future jobs and studies. Good luck, graduating seniors! Thank you for making an impact on the university, and we wish you the best in whatever the future holds for you.
Edited by: Brea Childs
Wingate Triangle 