APRIL COX

Major: Cardiopulmonary Science
Class: Junior
Home Town: Greeneville, Tennessee
Favorite Campus Activity: Getting together with my classmates for a study group
Favorite Off-Campus Activity: Spending time with my family and friends and playing tennis
Best Thing About ETSU: The professors and faculty at ETSU are wonderful. Everyone I have met has been enthusiastic and willing to be a value to my education and college experience.
Advice to New Students: Today is a blessing tomorrow is a miracle. Each day we are given the opportunity to make it the best day of our lives and what better way to do that than to accept the gift of knowledge.

Over the last 20 years I have expressed the importance of education by supporting my children, and at age 36 I took the opportunity to enjoy the world of scholarly wisdom myself. Since then my life has been enriched with so many things: mental travels around the world, the realization that number and calculations are more than clipping coupons and a monthly budget, an awareness that there is so much more to the universe than the nine planets and the North Star, the insight that without literature the mind would be locked inside itself, and an understanding that life is a journey. Without the college experience this journey would be narrow and most definitely missing valuable sections of the pathway

I started out small by attending Walters State Community College in Greeneville, TN. I had a wonderful time there. By taking the opportunities available to me I gained the strength and confidence to get involved in the college and my community. The experience and encouragement I received there deepened my desire to continue on to bigger and better adventures, which brought me to East Tennessee State University.

I am a Midway Scholar in the Honors College, and this has enhanced my life in many ways. I am the secretary and a representative of the Midway Scholars of the Honors College Student Council and a leadership board member of the ACTS Leadership Network, THE NET. I have found that everyone I come in contact with really cares, and ETSU had faculty with heart.

Here I am a “New-Traditional” student experiencing the demands of juggling life, family, work and education while loving every minute of it. Granted the challenge of trying to keep balance is not boring, and I am envious of anyone who has the magic potion to make it effortless. Although, I feel this quest would not be as fulfilling if I were to utilize a shortcut. I like to look at every event in my life with the innate belief that there is a purpose not just for me but for those with whom I meet as well. Life is about so many things including the talent of sharing. So this I give to you, “There is no greater gift than the gift of giving.” The gifts of knowledge that are shared with me here at ETSU are priceless.

I am proud to be a student at ETSU, and, if you ask me if I will feel the same way when I graduate, I am sure I will have discovered a new word with more than one syllable to express my excitement and enthusiasm.