Photo courtesy of Andrew Miller.
As the semester ends and graduation approaches, I have taken a closer look at what made these past four years truly count.
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By Andrew Miller
TAMPA, Fla. — After three and a half years, my time as a UTampa undergraduate student is coming to an end. I’ve been given so many opportunities during my time here, and looking back, there are countless things I’m grateful to have done the way I did.
It seems unfair to keep to myself, so I have chosen to share some of my favorite UTampa opportunities, ones I strongly encourage others to take advantage of before it’s their turn to leave.
At the top of my list are UTampa’s study abroad programs. I was fortunate enough to participate in two. You might wonder, how did I have time to fit in two semesters abroad? Well, I didn’t.
UTampa offers plenty of courses that meet during the semester and then travel for one to two weeks afterward, or over break. If it weren’t for this flexibility, I wouldn’t have had the chance to travel.
In my freshman year, I took COM 212: Co-Creative Documentary Abroad. In this course, along with 11 other students, I traveled to a remote location in Mexico and filmed documentaries to promote small businesses there.
Later, I took PSC 282: Community-Based Development Strategies, where my classmates and I traveled to Ghana after the semester ended, working within the community to help develop and support them with the tools we had at our disposal.
Emily Ollendorff, a classmate of mine in PSC282, describes our experience in Africa.
“It was invaluable,” Ollendorff says. “When you fully immerse yourself in another culture like that, seeing things firsthand, it teaches you something that can’t be learned another way.”
Both Mexico and Africa were two of my favorite experiences during my undergrad, and I have learned so much about life through them.
Besides travel, as a Journalism and Film major, I’ve been grateful to attend a university that emphasizes the creative side of both fields.
At UTampa, film classes are designed so that students experience Experimental, Documentary, and Narrative filmmaking. Grace Kallensee, a senior film major, says she has grown tremendously because of this structure.
“I never thought I would work in experimental film,” Kallensee said. “Each medium has their own skills. I’m glad to have expanded and picked them up.”
Not all Universities’ film programs push students to step outside their comfort zones, but like Kallensee, I’ve gained skills and explored styles I wouldn’t have naturally gravitated toward.
My final favorite perk of UTampa is the flexibility between majors and programs. As a double major, I still found room to explore outside of those majors. In theater I landed roles in many of the school’s mainstage musicals.
I decided I wouldn’t be limited to a single niche, and instead was encouraged to explore so many different facets of the arts.
Similar to my experience is UTampa alumnus Matthew Jay, who shares a similar experience.
“I was Emcee in Cabaret, which was a dream role of mine,” Jay said. “I am so proud of my work and am glad that even though I wasn’t an MT [Musical Theatre] major, I still had an opportunity.”
Looking back, I’m proud of how I spent these last few years, and I truly feel I used my time at this school to the best of my ability. If you still have time left here, I urge you to try everything and anything. Make the most of your experience, you’re in control, and enjoy every second.