The holiday season away from family can be difficult sometimes, especially in the midst of finals and the semester wrapping up. However, Christopher Newport puts in so much effort to make sure that all students are still filled with holiday cheer on campus.

Once students leave for Thanksgiving break, faculty and staff get busy preparing campus for the holiday season. In every single academic building, there is a real, towering holiday tree. These trees are beautifully decorated with shining red, green and gold ribbons and are the most incredible dose of holiday cheer. Not only is there another enormous tree in the Trible Library, but the banisters are also wrapped in garland and ribbon as well.

To top it all off, there is the largest tree on campus, right in the middle of the Great Lawn. The school puts on an annual tree lighting, as a way to enjoy the holiday season, and bring the campus and community together. It is exactly what students need in the midst of a busy and stressful end to the semester. No matter how far from your loved ones you may be at school, CNU makes it feel like you are always home for the holidays.

Being an NCAA athlete is one of the most memorable experiences I have had during my years at Christopher Newport. Not only did I have the opportunity to represent my university and wear my school name proudly, but it also gave me skills in leadership and time management that I could not have gotten anywhere else.

When first arriving at school, it is often nerve-racking as everyone scrambles to find friends. For me, my team wasn’t just an immediate group of friends but an immediate family. Being teammates is an unforgettable bond, and many of those teammates are people I know will be my close and dear friends for the rest of my life.

Being a student-athlete gave me the opportunity to continue building leadership skills. During practice I could lead by example with my focus and diligence as well as leading the new freshman classes each year. But, I also got to be a leader in academics, helping my fellow teammates balance schedules and succeed both on the track and in the classroom.

However, being an NCAA athlete does make the balancing act a bit more difficult. As a student-athlete, your only choice is to have superb time management skills, but in no way is it impossible. Gaining this skill is probably my favorite thing gained by continuing my athletic career into college. It has made me a better athlete and student.

I am incredibly thankful for the years I have gotten to spend representing Christopher Newport as an athlete. Our school reigns supreme in the Capital Athletic Conference in just about every sport, and I am forever grateful for the skills, lessons and friends that this opportunity has granted me.

College is often thought of as the time to “find yourself.” To me, that just means being comfortable in your own skin, comfortable enough to be truly authentic to who you are. Now, I understand this is easier said than done, especially for young women at the college age. But, there is a brand new club on campus dedicated to providing a community where self-love and acceptance can become a reality.

Define Yourself is a nonprofit organization whose mission statement is “to inspire, encourage and equip young women with the strong truth that beauty is a choice to love who you are.” A very close friend of mine, Amina Bukasa, started this organization with the goal of empowering women so they can love themselves first and understand that their beauty is inborn and undeniable. It is more than what can be seen from a glance in a mirror, it is their strength, courage, intelligence and even our imperfections.

This organization provides a platform for questions and debates, but more importantly answers and solutions to so many of the issues all young women face. Define Yourself gives the young women on our campus the opportunity to not have to fight these battles alone, but with an entire organization of Captains determined to help each other truly be the best they can be. And the best you can be, is exactly who you are.

To find out more about Define Yourself, and the multitude of other on-campus clubs and organizations Christopher Newport has to offer, visit The Compass.

As a student at Christopher Newport, a term commonly heard around campus is #CaptainForLife. Once you step on this campus as a student you are, from that moment on, a member of the CNU community. It’s a standard the university has that doesn’t limit your time here to the average four-year experience. Now, this term not only has the words, but an entire beautiful building backing it up.

The Gregory P. Klich Alumni House opened less than a year ago and stands as the newest building on campus, adorned with the classic red brick and towering columns. But even cooler, it is the first building on campus to be named after an alumnus. This beautiful new building serves as the headquarters for the Office of Alumni Relations, but also my new favorite study spot! The halls of this building are trimmed with artifacts from the beginning of the university’s time to now. Whenever I’m struggling before a test, looking at those walls, and seeing how immensely and impressively far my university has come, never ceases to give me that extra push I need to keep working to be the best Captain I can be.

Here at Christopher Newport we are all proud to be Captains, and how incredibly exciting it is for us that we can carry that pride with us forever, knowing that we will always have a home on campus. It’s not four years, it’s for life.