UNCP rocks in higher education

By Tina Ray
Staff Writer

There are other schools in the UNC system, but allow me a little pride, UNCP rocks.

You don’t have to be from the MTV generation to know what rocks means.

Enrollment here is about 4,400, according to the admissions page on the university’s website.

“UNCP offers 55 undergraduate majors and 14 master’s degree programs,” also according to that same website.

However, this will change with the addition of a bachelor of arts degree in Spanish that is slated to begin in January.

The new degree in Spanish indicates just how well UNCP factors the needs of the community into its curriculum. Notwithstanding the growing Hispanic population in our community and the increase of Hispanic children within the school systems of Robeson and surrounding counties, this is a much needed and anticipated endeavor.

UNCP also rocks because it keeps a full calendar. Student interests run the gamut and the university does well to meet those interests. The calendar lists activities from the lighter side of “While You Were Out” on Nov. 7 and a “Pool and Ping Pong Tournament” on Nov. 11 to the more serious “HIV Screening and Info-Student Health” on Nov. 12 and “Beating the College Blues” on Nov. 13.

The university serves the needs of all its students.

Across the world, diverse groups of people arrive in America seeking the educational opportunities that are afforded in this country. People come to America because here we are supposed to be the best, to offer the best.

As we walk this university in our quest to achieve excellence, we are greeted by non-traditional students who have chosen UNCP as the vehicle by which they will transport themselves to a higher level of learning.

Years from now, when we have the fortune of looking back on the years we spent at this institution, we may well chuckle over the caliber of education that was received here.

Within these great walls of learning, some of us are finding ourselves. Some of us are finding that we have what it takes to meet the world on its own terms. We are finding that the world does not owe us; we owe it.

We owe it to ourselves, and to those who foot the bill for our education, to attain the best quality education possible and to put that education to good use when we leave.

At UNCP, the field is leveled. Faculty members of all walks of life and diversified educational backgrounds uphold the motto, “Where learning gets personal.” Ultimately, if it doesn’t get personal here, it’s your fault… because even if I were not full of pride, UNCP rocks!