People of UNF is a chronicle of students, faculty, university staff, and visitors. The hope of this feature is that we as a student body may gain a closer look at those we see walking by us everyday, those we ignore, and those we sometimes wish we might get to know better.
Photos by Kiersten Brauner.
“Live outside!”
“Good is the enemy of great.”
Q: What is the best thing that has happened to you so far today?
A: Today I got approved for my associates’ degree; that is a good day.
“Life is too short to live.”
“I think I am going to go into the masters program here for mental health care counseling, but I am also studying abroad in Spain this summer. I am hoping to see if I really like it there, then to go back after I get my Bachelors and live there for like a year.”
“The best thing is to never take everything so seriously and try to help out but don’t always take everything as personal.”
“I like volunteering for OneSpark and I also volunteer for the people trying to legalize marijuana, United for Care, and I have done a couple rallies. It’s going to be on the ballad; basically right now we are just getting people to be like, hey you need to vote on this – if you don’t – we’re going to lose our chance.”
“I want to teach a band, hopefully teach high school band for a few years and then go get my masters somewhere in Missouri.”
“Try to do your favorite things in life and you’ll be happy.”
“Treat people, as you would want to be treated.”
“Be nice to people.”
“If I tell you to stand still, stand still.”
“Remember that you were created with a unique purpose and that you represent the God that created you, so live your life like you want Him to be watching you all the time.”
“Believe in yourself. Have faith in your abilities. Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy.”
Q: What is one thing you would like people to remember about you?
A: Always being there for someone if they need it.
“I am really interested in having a green community. That is why I came to UNF; they care about the natural environment and have nature trails.”
Q: What has been the most influential event in your life thus far?
A: Well, recently my intermediate family has relocated here. After witnessing me leave my hometown, Ohio, to pursue my dreams. After about 4 years of me getting acclimated my mother and brother recently moved here. My mother had never even left Ohio before.
Q: What would you say is the best thing that has happened to you this week?
A: Sitting on the green when it was sunny this week.
Q: Noted. There has been terrible weather this week.
“Read more, it’s good for you. Stop eating fast food, it’s bad for you.”
“If you’re not having fun, you’re not paying attention.”
Q: So, it’s your last semester, what will you do after school?
A: Well, I just got done with an internship in Geneva. It really taught me that I don’t want to be strictly involved in the bureaucracy.
“Ideally I would love to perform my entire life, but I have looked into music therapy. That way I can use my talents and what I love to help other people because music has always been something that has been there for me in the past, and it has been a way for to express myself so showing people what music can do would also be an awesome opportunity.”
“I think it is depressing how most of the people that go here seem to take what they have for granted. There are a lot of people who are afforded possibilities that not everyone is afforded and it seems like a lot of people treat it very frivolously.”
“My end goal is to go and live in another country and I don’t want to, say, find lesser evils but there are certain governments that manage things better.”
“Don’t forget to bring a towel.”
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” –John 1:14
“I don’t think I would change anything because if I changed something it would change the course of what my life is right now and I really love where my life is going.”
“Spend as much time with the ones that you love and don’t take life for granted.”
“Old ideas are crashing on all sides and the precise uncompromising camera vision is and will be more so a role to force in the revaluation of life.” –Edward Weston
“We are only human and the gods have fashioned us for love, that is our great glory and our great tragedy.”
Q: What do you think the best personality trait that you have?
A: I will go with sense of humor because I like to talk… Not really though.
“I would probably have to go to a third world country and teach music of some sort, that’s what I want to do in the future. And I want to start a non-profit and help kids learn music and know how to sing little melodies and even write their own music.”
“I am going to Lindy-Fest, which is a dance convention in Houston, Texas. It’s a swing dancing convention.”
“Nothing is going to change unless you make it happen.”
“You’re not alone, now to find a person to share the adventure with. It misses one point traveler’s love more deeply, more completely, and with greater adventure, and therefore needs a lover with the same courage and conviction. Not everyone showers in the dragon’s breath of an offshore afternoon or has the eyes that sparkle like diamonds on the water.”
“Don’t be stupid, stupid.”
“My girlfriend and I, we live together and she was telling me she wanted a floor lamp for Valentine’s Day. It’s a little weird, but she wanted a floor lamp for Valentine’s Day because we need lighting in our living room. I couldn’t afford it because I had gotten her all of her gifts already and I was broke so I was freaking out. And I am walking along the hallway and there is a floor lamp right there with a sign on it that says “free floor lamp.” It was too easy. It was just there for free so I am going to take it home to her.”
“Always try to do the one thing that you never want to do because it’s going to end in the most fun.”
“Do what makes you happy; it’s the most important thing to remember.”
“Keep an open mind because you never know what you’re going to learn.”
“Slow down, take time to relax and enjoy life because we’ve only got one life to live so live it.”
“My advice to everyone is to live every day to the fullest and don’t just be focused on tomorrow and how great things are going to be. Just focusing on the here and now and enjoying life, what it’s giving you right now in the moment.”
“I keep thinking roots, like remember your roots because they help you figure out who you are.”
“I do a YouTube account that is called Ms.Kis, it started with Osprey radio and then I expanded to YouTube and it is just everyday occurrences of a college student with my own perspective on it.”
“Be humble. Not enough people today are.”
“After attending Power Shift 2013, I got involved with Divest UNF as a way to have a tangible impact in the climate movement.”