Hi, I thought I would take the time to share about what I have observed and learned from afar about my son's experience at UNG. DS graduates and commissions on Dec. 17th from the U of N. Georgia. When my son was a HS senior in Maryland while searching for potential colleges to attend we found this school after searching on the web.
Neither of us had ever heard of U of N. Georgia. DS had taken college visits to other SMC's and was accepted to The Citadel, Norwich U, & VMI, along with several other colleges. DS loved each school and a couple were really generous with scholarship opportunities but were still pretty expensive for my income. The Citadel was probably his second choice as the wrestling coach at that time had recruited my son and even called us at the last minute to see if DS would commit as he had to finalize his roster. However, my son explained to me that wrestling would not be the most important factor in deciding where to attend college. Sometimes we dad's make assumptions and I had done just that. DS had also been invited to fly out to Oklahoma to visit OU by Coach Mark Cody but told me that OU was not an option because they would not offer the military experience and setting he was looking for.
So our last college visit was to Dahlonega, Ga. It was beautiful. The way that the university rolls right up to the town square gave it an old time college town feel. But when you toured the campus you learned that everything there was new, modern, and state of the art. UNG also came through with financial assistance and made the cost less expensive than if he had attended college in state at the University of Maryland. Since UNG was not a quick trip DS did not visit home often. DS joined a few activities on campus and was pretty busy with the extracurriculars combined with his studies. DS attended BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministries) every Monday evening, and through that was involved in a small group bible study which enabled him to have a peer support group from his early days on campus. DS also was a member of the UNG Chaplain Corp which is an official organization at the university. He then joined the NCWA Club Wrestling team, participated with the BJJ club, and even joined the Swing Dance Club! yes, I said swing dance, which really surprised me.
DS worked hard and will graduate Cum Laude. There are many things that have occurred at UNG that I don't know about. Some of these things are: When did my son learn to study with such depth and diligence so that most of his grades are A's? When did my son make having his room and clothing appear in perfection a priority? These things even carried over when he was home. DS then surprised me when he advised us his freshman year that he was going to take a semester off to join the Army National Guard. This was huge. I was so proud of him when he graduated Basic Training at Ft. Benning. From there my son was a part of the SMP program. The extra cash that he made has been so helpful. DS made up for his semester off by attending the Summer Language Institute at UNG and earned 9 credits in Arabic.
Now that 4 years have gone by DS is so excited about the next part of his life that is getting ready to get started. He was notified that he will be active duty and on branching night he was notified he will be assigned to the Adjutant General Corp. I did not really know what that was until I looked it up and watched a couple of You tube vids. After watching I see how this branch fits my son perfectly as he is very people oriented with a desire to serve others. I can honestly say that the University of North Georgia Corp of Cadets has been an amazing experience for my son. It has helped him grow into a man who is confident in his abilities, decisions, and choices. I believe his experience at UNG will help him as he continues on his career path as an officer as it has laid a solid foundation for him. All of the SMC's are different. All are great as far as I am concerned but with that said I highly recommend the University of North Georgia to parents and future cadets looking for an SMC to attend. It will surpass all of your expectations. DS said those exact words to me. Thanks for listening.
Neither of us had ever heard of U of N. Georgia. DS had taken college visits to other SMC's and was accepted to The Citadel, Norwich U, & VMI, along with several other colleges. DS loved each school and a couple were really generous with scholarship opportunities but were still pretty expensive for my income. The Citadel was probably his second choice as the wrestling coach at that time had recruited my son and even called us at the last minute to see if DS would commit as he had to finalize his roster. However, my son explained to me that wrestling would not be the most important factor in deciding where to attend college. Sometimes we dad's make assumptions and I had done just that. DS had also been invited to fly out to Oklahoma to visit OU by Coach Mark Cody but told me that OU was not an option because they would not offer the military experience and setting he was looking for.
So our last college visit was to Dahlonega, Ga. It was beautiful. The way that the university rolls right up to the town square gave it an old time college town feel. But when you toured the campus you learned that everything there was new, modern, and state of the art. UNG also came through with financial assistance and made the cost less expensive than if he had attended college in state at the University of Maryland. Since UNG was not a quick trip DS did not visit home often. DS joined a few activities on campus and was pretty busy with the extracurriculars combined with his studies. DS attended BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministries) every Monday evening, and through that was involved in a small group bible study which enabled him to have a peer support group from his early days on campus. DS also was a member of the UNG Chaplain Corp which is an official organization at the university. He then joined the NCWA Club Wrestling team, participated with the BJJ club, and even joined the Swing Dance Club! yes, I said swing dance, which really surprised me.
DS worked hard and will graduate Cum Laude. There are many things that have occurred at UNG that I don't know about. Some of these things are: When did my son learn to study with such depth and diligence so that most of his grades are A's? When did my son make having his room and clothing appear in perfection a priority? These things even carried over when he was home. DS then surprised me when he advised us his freshman year that he was going to take a semester off to join the Army National Guard. This was huge. I was so proud of him when he graduated Basic Training at Ft. Benning. From there my son was a part of the SMP program. The extra cash that he made has been so helpful. DS made up for his semester off by attending the Summer Language Institute at UNG and earned 9 credits in Arabic.
Now that 4 years have gone by DS is so excited about the next part of his life that is getting ready to get started. He was notified that he will be active duty and on branching night he was notified he will be assigned to the Adjutant General Corp. I did not really know what that was until I looked it up and watched a couple of You tube vids. After watching I see how this branch fits my son perfectly as he is very people oriented with a desire to serve others. I can honestly say that the University of North Georgia Corp of Cadets has been an amazing experience for my son. It has helped him grow into a man who is confident in his abilities, decisions, and choices. I believe his experience at UNG will help him as he continues on his career path as an officer as it has laid a solid foundation for him. All of the SMC's are different. All are great as far as I am concerned but with that said I highly recommend the University of North Georgia to parents and future cadets looking for an SMC to attend. It will surpass all of your expectations. DS said those exact words to me. Thanks for listening.
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