…preparing her for leadership, graduate school, and beyond.
When Samantha Jackson began her freshman year at UWGB, she asserts that she wasn’t in desperate need of self-assurance, but the experience changed her nonetheless. “I wasn’t extremely shy or quiet, but I wasn’t very outspoken either,” Samantha says, “and over the course of my time at UWGB, I didn’t grow out of my introvert behavior, but I did become more confident in myself.”
Samantha says she wouldn’t have met such incredible people and wouldn’t have aspired to other campus leadership positions without first attaining roles as a Resident Assistant and Community Advisor. “Without those jobs, I would not have met some of the people who became my close friends and fellow English majors,” she said. “One of the other RAs my sophomore year was the president of Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honors Society. He told me to come to a few meetings, and I did. This started my path to becoming Sigma Tau Delta’s President my senior year.”
Samantha’s involvement with Sigma Tau Delta ultimately led to a trip to Seattle, Washington for the American Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference for a weekend with six of her fellow Sigma Tau Delta members. Of the trip, Samantha says, “It was the most memorable and impacting event of my career. The opportunity to meet so many other writers was amazing, and it was a conference geared towards my passion, major, and career interests. Opportunities like that do not come around very often.”
Samantha also credits Rebecca Meacham for challenging her to become a better writer and exposing her to the Sheepshead Review, UWGB’s literary magazine, an experience Samantha insists, “has proved so useful to me after graduation.” She also recognizes Bryan Vescio, Samantha’s academic advisor, for helping her decide where to attend graduate school, as well as Stefan Hall and Chuck Rybak who “made each and every class wonderful and memorable. I still use much of what they taught me today.”
So far, Samantha’s leadership experiences, pre-professional development, and UWGB education has allowed her to attend graduate school at UW-Madison, in its School of Library and Information Sciences.
“I know what is expected of me, and my experiences have helped me obtain a job,” Samantha says. “I was taught so much, and I still use what I learned at UW-Green Bay every day.”
Name: Samantha Jackson
Grad Year: 2014
Major: English
Minor: Information Science
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We’ve asked alumni to either share stories of how their lives were transformed by the UWGB experience or how they are making the world a better place with transformational work in their careers, homes, or volunteer experiences. As UWGB celebrates its 50th Anniversary, meet an alum each week who has experienced a “UW-Green Bay Transformation.” Stories were self-submitted and then edited by Zachary Taylor, a 2010 English Education graduate currently serving as Interim Associate Director of the Phuture Phoenix program.