With my time here at Averett coming to an end, I wanted to look back at my time in college and reflect. Every student’s time in college is different, but I’d say mine has been interesting to say the least. With all of the ups and downs that I’ve gone through, not just in academics but also in extracurricular activities, my time in college has been a roller coaster of emotions. That is definitely not for the lack of blood, sweat, and tears that I have poured into not just my school work, but everything that I have been involved in. For the last four years of my life, Averett has been a home away from home. With the change in where my mom has been living and where both of my parents are located, I’ve had to rely on my friends, and my work to not feel homesick.
I was born and raised in Springfield, Va, which is about four and a half to five hours north of Danville. I was raised in the Fairfax County Public School system, and graduated in 2019 from South County High School in Lorton. After South County, I took some time to go find a part time job while I started my first year in college at North Virginia Community College (NVCC or NOVA). During my time at NOVA, I was working a part time job in Woodbridge while I was living at home for the first two years. I came to Averett after leaving NOVA in 2022. The original reason why I came to (Danville) to be a part of the Averett family was because I knew I wanted to be something of a communications major, and when I was trying to research schools to transfer to, Averett immediately caught my eye and I fell in love. Besides having a great communications program at the time, I also loved Averett because of how I could build a personal connection with my professors and mentors in the classroom. While I’ve been here, I’ve gotten involved in things where I can truly say that I have made some of my best friends and also my second family, while building connections that I can rely on the rest of my life.
Most of you may just know me as a classmate. But during my time here in Danville, I have been one of the two voices on the broadcast working for the Averett Sports Network. This has been one of the greatest honors and privileges that I’ve ever gotten to be a part of. I’ve loved my job with the athletics department and have been extremely grateful for getting to work alongside a department that lifted me up and helped me get involved beyond the classroom. One of the many things that I have learned while working for the broadcast student sports information crew was that getting prepared for different sports is both a lesson in time management and knowing what to talk about. Working for the broadcast crew has also been extremely fun! One of my favorite memories with (being on broadcast,) was during this past basketball season when I got to call a game winning shot when the Cougars took on Hampden Sydney and went into overtime, where Averett beat the Tigers on a last second step back jump shot by Jackson Sellars which put the Cougars ahead with less than a second to go! This was majorly exciting because it was the first time that I have gotten to be on broadcast for a game that was part of not just a winning season but an exciting season where I felt proud of my school.
Besides being involved with Averett Sports Network Broadcast Crew, one of the things that I immediately got involved in was choir. I’ve loved singing since fourth grade in elementary school, so when I heard that there was a concert choir on campus, I was thrilled and I jumped to the opportunity to be able to sing in a choir for the first time since high school, where I was a part of the advanced choir and had the joy of getting to sing with my classmates and friends at Disney in the Candlelight Christmas processional. When I was at NOVA there wasn’t a choir to be a part of so it was a bit harder to get through community college. One of the things that has always helped me through stress is singing because it helps me unload everything off my chest. Getting to be with the Averett Singers has been one of the best decisions of my life because not only did I get to sing, but I got to know and be with some of the best people that I’ve ever had in my life. I can say Averett Singers helped me feel like I belonged somewhere and that I had found the people that could call my friends and family.
A big part of my journey here at Averett was Dr. Anne Lewis. She taught me not just how to be a better singer but to how to grow into a better version of myself and how to be the best version of myself every day. One of the things that Doc always talked about was how she treated everyone in choir like her own kids, and so we all meshed into a family not just in choir but in the music department. Doc was and always will be a mentor of mine.
A year after I joined Averett Singers, show choir was created. Show Choir was a choir that joined both music and theatre together, so it wasn’t just singing but it was also dancing which was something that I wasn’t very good at. I took the leap of faith and jumped into the deep end where I was very uncomfortable mostly due to my stage fright that I have had since I was a sophomore in high school. This was a challenge with taking on more choir and being a part of both choirs on campus, but it also paid off because being a part of show choir, and taking on solos where I was under the spotlight, helped me to come out of my shell and get over my stage fright. This helped me to gain more confidence in myself and in my voice which also helped me with my broadcasting. Doing both Averett Singers and Show choir showed me how to become a more mature version of myself and gave me a sense of belonging on campus. I knew that when I was in choir, that I wasn’t alone. This has been a big part of how I have grown and will leave Averett as a better and more mature version of myself than when I came in because it has helped me fight for every bit of my degree.
Being at Averett over the last four years, and being involved in everything that I have the thing that I realized is that this school really lives up to the motto of “One Team, One Averett”. To all of the freshman coming in, I’d like to give you one piece of advice, get involved as soon as possible, because you will be so much better off during your years in college. In the words of a sports broadcaster, from all of us here at the Averett Sports Network and up in the broadcast booth, this is Wyatt Achelpohl signing off.
