An Alumni Perspective...

It was springtime when I paid my first visit to WKU as a high school senior. How eager I was to put the days of high school behind me and embark on my journey to the freedom that only adulthood could offer. Little did I know as a 17-year-old from Nashville what excitement would lie on the road paved ahead.

To this day, I can remember the way the sun reflected across the colonnade as I stood on the crosswalk between Garrett Conference Center and the Fine Arts Complex, both significant haunts of mine as the years progressed. This was it. I was going to be an accomplished journalist and WKU would be my launching pad.

Of course, my parents were thrilled, to say the least. I would spend my days just 60 miles north of my hometown and commute home on weekends with loads of laundry and stories to tell. I was eligible for in-state tuition and I qualified for a few scholarships as well. I would room with a friend from high school (an eventual disaster), and attend freshmen orientation in the fall.

That day in August was a hot one. We moved into Northeast Hall (formerly East Hall – with NO air conditioning back then, mind you), my Dad stuck a WKU sticker in the back window of my car and I cried as I watched my parents and younger sister exit the parking lot to head for home. This was no summer camp. This was it. There would be many more times in my life I would watch my parents drive from sight. But nothing, nothing at all has ever compared to that very first bittersweet taste of freedom.

Choosing a college or university for me was easy. I knew the moment I set foot on campus much like love at first sight. It’s a decision I did not take lightly. WKU offered the program of study I wanted, the extracurricular activities I was interested in, it was close to home and I was comfortable here.

You have a lot of important decisions awaiting you as well to mark your transition into young adulthood. While at WKU, I studied, made friends with whom I still keep in touch today; I practiced my faith, became a part of the local music scene as a performer, had great times and even met the man who would eventually become my husband.

I would invite each of you to come to Western. Visit our campus. See if it speaks to you as it has to so many who have come before you. If you’re lucky like me, maybe one day your beloved alma mater will welcome you back with open arms in a professional capacity, but rest assured, once a Hilltopper, always a Hilltopper!

Best of luck on your college search,

Corie Morell Martin
Communications Coordinator, WKU Office of Admissions
WKU Class of 1996