Purposeful Lives

Crystal W., graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communications

When I first came to Schreiner as a 20-year-old transfer student, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life after college. I guess you could say I was a bit lost. I liked Schreiner right from the start—it was different from anywhere else I had been. I could tell that the professors and staff genuinely cared about me and my success as a student at Schreiner University.
    
Through a series of struggles, I began to realize just how much the students, faculty and staff of Schreiner University cared about me. On many different occasions I have experienced the loyalty of the Schreiner family. I had the campus minister the Rev. Virginia “Gini” Norris-Lane stop to pray with me in the middle of her day because she thought I needed it. I had Angie Bauman director of student services, call me into her office and walk me through my first informal recruitment as vice president of PR and recruitment for my sorority Alpha Sigma Alpha. I had Dr. Mary Grace Antony reach out to me to make sure that I had all the tools I needed to be successful. I even had the Dean of Students, Peg Layton, to count on when I needed that extra friendly smile when I needed to make it through a tough day. Through all of these people at Schreiner, I learned two things: Schreiner is unique and wonderful and will always hold a place in my heart;  and I wanted to help others just as these wonderful people had helped me.
    
By my third semester at Schreiner I was no longer lost. I knew that when I graduated in May 2014 I would go on to graduate school to pursue a master’s of science in mental health counseling. This is a  realization that I would have been less likely to come to on my own, but was made possible by all the wonderful people of Schreiner University.