From Wolfpacks to Pirates
“I want to work for a large network in New York City like, CNN,” says Hannah Shephard.
Not an easy goal, but at East Carolina University, where it is easy to get lost in the crowd of 23,000 students, Hannah Shephard stands out.
A junior here at ECU, Shephard admits this goal has not always been crystal clear. As a former student at North Carolina State University, Shephard’s goals have changed drastically since her ‘wolf pack’ days.
“My biology classes were really hard and I hated dissecting things,” admits Shephard. Starting out as a biology major, Shephard wanted to go to medical school for nursing, but came to the conclusion that nursing was not for her.
Now at ECU in Greenville, N.C., also Shephard’s hometown, she is busy studying for her new chosen major, Communication, with a goal of making it big.
“I am getting help on how to speak and write news scripts,” Shephard says. She is doing an independent study with a communication professor here at ECU.
“Mr. Rees was my professor for Announcing last semester and he offered me the opportunity to do an independent study with him,” Shephard says. It counts towards her major for three credit hours.
When Shephard is not busy studying, she is planning ceremonies at her sorority. She said her aunt was a member of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority at Winthrop University in South Carolina. This got Shephard interested in joining a sorority and now she is a member of Alpha Delta Pi where she serves as the Guard.
“The Guard is very important to the running of the sorority because, as the Guard I help run a variety of meetings and ceremonies,” Shephard says. This is Shephard’s second year in the sorority which holds over 70 girls.
“She cares a lot about other people and has always been there for me and others when they needed it. She is outgoing, caring, friendly, and easy-going,” says Shephard’s oldest and closest friend Cameron Holcombe.
Shephard does a great deal of work with her sorority. Their community involvement includes cooking dinners for the children of The Ronald McDonald House in Greenville, NC.
“Hannah and I are both members of Alpha Delta Pi. She pledged her sophomore year and since then I have become so close with her. She is my little sister and I am her big sister,” states Mollie Culbreth, one of Shephard’s closest friends.
“My big sister and I always hang out,” Shephard says. It seems the sorority not only brought Shephard a leadership position, but a close friendship as well.
With school work and sorority involvement, it is hard to believe Shephard has time to relax and breathe. But, she got plenty of time to do that over the summer, and it was not in Greenville, N.C.
“My cousin is stationed in Hawaii, so over the summer they asked me to come and baby-sit for them for a month,” Shephard says.
Shephard says this experience was one of a kind. Until her Hawaii retreat, Shephard had never been out of the United States nor had she ever flown.
Shephard admits it is hard to forget to slow down and breathe. She says she likes having time to do the things she loves.
“I love dancing. I took dance at a company back home from age four until high school. I did jazz, pointe and ballet,” Shephard says. She said she wanted to be a professional dancer. This was in her younger years of course.
“Hannah is very easy going and likes to have fun. She likes to be around other people and always makes other people feel comfortable. She is very easy to get along with and does not like to upset people. She will do anything to make sure others are happy,” says Holcombe.
With her fun, loving nature and her ambitious goals, Shephard is not just one of the 20,000 students that make up ECU. Shephard is a leader with a heart.
“She is just all around a fun girl to hang with and there is never a dull moment,” Culbreth states. Culbreth is right; dull should not even be in the same sentence with Hannah Shephard.
Sources
- Cameron Holcombe – cjholcom@ncsu.edu High School friend Interviewed on 9/12/2007
- Mollie Culbreth – mec0207@ecu.edu Big sister in Alpha Delta Pi Interviewed on 9/11/2007
Filed under: Classmate Profiles