College is a crucial time in a young adult’s life. What campus will be the best home for them? Who will be their mentors? How can they make the most of the next four years? While high school students must consider these questions when choosing their school, HPU knows that parents are working alongside them, diligently searching for the same answers.
Meet Shannon Gonzalez, mother of HPU ’22 graduate Emily Gonzalez. Emily is a biology major from Manchester, New Jersey. Her studies at HPU focused on genetics, and outside the classroom, she found a second family through HPU’s Natural Science Fellows and the symphonic band. After Emily’s first year as an HPU student, Shannon already noticed the transformative power of HPU on her daughter. Today, Emily is works as a microbiologist at Integra LifeSciences after she completed her master’s degree in Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnology at Michigan State University. Below, she reflects on her daughter’s HPU journey thus far:
Q. How did your family discover and ultimately choose HPU?
A. We heard about HPU when Emily began touring colleges her junior year of high school. We planned a weekend trip to tour several North Carolina schools, HPU included. We had already decided on another North Carolina college, one we’d toured earlier on our final day of visits, so we called HPU to cancel our tour. We spoke with our personal admissions counselor who kindly asked if we would still consider a stop at HPU; she said she would have someone give us a brief tour and overview. Since we were passing it on our way home, we decided to make the stop.
I can’t put into words what happened next. As we walked around campus and really began talking to the students, I could see something happening to Emily. It was like a switch went on and her eyes began to light up. She became more engaged and excited. She started asking questions and really listening. On campus, we came to a set of larger-than-life rocking chairs known as the “Dream Big Chairs.” We stopped to read the plaque at the base of the chairs — a note from HPU alumnus Christine McKnight. As Emily and I read the letter, tears started coming down my face. It was the first time I had cried since we began touring colleges, and believe me, we toured many. I cried because I knew in my heart this was it. Emily read the words aloud:
“I had so much support at HPU that I graduated to face the real world with a new perspective. HPU gave me the positive outlook I needed to dream big dreams and achieve my goals without being intimidated by life’s obstacles.”
Q: What was it that made HPU different from other colleges you toured
A. Up until our HPU tour, no other college had made it personal. Not one school talked about the real world. Not one school talked about God, family and country. Not one school talked about preparing my daughter with life skills. Not one school, until that very moment, made us feel at home. High Point University was that school. The fact that the campus, faculty and staff are amazing is a huge bonus, but the real reason we chose HPU was for its extraordinary education and the university’s values and beliefs. That’s what sets HPU apart from all the others we had considered. We knew High Point would teach her lessons that last a lifetime.
Q: How has Emily transformed after only a short time at HPU?
A. Watching her grow as a person has been the most rewarding. She has always been strong and ambitious, but HPU is teaching her the skills needed to propel her in the direction of her dreams. At one point, her dream was to become the first Hispanic female in our family to graduate college. Today, her dream goes beyond graduation, and she’s now on track to become a geneticist. In her first year at HPU, she made the Dean’s List both semesters, was accepted into The Natural Sciences Fellows, played the flute in HPU’s Symphonic Band and most importantly, created bonds with like-minded students who share the same core values. This semester, she kicked off her sophomore year as a peer mentor on campus and mentored incoming freshmen. At HPU, Emily has discovered not only how to achieve her goals, but also how to constantly set and accomplish even greater ones.
Q: What do you tell parents and high school students who are considering HPU?
A. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that God knew where she needed to be, and his hand guided us to High Point University. We are grateful to the amazing HPU professors, mentors, staff and more importantly our entire HPU family. We truly are part of one family at High Point University!
