{"id":70172,"date":"2011-05-12T17:00:06","date_gmt":"2011-05-12T22:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/?p=70172"},"modified":"2017-09-14T19:49:06","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T00:49:06","slug":"psychology-major-credits-um-honors-college-giving-confidence-harvard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/psychology-major-credits-um-honors-college-giving-confidence-harvard\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychology Major Credits UM Honors College With Giving Her Confidence for Harvard"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Christin Nicole Gates<\/p><\/div>\n

OXFORD, Miss. \u2014 Christin Nicole Gates chose the University of Mississippi because she wanted to participate in the full college experience: being challenged academically, having a sense of community and being around a diverse group of students.<\/p>\n

Four years at UM have given her all that and more, said Gates, who graduates Saturday (May 14) with a bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology. Gates, who was the first black female valedictorian of her high school class in Koscuisko, knew the university would be just far enough away from home.<\/p>\n

\u201cOle Miss forced me to meet new people and branch outside of what I was comfortable with and what I was used to,\u201d Gates said. \u201cI came here with no friends, and I feel like I am leaving with so many friends and family. Not only students, but faculty and administrators who feel like aunts and uncles to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also a member of Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, Gates has been one busy student. She is senior class secretary\/treasurer, Columns Society secretary, ASB executive assistant and director of external affairs for the Black Student Union. An Ole Miss First Scholar, a Ronald McNair Scholar and a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Scholar, she is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi honoraries. She is listed on the Chancellor\u2019s Honor Roll and Who\u2019s Who, and was nominated for a Truman Scholarship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her extensive public service includes note-taker for UM Student Disability Service<\/a>, work with the Oprah Winfrey Boys and Girls Club of Kosciusko and volunteering at Azalea Gardens and Graceland Care Center in Oxford.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve watched while Christin met each challenge with determination and grace,\u201d said Debra Young, associate dean of the honors college. \u201cShe excels academically without ever shortchanging her involvement with improving the campus and community or turning her back on her individual goals. We are richer because Christin chose Ole Miss and the honors college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gates said she has learned many life lessons while at UM. \u201cI learned to have a work-life balance, and how to have fun,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Even making a B in one of her freshman classes, instead of an A, was a lesson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t value perfection anymore; I value the obstacles that come with reaching a goal,\u201d Gates said. \u201cMaking a B has been the most rewarding experience at the university. It challenged me academically, and it was a test of character. It really had more rewards than I could see at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being in the honors college provided a sense of community as well as higher expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy freshman year at orientation, Dean (Douglass) Sullivan-Gonz\u00e1lez remembered our names, and within hours, I already felt like he cared, not only about me as a student but as a person,\u201d she said. \u201cHe would always ask how I was doing, so there was a real sense of community and family.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning, I wasn\u2019t necessarily sure of myself, but I had the academic potential to grow and flourish, and the honors college was definitely a place where I was nurtured. My hand wasn\u2019t held, but I was able to grow as a student and mature to the point to where I did have the confidence and the skills to apply to Ivy League universities for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Saturday\u2019s graduation, her fortitude and skills are taking her to Harvard University, where she plans to earn a master\u2019s degree in educational policy and management. The program is designed to prepare graduates to assume challenging policy and management positions in a variety of governmental, intermediary, nonprofit and other organizations related to education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope I will be the spunk of the group,\u201d she said. \u201cI really feel like I can compete there and I am very prepared. Even if I have a sense that I\u2019ve hit a wall and am unsure of what to do, I feel like I can make one phone call back to my Ole Miss family and know that everything is well.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OXFORD, Miss. \u2014 Christin Nicole Gates chose the University of Mississippi because she wanted to participate in the full college experience: being challenged academically, having a sense of community and being around a diverse group of students. Four years at UM have given her all that and more, said Gates, who graduates Saturday (May 14) withRead the story …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,199],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nPsychology Major Credits UM Honors College With Giving Her Confidence for Harvard - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/psychology-major-credits-um-honors-college-giving-confidence-harvard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Psychology Major Credits UM Honors College With Giving Her Confidence for Harvard - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"OXFORD, Miss. \u2014 Christin Nicole Gates chose the University of Mississippi because she wanted to participate in the full college experience: being challenged academically, having a sense of community and being around a diverse group of students. 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