Feature photo by Tamica Phillips from the Office of Communications and Marketing.
By Emily Hawxwell
The Peace Times is working with the Center for Student Success to highlight sophomores and their experiences at Peace. Each month, a new student will be featured in the sophomore newsletter and in The Peace Times.
Academic Support Services Coordinator, William Christy, is leading the interviews for these sophomores. The goal is to highlight the stories of each student and their experiences at the university, including the challenges they’ve faced, what keeps them motivated, and what they’ve learned along the way.
This month’s spotlight features Ashe Draxinger, a second-semester sophomore at William Peace University.
Q.) Can you tell us what your major is and why you chose it?
A.) My major is criminal justice with a minor in psychology. It’s a bit of a long story why I chose my major, but to keep it short and simple: I used to want to be a mental health therapist for children and teens, and I realized I couldn’t do that my whole life. And I took a class in high school that was focusing on forensic psychology, and that really kick-started my love for criminal justice. And now that I’m in all the classes, I’m really fascinated by everything, and I’m so excited to keep learning.
Q.) Can you tell me about who at Peace has made the most profound impact on you and how so?
A.) I don’t think there has been one individual who has made the most profound impact on me. Just because there have been so many people at Peace who have contributed to my success and helping me grow, not only academically, but as a person as well. There are so many people that I can name who have played such an amazing, great impact and role in my life.
Q.) Which courses have been the most engaging and why?
A.) That’s a hard question because I feel like, since Peace has such a hands-on approach to learning, it makes a lot of the courses more engaging than they would be at like NC State or something. That’s what I love about Peace. There have been a lot of courses, and I know that’s not very helpful, but some of my favorites are the criminal justice classes. A lot of things by Kusko are a lot of hands-on,and like staging things and setting things up in the classroom, and actually walking through and whatnot, or doing hands-on projects and hands-on learning, which is great for me as someone who learns best that way. Yeah, but even the more simple classes like Anthropology, which have a lot of extra credit opportunities with hands-on learning, and even things like algebra and math that do it hands-on to learn have all been really helpful for me.
Q.) What about your sophomore year at Peace has been the most enjoyable so far?
A.) During my freshman year, I made it a priority to try to get more involved. And especially as I started my sophomore year, I was President of an RSO, I was secretary of another, and I was getting those opportunities to meet new people. And really practicing those extra leadership skills has been the most enjoyable for me. I’m a talker. I love to meet new people, and I love to go to events and things. So getting to help others as well, you know, find their place at Peace has also been very nice.
Q.) You mentioned wanting to help people find their place at Peace. Without naming names, what does that look like in practice? For example, are you showing them resources, or helping them get involved in activities that make them feel like they belong here?
A.) Definitely giving them certain resources, but also just including others and showing them different ways to get involved and getting involved with them, you know, like, Hey, you don’t have to do this alone. Let’s do it together, and then providing also those safe spaces for people to, like, in my RSO, that I’m involved in creating those safe spaces and comfortable ambiance that people want to come and they want to get involved and they want to interact and engage. You know, I love that, especially your comment about the ambiance, because, like, it’s so imperative we don’t even think about, like, how we, for lack of a better term, decorate our spaces, like, how we, how we, how we structure them. You know, what does it say, not only about us to other people, but like, what kind of message are we giving off unintentionally with how we’re structuring our spaces? So I love that comment about the ambiance.
Q.) What is your favorite food at the Peace dining hall or at the Peace cafe?
A.) I like a lot of things. Actually, one of my favorites, especially if I’m not sure what to grab, are their little mini quesadillas. I love those. I could eat those up every single meal. I think cheese I like better, just because, you know, sometimes I’m not always in the mood for chicken, but it’s nice to get that protein in as well.
Q.) What advice would you give incoming first-year students about college?
A.) One of the biggest things that I have said, and that I will continue to say, is get involved. During my first year, I mentioned that I tried to get involved, but it wasn’t until the end of my freshman year, when I really learned how to get involved, because I think it’s one of the best things you can do in college. It protects you from being a little hermit and not doing anything. And you get to meet more people, and you get to really experience the college life once you get involved and go out and talk to people. One of the biggest things I’m an advocate for is, do it afraid. Do it alone. Because I know I used to be the type of person who wouldn’t go because I’m going alone, and I would miss out on so many things. So my biggest advice would be to get involved. No matter what it is, whether it’s a sport, a club or something, even off campus, you know that you go to and make those connections, and even if you’re afraid, even if you’re alone, challenge yourself to do it, because most people don’t care if you’re alone, you know, like you’re still gonna enjoy it regardless.
Q.) Was this a self-taught thing, or was it your friends, or maybe a faculty or staff member? Telling you about certain things to get more involved. How did this motivation kind of arise within you?
A.) It was partially a self-taught thing. I realized at the beginning, wow, I’m alone, or I’m always in my room and never doing anything. And then I realized that I’m scared to go to these things because I’m alone. And then I found this quote that was like, do it afraid. Do it alone. And I was like, why am I paying all this money for college and then missing out on so much of the enjoyable college life. It’s also a lot of the staff and faculty, and like my professors and even others, like Gay Litton and Don Dillon, all those people have really also pushed me to get out go do things. You know you’re here, you know you’re a part of the student body you deserve, go out and have fun, dudes, right? It’s also been staff and faculty who’s pushed me to kind of get out of my shell and then really help others get out of theirs.
Q.) Was there a particular activity on campus where you found belonging, which one, and what makes you feel that way?
A.) I think any of the RSOs, you know, like SGPA, wired gaming club, the things I’m involved in, especially, have really allowed me to get comfortable in my own skin and to get comfortable with others.
Q.) Was there an activity on campus where you found belonging? Which one, and what makes you feel that way?
A.) They have made me feel that sense of belonging, just because a lot of the things are inclusive, and for all people, not just for specific types of people, and as a member of multiple RSOs, and that’s one thing I want to foster for other people as well, because everyone deserves to feel that sense of belonging. But for me, it was just the people I was surrounded by. The Peace community is honestly really great. I love that we’re a smaller community because I feel like everyone kind of gets to know each other more, whether it’s student to student or student to staff. And when you feel seen by others, you feel like you belong. When others include you and like you, I feel like that’s how I felt. It’s awesome.
Q.) Thinking about your first year, what was the challenge you faced, and how did you overcome it?
A.) So, for a little bit of background, as I am a second-semester sophomore, I joined in the spring semester. So one of the biggest challenges with that is I already missed out on all the high school things for seniors because I didn’t graduate with everyone else. But then I also missed the incoming things for freshmen because I started late, so I missed out on a lot of those opportunities where everyone meets everyone, and you make those really strong connections and friendships, right? And when I came, everyone was really nice, but they already had their friend groups and their kind of cliques and whatnot, and the people they hung out with. So, trying to find my people as a really shy, genuine hermit was a big challenge, and that’s where I learned originally, hey, let me get involved. And that’s kind of how I’ve overcome that, you know, I’ve gotten involved and, sometimes it’s like, I’m involved in too many things, but I really enjoy. It’s never the same thing day after day. It’s always something new, something else is going on. I’m never bored.
Q.) Okay, yeah, is there anything else you would like to add?
A.) I genuinely think Peace is an amazing community. I love all the people here, and I really, I’m so excited to see all the new people each year come into Peace. And I’m really, I think Peace is really the right choice for me.