As a cool breeze rushes through the quad, blades of grass ripple in harmony. Birds chirp in the distance, the sun shines from above and senior Maddie Beebe walks through the campus at the University of Alabama, her future four-year home.
While the spring semester comes to an end, most seniors are finalizing their college plans and preparing to enter a new phase of their lives. Beebe has to prepare in a different way than most. Deciding between IU, Purdue and UA, Beebe made the ultimate decision to commit to UA, and prepared to move nearly 500 miles away. The reason that Beebe chose UA was their recognition of her hard work as a student. Beebe was a National Merit Scholarship Finalist and UA offered her a great scholarship to honor this. Though the scholarship is a solid reason for Beebe to go to UA, she also enjoys other aspects of the school. “The campus is beautiful and the buildings are super nice and there's a lot of open green spaces, which is important to me. As you would expect, southern hospitality was in full force and all the people I met were super nice,” said Beebe.
The relationships that Beebe has built thus far in her life mean a lot to her. So moving to Tuscaloosa, Alabama will be quite a challenge “I am definitely not excited to move away from my family and friends,” she said. “I think having them as a support system is really important to me, and I'll admit I am afraid to have to go through a big transition to college without those people with me.”
Though Beebe may struggle to cope with moving away from home, she still is looking forward to getting involved with a few extracurricular activities at UA. “I think Alabama has 650 student organizations, so I'll probably get involved with some type of athletic thing (intramural sport of some kind) and a spiritual organization,”she said. As well as a sport and ministry, Beebe also is planning to rush at UA, which means that she will get involved with Greek Life at College Magazine’s number 1 rated university for sorority life in the United States. The options are endless for Beebe, and she looks forward to new opportunities to meet people. “Living in a different state at a school that is like 60% out-of-state students will allow me to interact with a variety of people that I might not have got a chance to here in Indiana,” she explained
Looking to the future, Beebe reflects on her past experiences with her current friends and family in Indiana. “I hope I remember the good parts instead of the bad parts. I don't want to remember bad days or having lots of stress,” explained Beebe. “I want to remember fun football games and going on walks during school and hanging out with my friends and laughing in the cafeteria.”