Alumni: Angie White

After spending a year attending a different out-of-state private college, Angie knew that the college of choice for her was right in her own backyard…Centenary College of Louisiana.

She described her first year away from Shreveport as miserable, attributing part of it as being homesick, but also she felt the school just wasn’t the right place for her. "The moment I made the decision to apply to Centenary for my sophomore year, I actually was able to enjoy my time at school a little more. I was exposed to Centenary College while I attended Caddo Magnet High School and had great experiences there that it really was an easy decision to pick Centenary."

According to Angie, Centenary prepared her for her future careers by developing her writing and public speaking skills. "Writing, writing and more writing! In every professional position I’ve had thus far, writing, editing and analyzing what others have written is a large part of what I do and Centenary provided me a great foundation for what I feel is one of my greatest professional strengths. In this day of texts and tweets, we can’t forget that you will frequently be measured as a professional by how well you write, which includes not only grammatical correctness but also how well you can express a thought or concept."

"But I think that my classes in speech and political science also laid the groundwork for the skills I developed for public speaking. This is something that got easier the more I was exposed to it at Centenary, and having a good foundation from my college classes where the stakes weren’t tied to my salary, certainly helped me get where I am today. Speaking in public no longer freaks me out, which is a good thing since I have to do it a lot!"

Angie also feels that a strong liberal arts education, the kind that students receive at Centenary, prepares you to easily adapt to changing times and to excel in a variety of different professional situations. "My professional life has followed an interesting and diverse path, and being easily adaptable is probably one of the best things to have in a portfolio of skills."

But the time she spent at Centenary was more than just books and class work…it was about the individual attention that students receive while attending the College. Her Centenary Experience, Angie says, was personal. "It was like a big extended family. I felt like people there were looking out for my best interest and wanted to see me succeed. The professors really care about the success of the students."

She vividly remembers an example of how deeply the professors care about the success of their students and the length to which they will go to ensure it. Angie was sick and couldn’t make it to class for a week and missed a biology test. Since it was close to time for grades being calculated, her professor, Jan Greer, drove back very early on a Saturday from a family reunion in Arkansas so she could take the test. "Wow. That made me work extra hard in that class."

All-in-all, Angie knew she made the right choice to return home and attend Centenary because she now sees the benefit in attending a small, liberal arts college versus a larger institution. "College years can be so scary and intimidating; there’s so much we face that is new and different, and for many it is the first taste of independence they have. Knowing that at a small liberal arts college you are not anonymous while facing so much newness and uncertainty can be a tremendous comfort. I can’t count the number of stories of friends that went off to big schools and did not succeed there because there was no one holding them accountable for their actions on a regular basis."