Kristen DiGioia

For the first time in her life, junior Kristen DiGioia is a big fish in a small pond. After fours years in a Texas high school of more than 4,000 students, Centenary is a kind of a haven for the art and museum management major. "Every year I had different faces in my classes, and navigating the hallway was like 'okay, grab someone's backpack and hope you make it out alive,'" she remembers. “When I started at Centenary it was like I'd never have to feel that way again."

In fact, Kristen has found a haven of individual attention at Centenary. "One of the greatest things," she says, "is the personal relationships between students and faculty/staff. Scheduling classes is done with a personal advisor in a one-on-one interview every semester. It's such a relief to have a professional opinion and smart advice that is given just for you and your best interests.”

But the individuality of the Centenary experience extends beyond the classroom, as Kristen has discovered through her involvement in Resident Assistants, the Centenary Activities Board, Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority, Panhellenic Executive Council, and Student Ambassadors. "It's so hard to put into words how being a college students changes you and helps you grow and how much the atmosphere of your college influences that growth,” she says. “At Centenary you're surrounded by like-minded people who have different stories and backgrounds, who all chose Centenary because they recognize that it is really a place that can take you where you need to go. I've definitely met my best friends here, and I'm having the time of my life. People here just love each other and want to help each other out!"

In fact, Kristen’s Centenary family is so thorough, that it even includes her twin sister who doesn’t attend the College! She exclaims, "My twin sister does come visit me often. Everyone she met remembers her! She knows all my friends, and all my friends know her and so it feels like she's an extension of my Centenary family. I love that!"

Whether she’s traveling to a regional Panhellenic conference in Atlanta, a national Residence Hall Association conference at the University of Arizona, interning at the Norton Art Gallery in Shreveport, observing classes at local schools, or helping with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ Photographic Legacy exhibit at Centenary’s Meadows Museum (which displayed 100 original Andy Warhol photographs), Kristen is constantly amazed by the investment Centenary makes in each of its students as an individual.

But above all, it’s the combination of great academics and a great community that values each and every one of its members that impresses Kristen most. As she says, "For students who are really serious about academics and educational value, it's tough to pass up. The scholarships that Centenary offers students are really generous also, and that's so important. It shows students that they are valued and wanted. And they are!"

Kristen DiGioia

Quick Facts

Organizations Involved in: Resident Assistant, Panhellenic Executive Council, Student Ambassador, Zeta Tau Alpha, past member of Centenary Activities Board and the Student Food Committee

Cool Things Done at Centenary

  • Interned at Norton Art Gallery in Shreveport as a sophomore
  • attended the South Eastern Panhellenic Conference in Atlanta
  • attended National Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls Conference at the University of Arizona
  • Participated in The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ Photographic Legacy exhibit at Centenary’s Meadows Museum.
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