Name: Caylon White
Year: Sophomore
Hometown: Greenville, N.C.
Major: Film Studies and Psychology
If Caylon White looks familiar to you, that is no surprise because he is very involved in the UNCW community. He’s an Orientation Leader, desk receptionist, committee board member of Hawk It Out, Silent Disco committee board member, and “this is a long one are you ready?” he says, “A Seahawk Village Area Chapter Liaison.”
The first questions that come to mind are probably along the lines of, “What exactly are all of these organizations, and what do they do?”
Orientation Leaders are usually the people who give tours around the campus.
Desk receptionists check people in for on-campus housing buildings.
Hawk It Out is a dance competition that is being held March 20, which Caylon plans on promoting by organizing a giant flash mob in Wag.
The Silent Disco is a dance where everyone who attends will be given wireless headphones programmed to the same music. It’s cool to watch because as an outsider, you do not hear the music; you only see everyone bonding over dancing while listening to the same song.
Finally, Area Chapter is a way to integrate the different sections of on-campus housing. They put on different programs, like the Silent Disco, to bring people together in each of the different buildings. As Liaison, Caylon has to go to Residence Housing Association meetings to let all of the other area chapters in on what events The Village plans on holding.
Because of his involvement, Caylon got the opportunity to go on two different retreats to Fort Caswell. One was for his Orientation Leaders group where they did plenty of icebreakers. “We got to know each other really well,” he added. His Area Chapter retreat was similar but other than icebreakers, the different chapters showed off their top programs and performed skits.
When asked what he likes most about being so involved on campus, Caylon replied, “I love making new friends and being able to be a part of things, especially Orientation Leaders. I like the sense of community and being a part of the UNCW community.”
Being so active already, it is overwhelming to hear that Caylon has thought of joining even more organizations on campus. One of them being Seahawk Links, who help out the freshman Uni classes. He also considered trying out for Physical Graffiti, the school’s dance team. This news was not shocking to learn because to relieve stress, Caylon likes dancing to hip hop music; his favorites are Tyga and 2 Chainz. But sadly, the time commitment required for these extra organizations did not fit into Caylon’s busy schedule.
Caylon was eager to recommend that it be known that everyone should try to participate in Area Chapter because he clearly believes it is important to have a voice in your community. He said Orientation Leader was also a great organization for everyone, as long as they feel comfortable with talking to large groups of people. And if you are interested in dancing, joining the Hawk It Out Committee is a great place to start.
All of this experience with people is a great stepping stone in assisting Caylon in his dream which is to move to the United Kingdom and work for BBC. Caylon may be in the very early stages of reaching this goal, but we can all learn from his determination that it is important to start somewhere, and to start as soon as possible.