Dear Professor Malcolm,

First and foremost, I am super excited to take this course and challenge myself along the
way. I have always been one to really enjoy writing and somewhere in the midst of it all, found
an escape through writing. I look forward to a class where I get to challenge myself with
something that I enjoy.

I am Madison (Madi) Deal and I am 18 years old. I was born and raised in Statesville,
North Carolina which is only about 45 minutes north of UNC Charlotte. I lived here till I was four
years old, then my father’s job moved us to Connecticut for three years, but luckily it sooned
moved us back to the south where my family was. North Carolina is just where my heart
belonged and being in Connecticut was hard for me because I
was such a family girl. Since I am such a family girl, I will tell you a
little bit about my family. I live with my dad Jody, my mom Bobbie
Jo, my sister Morgan, and our dogs Bogey and Ollie (I miss my
dog's way more than I should). We are a chaotic bunch that is for
sure. I am 100% the goofball of my family and they say the house
is boring now that I am off at school! My dad works as a marketing
manager for Quality Oil, my mom is a office manager at CityScape
Roofing and my sister is a Labor and Delivery nurse at Lake
Norman Regional Medical Center. They are the reason I am
where I am today because they have never given up on me, even
when I had given up on myself for just overall felt defeated. I am
also a huge sucker for my grandparents. I cherish every moment I
get with them and I call them almost everyday on my walk to
class. They are always there to listen and give you all the good
snacks they keep at their house! College was not a hard transition
for me first semester, and the reason for this is because my family
constantly encouraged me and allowed me to really start to find
myself as an person and what I wanted from this experience. The number one thing about me is
that I love my family and I am forever a girl that cherishes the moments I get to spend with them
because you never know what tomorrow will hold.

Throughout my 18 years on this earth, I sure have been a busy bee because I am not a
girl that likes to have a lot of free time very often. I constantly was a kid that stayed involved in
sports, competitive dancing, church, volunteering or just whatever got thrown my way. In
elementary school I played about every sport a girl can play. From volleyball to cheer to softball
to basketball, I played almost anything. I am really happy I allowed myself to do that because
through all of those games, practices, and late nights I realized this was all shaping me into the
person I am today. This is because all of these things required sacrifices, teamwork, pushing
yourself to the limit and allowing yourself to let your heart be all into something. In middle school
I just played volleyball and was a competitive dancer. I continued that into high school too. High
school was crazy busy for me not only because I was in the International Baccalaureate
Programme but also because I had 5 am volleyball
practices, school all day, and then would go to dance till
about 8:30 at night. This really allowed me to cherish
moments though because with dance we won many
competitions and my sophomore year of high school my
volleyball team won states. It made me realize how soon
moments come and go without you even realizing. My
junior year I gave up volleyball to dance full time and
teach dance. This was the best decision I made for me
as a person because dance was always my stress relief.
I constantly smiled doing it, got to share my love of
dance with the little kids I was teaching and I had a
second family as well. Dance is my stress reliever, the way I express things I cannot say. It has
given me so many memories from taking from high end choreographers, being chosen for
special performances and winning awards with my team. I am telling you all of this because
school was not what shaped me as a person it was the life lessons I learned from all these team
building activities I always allowed myself to be apart of. By doing all of this, I got to see what
truly mattered to me as a person and where my values in life were. Being super involved with
everything I did through my high school career really helped me see that.

Coming to Charlotte was honestly the best decision I could

have ever made for my future. My major here is Management
Information Systems in the Belk College of Business. I really enjoy
the courses I get to take for this major because I have always been
one to be intrigued by the world of business. Starting at Charlotte
was a fun experience. It is constantly changing. Starting at Charlotte
was a fun experience. My roommate and I are best friends and are
involved in a lot of the same things. UNCC has remarkable
opportunities for students, way more then I realized. The resources
and opportunities it gives us as undergraduate students is amazing.
As soon as I got here, I jumped right in and got involved. I joined
Delta Zeta which is part of Greek Life here at Charlotte, I currently
serve as the Community Service chair for our chapter. I joined
Dance Marathon committee as the Greek Delegate, and I am on
Lynch Hall Leadership team. I am so happy I chose this school because it is teaching me not
only academically, but giving me endless leadership opportunities as well. I really enjoy getting
to challenge myself in the classes and push myself to be a better student. I look forward to
starting UWRIT and everything the class with offer me.

See you in class,

Madi Deal