Austin Snipes Dear Malcolm, Im Austin Snipes, a freshman here at UNC Charlotte.

If you knew me, you would know there is nothing more important to me, than family. I have a very large, close family. I can start with my parents and siblings. My dad Scott has lived in Charlotte his whole life. He attended Independence high school and UNC Wilmington for two years. After two years he dropped out of college and started working at the Matthews post office as a postal carrier. He has worked there for over 20 years. My mother also grew up in Charlotte, and attended Independence High School. She did not attend a four year university, but recently went back to school and is now Certified Dental assistant. Unfortunately, my parents are no longer together. I am the middle of three children. I have an older brother Kyle (20), and a younger sister, Jessica (13) . Kyle is currently a junior mathematics major at Davidson college. Jessica is in the eighth grade at Union Academy, the school where my brother and I both graduated. I also consider my dog Bo part of my family. Behind family the second most important thing to me is my girlfriend Lindsay. In fact, I consider her family. Lindsay and I go way back. We first met in our freshman year at our school Union Academy. We started dating about a month after we knew each other, but ended up breaking up a couple months later before we could really get serious. The next year, we started dating again, and we are still going strong. We have been dating almost 3 and a half years, which is unheard of for people our age. Through everything we have been through, I love her very much. Sports are another passion that I have had my whole life. I grew up playing T-ball and soccer. In middle school I played baseball and ran track. I also ran track in high school, as well as playing on my schools first ever football team. Even though I played and enjoyed all of these sports, none of them got me the way basketball did. I started playing in third grade for a recreational league. I did this until middle school when I made my schools team in seventh and eighth grade. I played Junior Varsity in ninth grade and Varsity from tenth grade to twelfth grade. I really miss playing the game, but one day I hope I get the opportunity to coach my children. My friends are very important to me. I met most of my best friends when I was in middle school, or even younger. We like to spend as much time together as we possibly can, even though it is more difficult now since we are mostly all in college. Some of our favorite activates to do together are going to concert, going fishing, and going golfing. I am very proud of where I come from and the music I listen to reflects this. Country music is about the only music I listen to because I can relate to the words in the songs. My favorite artists are Brantley Gilbert, Luke Bryan, and Eric Church. These three are all great live performers that I have witnessed personally, and write their own music. They express the love for their small towns and country roots and fell the same way as I do. My family, girlfriend, love for sports, friends, and love for country music are the most important things in my life, and they are the things that make me, me.