Biography

Hello, my name is John Eddy. I am majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics at Longwood University. Originally, I had enrolled as a Mathematics Secondary Education major, but I quickly learned that I did not possess many of the traits that great teachers have, and I changed my major to computer science after realizing that I loved programming and working with computers more than I had thought when I enrolled at Longwood.  I am from the small community of Nottoway County (about 25 minutes away from Longwood’s campus). Nottoway County is quite a small area, but there is no place I would have rather grown up in. To put the size of the county in perspective, my graduating class in high school was only about 130 people! It’s the type of place where everybody knows everybody and that’s what I love about it. For the past year, I have worked as a part-time floating teller for Citizen’s Bank and Trust Company. I have had the opportunity to travel around the area and work in Amelia, Nottoway, Prince Edward, South Hill, and Chesterfield. I love working in different branches because it allows me to travel and meet so many new people. The first thing I have learned by working in so many different communities is that everybody that comes into the bank has a unique story, and I always enjoy talking with our customers and hearing their stories. This job has brought me closer to the community that I have grown up in and helped to form relations with those who are around me and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Myself giving my salutatory speech at my high school graduation

I would say that my academic success was, and still is my main priority. I have always been a good student, but I feel that I really hit my stride in high school. I graduated with a 4.23 GPA after taking a multitude of dual-enrollment courses and I was the salutatorian of Nottoway High School’s class of 2019. I owe all of my success to the amazing teachers that I had, especially in my junior and senior years. I felt that they really pushed me to become the best student and person that I could be. In addition, I found my love for mathematics and technology through the classes I took in high school. I felt a real connection to mathematics after I took Pre-Calculus and Calculus. You could tell that the teacher, Mrs. Rebeccca Patterson, was truly passionate about the material and genuinely cared about each and every student in her class. She was definitely my biggest role model from high school and I hope that one day, I can inspire people like she inspired me to pursue mathematics. During my senior year of high school, I was given the opportunity to serve as an intern for Nottoway High School’s technology department. This opportunity was given to me by Mrs. Mary Ellen Yeatts, the head of our FBLA chapter (of which I was also a member).  This was by far the favorite academic venture that I took in high school. I was able to work with the entire department and learned how to repair computers and diagnose technical problems that arose during the school day. I would work side-by-side with Ms. Elizabeth Hendricks and sort out issues that teachers put in work orders for. We would go to every school in the complex and replace laptops’ keyboards, install new projectors and bulbs in SMART boards, and work with teachers to find a solution that worked with the way that they taught. Through this internship, I gained many of the skills that I needed to pursue technology and was a natural segway to my love of computers. The skills I learned through this internship, as well as my first ever programming class at Longwood played a massive role in my decision to change my major to computer science.

Myself, my twin brother, and Coach Page after graduation

In addition to my academics, I have a huge passion for sports. In high school, I was a three-sport athlete, participating in Nottoway High School’s football, wrestling, and baseball teams. I loved playing sports, not only because I love to compete, but because there are so many lessons that you can learn through sports. Through sports, I learned about discipline, respect, camaraderie, and teamwork. By far, my favorite sport was wrestling. So much so that I joined the club wrestling team here at Longwood! I have met many of my best friends through wrestling and going to various tournaments across the state. Even though wrestling is an individual sport in nature, I felt the deepest connection to my entire team because we all had the same goal, we all wanted to become Virginia state champions. Even though I fell short of that goal, I will never forget the lessons I learned and the memories that I made with my teammates. We would all spend time together outside of practice and we all genuinely cared about everybody on the team. During my senior season, the rest of the seniors and I took it upon ourselves to be good role models and motivators for the younger wrestlers. We all understood that our high school careers were coming to a close, and we wanted to leave a solid foundation for the program in the future. Coach Lloyd Page is another huge role model of mine. He worked tirelessly to grow the program, for example, he would go to our middle school and elementary schools to find wrestlers for our youth program. This is how I found the sport. I started wrestling in seventh grade and I fell in love immediately. Even more so than our success on the mat, Coach Page wanted us to succeed in the classroom and in our character. He set up numerous community service opportunities and always hounded us to work hard in our classes. Even though he left the head coach position after our sophomore season to pursue his career goals, he continued to grow the youth program and came to our practices when he could. The lessons and values that Coach Page instilled in me continue to drive me and motivate me to give 110 percent to everything I do.