My name is Davice Madelyn Jones, and my major is Biology.
Background:
I went to Chatham High School in southern Virginia. I have lived in Chatham, Virginia my whole life, well until I moved to Farmville. I am very adventurous and outgoing, and I love to be outside enjoying good weather. (Winter sucks try and prove me wrong) Most people describe my personality as bubbly, extroverted, and inquisitive. I have one biological older brother and one step-sister. I have a fish named Francesco and two snails named Lilliana and Stefano.
Freshman year:
Entering Longwood I am officially a part of the Cormier Honors College and LIFE STEM scholars program. Obviously, I was nervous for my first semester and it did have multiple twists and turns but I excelled during this time. I found it hard to fit in sometimes because I am no division one athlete and sorority life has never interested me. However, I began to find myself in my school work and pride myself in doing the absolute best that I could.
In the second semester of my freshman year, I finally got involved with an amazing group called Alternative Breaks. We went on a Puerto Rico trip during spring break. This trip was amazing and so eye-opening because of the culture and the impact of weather that Puerto Rico is so heavily affected by. It was also really interesting to learn about the current political climate. Puerto Rico wants to become an independent state but the U.S.A. keeps it as a territory instead which greatly affects its taxes. The week after we got back the pandemic hit the country. We got sent home. I debated dropping out of college because it truly did not even seem worth it. Honestly, it really was not but I was not going to let something out of my control ruin my timeline and prolong the time I had to spend in undergrad. I kept going, it sucked and I actually feel that I learned nothing. Even when we were doing half in-person and half online I still feel that the irregular schedule affected my grades for the worst.
Sophomore year:
This year I moved out of on-campus housing and went to Sunchase, it was super cheap to live there but a commute. I would park at the hospital and walk to class because it was closer to Chichester than Sunchase. This was a great move for me personally because I learned some responsibility of living on my own. I got to know my roommates pretty well. Ashley lived across the hall from me and we decided to move in together, it was great. We also were placed with two other girls that were super nice and it was really cool getting to know them as well. This year I brought my cat from home, Teddy, and got a cat and named her Syn. Ultimately, by the end of the lease, we all decided to go our separate ways. I was scared to live alone but I had no one else that I really could see myself living with. I got really lucky and my Grandma knew a landlord and got me a super affordable apartment right on High Street, it had tons of windows and I was really looking forward to moving.
The schoolwork was still really slow and chill for me at this point. Organic chemistry 2 was one of the hardest classes that I have had in college and I ended up with a C. I also had a really interesting class that was duel taught by an English professor and an Ecology professor. In this class, I read some of my favorite books, The Overstory, and Living Downstream.
This year I joined Alternative Breaks, Women in STEM, and Student Government.
Junior year:
This year I moved into my apartment by myself. I was scared at first but I met a great friend that lived just across the hall from me at my new place. This year I had really hard classes. I finished up french, took quantitative analysis, and did great things with all my clubs. This year I studied hard for my DAT and took 17 credits at the same time. The spring semester was really tough for me but was very rewarding because I took my DAT and got great experience and then also got a 4.0 in all of my classes. I also started a great project with Student Government.
While I was studying inside one day I realized that I really wanted to be out in the nice weather but the common spots everyone sits in are directly in the sunlight and far away from convenient bathrooms. So I suggested the idea of a hammock grove and we went from there. We made a layout and worked up a GIS rendering and submitted it to be approved for campus planning. They loved the idea and we got the ball rolling. The hammock grove was put in before graduation that year. This was so exciting for me because I was really able to contribute and give back to campus life. SGA was also able to buy 15 hammocks for everyone to be able to use on and off campus for a day! I am very proud of this accomplishment and hope that everyone enjoys it for years to come.
Senior year:
This year has been bittersweet. A lot of my older friends have graduated and moved on. My friends in my grade are still staying strong and we are excited to take all of our final classes here at Longwood together. I got to do some amazing research with Dr. Jackson in my fall semester looking at snake teeth and how their measurements are correlated to their environment.
This year I am President of Alternative breaks, Secretary for WISTEM, and Executive Treasurer for SGA.
I have learned this year that fear and second-guessing myself can be my downfall but I can overcome this anxiety by pushing myself to do better and follow my dreams. I am excited to stay here the summer after college for June and July to work with Dr. Marhsall and learn how to assist in the chair with him. Then in August, I plan to move to Richmond with my friend Isa whom I have known since freshman year.