Hi! My name is Jocelyn “Joss” Price. Either Joss or Jocelyn is perfectly fine. I live with both of my parents, my older sister, and four dogs. My mother graduated from Longwood in December of 1995 with an English major. She instilled a great interest in reading and writing. My father is a merchant mariner, a chief engineer for Chevron, meaning he is gone for 75 days and home for 75 days in a repeating pattern every year. He taught me woodworking and repairs when he was home, teaching me the value of making something with your own hands. I grew up with both parents for half the time and just my mother when my father went to work. This created a strong importance on independence, individuality, self-reliance, quality time, and creating a ‘found family’ to help you.
Besides those internal values which remain important to me as I venture away from my family and into the world of Longwood and beyond, there are a few specific things very important to me. First: Independence and Self-reliance. I love being able to take care of myself, do things myself, and I am completely comfortable with being and working alone (introverts, am I right?). Second: Creativity. Whether it’s playing my saxophone, reading a book, writing stories, or just jamming to whatever music is on my phone, I need an outlet or brain break. Giving myself a chance to enjoy entertainment, stretch my brain for something other than school, is one of the most important things to me. Finally: Found Family. Growing up with just my mom half the time really enforced the idea “it takes a village to raise a child”. While I am not raising a child, it still takes a village to get through life. Finding those people that I can rely on and that can rely on me is super important to me. It’s not the first thing important to me because it’s something that happens naturally and you can’t force it. Found Family is more of a sub-plot in my time at Longwood, while Independence, Creativity, and enjoying myself is the main plot.