Meet A Shuford Student – with Grace Guin

Throughout high school, I remember many classmates telling me that they didn’t know what they wanted to do for their major and all I could think was thank goodness that’s not me. I wanted to major in business and minor in advertising. After being accepted into UNC-Chapel Hill last year, I-like every other baby Tarheel- made the trek up to Chapel Hill for orientation over the summer to learn how to navigate the chaos that is ConnectCarolina. Then, when the time came to register for classes, I-like every other baby Tarheel-was denied for every single class I signed up for. After an exhausting five hours of my summer day in July, I finally made what I thought was “the perfect schedule.” FDOC came along and I realized why my schedule might not work out for me: I scheduled a class in Gardner Hall to be right after my sand volleyball class. For those that don’t know, the sand volleyball LFIT takes place in the Carolina Outdoor Education Center, meaning I would have to squeeze a 22-minute walk into the 15-minute break in between classes. After I was late to my STOR 155 class in Gardner the first day, I rushed to the UL and frantically searched for classes to swap out my LFIT with. The only one that seemed interesting was ECON 125 or Introduction to Entrepreneurship. I swapped into it without giving it a second thought. Little did I know how that inconvenience would impact me.

Hi. My name is Grace Guin and I am a Pre-Business major who just got accepted as an Entrepreneurship minor into the Shuford Program. I am ecstatic about this opportunity and can’t wait to use it to pursue my future goals and endeavors. ECON 125 was an intellectually compelling class that challenged me to think in new ways and work to overcome real-life problems. In the second class, you are put into a group with four other students who you will become close with as you work to create a company and design a product. Every class entails of a panel of speakers coming from both large and small companies like Google, Apple, College Advising Corps, Ben and Jerry’s, and many others, each coming to teach using their own experiences as entrepreneurs. The course truly felt like you weren’t in a classroom learning information to memorize and take a test, but that you were gaining valuable insights from experienced professionals in order to help you in real life. I was so impressed by the course that I decided to minor in it, after just enrolling in it to fill a few credits, so if that doesn’t convince you to take it, I’m not sure what will.

As for the future, I’m not sure where other “inconveniences” might lead me, but I’m excited for the possibilities and I believe the Shuford program will help me get there. In addition to minoring in Entrepreneurship, I also want to minor in Advertising and Public Relations, since that is the industry I would like to end up being in. I can’t wait to utilize the vast amount of resources that are now available to me through the Shuford program, including mentorship, internships, study abroad, and professional development and connection opportunities. So thank you, to whoever placed the Carolina Outdoor Education Center so far away. Without you, I never would have discovered this amazing program.