Carmie Thompson - 2010

Carmie Thompson

As the University of the Virgin Islands celebrates its fiftieth year since its founding throughout 2012, I would like to express my sincere support of this commemorative proceeding; for the years gone and those to come. As a recent alumnus of the institution, I have benefited from many of the services and activities which were hosted by UVI. Although I completed the majority of my studies on the St. Croix campus, I also enjoyed my visit to the St. Thomas campus to complete some summer courses. While studying at UVI, I spent many hours on campus not only attending classes but participating in activities. I was particularly interested in volunteer opportunities and UVI has several ways to contribute to the UVI community and the overall community where the campuses are located. 

My experience at UVI can be captured in three words: Learn, Participate and Volunteer. The activities associated with each of these categories are the things that stand out to me as significant to my UVI experience. 

Since most of my classes were evening sessions, it was quite humorous at times to dread the late hour classes. Still the learning experience was really great considering several things. My classes were not too large and facilitated much one on one question/answer times with my professors, there were lots of learning and growing in the group projects and above all, the end of exams was always a relief and I was able to spend time with friends reminiscing on the semester.

I was able to participate in activities that helped build my knowledge in specific and general areas. Some of the activities/organizations that UVI has and I participated in were the 4-H Collegiate Club, Thurgood Marshall College Fund Leadership Institute and Summer Institute for Future Global Leaders. My participation in these activities encouraged me to learn from my peers and share ideas.

One of the building bricks of my UVI experience was to volunteer my time and service. Meaningful volunteering was done as a researcher for a Retention and Graduation Focus Group, Career Fairs, Shadow Our Student and the Virgin Island’s Agriculture Fair.

The Office of Institutional Advancement (OIA) was a very supportive arm of UVI that I was able to benefit from. It’s because of the OIA that I was able to financially meet tuition cost for a semester through the William Koier Scholarship. The Office of Institutional Advancement also played a very vital role in days leading up to graduation. Now that I have graduated, I enjoy keeping in contact with professors and friends and financially supporting UVI.