Chris Badders

Date of graduation: December 2009
Employer: None
Location: Chapel Hill
Job Title: Couch Maintenance Engineer
Carolina Week Title: Director
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Carolina Week Testimonial: "When I came to UNC I had just transferred from NC State at the beginning of my junior year. Having grown up a Wolf Pack fan my entire life, I figured I'd put my time in at Carolina, not make any friends, and get out of the light blue colored town as unscathed as possible. It was my goal to become involved within the student community as little as possible, because I figured there couldn't be anybody that I would get along with well enough anyway.

The one exception slowly became Carolina Week. I volunteered for a week or two my first semester, a little longer the next. CW eventually became the place where I enjoyed going to more than anything else—the people were great, the professors were awesome and what we were doing was so much better than all of my other classes. The things I learned from my time behind the switcher and directors chair carry over to so many more aspects of life than just news production. They are life lessons that apply to any everyday situation, and because of that are some of the most valuable lessons and experiences that I have.

Despite the long hours, demanding schedule and tense moments that I experienced in the year that I was heavily involved with the program, I still look back on CW as one of the best decisions I ever made and encourage anyone thinking about volunteering to go for it. Don't do what I did and wait around for three semesters before getting involved. Dive in feet first. You may start to drown, but there are people in the waters with you who will save you and then teach you how to swim."