December 1999: Vol. 79, No. 1December 1999: Vol. 79, No. 1 | |||
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 When her lacrosse days are done, Wisniewski plans to attend graduate school in oceanography at MIT. |
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Rachel Wisniewski's face crinkles with frustration as she recalls her most harrowing academic experience: a "B"—gasp!—her only one in three-plus years at UGA. And it came in a study-abroad program in France, taught exclusively in French about the urbanization of Paris.
As a testament to her academic performance, Wisniewski, a senior oceanography major from Maryland, recently became one of only 300 college students in the country to earn a $7,500 Barry Goldwater scholarship.
"It sounds kind of funny, but I chose oceanography because I loved traveling to the beach with my family as a kid," says Wisniewski. "It was a science that made sense to me and had immediate use."
In those rare moments of downtime, Wisniewski finds time to co-captain the UGA women's lacrosse team, which made a first-ever trip to nationals in Austin, Texas, last spring.
Wisniewski started playing lacrosse in high school after years of watching her older brothers play. When she came to UGA, her choice was to go out for soccer or lacrosse.
"If I had made the team, soccer would have been a big commitment," she says, "and I don't think I would have had time to do all the things I wanted to do at UGA, like study and socialize."
Instead, Wisniewski led the six-year-old women's lacrosse club to a Southern Regional Championship and a decent showing at nationals. The trip to Austin, Texas, was made possible by President Adams, who came up with $5,000 from his discretionary fund.
If things work out the way she plans, Wisniewski's next undertaking will be graduate studies at Wood's Hole, MIT's oceanography extension on Cape Cod, which ranks among the finest facilities in the world.
Rachel's advisor, Samantha Joye, believes that the sky is the limit for Rachel along the oceans' floors.
"Rachel is one of those rare students," says Joye. "She possesses the work ethic and maturity to carry out her own experiments after only a little instruction from me. I have no doubt that Rachel will be a shining star in the field of oceanography."
"Real World" casting attracts 700 wannabes
Most students feel a certain amount of dread at the prospect of living in the "real world" after graduation. But when MTV came to Athens on August 31 to hold an open casting call for its lookalike docudramas "The Real World" and "Road Rules," 700 students and townies waited in long lines at the Georgia Theatre hoping for a chance at stardom.
Only 13 people nationwide will be chosen to live in a fantasy pad ("Real World") or travel cross-country in a Winnebago ("Road Rules"), but that didn't dull the enthusiasm of those who auditioned in groups of 6-8. They were asked to talk about everything from sex to underage drinking to family relationships, and they weren't bashful.
"Everyone kept complaining about how long it was taking while they were in line," says Paul Allen, a junior P.E. major from Athens who made it to the next round of auditions. "But once it was their turn, they wanted to talk forever."
The hot rumor making the rounds of the Georgia Theatre that day was that the next "Real World" show will be set in Atlanta, and the Athens scouting trip was an attempt to find some Georgia natives for the show.
"Road Trip" film crew also descends on UGA
As if TV casting agents from 'The Real World' and 'Road Rules' weren't enough excitement for one town, Athens also echoed with the sounds of "Lights, Camera, Action" this fall as Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks studio shot scenes here for the film, "Road Trip."
Students signed on as extras at $50 per 12-hour days, and Hollywood props crews used phony lettering to transform UGA's campus into the fictional University of Ithaca. The law school was the backdrop for Ithaca's homecoming. Other venues: Sanford Stadium, Tate Center's Bulldog Cafe, and Alpha Chi Omega sorority.
UGA's the rage in rankings
UGA fared well in the latest college rankings in U.S. News & World Report, and three of our students got big play in the Time Magazine/Princeton Review 2000 College Guide (see photos below). UGA's business programs were ranked among the best by U.S. News, and the University is No. 22 on the list of best public universities. The U.S. News guide also features an article on Tom Ludlam, a biology and Latin major from Marietta who graduated from high school with a 4.4 GPA and a perfect 1600 score on the SAT, then chose UGA over his second choice, Harvard. The only college students who merited full-page photos in the Princeton Review were Red and Black staffer Mark Anthony Thomas, world-champion swimmer Kristy Kowal, and Arch Society member Renita Jain.
I'm turning 23 on Christmas Eve, so New Year's will be my first opportunity to go out and party. I'm hoping to go to New York and see the Artist Formerly Known as Prince play in Times Square.
Half of my family lives in the U.S. and half in England, so I'm going to London to see some relatives whom I haven't visited in five years.
I'll be renting a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina with 50 of my closest friends. We're going to order several kegs of beer and a bunch of food and just hang out. It will be a low-key event.
I'm going to see Pink Floyd play in front of the pyramids in Egypt.
I study ethnic conflict, so I'm traveling to Belfast, Ireland. I think there will be a possibility for some ethnic tensions between Protestants and Catholics, and I'm interested to see the outcome. Plus, Belfast will definitely be one hell of a party.