HONORS
on Campus
Building a community for rural students Former Miss UGA works to make the university feel more like family for students from small towns By Sara Freeland
H
ow does an introvert from rural Georgia make friends were a few people from my hometown, but I never really saw at UGA? them. When you go to a big school, you don’t have people to For Briana Hayes, being named Miss University of introduce you to others.” Georgia changed her whole college experience. She wanted rural students to have an easy way to get to know Briana is from Baxley, a tiny town of other students or just learn the campus 4,400 people that sits two hours west culture. of Savannah. When she arrived at UGA The structure of RISE is based partly in 2017, she had to start from scratch on Briana’s experience at UGA. On the making new friends. bus, she didn’t have any friends to wave The Miss UGA title expanded her to. In classes, the culture is to skip a seat network and introduced her to people between the next student. At the dining across campus and the state. She commons, it’s not common to go up to represented UGA at fundraisers, judged someone and ask to sit at a table. pageants, and judged a lot of talent “It was hard to find where my place shows. was,” she said. “It was a lot of fun and a lot of RISE has had a few group meetings and traveling,” she said. “I feel like I’m more has a group text of more than 80 students. connected to the university because of Briana wants to expand the organization the title—the people it allowed me to to start a letter-writing campaign to meet and relationships it allowed me to encourage rural students to attend the form.” University of Georgia. She envisions a Not everyone has a pageant future ambassadorship program and experience that connects them to campus, visits to rural high schools to talk about Briana Hayes and Briana wanted to find another way applying to college, taking the SAT and Honors junior majoring in health promotion for students from rural towns to make ACT, how to apply for scholarships, and connections. In fall 2019, she started what life is like at UGA. Then, when rural RISE, Rural students Igniting Success in students come to campus, the group aims Education. The transition from a rural to help with student retention, connecting town to a large university isn’t easy, said Briana, and she doesn’t them to resources like the Honors Program, the Tate Society, the want any students to feel isolated. ALL Georgia Program, and internships. “Coming to campus, I didn’t know anybody,” she said. “There She wants to create a community for rural students.
“Whenever RISE has tables at events, I meet another rural student who has had a hard time transitioning and wants to be a part of RISE.”
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UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE SPRING 2020
