Ellen Barrow chose UGA for the educational and social opportunities it offers, and the Honors student has made the most of it by earning a handful of scholarships, serving as an ambassador for the Disability Resource Center and working at three internships.
Hometown:
Powder Springs, Georgia
High School:
Hillgrove High School
Degree objective:
Bachelor’s in management of information systems with a co-major in international business. For my international business major I have a Spanish language focus.
Expected graduation:
December 2017
University highlights, achievements, awards and scholarships:
I have received several scholarships that have made attending UGA possible. I have received the following: Dale Gibson Memorial Scholarship, Girl Scout Gold Award Scholarship, Powder Springs Women’s Club Scholarship and the Zell Miller Scholarship. I have also greatly enjoyed participating in the UGA Honors Program as well as other honors societies including Beta Gamma Sigma and Sigma Alpha Lambda.
Currently I am serving as co-president and a student ambassador of the Disability Resource Center’s Speakers Bureau, which is a program that promotes disability awareness and diversity on UGA’s campus. Through my job as a research assistant I have been able to work on data development and management for a study involving financial literacy in college students.
Attending UGA has given me the opportunity to intern with CNN’s Broadcast IT Department and spend last summer interning with Resource Planning Group, a boutique financial planning company in Sandy Springs. This summer I am interning with Chick-fil-A in its IT department.
Current Employment:
Currently I am serving as an intern in the Information Technology Department at Chick-fil-A. During the school year I serve as a research assistant in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.
Family Ties to UGA:
My grandfather and grandmother actually met at UGA during college. Together they raised a family that truly bleeds red and black. They have had home game season tickets from shortly after their graduation till today. The majority of my uncles and aunts attended UGA as well as some of my cousins. I have family members who tailgate every home game, so the UGA games are almost considered mini family reunions.
I chose to attend UGA because…
… of the educational and social opportunities that UGA offers. There is so much to do at UGA: from attending professional events at Terry College, taking Zumba classes in Ramsey, trying new restaurants in Athens, or even just going to the dining hall to meet friends. I also loved how UGA has a great downtown area with plenty of good shops, restaurants and a good music scene. I wanted a university that was recognized for its academic rigor but also had an active student body and community. And with UGA, I got exactly that!
My favorite things to do on campus are…
… go downtown to try new restaurants as well as visit some of my old favorites like The Last Resort and Cali N Tito’s. I also enjoy taking Zumba classes in Ramsey and walking around North Campus.
When I have free time, I like…
… to travel. Some of my favorite places are Paris, Niagara Falls, San Francisco and the Grand Canyon. I always have at least one trip in mind that I am trying to save and plan for. I also love to cook and enjoy finding new recipes on Pinterest. Reading and doing Zumba are some of my other passions as well.
The craziest thing I’ve done is…
One time my family was traveling in Austria and we visited a silver mine. We rode down in mining carts several thousand feet below ground. The carts were centuries old and they were flying down the mine. There were no seat belts, no helmets and they don’t even warn you to keep your arms in the mining car. My parents always joke that if we went back again to visit, they probably will have banned it for public use since it was so dangerous.
My favorite place to study is…
… my room, because I need it to be quiet but have comfortable seating and many outlets.
My favorite professor is…
… Brenda Cude in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. I first met Dr. Cude in my financial literacy First-Year Odyssey class freshman year. She was kind and caring to her students and truly wanted to prepare us for making sound financial decisions in the future. Currently I assist her with her research and she has become a mentor to me throughout my years at UGA. She has helped me so much and provided instruction and guidance to me through many situations and trials.
If I could share an afternoon with anyone, I would love to share it with…
… my deceased grandmother. She died when I was a little girl. People say I am very similar to her. She was an amazing woman. She designed wedding cakes, did interior design, as well as design and sew clothes. She was sort of known as the Martha Stewart of her small town. She was a talented and smart woman and I would love the chance to cook a meal together with her and glean some of her knowledge gained throughout the years.
If I knew I could not fail, I would…
… create my own startup. I would love to start my own boutique store from the ground up. I love interior design and would like to have the chance to choose the color scheme and layout of the store. Due to my love for fashion, I would also enjoy picking the styles for the season and possibly designing my own line. I would like to try to have a mobile presence and online ordering as well, to connect it back to my MIS degree.
If money was not a consideration, I would love to…
… travel the world with my family and friends. There are so many places I want to go. My travel wish list is never ending!
After graduation, I plan to…
… start my career at a company and with a job that I love! I also would love the chance to design my apartment from scratch as I enjoy watching HGTV and interior design shows.
The one UGA experience I will always remember will be…
… my first week of freshman year. Throughout freshman year every small step you take and every new thing you try seems like a huge success! Everything was so new and exciting then. I was also very proud of how far I had come and was honored to be at such a great university.
