Meredith Carroll wants to build beautiful places. In addition to being a Charter Scholar and Honors Scholar, she has received several scholarships from the School of Environmental Design where she is in her fourth year of the Landscape Architecture Program. Additionally, she studied classics in Rome this summer through a UGA study abroad program in preparation for a possible graduate degree in architecture. She recently helped design and build the World of Wonder Community Built Playground in Athens, and this summer she voluntarily contributed renderings of an Athens park design for a city project that involved some of her instructors.
Hometown:
Albany, Georgia
High School:
Deerfield-Windsor School
Degree objective:
Bachelor’s of Landscape Architecture
Expected graduation:
May 2006
University highlights, achievements, awards and scholarships:
I am currently in the Honors Program and am on track to graduate with honors. I’ve received several scholarships over the past three years, including the Charter Scholarship, Governor’s Scholarship, Hubert B. Owens Environmental Design
Scholarship, and School of Environmental Design Scholarship. I’ve been on the Dean’s list each semester since enrolling at UGA and have been a Presidential Scholar for the past 5 semesters. Last March, I participated in LAbash, which is a national conference for students of landscape architecture, and I am a member of the Georgia Society of Landscape Architects. Most recently, I was chosen to be a part of the 2004-2005 Leadership UGA Program. I am also a member of Sigma Kappa sorority, and I participate in intramural flag-football and basketball. I have been a “Diamond Darling” for three years too.
Current Employment:
I work part-time at Jimmy John’s Sandwich Shop. It’s just enough hours each week to earn a little extra money.
Family Ties to UGA:
My father, Joe, is a former part-owner of Albany Beverage Company, an Anheuser-Busch distributorship. My mother, Terri, is Director of Admissions at Darton College in Albany. My brother, Joey, is a sophomore here at UGA, and he is on the baseball team. My brother, Thomas, is a junior at Deerfield-Windsor in Albany.
I chose to attend UGA because…
…I liked the fact that it was far enough away from home to make me live on my own, but close enough that I could drive home and see my parents on the weekends if I wanted to. It has a very good academic reputation, a large student body, competitive Division I sports teams, and it is in a great college town. I had heard nothing but great things about Athens, and on previous visits I was really taken with the campus. Receiving the HOPE Scholarship and the Governor’s Scholarship and getting accepted into the Honors Program were added incentives for me to stay in-state and for me to attend UGA.
My favorite things to do on campus are…
…I absolutely love playing football or frisbee on Herty Field between classes. Herty Field is also one of my favorite places to catch a quick nap on a sunny day or to do some last minute studying before tests.
When I have free time, I like…
…to hang out with my neighbors and my sorority sisters. We take our dogs out to the intramural fields to let them run around or we take our tennis rackets and play a few games. I’m an avid runner, so I try to do that a few times a week. Good movies are always a good way to relax and give my brain a break.
The craziest thing I’ve done is…
…go to Boston, Massachusetts, alone with my friend Katy when we were 16. We had to manage trains, planes, and the Boston public transportation system, but we had a blast walking the Freedom Trail and taking in a city neither of us had ever visited.
My favorite place to study is…
…on a secluded bench in the Founder’s Garden, but since the SLC opened up, I’ll go in one of the study rooms there because coffee is only a short walk away!
My favorite professor is…
…Professor Nichols. He was my Plants of the South and Engineering professor, and he always knew just how much work we really COULD get done in a certain amount of time. I learned a great deal from him, but I still see him as a friendly, open teacher who wasn’t afraid to joke around and let us have a little bit of fun with what we were learning.
If I could share an afternoon with anyone, I would love to share it with…
…my grandfather. He recently passed away, but he was an amazing man. He was a general surgeon and just an all-around brilliant and fascinating person. I was always especially close to him, but I am just now realizing how much I could have learned from him and how much more time I would have liked to spend with him, absorbing what he had to offer.
After graduation, I plan to…
…start working at a landscape architecture firm—hopefully the one I intern at this coming summer. I want to work for a few years, take the LARE and get accredited, and eventually work my way into the position to try to start my own firm. I may also pursue a graduate degree in architecture.
