Madison Black

In her final semester, the May 2019 graduate from Canton, Georgia, was one of 10 UNG female students honored for their leadership at the Women of UNG Leadership Luncheon.

"Being an honoree gave me validation I wasn't looking for," she said. "It was cool to see my professors and bosses had noticed my leadership skills and felt I was worthy of such an honor."

Black credits her success to the opportunities offered at UNG. Her first leadership position was as a freshman representative with Nighthawks Entertainment, which led to her becoming the marketing director.

"If you had asked me as a freshman if I thought I was going to have all of the leadership experiences that I had during college, I would have told you that you're crazy," she said. "These positions helped me develop my personality through leadership."

Other leadership experiences included being a student worker for Residence Life and involvement with the Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority. She also was a recipient of the Helen B. Fowler Memorial Endowed Scholarship.

"I think every experience provided to me at UNG has helped shape me into the student leader I am today," she said. "UNG has given me outlets to develop a voice and confidence to be able to accept other people's perspectives and opinions."

Black, who maintained a 3.94 GPA and aspires to teach language arts to sixth-graders, hopes to provide a similar environment for students. Black said she loves the hectic feeling associated with middle school and that her upbringing played an important role in her career choice.

"I grew up with five brothers, and their presence in my life impacted my decision to become a teacher," she said. "I feel like sixth to eighth grade is an age where you're really solidifying your beliefs and developing your character."

Dr. Westry Whitaker, assistant professor of teacher education at UNG, said he thinks Black will make an amazing teacher.

"Madison is an extremely intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate, resilient, composed, and dedicated future teacher," he said. "She takes these gifts with her into her classroom where she overcomes each and every challenge with humility, patience, grace, and genuine integrity."

He said it was immediately evident that Madison took the initiative to think through the material and apply the educational theory she was learning into classroom practice.

"She never hesitated to complicate the conversation or push the conversation toward alternative or more creative understandings," Whitaker said.