Cameron Harper

During his freshman year, his resident assistant pushed him to get out of his room and into everything he enjoyed. Cameron responded by pledging to Sigma Chi fraternity, becoming an orientation leader, joining SGA, and serving as an RA in Dahlonega’s newest resident hall, the Commons.

“My RA made my freshman year so much better,” Cameron says. “He got us involved on campus. I wanted to give someone else that same experience and help them fall in love with UNG as much as I did. 

Cameron’s campus connections with professors, classmates and student leaders have created life-changing experiences. When he did clinical rotations at three Atlanta-area hospitals, he confirmed that nursing was the right career path for him.

“Clinical rotations showed us what the nursing world is like in a real-life scenario,” Cameron says. “Every time that I went to clinicals, I left with that rewarding feeling that I had made a difference in a person’s life.”

When he traveled with 30 UNG volunteers to treat 1,000+ impoverished sugarcane workers and their families in the Dominican Republic, the experience transformed his view on life.

“I had heard that the mission trip would change the way you think and how you feel about health care,” Cameron says. “The patients helped me more than I helped them. They showed me about life and opened my eyes to the things we take for granted in the United States.”

Before he graduated in May 2017, he served a nine-week externship with a spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta. He learned about the externship through a fellow orientation leader and nursing classmate who put in a good word for him.

“If you get involved on campus, it will connect you to the college and make your overall experience better,” Cameron says. “You’ll meet more people who could help you later on.”