My Favorite Tennis Match

by Sam B., Panther Blogger

My favorite tennis match was against Covenant, a school in northern Georgia.  We, the Ferrum Men's Tennis Team, had stayed the night in a hotel about 10 minutes away from Covenant the night before and our match was scheduled on a Sunday at 12:00 PM.  We arrived at the courts at 10:30 AM to begin warming up on the warm but overcast day.  The other team arrived and we got into the "game time mentality."  I play sixth seed, so I'm the last person to start my match.  I walked around cheering on teammates, waiting for my chance to play.  Everyone was playing really hard, and for the most part, really well.

When I started my match, I had no idea of the overall match score when I finally did get to start my match. The kid that I played and I were fairly evenly matched, so we battled in the first set, and I was able to pull it out 7 games to his 5.  After the first game of the second set, everyone who attended the match as well as both teams crowded around my match as we were the last match playing.  At that moment, I realized my match must mean something because some people will watch me play, but I never attract literally everyone at that the match!

There are 9 matches that factor into deciding which school actually wins the overall match. Six players' singles matches and three doubles matches are what determines who wins. At this point in the day, the match score was 4-4 and whoever won my match would determine the overall outcome. This was all running through my head as I watched everyone crowd around, and I tried to take some deep breaths to hold my composure.  I lost the second game of the second set, and I was quickly down 0-2.  Whether I was winning or not, there were cheers of adulation or comforting words from the Ferrum fans and men's and women's teams after each point. 

I managed to string some points and then games together; I won the next 5 games to go up to 5-2.  All was looking well for Ferrum until I dropped the next game. The score was now 5-3.  It was my serve and I decided to play aggressively since I had the lead.  After 3 serves, I had the lead 40-0, and I had 3 match points to clinch the win for Ferrum.  Of course, I double-faulted away the first match point and the score was 40-15.  I served, returned his shot and charged the net.  My return forced him to hit a weak shot and I was able to put a volley away for the win!  I will never forget that moment!

A couple of the guys ran on the court and hugged and high-fived me. Everyone's effort that day gave us the 5-4 win over Covenant and our only win of the season thus far.  For the rest of the evening and the ride back to Ferrum, the guys would just not let it go.  They kept telling me that I was "clutch" or that I had ice in my veins and other ridiculous things like that.  I also pointed out that if other guys hadn't won, my match wouldn't have mattered.  On the bus ride home, I put on my headphones, turned up Casting Crowns, and I thanked god for that incredible experience. He put me in that situation and He carried me through because I certainly couldn't have done it without Him.  That was, at this point in my young life, one of my proudest moments.  Once again, the glory of all my successes goes to God because it was His strength that carried me through. 

Snow Days Welcomed!

by Sam B., Panther Blogger

The amount of snow that Ferrum received was certainly a shock.  News reports during the weeks before the actual storm continued to change the dates that it was supposed to hit, so no one actually knew when it would come.  I guess that's why no one was prepared for it.  Fortunately for me, I have seen that much snow before.  A lot of my friends, however, had not.  Over the two days that we were out of school, my friends and I had a multitude of snowball fights, we wrestled in the snow, and we went around destroying snowmen.  People we didn't even know started some of the snowball fights!  That made the fights even better!

This unscheduled break from classes could not have come at a better time. Midterms are rapidly approaching and it was great to have a chance to blow off some steam and relieve some stress. Even though we had to work harder in the beginning of this week to catch up, it was totally worth it. On Friday evening, I helped a couple of my friends get their cars out of the snow since they had never driven in it.  Being from Floyd County, I've had to brave the weather for the three years that I've been driving. On Friday evening, I was even able to leave Ferrum and make it back to Floyd!

Hello from New Panther Blogger Sam!

by Sam B., Panther Blogger

I am a small town boy from Floyd County, Virginia.  I plan on earning a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Sociology.  I want to be a police officer in Richmond for 3-5 years when I will apply for federal jobs.  I hope to work for the Secret Service.

My sister, Rachel, went to Ferrum during my senior year of high school.  Ferrum's tennis coach came to Floyd to watch me play and did his best to recruit me.  I decided to come to a Panther Preview and I loved it.  The idea of Ferrum being a small community really appealed to me.

The best part about Ferrum is that the teachers actually care about the students and how they are doing in classes and even outside of class.  Being from a small town, this was very important for me. Ferrum has done a great job by providing me with opportunities to listen to professionals speak about the field I would like to enter; these professionals give myself and other CJU majors some tips on how to get to where we want to go.

I am involved in as many activities as my schedule can possibly handle.  I am in the Boone Honors Program, a Lions Branch Club member, a Ferrum tennis player, a member of the Honors Advisory Council, an Admissions Ambassador, just recently a Panther Blogger, and I participated in the Freshman Scholars Program.  I also have a work-study job at the Ferrum YMCA, where I was recently awarded Employee of the Month after my first month of work there.  The only other activity that I plan on joining next year is the Criminal Justice Club.

I already have many great memories with my friends and teammates at Ferrum.  My favorite memory was traveling and playing in my first tennis match as a collegiate player during my first fall semester.

- Sam

Great Company, Research, Activities, and Food - An Awesome Experience!

(Sam was one of the two students who worked on the Buried Body Remains and Decomposition Rates project with faculty mentor Dr. David Nicholson during the 2nd annual Freshman Scholars Program in summer 2013.)

by Sam, Freshman Scholar and Guest Blogger

The entire Freshman Scholars Program, including working with Dr. Nicholson and my research partner Samantha (also called "Sam"), was a highlight of my summer. When I arrived at Ferrum for the program, I didn't know what to expect. I knew no one and I was very anxious.  Thankfully, Dr. Goff welcomed me with a smile and I immediately felt better. Research with Dr. Nicholson and Sam began on Monday, August 5th. We studied the rate of decomposition in a pig along with collecting and rearticulating a skeletonized deer.  Throughout the week, I got to witness as maggots, along with a variety of other insects, decimated a 12.2 pound pig.  Not only that, but I got lessons in criminology, entomology, crime scene investigation procedures, and anatomy.  Up until I participated in that program, I had never had more fun in a class setting than I did during those two weeks!

Dr. Nicholson

I am a big eater, so naturally, I love good food. The Caf is a great place to find plenty of that!  The breakfast food over the course of the program was nothing short of great!  I have not once gone in the Caf and not seen something that I wanted. Not only is there a large selection, but there's a lot of healthy food too!

My class experiences were great during the two weeks of the program, but I also had a lot of fun outside the classroom.  We participated in the low ropes course at Ferrum on one day, and that was a blast!  It was a team-building experience in which I really learned a lot about my fellow scholars. Throughout the week, I played a lot of basketball and tennis - I'm a sports junkie.  The next week, we went and conquered the high ropes course!  That was another great team-building experience. The Freshman Scholars Program was an awesome and action-packed two weeks!