Moving right along: a profile on the adaptable Allison Meads

by Skye Pinney

Allison Meads, a senior Communication Studies major and member of the Black Student Alliance and African Student Alliance, is in her second-to-last semester at Frostburg. Pretty soon she will be making the change from college life to the real world, but that's ok; she already knows how to deal with tough transitions.

Allison grew up in Springdale, MD. “Born and raised,” she says, noting that no one has heard of Springdale, which is in Prince George’s County. As a child, she attended Catholic schools, and then made the switch to public school in 9th grade. She recalls a friend who attended public school telling her, “they’re going to eat you alive.”
 

Charles H. Flowers High School was much different from the private schools she attended her whole life. The students in her public high school were less disciplined than those of her Catholic middle school; teachers would even argue with disruptive students instead of simply sending them to the office. She adjusted quickly anyway, fitting in best with the more serious and respectful students, and she was not eaten alive after all.

When it came to determining where to go to college, Allison chose Frostburg because “the laundry was free.” She had also considered Lincoln University at her mom’s insistence; Lincoln is where she had gone to school and where she met Allison’s father, and Allison would get an alumni discount if she enrolled. Then her English teacher suggested FSU, and she ended up choosing it for its diversity and perfect distance from her home. It also didn't hurt that she would not have to push coins into a machine every time she wanted clean clothes.

Her first year in college was another big transition. “I never drank a day in my life before I came here,” she states. She spent her freshman year enjoying her freedom away from home, but by her junior year she had settled down and focused on school. Now, she states, she is “just ready to graduate,” which she will be doing Fall 2013.
 

What will Allison do after college? She has considered trying out life in the west coast, and has always held that she will go wherever her career takes her. Though she chose Communication Studies with the dream of someday working for Seventeen magazine, she now wants to work for the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC. “I like to help people. It makes me feel good and it makes others feel good,” she says, explaining that when she was younger, she spent some time in the children's hospital, so she knows what it is like to be a patient and can better help others for it.

Whatever Allison Meads decides to do when she graduates FSU, one thing is certain: she will find her way quickly. She always has.