Mason is a hole in one for this freshman golfer

Damian Cristodero — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 18:09:00 +0000

Mason is a hole in one for this freshman golfer Damian Cristodero Thu, 09/21/2023 - 14:09

J.J. Powell sat facing the door leading into the main floor of ��ӽ紫ý’s Johnson Center, and fixated on the steady stream of students entering the building.

“Just watching people coming through that door,” he said. “I’ve never seen the amount of different people in one setting. It’s really cool.”

Powell has a golf scholarship at Mason. He also is studying finance in the School of Business to supplement what he hopes will be a career as a professional golfer.

When considering where to attend college, the freshman from Richmond, Virginia, said Mason’s diversity—U.S. News & World Report ranks the university seventh among public institutions and No. 1 in Virginia—was a significant factor.

_{One hundred percent, without a doubt,” Powell said. “I want to learn about people’s cultures, meet new people, and just be more aware and mature.”}

“He’s just a great kid, a really high-character person,” said Greg Pieczynski, head coach of Mason men’s golf team. “That’s something we look for, as well as golf ability.”

Powell became interested in golf at age 6, he said, when he noticed his father playing a Tiger Woods video game. Eventually, his father took him out to a driving range to hit some balls.

Powell laughed recalling videos of himself swinging clubs at 9 and 10 years old. He could always make good contact, he said, and he knew how to think the game.

But his mechanics?

“Probably not,” he said, “My swing was terrible.”

Clearly that has been remedied as Powell, playing for St. Christopher’s School, was Virginia’s high school player of the year in 2022, and was all-state twice.

“We know the talent he has and the résumé he has,” Pieczynski said. “I think he was interested in us and heard about the benefits of playing for our team. We develop players and make them better. He was in a situation where he was looking for that.”

“We’ve also proudly built a reputation in a very short amount of time as a program that wants in-state talent,” Pieczynski added. “We have a diverse group on our team, which appealed to him as well.”

Powell said he took to heart the words Mason President Gregory Washington delivered at New Student Convocation about how Mason’s campus already looks the way the United States will look in 2060.

“If you’re so used to seeing one group of people and you get out into the world, it’s culture shock,” Powell said. “You don’t understand their background. So, it’s helpful, especially in the business world, to be able to work with different people.”

On the golf course, as well.

“I just hope to gain knowledge and maturity,” Powell said. “I’m only 19, so I’m bound to make plenty of mistakes. But I hope Mason is going to shape me to be a really good role model for other kids growing up, or even my kids when I get older. I think Mason is the place for me to achieve that.”

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Topics

Costello College of Business

Costello College of Business News

Schar School Kicks Off Learning Communities with Appearance by President Washington and a Scavenger Hunt

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 21 Sep 2021 15:18:46 +0000

Schar School Kicks Off Learning Communities with Appearance by President Washington and a Scavenger Hunt Andrew J Schappert Tue, 09/21/2021 - 11:18

In This Story

Searching the stacks: The scavenger hunt took Schar School undergrads into the Fenwick Library.

The Schar School of Policy and Government instituted three new “learning communities” for its undergraduate students for the fall of 2021: the Democracy Lab, the Undergraduate Research Community, and the International Relations Policy Task Force. In late August, the Democracy Lab students, who will share experiences on- and off campus, heard ��ӽ紫ý President Gregory Washington deliver a stirring inaugural address on racial justice. Also in August, all three communities participated in a whimsical-if-competitive scavenger hunt.

Schar School students, many of them in their first year at Mason, were split into nine teams and given clues that sent them all around Mason’s Fairfax campus to complete different tasks. The clues guided students to fun, but also important, places on campus.

Students learned their way around campus and discovered some of the many resources available to them at Mason and the Schar School. They learned what the oldest buildings on campus are as well as where the newest one is; they learned where to find Mason’s president’s office (he wasn’t in), the library, the bookstore, and the writing center.

Students also discovered where they can go to find academic advisors, professors, or anyone in the Schar School who can provide answers to their questions. Some of the faculty were at the event to introduce themselves to the students—including learning communities faculty directors Peter Mandaville, Eric McGlinchey, and Heba El-Shazli—with the idea of making students more comfortable and therefore more likely to engage with and utilize their support team.

Democracy Lab resident advisor Molly Reed displays her scavenger hunt findings.

“The event was a great way to meet professors and students in Schar School in an informal way,” one sophomore participant commented. “I got to make friends with people that I have classes with but would not have been confident in speaking to them. My overall take away from the event was the importance of community and group members. The fact that we were divided into groups made the event more fun.”

One of the biggest appeals of learning communities is the genuine community students build and the relationships formed with other students and faculty. The scavenger hunt kick-off was a good way to introduce students to the community as an initial step to becoming closer and to bolster success.

Topics

Democracy Lab

Undergraduate Research Community

International Relations Policy Task Force

Campus

Schar School News September 2021

Democracy Lab Learning Community