When I was a senior in high school, I did not see myself becoming a University of Tennessee Vol. I wanted to escape Tennessee, spread out my branches, and make my life more of an adventure; however, choosing to go here has been the best decision of my life.
In my opinion, UTK is one of the best universities you can attend. It isn't just the academics, it's the atmosphere, the city, the football, the people, and so much more.
Here are a few (of the many) reasons why you should become a University of Tennessee Vol.
The Campus
Knoxville's campus is one of the most breathtaking during the fall. As you walk from your home to class, you walk over hundreds of shades of orange and yellow. The sitting areas around campus are bright green and often filled with enos hanging in between the trees. In the winter, you often find yourself walking to class as snow is falling. Although it's cold outside, you can't help but admire the snow falling in front of you as you walk across the bridge to pedestrian walkway.
The Football
As someone who comes from a family that doesn't watch football, I still don't fully understand how the game works. For those of you who are in the same boat as me, it doesn't matter. At Tennessee, you will have fun at every football game, no matter if you enjoy the sport itself or not. Personally, my favorite part of the game are the cheers. If you are on campus on game day, you will inevitably hear the cheer "V-O-L-S, V-O-L-S GO-VOLS-GO!". It is quite catchy and you'll find yourself screaming it at the top of your lungs alongside your fellow vols. Along with the catchy cheers, the band is superb. Our halftime shows outshine everyone else's. Some of the things that they do are unbelievable. Lastly, and most importantly, the football itself is amazing. Like I said, I don't exactly know how football works, but I do know that we are climbing up the chain of SEC football and are ready to leave our mark next season. With the best coach, a big-hearted team, and such a spirited fan base, Tennessee football is definitely a reason to make anyone want to attend the school.
The City
Most people expect their college weekends to be filled with sleeping, eating, partying, and cramming last minute studying in. At the University of Tennessee, you can do all of that and more. On the Saturday afternoons that you decide not to sleep your day away, you can drive seven minutes and arrive at the beautiful quarry (the first picture). With rocks surrounding the water, people are year-round constantly just sitting and enjoying the scenery; however, in the summer people jump off the cliffs and swim. Add another two minute drive and you will arrive at the bluffs. With a ten to fifteen minute easy hike, you arrive at a breathtaking view of the entire city. During the nighttime, for those of you who don't enjoy always attending a party, downtown Knoxville is the perfect place to explore. Personally, I enjoy eating dinner in market square and seeing a student-discounted movie. The city is filled with hundreds of things to do that make the campus more than just a campus.
The People
Words cannot explain the atmosphere that you enter at the University of Tennessee. The people that attend the University vary in so many ways, you see this everyday through the variety of cultures, interests, skill-sets, etc. In many places, this may look good on paper but do nothing in reality; however, at UTK it truly brings the vols together. During one of the last away games of the football season, everyone was watching the game cozied up warmly in their dorms… but as soon as we won, presidential court was stormed with people screaming with joy, throwing toilet paper everywhere, and even a few were streaking with joy (gross, but I appreciated the school spirit). You could hear chanting from buildings away. This lasted for half an hour until the crowd decided to run to Neyland stadium and celebrate there. That was my first experience seeing how Vols truly come together. Since then, I have witnessed time and time again the meaning of the phrase 'Vols help Vols'. At the University of Tennessee, we don't take that as a joke. Although we all differ in looks, majors, interests, and so much more, we ALL share the love for our school. We are proud to call ourselves Vols.
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville has so many qualities about it that make it amazing. Although the people, the city, the beautiful scenery, and the football are all great things about the University that we all love, there are so many things that people have to attend and gain appreciation for themselves before they can understand why we love our school so much.
I am not writing this post solely to convince younger students to attend my school, although it may come off this way. I am writing this post because I thoroughly enjoy talking about it. I love everything that I talked about above, but the thing that I love most about the University is how much it feels like home. It is my home. I am so proud to be a Vol for life. GBO!
