UGA Undergraduate Admissions / Diversity / Melvin Hines, Jr.

Our Community is Stronger
with the Voices of Many

Melvin Hines, Jr.

Hometown: Albany, GA
Class year: Senior
Major: Economics
Minor: Political Science

List at least five words that describe the UGA community.
Friendly, diverse, big, (full of) opportunities, memorable

If I had to offer one piece of advice for incoming students about living and learning in the UGA community, it would be:
Don’t miss out on all the things you can do here. There is an area for just about anything you can think of, and it just depends on whether or not you take advantage of it. Make sure you live your four years here so that when you leave, you have no regrets.

How is diversity best expressed at UGA?
Most people only consider diversity as a matter of race. You can’t just look for diversity on a campus; you have to experience it. It is stepping out of your established comfort zone and seeking knowledge about something you had not known in the past. I have learned a great deal about other people’s cultures through many of my friends, from Indians to Africans to Asians. However, I have also learned from my friends about different places I have never been: California, Cameroon, India. This is why I believe the whole idea of benefitting from diversity is only dependent upon each student of the University being committed to experiencing it.

When and how do you encounter other cultures, perspectives and beliefs at UGA? What have you learned from these experiences?
I had an amazingly diverse hall my freshman year on campus, and we learned a great deal from each other. I have also learned a diverse group of beliefs from each of them, and have learned to respect those. However, as I mentioned earlier, learning from diversity is about stepping outside your comfort zone for a second. It’s about not wondering how different that darker or lighter skinned person is, but going over to her and finding out how different she is.