Senior Amanda Stewart had just returned from an unforgettable weekend at the Southern Conference Basketball Championships in Asheville.
As co-captain of the Spartan G’s Dance Team, she had spent the weekend performing, cheering on the Spartans, and hyping up the crowd. While the men’s team lost in a heartbreaking quarterfinal match-up, the women’s team made it all the way to the final – a first since 2006.
Stewart and her teammates came back to campus and began preparing for a potential postseason run for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams.
And then COVID-19 hit.
Stewart moved home to Charlotte, her dance season and last semester as a college student cut short.
Of course, she’s taking it all in stride. She’s thankful to be healthy and to have the opportunity to connect with her friends, teammates, and professors via technology. But it’s certainly not the way she imagined her time at UNC Greensboro to come to a close.
A lifelong dancer, she’s been a member of the Spartan G’s for three years, performing at volleyball and basketball games and community events. It’s a big time commitment – with workouts, practices, games, and events nearly year round – but she loves every second of it. And growing alongside the other Spartan athletic teams has been a highlight.
“It’s been really rewarding,” she said. “My first year on the team, men’s won SoCon. The second year, men’s went to the championship, and this year, women’s went to the championship. It’s a great time to be at UNCG.”
When she’s not performing or working out with her team, you can find Stewart preparing for her future career as a speech pathologist. Stewart is a speech pathology and audiology major with an American Sign Language minor, and has excelled in the classroom.
“I definitely want to work with kids,” she said. “I want to work with fluency disorders, such as stuttering. I’m also really interested in working with kids who have autism and focusing on nonverbal aspects of communication.”
Stewart will continue her education in the fall at North Carolina Central University. The two-year master’s in speech-language pathology program will prepare her to work as a licensed speech-language pathologist in a variety of settings, such as schools, hospitals, or private practice.
Her advice to future Spartans?
“Know when to ask for help,” she said. “My freshman year, I wanted to do everything on my own. Once I realized it was OK to ask for help, my college career went a lot smoother, and I was happier.”
Story by Alyssa Bedrosian, University Communications
Photography courtesy of UNCG Athletics
