Amelia Quinn Inspires Students at First-Year Convocation

The First Year Convocation is an annual assembly for first year students at CSU with the purpose of welcoming students to college life. The theme this year encouraged students to find new ways to help their community and the world through problem solving. The keynote speaker of the afternoon was Amelia Quinn, a CSU graduate as well as the founder of BeLoved Atlanta. The convocation also featured an entertaining performance by the theatre department.

Amelia Quinn discussed her experience with creating BeLoved Atlanta, a company based in Atlanta with the purpose of helping survivors of the sex trafficking industry get their lives back and recover. Quinn saw a problem in her community, looked for ways to help and implemented a solution. “Your first attempt at problem solving will not be perfect, and that’s okay,” she told the crowd of students. “This is not a time to be defeated. This is the time to reflect, evaluate, make changes, evaluate more and make more changes. Just because your first try does not go off seamlessly, does not mean your model will not work.”

The theatre department then presented a comedy skit explaining the “6 pro tips for college.” The first was “Know your shuttle time”. This lead into the second pro tip, “Have good excuses.”

Other valuable pieces of advice were, “Your professors aren’t blind, if you’re going to have technology ask the professor for permission or at least be discreet,” “Do whatever you can to get ready for class before class,” “Do not buy your textbook before the first day of class and if you spend more than $50 on it you are not looking hard enough,” and “There’s always add/drop week.”

The convocation ended with a group photo and reception.