Every Captain Cares

by Eddie Sonnie

I chose to come to Christopher Newport because of the small class sizes, and one of the many reasons I will stay here is because of how much our professors care about us. Today, I want to share a story about a professor I had here who went above and beyond what I could have expected from him.

Last semester, I took a public speaking course, as part of my communication major. We prepared three speeches throughout the semester, and each speech was built from the former and was centered around a topic of our choice, but it had to be something we found important and relevant to our lives. As someone who pays for his education independently, I centered my speeches on advocating for governmental student loan availability for people in my situation.

Throughout my speeches, I revealed a lot about my financial life and mentioned how finding the loans to cover the cost of attendance is difficult, no matter what university you attend. After I gave my speech, my professor approached me and expressed how sorry he was about my situation and told me he would do anything he could to help.

My professor told me something that really stuck with me during this time: “There is no reason that anyone should be denied an education because they can’t afford it.” My professor told my story to Paul Trible, the president of our university, and within a few days, I was informed that I had received a grant to cover the rest of my balance.

I have never been to a more caring place than Christopher Newport. Every professor, student and employee on this campus cares about your physical, mental, emotional and even financial well-being. And it goes without saying that President Trible is without a doubt the most involved and caring university president you will ever encounter. I have told this story to my friends who go to other universities in Virginia, and not only are they shocked that this happened, but their response was: “I don’t even know who our [university’s] president is.”