By Xypher Pino

As graduation season comes around, and students prepare to walk across the stage to join the long green line of Greensboro College graduates, now is the perfect opportunity to reflect on how time spent here at our college has impacted your life. The Collegian recently had the pleasure of interviewing one of its former executive editors, Woody Wilder, about his experience at Greensboro College and how he has found success after graduation.

Wilder graduated from GC in 2013, majoring in English and Communication Studies and earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in just three years. In addition to serving as Editor-in-chief for The Collegian, Wilder also involved himself in many areas of the college, most notably as a goalkeeper for the men’s soccer team from 2010 to 2012.

After GC, Wilder obtained his master’s degree in broadcast journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. After that, from 2014 to 2018, Wilder worked as an Associate Producer and Production Assistant for the NFL Gameday Morning show in Los Angeles; he then he served as the Media Relations Manager for the New York Football Club in New York City from 2018–2021. Wilder returned to NC in 2021 as the Communications Manager of Sporting Operations, and he currently serves as the Director of Communications, for the Charlotte Football Club.

“After graduation, I felt prepared,” says Wilder as he recalls how his experiences at GC helped him get to where he is today. “I cannot pinpoint a specific moment that helped me, but every small moment built up like a snowball. By the end, I had the necessary tools and abilities to go and be what I wanted to be in the field. Greensboro College gave me a great foundation to jump from and start off my career right.”

Wilder always planned to attend graduate school after GC, and he thanks his academic advisor at the time, Dr. Wayne Johns, for helping him create a solid road map for how he would get to that point. “I always planned ahead and thought of what the next steps are,” says Wilder. “Dr. Johns helped me map out how my time at GC would play out, and I took a lot of time to really think about how life would be after college.”

Wilder continued, “Having a solid plan of how you want your life to be is always great, but I also very much like to live in the moment. You never know how things will actually go until you are living in it. We can only control so much, but I make sure that I always put myself in the best situation, wherever I am at, so that I can make that next step.”

When asked what advice he would give to a current student, especially to those still trying to figure out what post-graduation might look like, Wilder advises not to put too much pressure on yourself to be where you want to be in five or however many years. “The path is never linear – part of my five-year plan did not have a global pandemic in there, so it is okay if things do not go as planned.”

Wilder also emphasized the importance of getting involved and making the most out of your time in college. “There is a standard that everyone follows and most people just follow that curriculum and move on without ever stepping outside their comfort zone. If I were to tell myself anything 13 years ago, it would be to just do more things on and off campus – do that extracurricular, try out that new hobby – you are only here for a short amount of time, make the most out of it.”

We would like to thank Wilder for his service to The Collegian during his time at Greensboro College, and for sitting down with us for this interview. Woody Wilder’s final words of advice: “Stay connected with people, be a good person and always work hard – do this and opportunities will find you.”