Rio Alum Garrett McNerlin Hired as Admissions Representative
By: Laith Hamid, Marketing and Communications Intern
As a local resident of the Rio Grande community, the option that Garrett McNerlin faced for his education for him was a no brainer. Early in his high school career, he knew he wanted to become a member of the RedStorm community.
After graduating from Rio and spending a few years as a teacher, he jumped at the opportunity to work as an admissions representative at the University of Rio Grande. For the second time in a span of a few years, McNerlin has rejoined the Rio Grande community once again, this time as an employee.
“I used to be a teacher, and I moved to this role for the same reasons I was a teacher, you get people in, you get them moving, and they can better their lives. You're the start to getting people to better their lives. Also, some people don't think that they can go to college, they don't think it's affordable or whatever you can kind of push them to give it a try. I did not have money either. I graduated, so you can graduate too. I would say getting people who don't think that they can go to college to give it a try and begin their professional careers,” he said.
Once again, beginning to work with students reminded Garrett of time on campus at Rio, one of his favorite memories as a Rio alum was building friendships around campus.
“The old storm shelter used to be in the basement of the building that I work in. We would hang out there all the time. Yeah, it was in a renovation phase when we were there, but it was just a nice place to relax and hang out,” Garrett stated.
As a Rio alum, Garrett encourages all students to have a proactive and driven approach to both building connections and academic related activities.
“Talk to your advisors, make sure you get your classes scheduled correctly. It is important to connect with your advisors and get to know people. I wish I could have made even more friends, made more connections. So, talk to people in your program, get to know people, clubs on campus, all that kind of stuff. Go do that stuff, you will thank yourself later once graduation rolls around.”