Tatum Larose

Welcoming Speech

Good morning, on behalf of the student body of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington I would like to welcome our esteemed guests from Kyoto University in Japan to our campus. We are honored that you flew half way across the world to be here today and privileged that we are being considered for your exchange program. Our university would be an ideal institution for your students to study at because of our academic excellence, involvement opportunities and our picturesque location. We offer four-year programs through the College of Arts and Sciences,the Watson School of Education, the Cameron School of Business, and the School of Nursing. UNCW also offers numerous graduate & doctoral programs through the Graduate school. With a variety of subjects for students to earn a degree in I’m sure you’ll see that UNCW lives up to your mission statement which is “to sustain and develop its historical commitment to academic freedom.”

Although we are a smaller school with only one campus compared to your seven there are many organizations, clubs and sports for students to participate in. We offer many of the same sports such as baseball, swimming, rugby and gymnastics but there are also sports that students wouldn’t find at Kyoto such as surfing, sailing, wakeboarding and equestrian. Some of the most popular organizations students are involved with here include the Student Government Association, the Association for Campus Entertainment, and fraternities and sororities. Many of our students also participate in exchange and study abroad programs. In Japan there are fourteen universities that our students may attend for the semester or full academic year and we hope to add Kyoto university to that list.

Our location is what makes UNCW a desirable place to be educated. Wilmington is situated between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean so the weather is always warm, even in the winter it rarely gets below 40 F. This may be a pleasant adjustment for your students since Kyoto is situated  in the Tamba Highlands and you know how cold it gets there in the winter. It is also a much smaller city than Kyoto but it is very charming in appearance and since it is considered a “college town” there are many things for students to do around the city. For shopping we have the Independence Mall and Mayfaire Town center as well as a variety of boutiques and athletic shops scattered throughout the city. We also have an extensive night life for those of age since there are many pubs and nightclubs in the downtown area by the river and in the neighboring Wrightsville Beach area. We also have a variety of restaurants offering various types of cuisine such as seafood, mexican, italian, greek, french, thai, indian, japanese and of course classic american restaurants that offer burgers. There is even food specific to North Carolina which includes barbequed pork and fried chicken.  But the favorite past time all UNCW students would agree on is going to the beach whether to surf, swim or get some sun.

        Our university was named “Best in the Southeast” for 2010 by the Princeton Review and was also ranked as one of the top four “Best Values” of public universities in North Carolina according to Kiplingers. We believe UNCW is an institution worthy of your consideration for this exchange program, in the future we hope to see students of Kyoto moving in to the International House and wearing our colors of teal and white proudly. Thank you for your time and please enjoy your stay in Wilmington.