Emily Walls

I’m from Comer, Georgia which is a small town right down the road from Athens. I was actually born at one of the hospitals in Athens and I still have family living in Athens-Clarke County as well.

I’ve worked full-time at UGA since November 2020, but I also had a variety of student assistant, part-time jobs while I was an undergraduate student at UGA.

A day in my life at work involves a lot of scheduling events for our various spaces within East Campus Housing, responding to emails sent to our community accounts, and providing general supervision to the front desks within our buildings. I also provide general administrative support to the assistant director and hall directors within East Campus Housing, which includes a variety of things ranging from purchase orders, keys, scheduling meetings, or interdepartmental mail.

The three things that I love most about my job are working in the community office because I get to interact with so many different people throughout the day, having such good co-workers, and participating in programs/events/conferences/committees where I get to interact with other people in my department or division. All of my answers involve people, because it’s really working with other people that make my job genuinely enjoyable.

Mine is not very specific, but I really look up to and admire anyone who has a creative hobby or passion, puts in the time, sticks with it and makes something beautiful and fulfilling out of what they love. It takes a lot of time, dedication, and determination to find that perfect thing for you that you really care about and stick with it, especially during times when it feels like we’re all being pulled in a million different directions. Being creative and having fun just for the sake of being creative and having fun is vastly underrated.

I recently starting talking pottery classes at a studio in Athens, and I’ve made a few things like mugs, bowls, and plates. Decorating them is by far my favorite part of the process. I also took up international postcard swapping during the pandemic and so far I’ve collected about 50 postcards from 17 different countries (including the U.S.).

One way that staff can collaborate with us is by hosting events in our spaces. The Rooker Fireside Lounge is our most popular space and we use it for all sorts of events like RA programs, department meetings, student organization events, or events hosted by other University departments.

I’m a first-generation college student, born in Athens, attended UGA for my undergraduate degree, and now I work here. So I am VERY local.

My best advice is to talk to people outside of your immediate office. Take advantage of different opportunities to meet new people and understand what they do and why they do it and how we all work together in different ways.

I enjoy hiking in the mountains a lot since it’s just a short drive away, and I like attending all the different festivals in Athens that we have throughout the year. The local food in Athens is very underrated and there’s so many really great places to eat at that you can’t find anywhere else. My friends and I make a point to try something new every time they come to visit.

When I was 22 I took off on a road trip with two of my closest friends and we spent a week traveling from Athens to Minneapolis, MN (that’s where we caught a flight and flew back to Atlanta). As part of that trip, we visited the caves at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky and got to take a tour 200+ feet underground. I’ll never forget when our tour guide turned off all of the lights and we were there in the absolute darkest of dark. It’s one of those super eerie things that you can’t forget or replicate anywhere else.