Centre News

First-year student C.J. Donald has been sharing tales from his
first term as a college student on My CENTRE Life since August.
Check out his blog to learn about his many adventures!

Donald is one of seven students blogging about their year in My
CENTRE Life.

C.J. Donald ’14, one of the seven bloggers of this year’s My CENTRE Life, observes on his blog the recently changing weather in Danville: On Nov. 22, it was 72 degrees, and he posts he’s excited to be wearing shorts. A mere nine days later, snow hits him in the face one morning on his way to the Sutcliffe athletic facility, and he gives out a warning on his blog.

“As soon as it gets thick enough, I will be hitting a couple of unwary friends with snowballs.”

Donald is from Memphis and has family in Lexington, Ky., and North Carolina. He hasn’t been back to Memphis since his first term as a Centre student began back in August, and he’s heading west as soon as finals are over next Friday.

“I’ve been away from Memphis long enough to miss it, and when I get home for Christmas, I'll be there long enough to miss Centre,” he says.

Donald chose Centre because “it seemed to be a place where I could spend four years with like-minded people and after I left, I’d have countless opportunities for the future.”

The future for Donald is still 3.5 years away, and as a first-year getting ready to finish his initial term as a Centre student, he’s already taking advantage of the countless opportunities afforded current students.

In addition to being an MCL blogger, he writes for Centre's student-produced newspaper, The Cento. He’s also the team manager for Centre’s very first lacrosse team. (The College added men’s and women’s lacrosse to its roster of intercollegiate athletics in 2009, and competitive play begins this spring). When he’s not on campus, he’s active with his church and produces his own music.

And speaking of music, Donald is enjoying a perk that means a lot to every Centre student’s experience on campus: free tickets to world-class performances at the College’s Norton Center for the Arts.

Donald has blogged about enjoying performances from Blue Man Group, Mamma Mia (“I’ve never seen that many girls that excited at once.”) and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra dress rehearsal (“If you haven’t heard yet, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra is visiting Centre in what is being called the biggest musical event in the history of Kentucky.”).

One question on the MCL blogger application is, “If you could bring one performer or group to the college, who would you bring?” Donald’s answer was Blue Man Group.

“I just find that a very strange coincidence…” Donald ponders on his blog.

Academically, Donald is leaning toward a government major and an environmental studies minor, simply because those subject areas are two of his passions.

“After I graduate, I’d like to use my experiences in the classroom to help influence public policy and law as it relates to environmental standards,” he says. He adds that since Centre students don’t have to declare a major until end of sophomore year, he might change his mind. Another option for him is double majoring in government and music.

As far as choosing to be a MCL blogger, Donald says it gives him an outlet to detail his experiences as a first-year student in a unique way.

“Writing for MCL forces me to recount and understand my daily adventures in a manner effective enough for them to relate to others,” he says. Before MCL, Donald did some blogging. He also Tweets incessantly (his word), which he incorporates into his blog.

Click here to follow C.J. Donald’s Centre life and the Centre lives of the other six MCL bloggers. Also, check out a spotlight on another MCL blogger, Annie from Cincinnati.