By Maylon Rawls
Former Event Services Operations Lead & Communications and Creative Services Communications Assistant | UNC-Chapel Hill 2026 Graduate
Going to UNC has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. I truly believe that the experiences, people, and opportunities I have been given have set me on a path to a fulfilling life.
Out of all of these experiences, though, my time working at the Union has been perhaps one of the most formidable. What I thought would just be a job to help me afford my education turned out to be much more. When I expected, in all honesty, just a paycheck, I got something much more – a community.
I’ve met some of my best friends through this job. People I have watched go on to do great things across the country, friends who’ve stayed nearby that I get to bother whenever, and people who have changed with me from clueless college kids to clueless adults.
When I think about working here, I don’t just thinking about the late nights I spent setting up the Great Hall for some campus’ biggest events, or getting 30,000 steps in on a single night working FallFest (in 2023 I think it was actually closer to 40,000), instead I think about all of the dumb inside jokes, the milestones I have watched my coworkers go through, and all of the in-betweens of life.
Much more than friendships, the Union taught me more about myself as a worker than I thought was possible. I could harp on and on about how handling client dilemmas, working late nights, and brainstorming ways to make social media content that reached students have shaped my approach to work.
I’ve learned how to be a part of a team more than anything else could have ever taught me. The sense of camaraderie that I got from this job is something that is going to stick with me throughout the rest of my life. I grew from a shy newbie to someone who tries to help to a team lead. Someone who helps wrangle student staff to do the work.
The Carolina Union will always be more than a building to me. It’ll be the place that holds memories for me, a place where I gained friends, a place where I learned who I was as an employee, and so much more.
As I sit in the office, on my last day of working at the Union, there is no other way to describe how I feel other than just sad. It’s bittersweet, really. In a couple of weeks, I am about to drive across the country and start a career that I have been dreaming about since high school. But there will always be a little part of me at Carolina, and a bunch of that little bit belongs to the Carolina Union.
