Swirling Worlds: EP.10 - Devin Dean

On the tenth episode of this podcast journey, Piedmont University's men's basketball player, Devin Dean, joined me. Like Chloe Spradlin (review episode five), Dean is also an athlete who transferred into the university. Devin first attended Bob Jones University, which is located in Greenville, South Carolina. There, he competed on the basketball team before suffering an injury, ultimately leading to his decision to transfer. "It was hard to ask coaches to give me a chance, especially coming back from an injury," said Dean. "I tweeted out that I was a transfer trying to find a school, and Coach McCravy (former men's basketball assistant coach at Piedmont University) contacted me and told me to come visit." Dean went on to say that on his visit, he fit in well with the team of guys that Piedmont had at the time and the school's overall environment, as Bob Jones was also a small Division Three school.

After we talked about Dean transferring to Piedmont from Bob Jones, we also talked a little about him enrolling into Bod Jones. "My headmaster at my high school knew the head coach at Bob Jones; he told him to come down and watch me play in this senior showcase that he had put together," said Dean. "After that, he told me he loved my game and wanted me to come on a visit. He took a chance on me, and that meant a lot." Devin stated that he enjoyed his time at Bob Jones and agreed that it has helped him become the person he is today, and he is grateful for his time there.

Later in the show, we got into the Piedmont University academic topic; earlier in the episode, Dean mentioned that academics and education weren't at the forefront of his reasonings behind coming to college. He wanted to play basketball and have an enjoyable college experience. When I asked him how Piedmont has helped him academically, he stated, "A lot of my credits didn't transfer over, so my advisor, Dr. Freeline, has been working with me to get those credits transferred over and putting them in place of other classes to make sure I can graduate on time." Dean also said he is doing much better in his classes and tries to pay attention more to get on the right track to leave Piedmont on time.

Do you think Piedmont University is a close-knit family environment? If so, why?

Is this a good thing or a bad thing for the students here?