By Liz Babiarz
When prospective students and their families visit Georgia State University, one of the first people they meet is Shanté Lewis.
The bubbly junior is a Georgia State Welcome Center tour guide, who greets every group with a bright wide smile that puts people at ease.
As her tour makes its way around campus and downtown Atlanta, the 20 year old from Lithonia, Ga., is able to rattle off facts about GSU history, give tips for getting around campus, point out places of interest and answer questions from prospective students.
But, for Lewis, giving tours doesn’t feel like a job because her enthusiasm for GSU comes effortlessly.
“I like talking about one of my favorite things, every day all day long, and that’s Georgia State and downtown Atlanta and getting involved,” she says. “I feel like I like getting other people as excited about Georgia State as I am.”
That’s not all Lewis does for GSU. She’s also a student assistant in the Incept Office, making sure the orientation program for new students is running smoothly.
Lewis also recently started her own student organization, called Full Circle. The group’s mission is to connect members with their passions so they become positive and active members of the world, not just passive ones, Lewis says.
The group is currently working on awareness campaigns and service projects to combat global warming, the genocide in Darfur, homelessness in Atlanta, HIV/AIDS, human trafficking and cancer. For example, every Saturday during the school year, the group makes home-cooked meals and brings them to Hurt Park, Woodruff Park or a homeless shelter. For global warming, the students have been planting trees in the Atlanta area, doing recycling on campus and picking up litter at parks.
Running the organization doesn’t just make a positive impact in the community; it has affected Lewis’ career goals as well. She once wanted to go to dentistry school after graduation, but working to create a more eco-friendly Georgia State inspired her to switch her major to environmental science.
“I’m a complete endorser of the green movement and I want to eventually go into environmental city planning so I can develop large cities like Atlanta to be more energy efficient and Earth friendly,” she says.
Even after she graduates, Lewis says she’ll stay involved in GSU, particularly the organization she started and continue to spread the word about what makes the university unique.
“Georgia State is the best of all worlds. It’s the melting pot of every background, belief, perspective, style, and tradition that you can think of,” Lewis says. “I feel that the opportunity to have the great city of Atlanta serve as the backdrop to my academic experience is unmatchable, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”