Russell VanZomeren, a senior History and Peace, War and Defense double major from Shelby, NC, has come a long way from telling jokes to his best friend in his room. Now, as the Carolina Fever public relations chair, he shares his jokes with the majority of the UNC student body. Russell was kind enough to share his experience at UNC with Her Campus as this week’s Campus Celebrity!
HC: Tell me how you got involved with Carolina Fever and the impact it has had on your Carolina experience thus far.
Russell VanZomeren: I came in my freshman year, I wanted basketball tickets and I saw that there was this sports organization. I suck at sports now, but I also sucked at sports then and so it was good for me to be part of an organization where I could just watch the sports and do a lot of the cheerleading side. I was a committed member; enough to get Duke tickets. I went to the Duke game my freshman year and that was the year that Austin Rivers hit the buzzer beater at the end. So that was my first Duke game experience and I cried. I was so upset because I was excited for the game and to storm Franklin Street and we lost. Shortly after that I applied to be a part of the Directors, there’s about 25 of us in all that help run the organization. I was late for my interview, but thankfully they [the interviewers] stayed. I just made them laugh. There was one joke that they all just laughed at and they said honestly, if you never made that joke, you probably wouldn’t be here. I got the job and then I worked on the public relations committee for a year. Then, when the time came to elect the new PR guy, I applied as a junior and I got it, which was awesome. Its been an amazing experience. I reapplied to do it again this year and it has been equally awesome.
HC: Many students look forward to your entertaining emails that contain upcoming Carolina athletic events every week, what inspires those emails?
RV: So my freshmen year there was a guy who did what I do now. I loved him. Basically everyday I wake up and I’m just fascinated that this is what I do now. My freshman year I was so excited to get the emails from him. His were a pretty different style, but they were always fun to read. The year after that, I am working for Fever and my boss has a similar style of emails; his are different, but still funny. Between the two of them, I wanted to strike a balance. The first guy was all funny, but no story telling. The second guy was a little more lengthy and so when I decided that I wanted to be the PR guy, I was like ok, how do I do both of those. So, they’ve inspired me to find my own voice and have been really helpful with the process.
HC: What was it like being an Orientation Leader?
RV: It was so much fun and at the same time, a thousand times more stressful than you would ever imagine. We get up there and we have fun and do a lot of cool things, but we’re also responsible for the success of 200 students throughout the summer. I just wanted to give them every possible advantage that I could.
HC: What type of advice did you give to the incoming first-year students?
RV: I gave them a lot of advice like don’t take 8am classes, talk to your professors; all the usual things. I told them I was jealous of them. They are just starting and it is so exciting. I wish I could redo some things. I got involved with Fever my freshmen year, but I didn’t get involved in the community.