Oral history interview with Angela Polk-Jones, 2018

Lacey Wilson: All right so today is April 2nd, 2018. I am interviewing Angela Polk-Jones, the current and founding president, principal of the Middle College at UNCG, about her time at UNCG and leading up to where she is now. So, we'll just start at bio stuff, intro, and we'll just go on from there.

Angela: Sounds good.

Lacey Wilson: So, when and where were you born?

Angela: I was born... gosh, in 1967 in Chesterfield, South Carolina, to Mary Tillman and Alvin Polk.

Lacey Wilson: And what did your parents do?

Angela: My parents were share croppers. Actually neither one of them got a high school diploma, but I believe my dad was... I think he may have made it to ninth grade, and I think my mom may have made it to sixth or seventh grade, but neither one of them graduated from high school.

Lacey Wilson: And so, when you were in high school... maybe I should first ask, when did you start playing basketball?

Angela: I actually started playing basketball in third grade.

Lacey Wilson: Really?

Angela: Yes. We moved into the Hampton Homes projects when I was in third grade, and the community center, Warnersville Community Center was in that neighborhood. And my brothers played football, and I actually was a cheerleader for the peewees, and we all were young, third, fourth, fifth grade. And then the basketball season came around, and I think there was a little bit of pressure because my brothers were playing football, so I wanted to do something also besides cheer.

Angela: I'm the baby of seven, and all of my older siblings had played sports at Grimsley High School, and so sports was a part of our family. And so, in third 00:02:00grade I went out for the basketball team up at Warnersville Community Center, and didn't know a thing about it. I remember not even knowing how to do a layup. And Coach Scales, I remember the coach, he took me aside and he told me to pretend like I had a ball in my hand, and just go left, right, up, left, right, up. And so I just kept doing that without the ball, and I transferred it to actually doing it on the court, and that is when I developed a love for basketball.

Angela: I started, like I said, in third grade, and I remember when I got to middle school, I continued to cheer while I played basketball. But when I got to middle school they told me I couldn't do both, and that was a problem, because I loved cheering because I was one of the co-captains for the cheering squad, but 00:03:00I also loved sports, the competitive part of it. And so, I chose basketball over cheerleading, and I'm glad I did.

Lacey Wilson: And you played in middle school, did you play in high school as well?

Angela: Yes. I played basketball, volleyball and softball in middle school. That was at Jackson, it was Jackson Junior High at the time. And then when I went to Grimsley I continued to play all sports, and actually lettered in all three sports.

Lacey Wilson: Wow, very impressive.

Angela: And I used to really... during basketball season I'd say, "I'm going to college to play basketball", doing softball, "I'm going to play softball", doing volleyball, "I'm going to play volleyball."

Angela: And so, it was... I just had real genuine passion for the competitive side of sports, because sports, it teaches you so much more than people realize. It teaches you self-discipline, teamwork... it just makes you hungry to perfect 00:04:00something. And so, that's how I looked at sports, and I took that same attitude in the classroom as well. And so for me, sports and basketball, it was a perfect match.

Lacey Wilson: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And so you were doing all those sports, but when you were looking at colleges, and when you were at senior year, junior year looking at colleges and what you wanted to do academically, what was appealing to you on that side?

Angela: Well I had always wanted to be a teacher. When I was... obviously when you're young you play school, you do those things, you play doctors and all that. But I just really wanted to be a teacher, and I believe it was my junior year at Grimsley High School, Coach Dick Knox was my math teacher, and I was in geometry and he made me feel so smart. He made me feel very intelligent. And so 00:05:00I'll never forget when he was bragging to all of his classes about, "Angie Polk is the only one that got that proof right." And so I just wanted to stick my chest out, it was like wow, because other students were saying, "Coach Knox told her, you know, you got the problem right."

Angela: And so that for me, that was really encouraging, and it made me feel... it just gave me a boost in my self confidence. One thing I will say, I've never had a low self esteem, because being the baby of seven in a single home, one would think we had the worst life ever, but we didn't. One thing that my mother did is she showered us with love. The camaraderie, the close-knit family that we 00:06:00had... my mom had sisters and brothers, and they all chipped in and helped her, because she was single mother of seven living in the projects.

Angela: But it's sort of interesting because some of my cousins who didn't live in the projects, they said "We want to live over here with y'all." It was like... because they used to come over to our house, and we would have so much fun. My mom was very strict, very firm, but loving. No nonsense, held you accountable, and so a lot of that is what carried over to what I did on the court, what I do now currently.

Angela: I remember my mom working, oh my goodness, she would go in at seven o'clock in the morning and not get off until 11 o'clock at night. She would work double shifts because her manager or supervisor knew she had seven kids, and 00:07:00knew she had to work a lot, and so he enabled her to work double shifts a lot. Sometimes she would go in at three o'clock and not get off until the next morning. And so my siblings, my older siblings, again remember I'm the youngest of seven, they were responsible for making sure we had dinner, we got our work done, and those things.

Angela: I had one sister, she was not the oldest but, it's funny when I think about this. She was the shortest one out of all the kids, but she was... I don't want to say the meanest, but she didn't play. And she used to literally make us sit at the kitchen table to eat all of our food, and she would make us eat vegetables, and we didn't want to. I mean she'd give us water and be like, "Drink it down with the water if you have to, but you're not getting up until you eat all of it." And she'd tell us "You're going to sit there and do your homework." And so everybody chipped in to make sure that the younger siblings 00:08:00got what they needed as far as the homework and things like that is concerned.

Angela: My father, he wasn't in the picture. He would come by, every now and then we might see him. He's in the picture now, which I'm thankful, but didn't really grow up interacting with him a whole lot. Had a few opportunities to go visit him in Maryland, and spend a little bit of time with him here and there, sporadically. But there was no consistency in it. But it's just one of those things, it is what it is, and I turned out okay.

Lacey Wilson: Yeah, I think so. So we're in your senior, we're looking at colleges. Where are we considering?

Angela: Well, actually that is so very interesting about how I ended up at UNCG. Because I was what they called a sleeper in college, a sleeper athlete or a 00:09:00sleeper basketball player. Meaning you don't realize how much damage the person is doing until you look at the stats. You may not have known that Angie Polk, at the time, had five assists and nine rebounds with her ten points. It was one of those things, that people would focus on quote unquote, the star of the team. So I wasn't necessarily considered the star on the team.

Angela: And so as time was getting close, I was like, "I don't know where I'm going, where am I going to go?" And so, at the time Miriam Brewer was the women's basketball coach. She had been a college... may have been the coach at Appalachian. I think that's where she came from, but anyway I remember sitting down with her, and we were talking about what my options were. And she said, "Well, you ever thought about UNCG right down the street?" And I'm like, well I 00:11:0000:10:00don't see anything... because I had heard great things, they were doing really well. So she said, "Let's call."

Angela: And so she called Coach Agee, and we set up a meeting, and I came on UNCG's campus, at the time the athletic office was in the log cabin that was on the hill... where was it? I think it was right here, in this area, the log cabin. I believe it was on this hill. And so I met here... met Coach Agee with Coach Brewer, and we talked and everything, and she said "I do know you, I have seen you play, I've watched," and it was like, "Oh, okay."

Angela: So had a great meeting, time went and left... a little bit of time passed, by then I think I had guidance and interest from Elon and Lenoir-Rhyne. And so I wasn't sure, didn't know a whole lot about Lenor-Rhyne, didn't know... knew Elon was right down the street. And so getting frustrated, I just called Coach Agee one day, I know she may have already told this story, but I just said "Do you want me or not?" Because I was frustrated. And she laughed, and she said "Of course we do."

Angela: And so after that, we set up the meeting, got everything, the paperwork and all that stuff taken care of, and then I came here in August of 1985. Oh my goodness, 1985. Wow. So yeah, that's how I ended up here.

Lacey Wilson: And did you go to any orientations beforehand, or was your only time here meeting with Coach Agee?

Angela: That was my first encounter with UNCG.

Lacey Wilson: Did you have any first impressions at that point of the campus?

Angela: Well, no. My first impressions came when I actually moved on campus, because during the summer nobody's here, and so you don't really get to see. But I do recall on move-in day, and my mom... was my brother with her? But there were one or two of my siblings that came also. And we're moving in, and I remember being very nervous, very scared, and I remember us unpacking, unloading everything, at the time I was in North Spencer, you know North and South Spencer was right there. And so I was in the dorm, and I remember going back in there, and I just cried. I cried, I was like oh my god, because I really hadn't been 00:13:00anywhere, or been away from home like that.

Angela: But I remember some of the upperclassmen, Natalie Connor came by, Julia Weaver, a couple of the upperclassmen came by to check on me, and that made me feel better. And then I remember, as I was going to either orientation or walking across campus, everybody was just really friendly. And so I started to get comfortable, and as I was meeting people from out of state, from different countries, the thing they kept saying is, "Wow, people in North Carolina are really nice," you know? And I hadn't thought about that, and as I've gotten older it's like, that southern hospitality, there's something to it. Because there is a certain level of unity, a certain level of togetherness, unity, you 00:14:00know... we're one, and I felt that.

Angela: I felt comfortable after I got over watching my mother and siblings drive away and leaving me behind, even though they were only fifteen minutes away. It still didn't matter because I wasn't going to be in the house with my mom.

Angela: And so that's the thing that I do remember is, after getting over that initial shock, is feeling very at home. Having, as I said, a sense of belonging. Even back then, the racial makeup of the University now is far different than it was then, but it wasn't a big deal to me. I don't recall seeing that as a big issue for me at that time.

Angela: I think when I look back on things now, I can say that there probably were some underlying things that I didn't notice, that I go "Oh, so that's what that was," that naiveness that I had, because I'm the type of person that I try to focus on the positives first. And so I've been called naïve a few times, like "Angie, really?" It's like, "Yeah, what did you see? Were we at the same place?"

Angela: So I think that that's one of those things where I can say if I look back, and if I had to study some different situations, were there some racial undertones related to...? Yeah, probably, but at the time I didn't get it. I just felt like I was at my... this is my home, this is my school.

Angela: On the basketball team, oh my gosh, we were so unified. At the time I 00:16:00think that there were maybe only two blacks, or African Americans, on the team. Ruby Smith and myself, we were the only two my first year. But I didn't feel that, I didn't feel that at that time. And so when I think about it now, it's like you know what, there were only two of you. And then as time... you know, the next class coming in a couple more may have come along, but we were the only two initially.

Angela: But it wasn't an issue for me because again, I like to say that I am a people person, and I used to just talk to everybody, and that's the way I was, I am like that a little bit but I've grown up and matured a little bit, where now it's like, you have to be careful. You can't just let everything be out in the 00:17:00open, you have to put a wall up and decide when to let it down, and so forth and so on as I've matured.

Lacey Wilson: So tell me about going and meeting the team that first fall. Because you just moved in, they're comforting you already.

Angela: Yeah, they were great. As I said, Natalie, she was a redhead, she was a fireball. She was so funny, just thinking about her now. "Hey girl!" Just like she's been knowing me forever, and it's just like okay... And then Julia, those were the main two that came and checked on me, and I'm assuming just knowing Coach Agee the way... and just based off of my experience, that's the way it was. The upperclassmen, you took care of the underclassmen. You took them under your wings, and you tried to show them how things work.

Angela: But I remember just being very nervous, because number one, during my first year women's basketball was transitioning from playing with the big ball. 00:18:00So we used to play with the same ball that the men played with, see people may not know that, oh my gosh I'm telling my age. But we used to play with the same size ball, and so the NCAA changed that where we were now playing with the smaller ball. For different reasons, some people say it's so the women can dunk because we could get the rim, because I actually could get the rim. But, hands aren't big enough, can't palm the ball, and so forth and so on.

Angela: And so they changed the ball, and I remember we used to have what they call open gym. And it wasn't a scheduled practice but it was just you were in there, and you just practiced and played pick up. And the very first shot I took with that small ball, you want to know what it was? It was an air ball. I was so embarrassed. I was mortified. I was like, I wanted to crawl up under a rock. Because I was like, they're going to be like "Why did we get her? She's not any 00:19:00good," and everyone's like "Why is she here?" You know, because the pressure's on because everybody wants to see what you bring to the table. Why is this person on this team?

Angela: And so I remember, that was funny. I shot an air ball and I was just like, oh my goodness. If OMG was out then, I would have said that. But I transitioned, I adjusted to the smaller ball, and just really my upbringing, as I described my mother working the way she worked to make sure we had what we needed... I mean we still struggled, there were times we didn't have food, things like that, but at the end of the day people chipped in to help us. And so that sense of urgency, hard work, determination, those things really helped me 00:20:00on the court, in life in general, in the classroom, because all through high school and middle school I was always honor roll. Always wanted to get the best grades. And so that transferred to basketball, and I just remember, I'm going all out. I'm just going to give you everything I have, I'm leaving it on the court.

Angela: And that is what I did. I used to stay after practice almost every day, because when I came in I came in as a three, a shooting guard. I would run the baseline, shoot jump shots. And I actually didn't learn how to shoot a jump shot until my junior year, when I went to camp at NC State, Kay Yow's basketball camp. Before that, I shot like this, no one had ever taken the time to show me how to shoot correctly. I went to camp, they showed me how to shoot correctly, and then my junior year is when I actually was shooting a regular jump shot. I actually won little award for MVP that year, some great things happened.

Angela: And so that helped me again decide, you know what? Hard work pays off. I'm not worried about this person, I'm not worried about that person, focus on what you need to do. Give them everything you have and if everybody does that, then we can be great together. You know, that team thing. And that was something that Coach Agee really emphasized, it was all about team. There were no stars. I may have, as time went on, been the leading scorer or rebounder and all that, but we never had an award ceremony where there was an MVP, we never did anything like that. It was always a team thing. And I think that that is what helped us to be one of the best teams that have come through here, going to the Final Four 00:22:00my junior year.

Angela: Again, Coach Agee was phenomenal in building that team camaraderie that it's not about you, it's all about us as a unit. And so, I believe that that's why we were so successful.

Lacey Wilson: Talk more about Coach Agee, because that's a pivotal relationship.

Angela: Oh my gosh... I'm not supposed to hit that, but-

Lacey Wilson: You're fine.

Angela: Lynn Agee, she will always hold a very special place in my heart, and I say that because she was like a second mother, to not only me but so many of the girls, because she wanted to expose us to things that most of us or some of us had never been exposed to. I remember we would actually... all of our trips and 00:23:00our games, there was a purpose behind it. Yes, we were going to play basketball, but she made sure that there was an educational component to it, that there was a cultural experience for us.

Angela: Especially, here I am this little project kid, having been to Maryland to visit her father, but pretty much hadn't been much of anywhere. And so she really created those real world experiences, or some cultural experiences that I hadn't experienced before. She always made sure that we ate in nice restaurants, where we had the nice place settings, and table settings, and things. It's a little thing that, as a team, we'd be like "Wow, we're eating in a nice restaurant!" You know, the players, we would say stuff like, "The orange juice was two dollars and fifty cents," versus the 99 cents that you're used to drinking.

Angela: So we really appreciated those little things. It was almost like, "You 00:24:00know we're going on a trip, and by the way we're going to play a basketball game while we're there. Or we're going to play a couple games while we're there. But we're going to go to Graceland, we're going to go to Disney World, we're going to go to Disneyland, we're going to go to this museum, we're going to go to that..." and so that is really what made me, and I speak for myself, helped me to give a greater appreciation for her as not the coach but as a second mother. Someone that was implanting or planting seeds beyond the basketball court.

Angela: And to this day, Lynne, she knows that I love her dearly. She has been and was like a surrogate mother, and my mom really appreciates and respects her, and is thankful for what she was able to do for me. And so she's just a phenomenal person, beyond being a phenomenal coach. Very intelligent, knew the 00:25:00game, had a strong desire for young people, you could tell that the relationship piece was very important to her. All she wanted you to do is just give her your absolute best, and to show respect, be responsible.

Angela: So those are the things that come to mind when I think of Lynne. She was... my years with her and with the women's basketball program were some of the best years of my life, because I experienced my first time flying, with Coach Agee. As I said, went to Graceland with the women's basketball team. Both Disney World and Disneyland with Coach Agee. The aquarium with Coach Agee. Just so many things, and so I'm very appreciative of what she was able to contribute to my life, my experiences, because that has helped to shape me. It's one of 00:26:00those things where you say you want to pay it forward. It's like somebody does something for you, it's like you keep that cycle going.

Angela: And so, with the things that my mother instilled in me, and then my experiences here at the University with women's basketball, and beyond the basketball, I mean I could talk about that also, but those things really helped to shape who I am.

Lacey Wilson: So still staying on the basketball, what do you remember about the first season here at UNCG?

Angela: Well, the first season I remember we were playing in Park Pit Packer. I actually have a piece of that. Let me get it. Excuse me.

Angela: This is a part of the floor from Park Pit Packer, this is where we used to play. So they had some of these made, and that one was given to me by Jana Henderson. But I remember the very first game, where I didn't start. However, I 00:27:00remember that I was put in the game very early, you know I was a freshman, maybe 18... it was 20 minute halves, and I think by the 18 minute mark or 17 minute mark, I was in the game. And if memory serves me correctly, I didn't come out. And so from that game forward, the next game forward, I started my entire career.

Angela: I just remember being... when I think about the game, it's like you're in a zone. You're scared to death, but you're just going to play hard. And that's what I remember about that game, I don't remember my exact stats but obviously I had to have done pretty well for her to say, "You're starting from now on." Because I don't think she had ever started a freshman before. I may be wrong about that, but I don't think she had, and so I think I may have been one 00:28:00of the first times she decided, "Hmm, we're going to start this freshman."

Angela: I just remember running up and down the court, and just feeling free, feeling proud to have on that uniform, because I felt... I don't know, while I'm sitting here thinking about it, it's just really interesting to reminisce and to actually try to picture and reflect. That's why I keep looking up, because I'm thinking about it and seeing myself on the court, and just that whole first college game experience, your family in the stands... oh gosh, my family.

Angela: I would have so many people at the games, I mean every game. Even when we traveled, most of the time my family traveled. We played at Christopher 00:29:00Newport, Virginia Beach, Newport News, Virginia, and my family traveled in the snow to come see me play, because I wanted them to be there, and they did. And so, we always had a great fan base. That's why they called it Park Pit Packer, and it was always packed. It was so loud, and it was small but nonetheless, it was a great building. It was great to play in front of the people in Park Gym.

Lacey Wilson: How did it feel to be student athlete, because you're still a freshman, you're still getting used to being in a new place.

Angela: Oh my gosh, my freshman year academically was horrible. My first semester, I was stunned. I remember getting my report card after the first semester, and I thought it was wrong. I was like, that's not right. I went to 00:30:00the professor, because I think it was an economics class I believe, and I had a B in there, going to the exam. Well, I ended up getting a D or an F, I think it was a D, and I was like, that's wrong.

Angela: I went to her, and I was like well I had a B, what... and she's like "Well you didn't do well on your exam," I was like how could I not do well? I studied, I did! I knew it, I knew the stuff. And like, "You didn't do well on your exam." I cried, I went to coach Agee, I cried and cried. I was like I've never seen grades like this before, because I was so used to always having honor roll. And she said, "Angie," she was like, "This is normal. Sometimes freshmen, their first semester is not their best, we're sure you're going to be okay. We're going to connect you with resources," and all this.

Angela: And so, from that point on it got better. My grades went up by the end of my freshman year, but following that, I went to summer school every summer, took some courses, just so I wouldn't have too many courses while basketball season was on. And so I would try to take two or three during the summer, so I would not go over 12-15 hours during basketball season. Because you end up missing classes sometimes.

Angela: But after that, I maintained above a 3.0, when I graduated my GPA was above a 3.0. And that was good considering playing basketball, looking at how I would miss class sometimes. Especially my junior year when we went to the final four, we literally were leaving on Wednesday, coming back on Sunday. Left on Wednesday, come back on Sunday, and we did that for several weeks. And so trying to maintain that schedule was complicated, it was challenging, but I was able to 00:32:00do so.

Lacey Wilson: Did you declare a major when you came in?

Angela: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Initially it was Early Childhood Education. I always knew I wanted to work with kids, and so started out with early childhood education, and then UNCG went through shifting some of their majors, and so then I shifted from early childhood... or I made early childhood education a minor, and I made education... what was it called? I'm thinking about my master's... K-6 education as my major, and then with the early childhood minor is what I ended up doing.

Lacey Wilson: Did you take education courses when you first came in? Or is it-

Angela: No, I think if memory serves me correctly, it was those base courses, your psychology, your sociology, your biologies, I hated biology.

Angela: I hated biology, but I took... at that time, my adviser had me sign up for Biology 101, which was really biology for biology majors, and I was in there with that lab and all of that stuff, and I did not do well, needless to say. So they put me in Biology 105, which is the one I should've been in to begin with, and I did fine in there. And I actually, amazingly, did really well in psychics. I was stunned. I didn't care for chemistry that much, but I did well enough. I think got a B. I think it was a B in those classes. But initially that was... I did not like it.

Lacey Wilson: Makes a little bit of sense thinking about the connection to math, though.

Angela: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Lacey Wilson: There's a lot of physics that's just...

Angela: Right. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Lacey Wilson: Makes a lot of sense

Angela: It did. I remember taking physical fitness. I think it was... I don't know what it's called now, but I think it was called Physical Fitness for Life. 00:34:00I took that, and I took the history classes and a lot of child development, economic classes, just things that were of interest. Required, but then any of my electives it needed to be something that I had an interest in.

Lacey Wilson: Any notable classes your first year going in?

Angela: My first year, any notable classes. I can't think of any that stand out, but I will say one summer I took a history class under Dr. Rosenblum I think was his name, and he really made me enjoy history on a different level. I don't know what it was, but I thoroughly enjoyed that class. I got an A in it, and then Dr. 00:35:00Calhoun... Was he history or he was in education? I don't remember, but he was another professor that stands out that I remember enjoying, surprisingly.

Angela: And then Dr. Karen King, she was in health, and she was a major supporter of women's basketball, and I remember taking her class. I think this was... may have been a required course, a methods course for health, and I remember during the time when we were... I think it was my junior year with her, she... we had been... It was during exams, and I'm going to class, leaving class, going to practice, doing work, doing... just that routine, and there were a lot of projects that were due, studying for exams, and I remember one week during this exam... I'm sure it was exam week, I literally didn't get any sleep. 00:36:00I wasn't going to sleep. And so her project was due, and I remember I had gone to practice, come back to the room, stayed up all night, going to... you know, just... And I slept... Her class was at eight o'clock, and I overslept. She called me. She said, "Angie Polk, you better get your butt in class now." And I was like, "Okay, I'm coming, I'm coming."

Angela: So I got dressed really quickly, and I went, and I just... when I got there, I put the project [inaudible 00:36:41] and I just cried. I was like, "I'm so tired." I was like, "I'm just so tired," and so she talked to me and she calmed me down. I was like, "I'm not getting any sleep. I'm just going to practice to class and eating and practice to class," and I was like, "I'm tired. I want to go to sleep." And so she helped me through that, but I do remember 00:37:00that. She called, and I woke up like, "What time is it?" And she was like, "You're late." I was like, "Oh my gosh, she left her class to call me." But, to me, that meant, I said she really cared.

Angela: She really cared, and I believe she felt like she had to do that as like... I would say knowing Karen, she probably called everybody that wasn't there to say, "I'm going to give everybody a shot," but at the same time I would like to think that she did it because she wanted to make sure... she didn't want to have to give me an F for not bringing my project, because there was no exception. If you didn't turn it in, that was it. It was due when it was due, and so if I hadn't turned that project in I would've been done. And so I always remember her for that. I can see Karen's face just as clear right now, just, "Angie Polk, girl."

Lacey Wilson: So I think we're going to switch in sophomore year, unless there's anything else freshmen you wish had -

Angela: Well, you know a lot of the stuff I've been telling you is a combination of everything, because I can't single out year by year, it's a hodgepodge. As far as basketball is concerned, I will say I do remember after my freshmen year, because I would make all the tournament teams and all this stuff, discovering or have an "aha" moment that you're pretty good. You didn't know you were good. But Coach Agee and Carol they were able to pull everything out. They tapped into all of my talent. They saw it. And they utilized it to the team's advantage. And so that's what I can say after my freshman year. I didn't get the big hit, but it 00:39:00was like "wow, all I ever needed was someone to show me."

Angela: And I go back to when I didn't know how to do a layup. Somebody took the time to show me how to do it. You show me how to do it, I'm going to be good at it. I got good at layups. Then, coming into college basketball, okay "we're going to make you a post-player." I wasn't a post-player. "Show me how to do it." I eventually became an All-American. That was the routine. If you show Angie how to do it, she's going to perfect it. And that's just who I am, and that comes again. I come back to my mother. Watching my mother work the way that she worked doing everything she could to give us her best. And so that's why I work the way I work.

Angela: I work very long hours just like my mom, I've spent the night in my office multiple times, meeting deadlines, getting things done, but again, you show me, I'm gonna perfect it. And that's what happened, because I wasn't a post player. But I stayed after every day and worked on becoming a post player. Sean, Carol, showing me the post moves. Up and under, baby hook, we used to watch video together. She was like "Angie, we got some video." Sit there, watch it, then "let's go try it." And we would go out and try it. That's really what helped develop my game.

Lacey Wilson: Okay.I just want to shift into when you're no longer a freshmen then, when you're seeing new freshmen players come in and being part of a team in that slightly different sense, I want to get a feel of that.

Angela: I think as the upper class started to graduate, you start to realize, 00:41:00"Oh, it's your turn." And so it's one of those things where you want to model appropriate behavior, you want them to see what's acceptable, what is okay when it comes to being a Spartan, being affiliated with UNCG Women's Basketball. And I took a real special pride in that. Number one, I felt a sense of loyalty not only to the University, but to Coach Agee and to Carol because of them believing in me, giving me a chance to shine, giving me a chance to get an education, giving me a chance to be the first, to graduate or go to college and possibly graduate with a degree, because I am the first in my family to go to college and 00:42:00graduate with a four year degree. So I'm very appreciative of that because of Coach Agee and Carol and the University. People jokingly say "I bleed blue and gold," and I do, because I feel such a sense of loyalty to the University. I appreciate everything it has brought to my life, and basketball was just a vehicle or tool to help get me to where I am now.

Angela: The biggest thing that I think about specifically when I start talking about the University, because it was past just the basketball, Nelson Bobb was the Athletic Director at the time. Jim Allen, I think he was in student affairs. There were some people that were so supportive of us, and they made sure that we 00:43:00number one, were taken care of. Not only on the court, but in the classroom. There was this thing that we truly were students first, athletes second. Athletics had a program where you had to go to the library every Sunday night for study hall. I believe it may have been for definitely all underclassmen, and if there were any upperclassmen that were struggling or didn't have a certain GPA, they were required to be in attendance.

Angela: Carol who was the assistant coach at the time, she was on it. She kept up with our grades. She called us in, she did so much as assistant coach to make 00:44:00sure we would graduate and that everyone was graduating, and I don't know what our graduation percentage was. But if I were a betting woman, I'm sure it was probably one of the top for athletics, if not the highest. But definitely among the top two or three sports.

Lacey Wilson: And around this time is when you started getting entered into tournaments into all star stuff. I want to switch over to you getting that "aha" moment.

Angela: Every year at the end, even at the end freshman year, we played in the Dixie Conference Tournament. Well, we always won. And we now make the all-conference team, I think my freshman year may have been the second team all-conference. And I just remember I was like "This is cool. I'm playing 00:45:00basketball." It was cool to watch me blossom. To know that you weren't highly recruited when you were in high school. But once you got to college, once given the chance, once you show me, just show me. I'm going to make something happen, because I'm going to give everything I have.

Angela: I do the same thing at the Middle College. Once you show me, it's on. Something's going to happen. My pastor said this, he said "Everything you touch," he didn't use the term turns into gold ... I think he did. He was introducing me for speaking or something, and he said "everything she puts her hands on, it prospers, it turns into gold, it ends up being something great. And 00:46:00I take credit, but I can't say I take credit alone. It has so much to do with my upbringing. My mother, and her hard work. Lynn Agee, and foremost God, just having that faith and relationship with Him and knowing He can make all things possible. Those things together is a perfect recipe for overcoming any obstacles, any challenges you may have. And so I look at those things and I just shake my head and think "Yeah, that's it." It's really interesting sitting here talking to you. It's like "Show me, and I'm going to make something happen."

Lacey Wilson: So the other question I have is when you were named First Team All-American.

Angela: Oh, yeah.

Lacey Wilson: Let's get into that.

Angela: Well, that was surreal. I just remember thinking "Wow." I would get the other accolades and the all-conference. Because my freshmen year was first, second team I think from that point on. Second year on it was always first team all-conference, all-regional, all this, and I'm just like "wow." It was one of those things I never got the big hit. I never became stick my chest out, that person, but when I was named All-American, I was just like "What? You're one of the best in America?" And it was surreal. But there was a sense of pride and I 00:48:00just remember thinking about my mom, and how proud I was making her. It's almost like I want to say "Mom, see, all your hard work is paying off." And not just from my perspective, but from my other siblings dealing with it, but I just felt like this was something she could be proud of because her baby girl was working hard and this is what she has to show for it. Her hard work is paying off, your hard work has paid off.

Angela: And so I just remember being in disbelief that I had been selected as an All-American, but being very proud. Very proud, and thinking back to all those schools that didn't give me the time of the day, because I wasn't quote unquote "the star at the time." Look what you could have had. But no, I'm glad I ended 00:49:00up being where I am.

Lacey Wilson: And so we have to talk about junior year, when we make it.

Angela: Junior year is when everything ... a lot happened my junior year. That was obviously the year we went to the Final Four, it was the year I was selected as an All-American. That was the year we beat Rust Mississippi, because Rust was ... was that my sophomore or my ... Donna Sneed was on the team so it must have been either my sophomore or junior year.

Angela: UNCG, before I even came, always had a hard time getting past Rust Mississippi. And I remember we were down by one, and Lynn called a time out, and 00:50:00she said "get the ball in to Angie." And she typically was like "get the ball into Angie," but typically it was "get the ball into Angie." And I remember "I can see it, I can see it, I can see it." Our bench is over here. Donna comes around, and I'm posting up, I'm getting ready to post up, but Donna comes around and I post it. She bounce passed the ball into me, and I get it, drops still, and we win the game. And that was so huge, we were on our way. We've gotten past Rust, we're in here to win this thing. We were going to win it.

Angela: We traveled to some of everywhere. I had never traveled to these places. 00:51:00Every week just about flying somewhere. I remember one of the most interesting things during that time was when we went to Idaho, we were in the hotel and I don't know if these kids were on a field trip, I don't recall the details. But one of the little girls, all Caucasian girls, and maybe there were three blacks at the time. And the little girl says "Look mommy, there's a black person." So it was just like "Okay, that was really interesting." It's one of those things you go like "She's never seen a black person?" But we were in Idaho. I just 00:52:00remember that, looking like you're an alien, or "Wow, they do exist!" Type thing. That was one of the interesting things there.

Angela: I remember going to Kentucky, I think we were playing Centra, but it was Center College and we played so many, I can't remember all of them, but I do remember some of those trips, and finally when we got to the Final Four, it was in Fargo, North Dakota. Flat, flat, flat. As we were getting off the plane, you could look and see everything. There was snow on the ground, and I just remember that it was really cold. And we went to Fargo. It was Concordia, Maine, what was 00:53:00the other team? I don't remember the other team, but anyway, we stepped out on that court, and they had all giants. I was the post-player. Here I am five-nine, and that's stretching it. They had six-two.

Angela: It was land of the giants and I kid you not, every time I got the ball, only because the scouter report talked a lot about me, and other players, but that I was supposedly the strongest player on the team, they needed to stop me in order to win. They did. They double teamed, I could not get a shot off. I was 00:54:00mortified. They smothered me. And I may have scored nine points in that game, but I looked around a lot that game. I couldn't get a shot off. They were bigger than I was, which I was used to playing against larger players. That wasn't unusual, because five eight, five nine as a post-player, you're kind of short. But I could score. I usually could score, but when you had several six footers and as soon as you got the ball, it was just like this all around me. I was always doing this, looking, trying to ... "somebody come get the ball." Just trying to get rid of it.

Angela: That game, I felt like I had let my team down. I felt so badly after that game, because I felt that I didn't step up the way I needed to. I tried. I 00:55:00couldn't get a shot off. Other players did their part, but we just didn't have enough. In order for us to win, everyone had to do what they had always done, and they put a stop to my usual contribution. It was horrible. it took me a while to get over that.

Angela: But, the next game it was on. We won. "Okay, we are not going out here in fourth place. We lost, lets move past it for the night." But yeah, I think that game I may have had 16 points. But that was the norm with us. That's what I loved about us. It was pretty equal. Every now and then, yes, I would score. I 00:56:00had several games in the 30s, I think the most was 33, 35. Couple of games like that, 32, 30, 28, 29. Lot of games like that. But for the most part, we had equal scoring. When I say equal scoring, I may have been at 15 points a game, or somebody else may have been at 11 or 10. It wasn't just "Angie Polk is averaging 25 points and everybody else is averaging four or five points." It was a total team effort. My strength was also my rebounding. A lot of people don't know that I also have over a thousand rebounds, and I think there's only two women's basketball players to ever do a thousand points plus a thousand rebounds.

Angela: And so that was my thing. And the other thing was stealing. I had a lot of steals. I loved defense and making things happen. I loved the 131, the 131 matchup, and I was the back of it, where it was like you had to anticipate the pass, and I would get a lot of steals off of that. We had a lot of fast breaks. Those were the keys to our success. We were going to run you off the floor. Sometimes I would get a rebound and I would shoot past people and get down on the floor, and I got a layup. That was just that drive, that determination to just score and win. I get excited just thinking about it.

Lacey Wilson: So I want to back up just a little bit, this was the first time UNCG had gone to the Final Four.

Angela: No, it was the second.

Lacey Wilson: That's on me. I wanted to ask about campus atmosphere when you're going there, because it's still so huge.

Angela: It was. I'm trying to think, did we do something in Cone Ballroom? The interesting thing about the Final Four is it's the worst possible time because it's usually spring break. And so you don't have as much of the support as you want, but you have some. The cheerleaders went with us. We had some great cheerleaders. We have some great cheerleaders now, but they were before their time. They were really good. They would get the crowd in there. They did such an awesome job, but the cheerleading squad went with us. Then different departments, you know Jim Allen and Nelson and the Haroldsons, different people across campus supported. And we had a little crew of fans that had T-shirts made with different players' numbers on, it had a "U" on the front, and our number on the back. We had a little fan base that followed us and to support us. But it is 00:59:00not, again, when we were doing that, it was spring break. You didn't have as many as you would have liked to have had.

Angela: But we had great support. We really did.

Lacey Wilson: And then we gotta talk about you all time leading score.

Angela: Yes, I remember a couple of things. We were at Christopher Newport, and I had I think 32 points that game, and Lynn had taken me out. And then our AD at the time, Todd Buckner, he said something about ... I don't know if he said it after the game, but I remember there being a conversation about, "You should have let her in there, let her break the scoring record per game." But for me I 01:00:00didn't really care about that stuff. I like for things to just happen. I don't necessarily care to plan out breaking the record if you know what I mean. I didn't know that I was breaking the record until it was brought to my attention when I was doing an interview, because Lynn, because of who she was, it wasn't about that. That's the way I am. And I was being interviewed about playing Greensboro College, and they said "How does it feel to be 28 points away from breaking the scoring record?" And I'm like "I didn't know I was 28 points away from breaking the scoring record."

Angela: So that put pressure on me, and obviously I didn't break the record the next game. But I think I was like "if they hadn't said anything, I probably would have broken the record that particular game." It was like "How do you feel?" "I didn't know I was about to break the record. I don't feel any one particular way. My thing is I just want to go out here and play and I'm going to play hard when I do it."

Lacey Wilson: That makes sense. So I think we're going to not really end, because we're not going to stop talking about basketball, but I think it's important for us to reflect at this point about just being a part of the tradition of women's sports at UNCG, so do you have any reflections on that at this point?

Angela: Rephrase the question again?

Lacey Wilson: Sure. Thinking about the history of women's sports here at UNCG, it went from a women's college, but we've always had a big sports tradition. How 01:02:00does it feel to be a part of that?

Angela: It's an honor because a couple of reasons. This used to be the Women's College. I'm happy and it's great that it transitioned from a co-ed college, not a problem or anything. But I think it's important that women's history, that the female component of it, that we preserve that history before it became co-ed and once it did become co-ed that we don't lose sight of it. The continuing contributions that women are making to the University, the sports, things of that nature. I think about that when you said that for some reason the picture 01:03:00of the Minerva came up, the female, and I know the University's transitioning with the logo, playing around with that ... oh you didn't know that? Sorry. I don't know if you should put that in there. That's fine. It just made me think about that, and for me, being an African American woman, I think that that is huge, given the history, because you had UNCG or Women's College, and then you had A&T. And so because of segregation and all that, for me to be the first student athlete period for any sport, male or female, to have their jersey 01:04:00retired, that's special in itself.

Angela: Not just because I am a female, not just because I'm an athlete, but because I'm an African American female, and so that is an important part of the history for the University I think that you know the transition that the University has made to integrating and creating a diverse culture and unifying different cultures. Those types of things I think is very important for the history, and to be able to be a part of that is really special. Again, it's one of those things when all of that was happening, it was like "what? You're going to do what?" Like yeah, yours is the first one in the school's history. I 01:05:00remember being told as a grad assistant, because I had to do my student teaching, and I was going through depression, or withdrawal. Let's not say "depression," I won't use that term lightly.

Angela: But I was going through withdrawal from no longer playing basketball. I felt a loss.i was hurting. I missed it so.and so I was finishing my student teaching, because again I couldn't do it, I didn't play basketball, you can't get all your hours in. And I remember Lynn telling me, because she could tell. It's just like "I don't matter anymore, and I don't know what to do." And she's like "Angie," she said something along these lines, "your contributions to this 01:06:00University will never be forgotten."

Angela: Contributions to this university will never be forgotten, or something, you know, basically we appreciate you.

Angela: And she said, in fact, she said "I wasn't going to tell you this, but your jersey's being retired at the game on Saturday."

Angela: And I was like "what"?. You know, she's like "Yes, your jersey's being retired, it's the first one in the schools -" And I was just like "what?". You know, all I could say is what. And I just started crying, and we hugged and embraced and everything and was like "Oh I'm sorry", you know. But I just remember that conversation, and I remember the feelings that I was having. I didn't know what to do, because basketball and this university had become so much a part of who I was, it became my identity.

Angela: I felt such a sense of loyalty, and I didn't want to leave it. I did not want to leave this university, I did not want to leave basketball, I just wanted 01:07:00to say here. I did, because I was so appreciative. The love that I have in my heart for the university, and for what is done, is hard to put it into words. But I truly appreciate everything, and so that's what I was dealing with at that moment, because I was like "It's going to be over, I'm going to be done. Then what?".And then she was like "No, you'll always be a part of it, as a matter of fact we're going to show you how much we appreciated what you've done.". And they had invited my family, my student teacher, everybody. I was just like "Oh man, I messed up their surprise.". I did, I was like I messed up their surprise, I said, I guess she's like I'm not going to torture her anymore, I got to tell 01:08:00her something otherwise she's going to lose her mind.

Lacey Wilson: Right.

Angela: But yes, it was a tough time. Yeah, so that was my experience when I found out that my jersey was being retired. And I didn't even know, a lot of the records, I didn't know that I had broken them.

Angela: And again, I like to just do what I'm supposed to do, and what comes along, it comes along. It's like, "You know what you did a really good job at A, B, C and D, as a result this is what happens." Not, if you do this you do this, you know, now that motivates me also, but at the same time I'm the type of person I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do, I'm going to go all out, and I'm going to give you everything that I have and then some. And then whatever 01:09:00happens as a result of that, that's what happens. You will never be able to say that Angie Polk, Angie Polk-Jones went halfway or didn't give you her all. Whatever I do, I always give it my all. Always give it my all. That's just the way I was raised.

Lacey Wilson: So I wanna shift into the education bit. Because we've done a bit about basketball, and I want to get to 'cause you were a student athlete still.

Angela: Right, right.

Lacey Wilson: So, when did you start taking education classes? Like the sophomore year probably?

Angela: I did, they called it a practicum. Where I had to do 10 hours and I did it at Moorehead Elementary School. The teacher was Ms. Smouse, I remember her, and I remember having to do just 10 hours and working with students over there. 01:10:00And that was my sophomore year, and then the junior year, or was that my junior year? I think that was all I did before I actually did my student teaching.

Lacey Wilson: Okay.

Angela: I did my student teaching at Oakridge Elementary, with Ms. Raker. That was, oh gosh I loved that, I really enjoyed that, I mean to actually get in there. I remember I had a spiral notebook, or a spiral tablet, that I would literally script out everything I was gonna say, everything I was gonna do. And I remember walking around, just like do it until you get comfortable. That's what I did. I mean, I enjoyed it, I did. I perfected that thing. I was like "I'm 01:11:00going to be good at this". Really enjoyed it and I knew that this is what I'm meant to do.

Lacey Wilson: Do you have any proudest accomplishments in learning about K-6?

Angela: Yes, I would say actually learning how to connect with students. Learning how to deliver instruction appropriately. Learning how to meet the needs of individual students. Of course I didn't learn all of this over night. As time progressed, definitely having a lot of a-ha moments. I mean, even now as a principle I'm trying to instill that in teachers, and especially beginning teachers and trying to get them to see you can't do the same thing for all kids. 01:12:00I feel like I was, I don't want to say before my time, but I got that. I got that early on. I was able to get that you got to try different things, because everybody not going to learn by you just sitting here reading to them. You have to do some manipulatives, to reach the kinesthetic learner, the auditory learner, the visual learner. You've got to tap into all of those things, in order to reach all of those kids. Because some kids might be mostly one, mostly the other, and then some are going to be a combination.If you when you're teaching if you use all three within your lessons, then you're covered. You're going to cover everything.

Lacey Wilson: Right.

Angela: So that was one of those things that I got early on, once I started teaching. That okay, relationships, connecting with students, figuring out how they learn best, and as a result I ended up becoming an EC teacher also. I've 01:13:00been teaching kids with learning disabilities. Because I felt a connection with them, even when I was teaching regular classes, those kids that struggled I was able to reach them in my class. So when I left teaching after, was it 8 years? I think it was 8 years, 8 or 10 years, after I left teaching and when I came back in I was like "I want to do EC. I want to work with kids with learning disabilities". So that's what I did, and I did that for five years.

Angela: I would say that those were the things along the way that are my proudest moments with K-6 education is basically the connections, relationships with the students and meeting their individual needs.

Lacey Wilson: And then I've got a couple questions just about UNCG, how'd you 01:14:00feel about living on campus?

Angela: I loved it.

Lacey Wilson: Yeah?

Angela: Oh my goodness, I loved it. You couldn't get me out of the door. I would stay here holidays, I would be the last one to leave. You hear me?

Lacey Wilson: Yeah.

Angela: I would stay in there until they were like "Okay, gotta go." I would not leave. Because, number one, it was teaching me more responsibility, you know I felt sort of grown being on my own.

Lacey Wilson: Sure.

Angela: And just having your own space, not having anybody to answer to, you know, so I stayed here until the absolute last minutes. It was so funny. People were like "You live right here in Greensboro, why are you here?" I was like "Because I can. I don't want to go back home yet, because at the end when I go home I'm going to have to answer to my mom, going to have to tell her everywhere I go, and I'm not used to that. I've gotten used to doing what I want to do."

Angela: But so you know, I loved living in the dorms. I loved just rolling out of the dorm room. Because by my junior and senior year I was in Gray. So the cafeteria was right across, you know just rolling out walk across the street, get your food, come back. You know, on the weekends and what have you.

Lacey Wilson: Do you remember any traditions over your time at UNCG as a student?

Angela: I remember the few times that it did snow,was like "gotta go to the cafeteria and get a tray to go sledding." Did that, that's really the biggest one. And The Rawk, I'm thinking about the Apollo. Rubbing The Rawk. But just painting of The Rawk, and just like I didn't get it, it was like "Oh okay" different organizations and announcements and all that stuff, so The Rawk has been here forever. But those were the main ones that, that I later found out and 01:16:00was like "did they have this tradition when I was here?" Was about putting an apple on the Minerva over by EUC during exams. I was like I must have missed that because I never put an apple out there. But those would be the main ones that I remember.

Lacey Wilson: Any other social or academic events that stand out in your mind?

Angela: I didn't do much.

Lacey Wilson: Okay.

Angela: I literally went to class, I went to practice.

Lacey Wilson: Okay.

Angela: And I went to the cafeteria.

Lacey Wilson: Okay.

Angela: That was about the extent of what I did.

Lacey Wilson: That still is a lot.

Angela: Yeah, it was a lot because I was very focused. I didn't party, I didn't care for that. I've never been a partier. Every now and then the team would have something at Julia's apartment or something, and I would go to it and it was always fun and they always they always called me the square. Beth, Darrel, and I we two peas in a pod it's like "You got a Sprite Angie?" It was like we drank 01:17:00our Sprite and we'd have just as much fun. Its like we didn't need alcohol to have fun. So I didn't care for that stuff.

Lacey Wilson: Okay. So we're going to shift to graduation and afterwards then.

Angela: Okay.

Lacey Wilson: So, what year did you graduate?

Angela: I graduated in '89. December of '89. With my bachelors in Early Childhood ... A BS in Early Elementary Education. Why am I having a brain freeze? But I graduated with a BS in Elementary Education, K-6, with a minor in Early Childhood Education. That was, like I said in December of '89.

Lacey Wilson: And where did you go after that?

Angela: I stayed here. I got a job at Millis Road Elementary.

Lacey Wilson: Okay.

Angela: Teaching fourth grade. Taught there, at the same time I was approached 01:18:00by Coach Weaver over at Grimsly, who was a counselor there when I was there, and he had formally coached men's basketball and he was my softball coach when I was there. Sort of got recruited to coach women's basketball over at Grimsly.

Lacey Wilson: Okay. Was that the first time you coached?

Angela: Yes. In addition to that, I was asked to help out with an AAU basketball team. So all this coming at me was like okay, welcome to the real world.

Lacey Wilson: Right.

Angela: And so I was helping with the, I think it was the Greensboro Emeralds with Randy Dauss. I did that a little bit with him, and then I ended up coaching over at Grimsly, I did that for 8 years. So I was teaching at Millis Road Elementary in Jamestown, would leave there and rush to Grimsly for practice, and I did that for 8 years.

Angela: Then after it's like "Okay, what's next?" So that's when I decided I was going to try a couple of things. I think the WNBA, no that was after the third year. It was my third year of teaching and the WNBA started. And people were like "Angie you need to go try out, you need to go to try out." Well, I contemplated trying out, and I decided okay I'm going to try out for the WNBA or I'm going to go to Hollywood, go to California for the National Modeling and Talent Association, this big thing where people from all over the world. Because I was with a modeling agency at the time. And so after careful thought, I was like I don't want to leave my students. I just could not leave my students. I 01:20:00was like I don't want to leave my kids. So I opted to go to California for a week for this big modeling thing. Because I was like, if I go to the NBA I'm going to leave my students. But then I was like, I can do the modeling stuff on the side. You know, I was justifying all that.

Angela: So, I went to California, and I got a lot of callbacks. But then they were saying "We want you to move out to California." I was like, I'm not moving out to California, I'm not leaving my students. I ended up not doing that, I didn't do the NBA, the WNBA, I didn't do any of that. I just said I'm staying with my students, I'll just coach the high school basketball. So I did that, like I said, up to 8 years. And then Coach Agee called and asked if I wanted to be her assistant coach. I thought about it and I said, you know what let me give 01:21:00it a try. Curiosity got the best of me, wanted to see if this is for me, I was missing the kids.

Angela: I love working with the college girls, I loved the practices, but I became like a big sister in giving advice and those things. And I was loving that, I loved game time, but I absolutely hated all of the travel. I was gone all the time. I couldn't go to church, 'cause we were in practice or on the road. Didn't get to spend much time with my family. At the time, I got engaged, and then my husband he told me, he said "if you think I'm going to be in the gym every weekend, you got another thing coming." That became too much. So after two years of being an assistant coach, I told Linda I couldn't do it. But then she 01:22:00asked me to do it on a part time basis, so I went back to teaching and I decided I'm going to work with kids with learning disabilities. And I did the coaching part time where she said, you come after school you can come to the games, that type of thing. And so that's what I did for one year. After that it was like I can't do both.

Angela: I decided to apply to get my national board certification, and while I was applying for that the district sent out an email about a joint program between UNCG and Guilford County Schools where they were going to select, I think they selected 22 people to pay for their masters. I applied, at the same 01:23:00time I was looking at doing my national board certification, and I think there were 89 applicants. And I was one of the 22 that they selected out of the 89. And so applied, got accepted, then I got a call because what the district did is they interviewed all of the people that were applying. Well, I got calls to be an assistant principle before I took my first class. They were like "saw your interview, you'd be great." I was like, "I don't know what to do." Talk to my pastor, talk to my mother, talk to my husband, and it was like well go for it. And so, I accepted an assistant principle position, before I took any classes. I ended up doing my first assistant principle position and getting my master's at the same time.

Lacey Wilson: Wow.

Angela: Yes. Yes, but it was good.

Lacey Wilson: Yeah.

Angela: But I mean it was real world, hands on.

Lacey Wilson: Right.

Angela: I was doing both at the same time. So it was a lot of work.

Angela: But I learned a lot.

Lacey Wilson: Yeah.

Angela: It was good.

Lacey Wilson: And so how did you get brought into the Middle College after that?

Angela: Well I did that, I was two years at Eastern Guilford, because that was Joe Farrell, he was a principle there, he called me and asked me to come and interview. I interviewed at a couple, because different people had requested that I take their job. No, I turned Stewart, I think was his name, I turned him down. Because I was like no. And then I got another one, I was like why are they calling me already? I was like I haven't even taken any classes.

Angela: I was like "Its an honor, its a compliment, you did really well in your interview." So I took that one, and right away after a year he was like "You need to apply to be a principle," I was like no I don't. I was like, I just started, I haven't even finished my master's. And so I did that two years, finished that degree, and got moved, the district moved me from Eastern, as soon 01:25:00as I finished my degree they moved me from Eastern to Aycock, Aycock Middle School. Which was intercity, challenges, which was right up my alley, those are my people. I come from the projects.

Lacey Wilson: Right.

Angela: They put a whole new administrative team over there, and loved it. We did some amazing things over there. We put some things in place for those kids, things start turning around, the data start going up, discipline going down, we did some wonderful some amazing things over there with those kids.

Angela: I was there, and I was hearing about all these middle colleges. I was like well why doesn't UNCG have one? Because I advocate for UNCG no matter what. 01:26:00When I'm around ... In our community and it's "A&T! A&T!" And I'm like "Go Spartans!" And they're like "girl please," you know, I'm like A&T has one, everyone has one when is UNCG going to get one? There like "Oh there not, there not." And then years later its like, UNCG is getting a middle college, I said that's my school. I claimed it, I spoke it. I said that's my school. When I heard it, I went to the people who were from the district level, I said I can do UNCG. And they were like "Well Angie you're not even a principle". I said I know, I said I can do UNCG I said that's my school.

Angela: Dr. Whorl, she goes "Well Angie, you don't have high school experience, you don't have principalship experience, they want someone with experience," and 01:27:00I said "I know," I said "But I respectfully disagree. I can do UNCG." Time went by, they interview people, I submitted my application anyway. They interviewed this person, people that just knew they were gonna get it. Didn't get the right fit. I get a call maybe, I don't know if it was a month later but it was some time passed, and it was like "we want you to come in for an interview."

Angela: I went in for that interview, the home run, three point, whatever you want to call it.

Lacey Wilson: Sure.

Angela: And they called me, I believe it was probably the next day, with in a day or two and it was like "You got the job." And I was like, I told you I could do UNCG. And so at that point I got the notebook, there was a notebook and that was it. Nothing was in place. I'll take that back, the money on how the school 01:28:00as going to be funded through the state, the race to the top grants, the mission possible, all of that stuff, the powers that be for that part was worked out. So, what I had to do, is I had to come up with curriculum, pull in what's going to be offered. I mean there was some suggestions, but I had a notebook. And I had to put everything in place, I had to hire the teachers, I had to select the students, it was crazy. There were a hundred and something applications, and I had to select 50, I had to select 50 of them. And I went through interviewed probably 75 of them, at the time I was like I have to interview all these people? So interviewed them, selected the first 50, and most of them came from 01:29:00Aycock. Because I knew there stories, and because I was hired in April.

Lacey Wilson: Right.

Angela: The others I think had already gone through the process, so I didn't have the luxury of having from January or February until March or April to select. And so, I just remember having a meeting over at Aycock, and had the eighth graders come to the auditorium and invited them to apply. I did select several of those students, because I knew their stories, I knew their hardships, I knew they needed an environment that these middle colleges were supposed to offer. Single parent homes, first generation college goers, foster home, homeless, just all those things. I made sure some of those kids had the 01:30:00opportunity to come here. Thank God I did, because of that they graduated from high school whereas there was a possibility some of them wouldn't have had they not come to the Middle College at UNCG.

Angela: That's how it started out getting a lot of those kids. I did a lot of research. I'm backing up a little bit, I did a lot of research on middle colleges, whenever I applied. And so, before I applied I actually put a plan in place, of things I would do. I put in a tentative schedule, because it talked about in the research that I had, about how most middles colleges had like I called it connections. It was a window of time where you give students personalized attention, so like an AA an advisor-advisee period.

Lacey Wilson: Right.

Angela: And so I'd put that in the schedule where we could have assemblies, we could have guest speakers come in, it could be a time where the teachers just, you know what do you have going on with the students, help them with work. So that's incorporated in our schedule, and I had all that stuff laid out. I had so many details laid out, and I came so prepared for the interview, so that helped.

Angela: And so, that again contributed to me getting that call I do believe. So once they said you're hired, I started April 1st, so I left Aycock, my heart broke. Oh my heart broke. But I left Aycock, and I had an office downtown and went to the office, and I was just like, "What do I do?" I was like I don't have 01:32:00any principleship experience.

Lacey Wilson: Right.

Angela: Here I am like what did I get myself into? But, knowing me like I do, its like just start. Open the book, lets read, lets find out what's going on. Opened that book, and I still have that notebook. Looked at the details and said okay where do we start. Well, we gotta interview. I need some teachers. What positions, what is in the budget, because they gave us okay first you can hire three teachers, these are the three teachers you need to hire second year, three more. And you can hire a counselor. So I had to go through and do all that. Had to post those positions, had to read resumes, interview people, all of that stuff. Interview parents, just the whole nine yard. Had to go to Raleigh a lot for North Carolinas New Schools Project, to learn more about middle colleges, 01:33:00and so a lot going on, a lot going on. So I was being thoroughly educated on middle colleges and what these programs were about.

Angela: and so I'm like this is perfect, this is right up my alley. At risk kids, that have great potential or that may not thrive in a traditional setting, that just need somebody to believe in them, give them the opportunity to just flourish and become more than they've ever dreamed they could become. I was like, "This is so me, this is perfect for me." I just have a passion for helping kids blossom and just giving them an opportunity where they may not have thought they would have an opportunity.

Lacey Wilson: Alright so, is there anything else you wish we had talked about 01:34:00yet, because otherwise I'm hitting the sort of rounding up ending questions.

Angela: Well right now, there's just so much if we start at the middle colleges. Lets just start there. If I look at the Middle College, our first year we had 50 students, three teachers, a counselor, myself and one office support. That was very challenging to start a school from scratch, to have such a small staff, even though I only had 50 students and three teachers, I still was responsible for doing the same things that traditional schools that may have 2,000 students. All the deadlines, everything you still had to do all of that.

Lacey Wilson: Right.

Angela: So that was challenging, but in spite of that our very first year, we were an honor school of excellence. Show me, I'm going to do it.

Angela: Second year, third year just kept adding the layers, just adding the layers. For our first graduating class was 2015, 100% graduation rate, 2016 100%graduation rate, 2017 100% graduation rate. 2015, '16, '17 we were listed in US News and World Report as one of Americas best high schools. This past year, we're in the process of this now, we were named, the district nominated us for Americas Best Urban schools. Well we were the only school in the state of north Carolina selected as a finalist, and there's only 18 in the whole country that 01:36:00were selected. They came in February to visit with us, and we will find out in May whether we are, like, I guess they're going to narrow it down to maybe three or four. If we are selected for that, we will go to San Diego where they will name who America's Best Urban School is.

Angela: I say all of that because it goes back to when Mr. Scales took me aside I didn't know how to do a layup. I didn't know how to be a principle. But it was in me. The talent, the ability was in me. He took me aside and showed me how to do it. I didn't know how to do this, but the abilities were there. Show me what I need to do, I'm going to do it the best of my ability. When you do things to the best of your ability, great things happen. Basketball, again couldn't do a 01:37:00layup but became an All-American, because someone showed me what i needed to do. Somebody had the faith, the confidence in me to take me aside, to spend time with me, after practices. "Here, do this Angie." "Okay, is this right?" "Yeah. Repetition. Do it over and over again." "Oh, I'll stay here two hours with you, just show me, show me." Having that thirst, that yearning to just be your absolute best, to get everything out of you and leave it on the court so to speak. And I take that same mentality, in my job with my kids. These are my babies. I love these kids as if they were my own. And I want to see them prosper, I want to see them become all that they could possibly become.

Angela: When I was at Aycock one of the teachers said, he talked about what excellence is, and so I tell my students I use this, excellence is the process 01:38:00of becoming better than what you were the day before. When he said that, I was like "That is good." So all you can do is do your absolute best, my excellence is not going to be the same as yours, but if you're doing your absolute best and then you build on it each day, that's all you can do. That's all you can do. And that is how I live, that's who I am. And that is what has helped to get where I am today.

Lacey Wilson: So our wrap up questions are a sort of overall.

Angela: Okay.

Lacey Wilson: So, what do you remember about any of the chancellors you were under. I think you came in under Moran. Any memories of Moran?

Angela: Moran, he knew who I was, and I knew who he was.

Angela: Would be at, the way I know that he knew who I was, because after he 01:39:00left, whenever we would be at different events, because I continued to go to UNCG events. He always "Hey Angie. How are you?" Talked like he knew me. And I remember I don't know if it was me senior year or shortly after I left, I was asked to be on the Chancellor's Advisory Committee. So I was on his advisory committee for a while, what I remember about him is he seemed to be very ... Seemed to be a nice person but I didn't feel as comfortable as I felt with Sullivan and Brady. But I was an adult when I met them, so it was a respect 01:40:00thing. It was like "That's the chancellor." Almost like "That's the President of the United States." But he seemed to be a very nice person, I never had any negative encounters with him or heard any negativity about him.

Angela: He seemed to have the university's best interest at heart, from my perspective from where I was looking. But I don't know.

Lacey Wilson: That's fair. And Sullivan?

Angela: Sullivan wasn't here, I had graduated.

Lacey Wilson: But I wasn't sure if you were an assistant coach at that time?

Angela: Yes I was. I loved her. Again I was an adult by now. The best relationship I had was with Brady.

Lacey Wilson: Okay.

Angela: But I had a good relationship with Sullivan. She was always smiling, I 01:41:00smile all the time also so it was always like "Hey Angie!" You know, that type of thing. I had a lot of respect for her, she came across as a very strong woman and I admired that because again, being a woman in leadership, things are a lot tougher for you then if you were a man in leadership. And to compound that, being a black woman in leadership, things are much tougher.

Angela: So I look at strong women and take note of how they handle themselves and carry themselves and see what I can learn from them. So I saw her as ... She smiled all the time, definitely remember that. But she seemed from the encounters I had with her, she seemed to know what she was doing. And then when 01:42:00Linda Brady came, that's when I came on, I was here as a principal. Linda Brady and I, we just connected quickly. Because I was going to a lot of events, and this the Middle College, was her baby. So I think by, I don't want to say default, but by the natural course of things, it made sense that we ended up having a good relationship. Because I'm building this program that's part of her strategic plan, her baby, she approved it, she pushed it forward with the Board of Trustees and all that stuff. So it needed to be successful.

Angela: And she loved athletics, so with me being a former student athlete, being at the helm of this program, it was perfect. All of the ingredients were 01:43:00there, because one thing about UNCG, UNCG has always looked out for its own. That's the reputation that UNCG has, is that we will look out for each other. So I felt that. I felt like I was at home again and I felt the support. Linda Brady was very supportive of the Middle College at UNCG. Every time we would be at an event she would say "And there's my favorite principal!" And I was just like, "Okay people going to get tired of you saying that, don't say that." But she would acknowledge me at different events and at speeches, when she'd say speeches a lot of times she would include something about the Middle College in it. So that support was there.

Angela: We met whenever I needed some things, getting things going, she provided 01:44:00support and resources for the Middle College. So she was very supportive, came and visited with us, she did a lot to help get the Middle College going. Because again, it was her baby, it was part of her strategic plan.

Lacey Wilson: And any extra interaction with Gillian?

Angela: I've had limited interaction with him so far, because I know his focus is on making sure UNCG is no longer the best kept secret. And I said, I get it. He is busy out there spreading the word about UNCG. He's doing a lot outside of the city in Raleigh, across the country and all that. And so I understand that this is not his baby so to speak, but I know that he is supportive. He's shown his support by way of last year he hosted the first senior dinner for our 01:45:00graduates in the Alumni House.

Lacey Wilson: Oh that's nice.

Angela: It was very nice, he spoke, our superintendent came, so it was a very nice event that he hosted for us.

Lacey Wilson: Okay, are there any other professors that you haven't mentioned yet that you'd like to?

Angela: Sam Miller.

Lacey Wilson: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Angela: Sam Miller was phenomenal over in the School of Education, I remember his exam question to this day. And it was that deep, it could be an exam question today that would be interesting to see what students say. The question was, do good teachers make good classroom managers or do good classroom managers make good teachers?

Lacey Wilson: That's some deep stuff.

Angela: It was so deep, and you had to be a part of it to get it. And I remember that. We had to do a paper on that with your argument. And I use that question 01:46:00when I'm interviewing teachers, it's not the exact same because we don't have time for them to do a whole paper on it. But my question I often ask is, "Explain to me what classroom management is and explain to me what discipline is?" And I ask those two things to see if they understand the difference between the two because those things help define what a good teacher is. And when I wrote that question I thought about his exam, yeah Sam Miller. He was phenomenal and his approach to things, he probes you, he didn't just give you answers.

Angela: Sam Miller, Nancy Vacc, she was in the School of Education, she was someone that I remember. Her husband was there too, it was Nancy and ... What was his name. I remember Nancy Vacc more than I do her husband for some reason. 01:47:00Who else? When I was getting my undergrad, I've already said Karen King and Dr. Rosenberg and Dr. Calhoun. Those were the main professors that stood out to me that had a greater impact on me that I can remember right now. When I got my master's, Dr. [inaudible 01:47:38] in the School of Education, he was really good. I'll just say Dr. Gauss he was so funny, he was hilarious. Sorry. He would just give us such a hard time, but he didn't care. But he gave us a hard time 01:48:00and you know, we were adults and it's just like "Who does he think he is?" That type of thing. But when you think back on it, he's challenging you to be better. And sometimes people don't understand that. When you're being challenged like that, at the time it's like he's crazy or she's crazy but it's like, oh now I get it.

Angela: I think I'm that way in some instances where I'm tough, I believe in tough love. And I'm going to challenge you to do your absolute best, I'm not going to just hand you anything, you're going to have to work for it. Because you appreciate it better. But yeah Dr. Gauze comes to mind and then who else did I have for my master's? [Inaudible 01:49:01] was the main ... He did a really 01:49:00good job, he was very patient and worked with you more, having a full time job and taking college classes. Dr. Lashley played an instrumental roll in helping the group finalize their masters program and then Dr. Lashley ... I didn't have Cooper but I did have Misty Williams but she's no longer here. But Misty Williams, she was really good she did an outstanding job.

Angela: Those are the main people I can think of now, later I'll probably be like "Oh God, I didn't mention this person or that person. But it has been 30 years so ...

Lacey Wilson: Sure you gave me a good list of people, I think you're fine.

Lacey Wilson: Any colleagues here at the Middle College that stand out?

Angela: From my high school? You mean University people?

Lacey Wilson: No as a founding principal at the Middle College, looking at it from that perspective now, looking at people who are part of the Middle College-

Angela: The original?

Lacey Wilson: Yeah.

Angela: Well right now there's only one person that is still here that came in as an original member of my staff and that's Mrs. Browning. Like I said, I had 3 teachers starting out and when I say original staff I mean from that first year.

Lacey Wilson: Right.

Angela: So the first teacher didn't make it through the first year, he had to go by Christmas. Mrs. Rea, she was phenomenal. Her husband moved to California so she had to move with him. Then Sean Reeves, he just left 2 years ago, and he's become an assistant principal. So those are the 3 original teachers I had here 01:51:00at the Middle College. I'm telling you, the foundation, the work that they put in to get this school going, phenomenal. Couldn't have done it without them, it was challenging but we all chipped in and did what we had to do to get this school started. There's a sense of pride when you talk to them ... I was talking to Mrs. Browning today and she's was like "We're the only 2 that's left." And we have a student who's in danger of potentially not graduating, we've had that before. And she was like "She's not going to be the first one we have!" I said, "I know. We're going to make sure of it."

Angela: So it's that type of thing, you have that sense of pride because you were here from the very beginning. We were here going through the struggles, trying to ... getting supplies, not having any funding, having limited money to 01:52:00actually buy supplies and borrowing, and going to this department. So they were part of the original group that were part of the original struggle. So those are the people that I think about the most when I think about starting the Middle College. It's really hard because we are understaffed to a certain extent but people look from the outside and say "Oh, you only have 200 students, you don't need-" but there's still so much more to it.

Lacey Wilson: Sure.

Angela: Like my counselor, I only have one counselor. And I get complaints all the time about her not being available. Parents complain, students complain, "The registration process takes too long" or "She doesn't return calls" that's because she's the only counselor, please be patient with her. Just like I'm the only administrator, I can't be everywhere. Sometimes I'm out of the building. I have meetings 2 or 3 times, "Well you're not available" uh ... I'm the only one. 01:53:00Let me know when you're available and I'll work with you.

Angela: So it's those types of things that can be challenging, but at the end of the day we're doing great work here. We're touching the lives of students and giving them opportunities that they would never have had had they gone to a traditional school. And I say that respectfully, not to put down traditional schools in any way. But because the numbers are so large in the traditional schools, they can't do what we're able to do, the personalized attention. We're focused on health medical and youth development.

Angela: So we're able to do a lot more than they can do, not to mention exposing them to a college environment. So give them that boost or that confidence, like, "Hey you can do this, you can actually go to college. You can handle that 01:54:00environment, this is what it's like." So we're slowly transitioning them to that environment so that they can be successful and know they can be successful.

Lacey Wilson: All right so we've got the last 2 questions, anything else you'd like to talk about that we haven't gotten to?

Angela: I can't think of anything now. If there is something I'll email you.

Lacey Wilson: All right well we'll work that out. These are just intended to look back for the long answers.

Angela: Okay.

Lacey Wilson: Tell me how UNCG has affected your life and what it means to you.

Angela: How has UNCG affected my life and what it means to me ... As I said earlier, UNCG has help to set me up to be where I am, without question. UNCG is partially responsible for my success. I give, as I said earlier, the majority of the person that's responsible is my mother. My mother and God. God first, then 01:55:00my mother, but my mother was the one that instilled God in us very early, keeping us in church. I watched her pray all the time and talk about "God's going to work it out," whenever we didn't have something food or, "God's going to work it out." And he always did, so that faith, watching my mother demonstrate faith like that helped to build my character. And then coming over here to UNCG and being a part of such an amazing women's basketball program where Lynn Agee was so supportive. And wanted to expose us and educate us, she wanted us to experience a different culture.

Angela: So all of that together is what has caused me to be where I am. If I had 01:56:00not come to UNCG, would I be successful? Who knows. Probably because of my mother and the foundation that she set and me watching her work all the time to have something. Probably would have been successful. But my experiences would have been different. Again, I don't know if it would have been worse or better or what have you, but my experiences would have been different.

Angela: The thing I love about how I came to UNCG is I grew up in the projects. Then I went to Jones Elementary, Hunter Elementary, Foust Elementary and Lindley Elementary. So I went to 4 elementary schools, then I went to Jackson. Jackson 01:57:00at the time I believe was 50/50, because I remember some of the white kids, Monica ... It's funny that I remember them, I can see their faces. So I remember that, but I remember there being some racial tension there. And then I went to Grimsley and Grimsley was predominately white and then they redrew the lines so the project kids were sent to Grimsley.

Angela: I'm glad that I had those experiences because it has helped to make me well rounded. UNCG as I said, I didn't realize how much of a minority I was when I came to UNCG. I think it's because of those experiences, I had experienced 01:58:00different cultures and been around more Caucasian people than in the past. Almost like the little kid in Idaho, "Oh look mommy there's a black person" type of thing. It wasn't that kind of experience for me because I had been exposed to it a little along the way. So when I think about that and I think about basketball, to me, I say this, there was no color. We were sisters, we looked out for each other, we were unified, we had each others back. We were teammates, at least that's how I felt.

Angela: So I think that along with being on UNCG's campus, it helped to shape who I am. Obviously UNCG was predominately white back then but I'm sitting here 01:59:00going, "I didn't realize." I didn't think about it at the time. So that's interesting to me, that's why I'm pausing because I'm like, you know what you know it was predominately white there was only two of y'all on the team. But I didn't see it, which is really interesting, I didn't think of it that way.

Lacey Wilson: It is really interesting.

Angela: In my community it's interesting because there's ... always .. and it's out of fun in the black community, is like "A&T! Aggie Pride!" And no matter what I would always go "Spartan pride" and it was like really Angie? Well I'm a spartan I'm not an Aggie. So I'm always the outsider so to speak, whenever everyone is doing "Aggie pride!" And all this, I'm like "Spartan pride!" And I stick to my guns. So as a result of me sticking to my guns and ... people see me 02:00:00and refer to me as Miss UNCG in the black community. And because of my success over here at UNCG, I believe that UNCG is more accepted, and I don't want to give myself that much credit. But that's what tends to happen, people know me and I don't know them. They will say things like "I remember you played at UNCG". It could be a custodian, it could be someone in housekeeping or it could be somebody that is a manager somewhere. But there's others that are like "I watched you play." That type of thing, so it's like wow. I didn't realize the impact that I was having.

Angela: And I remember calling to order shirts or something. It was some company 02:01:00and they were like "Are you the Angie Polk that played basketball at UNCG?" And I'm like, "Yeah." They're like, "I watched you play." And I'm like, "Okay." So that's when I started having a lot of ah ha moments, a lot of people know me. And people would say "You know you're a local celebrity" and I'm like, "No I'm not, I'm just Angie." But I had to start embracing that and accepting that it wasn't a bad thing and that it was okay for me to accept that a little bit. But also at the same time not to get the big head.

Lacey Wilson: Sure.

Angela: A few years ago, I was approached by a local magazine, Sports Kids Play, to do an article on me as a local sports legend. I was like "What?" And they did 02:02:00the article on me, it was this whole big article. And so it was just like, "Okay well I need to embrace this." And then two years ago I was interviewed on TCT, the Christian Television Network, Total Christian Television, as I guess somebody, you know. And it was called Beyond the Goal and this was shown nationally and internationally. So I did that. When I think about all those things, it's like "Hmm" ... It's intriguing but it's also uncomfortable. I'm not the type of person to go around and toot my horn, so even when I'm talking to you now, I'm like, "Okay I'm just going to put it out there."

Angela: I had to learn how to do this and to take pride in telling a story. Take pride in celebrating your accomplishments and your success and not apologizing for it. Some people could look at it and say "Oh look at her, she's this and that" but I don't care, I'm older now, that stuff doesn't bother me now. It used to, I was like well I don't want anybody to think I'm being arrogant. No it is what it is, these things happen, hard work pays off. And at the end of the day, that's my story. My story is about hard work, determination, perseverance, doing everything, putting everything out there, not giving up. That's my story, show me and I'll do it.

Lacey Wilson: So these interviews are for 125th anniversary of UNCG which is a good time for us to look back and reflect on where we've come from but also a 02:04:00chance for us to look and see where we're going to be. So what do you think is the future of UNCG? Where do you think we'll be in the next 25 to 50 years?

Angela: That's a good question. When I look back to when I was here and I see the progress that the University has made. If you just look at the campus alone, amazing. Because I look at Gray, there used to be a street in front of Gray and I remember them saying "We want to make this a walking campus." So they did it, so it's interesting to sit back and you hear little things and then you see it implemented. It's like, "They said they were going to do it, they did it." I remember them talking about a new student union center, I remember the little 02:05:00one we had, and then it's like here we have it, there's EUC.

Angela: So the one thing that I can say is when UNCG say they're going to do it, they're going to do it. And they're going to do it big. So when I look at that, the dorms, the apartments, Lee Street, Gate City Boulevard now, I remember there used to be houses all down Kenilworth. They got rid of all those houses, so when I look at this University and I look at where it was when I was here, it's like a whole new place. So when I think about where is it going to be 25 years from now, I see Gate City Boulevard, I see us taking over. I see Gate City Boulevard being our Franklin Boulevard that Carolina has. I see the diversity of the 02:06:00university continuing to grow. Because UNCG is one of the most diverse campuses in the UNC system. There have been people that have actually come over here and it's like "I thought I was on A&T's campus. I didn't know UNCG had that many minority or blacks." It's like "Yeah, UNCG has really put forth the effort to make the campus more diverse."

Angela: So I think that the direction they're heading in is very positive. The inclusiveness is important especially given this day and time. With everything that's going on in this country. It's important that UNCG continues to be as inclusive as it is now. And take it to another level. As far as, when I looks at 02:07:00athletics, because we didn't talk about this during the original part of the interview but my senior year was very hard for me. It's because we started out Division 3 and we had to prove ourselves so we could move to Division 1. It was during my time. So I lost the opportunity to play in any type of tournament or anything my senior year, but that was a sacrifice we had to do in order for the whole program. It wasn't about me, I wasn't about self, it was bigger than the individuals.

Angela: So the fact that we went from Division 3, we had to play ACC schools and we beat them, we beat Maryland, we beat Clemson, who else did we beat ... Those 02:08:00are the main top two schools I remember beating. And then we played Division 2, so we had to play up the higher levels, for 2 years before the University could go to Division 1. We had to prove ourselves and we did.

Angela: So now that we went from Division 3, to Division 2 to Division 1, we're in a position now because of the success, obviously that the men's basketball program had the last couple of years, to move up in that mid major bracket. And move away, sometimes I think some people may still see us as a Division 3 school or Division 2 school, but the success that we're having and our women, they were very successful last year. This year they weren't successful but they had all sophomores and freshmen, that's to be understood. People underestimate sometimes 02:09:00the importance of leadership. See you had all those seniors on there last year and they won 20 something games but they lost all their leadership. Sophomores, they're not ready to be the leaders that you need in order to take a team to that next level.

Angela: But I think next year you'll have more juniors and I think they will be as successful, I think Coach Patterson has done a phenomenal job and she will continue to do a phenomenal job. And Wes Miller, he's doing a really great job, he started out rough but he grew and so I think the University will continue to grow as far as sports. And the baseball team, I remember when they first came on the scene they were doing some really great things. Putting some players in the major leagues, and soccer. So we have a lot of great things going on, 02:10:00volleyball, all of our programs. And you know we had our track star go to the Olympics, so again, UNCG is doing some really great things and we're on the map. We might be a dot but more and more we're branching out, we're going to be known. And I think that Chancellor Gilliam has made it his mission to make sure that we're not the best kept secret in Greensboro.

Angela: I agree with him, I used to get sick of hearing it too, about how oh UNCG is the best kept secret. We're not a secret We're not a secret. Stop saying that. We are UNCG, we are the G, you know. And we want you to know about the great things that are going on over here because UNCG has a lot of good things going on. I am so proud of this university, I am so proud to be a Spartan, I 02:11:00tell you, I think sometimes like let me see, is it no? Make sure I'm not bleeding blue and gold, because I have such a love for the University because I'm appreciative of the opportunity and all the great things it's doing.

Lacey Wilson: All right, that's it.