Busy final year for Mitchell earns him ‘Outstanding Senior’ honors at PC
Cody Mitchell’s senior year at Presbyterian College was destined to be eventful. President of his fraternity, Kappa Alpha. Cadet commander of the Highlander Battalion in ROTC. Student body president.
“Those are three key leadership positions here that take up a lot of your time,” he understated. “The only upside this year is that for the first time I wasn’t taking 18 hours. But I was also applying for law school and taking the LSAT prep. So, the first semester, I was on the go constantly. I always had something to do. I always had a meeting to be at.”
But the Bethune, S.C., native believes the rocket pace has been worth it.
“It was a good opportunity to really see how the real world is probably going to be – especially experiencing the life I want to live,” Mitchell said. “It was definitely a great opportunity to try to immerse myself in that. But I still got to have a good time, too. I didn’t cut back on enjoying myself. I just cut back on my sleep.”
On Honors Day, Mitchell learned that all the hard work and lack of sleep paid off in a big way when he was named the Outstanding Senior for the Class of 2008. Award or no, however, he said he wouldn’t trade the opportunities provided to a senior student leader – opportunities to interact and become friends with board members and senior administrators. Opportunities to meet the college’s patrons and friends.
“I wouldn’t do this year differently,” he said. “There are a few things I would do differently but I am definitely glad that I had the opportunity.”
As Outstanding Senior, Mitchell has earned another rare opportunity – to address his peers at PC’s commencement ceremony on May 10.
“I want to have fun with it,” he said. “I mean, you’re sitting out in the sun, people are sweating – at least have a little bit of fun. The approach I’m taking is, I’m about to turn 22 years old. I’m just graduating from college. What kind of advice can I give you about the world when I don’t even have a summer job yet?”
Still, Mitchell plans to pass along words of wisdom gathered from PC faculty and staff and his grandfather – “the person I respect most in the world.”
“The two most profound pieces of advice he gave were – nothing in this world is free, if you want it, you have to work your butt off to get it,” he said. “And, at the end of the day, when your days are done, you’re not going to remember how much money you made or the great things you did but it’s going to be the people and the relationships you made and the people you helped. That’s the way I’ve always tried to live my life, where I’m helping other people. That’s what I want to do.”
In addition to graduating with a degree in history, Mitchell is being commissioned into the inactive reserves of the U.S. Army having received an education delay to attend law school in the fall. Afterwards, he will weigh options to possibly serve in the Judge Advocate General Corps or service in political office.
Having served as an intern with U.S. Congressman John Spratt in Washington, D.C., and in U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s state office in Columbia, Mitchell has fueled his love of politics.
“My family has always been a politically active family,” he said. “In east Tennessee, my granddaddy has been sort of big into politics. When I was six weeks old, he painted on my little jumper suit, ‘Vote for My Granddaddy.’ I’ve always been around it. I’ve always loved it.”
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