Kristen Thoennes, an alumni from the class of 2008, was active in groups on campus and spent time attending various events on campus.
Thoennes was active in an on-campus club called Alpha Omega, a Christian women’s fraternity. The group would attend weekly meetings, complete service projects and go on retreats together. She also held the position of president of the club during her senior year at Winthrop.
“President was fun because I had a part of the whole organization, not just one piece,” Thoennes said. “I could work with all of our chairs and lead the group. I ran our weekly business meeting. It was definitely not as exciting or fun as some of the roles within the club, but rewarding, nonetheless. It gave me some great experience that I have leaned on since, in my adult life while volunteering with other organizations.”
The newest members of Alpha Omega were called cherubs and would have a secret big sister who would give them gifts each week during their first semester.
“My friend and I served as cherub moms together,” Thoennes said. “We planned information sessions, set a theme for the semester, planned welcome week activities, a retreat (we went to the Riverbanks Zoo) and the sister initiation before Christmas break. It was so fun meeting the new members, getting to know them and seeing what their big sisters gifted them each week.”
Thoennes was a political science major and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 2008.
Dr. Cornish, a history professor, was her favorite professor while at Winthrop and took several of his classes, specifically an Irish history class.
“For that class, most of our assignments were essays and one of them he submitted on my behalf for a history department award. I ended up winning! It was very empowering to be put up for the award. I would not have pursued that on my own because I did not think my writing was anything special.”
Dr. Lipscomb was also another professor that Thoennes was fond of and took his theory class as a requirement for her political science career.
“The one that was offered my senior year was feminist theory taught by Dr. Lipscomb and it was so fascinating and thought-provoking,” Thoennes said. “Prior to that class, I had never thought of myself as a feminist. Growing up in conservative South Carolina, the concept of feminism gets a bad name. However, I learned there is so much more to feminism.”
While in college, Facebook was created and became popular.
“In the beginning, Facebook was very different from what it has evolved into,” Thoennes said.
“We did not even have the ability to post status updates or have a news feed. It was just a profile and messaging capabilities. From what I remember, everyone I knew had a Facebook account, but it probably did start off slow. During my time at WU, everyone was more likely to have a MySpace account. Also, digital photos were not widespread the first couple of years while I was at WU. Many people still had film cameras, so a lot of our pictures from that time are really, really bad.”
Thoennes was able to attend numerous Winthrop basketball games and was a part of the “WU Crew”. She also got the chance to cheer on the eagles as they went on to the NCAA tournament.
“Around my time at WU, the WU Crew was established. It was so fun to have a section of really dedicated fans to help us all get into the spirit,” Thoennes said. “Basketball games were a big deal since the team was so successful. Games were loud and full of energy.”
As an alumni, Thoennes is not currently involved with the university because she and her husband have been living in Germany over the last few years because he is in the military. But, while they were stationed at Shaw Air Force base in Sumter, South Carolina, Thoennes served on the Alumni Association board.
“It was amazing to visit campus on a regular basis and work to keep our alumni community connected,” Thoennes said. “It was really hard to step down from that volunteer position.”
Thoennes is currently putting time towards volunteering as the marketing manager of the Military Spouse Advocacy Network and is the publicity, social media and website chair for the Stuttgart Community Spouses Club. She is hoping to further her career after she finishes her Master’s Certificate program in social media marketing.
“I grew so much as a person because of my time at WU,” Thoennes said. “I learned about different perspectives and worldviews which helped me become a better critical thinker, but also more accepting of others. I would not have changed a thing about my time at WU.”
