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[Cayden Charles, Business Management] - My name is Cayden Charles. I just finished my second year, going into my third year. I am at the Dahlonega Campus at ǧÃŬAV, and my major is business management. I chose ǧÃŬAV because when I was getting recruited by my coaches, they gave me such a family environment. And coming here, seeing the facilities and just seeing the campus and everything around it, it was just great. And I'm glad I made the decision because everything about it was advertised and I'm loving it over here. So the most difficult adjustment that I had to make when going into college was probably time management.

Obviously, being a student- athlete, you have to be in class, you have to do practice, you have games, you're traveling and all that. So being able to manage my time with school, my social life and just basketball in general I'd say was the hardest adjustment. But I overcame it by just honestly looking at the older players, my mentors and just seeing what they did, how they managed their time and schedule and kind of just basing off of that. My proudest moment is getting to the Elite Eight with my guys. That was obviously a historic year, great season for everybody. Just being able to make history was just something that I've never really been able to be a part of, and being able to get that far into the tournament was just an amazing feeling and accomplishment. So that's probably my proudest moment. It was amazing just being able to see everybody from Dahlonega basically in Convo just to watch a game, and you know, having it literally packed out, standing-room-only, it was amazing, got chills throughout the game, just being able to have such a big community supporting us.

It was an honor being named Most Outstanding Player. I was very excited, obviously, just great accomplishment for me. But, honestly, I just owe it all to my teammates and coaches. I mean, obviously, it was individual, but coaches and my teammates just put me in great spots throughout, not even throughout the game, but just throughout the whole tournament and throughout the season and just being able to go and perform. It just was an amazing feeling to be recognized. I've changed a lot. People that know me, especially coming into college, I was honestly a pretty plain guy that could just based on what I ate, people know that I just ate plain hamburgers. And now I'm eating all types of things, being able to cook. I mean, just stuff in general, like the way I interact with people, just being social, being able to talk. And it's just, I don't know, it's just been a major adjustment, just little things that I guess I just picked up along the way. And it's changed me, who I am right now, and I'm definitely liking where I'm going. So my advice I give to incoming freshmen is, first, do your homework and just enjoy the moment. You know, a lot of times we get caught up in what's next and how we're doing in this and whether it be school or whether it be athletics or whatever it may be, what's my social life. And a lot of times we get stressed unnecessarily. And my advice would just be to take it slow and just enjoy everything, the good and the bad, because we're going to need, you're going to need it. Coming into college and you're going to need all the experiences you get, so I definitely just say enjoy the moment, enjoy where you're at, and just keep going.

Viewbook 2024: Cayden Charles