George Petrov, '07

My name is George Petrov, I'm in the class of 2007, and I'm from Bulgaria. I'm double majoring in Health Science and Biology, with concentrations in Chemistry and Psychology. I want to go to dental school.

I think that my favorite class so far has been chemistry. The professors in the chemistry department are all really cool, and I think that instructors are very important in making class exciting. If they can pass their enthusiasm for a class to you then they've been successful and the class is exciting. For me, I find the subject matter interesting and it makes me eager to learn, and they see that. And I think that the Frank Family Science Center is a wonderful building, and I love having the opportunity to learn how to use the equipment.

I'm really excited about this summer—I have an internship in the Research Triangle Park, which is actually kind of extraordinary for a student just finishing the first year of college. All I had for my resume when I was applying were things from Guilford—my classes and my work-study jobs with the Chemistry and Health Sciences departments. It'll be a really good experience for me, good training for my choice of career.

I can already see how the values of the college have had an impact on my life. I can see them daily in the choices I make, the way I act. I've always been kind of keen on honesty and trust between my professors and myself, but I think that living with the values of the college has made me more responsible for my actions, what I do and don't do. And I've also gotten to watch other people work together and reflect on the college values. I think they really shape college and the learning experience.

You get to see the values in some other ways, too. A lot of people do service within the community--I'm tutoring children at a local homeless shelter. You can see how everything that's seen daily in Guilford is a part outside of Guilford. How you need to apply those principles that you see here to the outside world. I'm in the Red Cross in Bulgaria, but what we did there was more fundraising and educating the community. It's nice to do similar work, but here it's more personal. With the tutoring, you get a direct link with the kids, and I've learned a lot from them. It's pretty easy to get involved at Guilford.

It's hard to describe how I found Guilford. It's hard enough choosing a college, but even harder when you're picking a college from thousands of miles away. You have the Internet and websites and all the rankings, but you can never come and visit the college. You don't really get to feel the real environment of the college.

I was looking for a small college, and I knew Guilford through a couple of friends. I knew that it was related to Quakerism, and my friends told me some things about it. It sounded kind of cool, the principles. Good things. In addition, I understood Greensboro to be similar to where I'm from—both mountains and the coast are only a few hours away, and the climates are similar. Coming here, I've decided that Greensboro is actually very green.

I think it's the same green as Bulgaria.