Published on Oct. 1, 2017
Hello, Stamps community! My name is Madi Winfield, and I’m a freshman journalism major at the University of Missouri – Columbia. I am incredibly excited to be one of Mizzou’s inaugural Stamps Scholars and to help shape this branch of the program into something long-lasting and beneficial to the scholars and our community.
I’m not going to lie, my transition to college life was a little rocky to start out. I’m a bit of a homebody and very much a sentimentalist, so leaving my family was really tough. I can’t even imagine how hard it would’ve been to leave for college before texting or cell phones or Skype.
After starting to adjust to living without my parents, things have really been looking up! I’ve taken on a position as Instagram Curator for our student-run news program, The Maneater. (Follow @themaneater on Instagram for daily posts – my photos and others’ – of life at Mizzou!) I am also getting involved with the choir program on campus and with Chi Alpha, a non-denominational Christian worship organizational. I’m trying not to over-commit myself to too many activities, but I want to get as involved as possible at Mizzou, especially within the journalism department. Luckily, my advisors – both honors and journalism, including Dean Kurpius of the J-School – have been helping me along the way.
I’ve also been finding time to have some fun here and there. I celebrated my birthday my first weekend in Columbia by going out to lunch with an old friend from a journalism workshop. And I may or may not have treated myself to six books from the local used bookshop on the way home…
It just so happened that that night, my favorite band of all time, The Mowgli’s, played our Fall Welcome Concert! I set up shop in the front row, sang my heart out (losing my voice a little in the process), and ended up getting a guitar pick from the lead singer. For days afterwards, students recognized me around campus as “the girl at the front of the concert,” a title I wore like a badge of honor.
All in all, I’m absolutely loving the University of Missouri. I’m so grateful to the Stamps Foundation for guiding me towards this wonderful institution.
M-I-Z!
– Madi Winfield, Stamps Scholar Class of 2021