Undecided first-year Krista Daniel came to class in a long sleeve shirt, light sweater, heavy jacket, wool hat and gloves. By the time her 1:15 first-year seminar came around, all were drenched with sweat.
The weather has been pretty confusing lately.
It will be 30 degrees in the morning, warm up to 70 degrees by noon and then drop right back down in the evenings. With this weather confusion comes the equally as frustrating wardrobe confusion.
"Krista walked through the door and her face was so shiny with sweat, I couldn't tell if a human face even existed underneath," fellow first-year exercise and sports science major Jillian Michaels said.
After Daniel peeled off her heavy jacket, her peers noticed something else about her appearance: huge, round, dark pit stains under both of her arms.
"I was the first one to see them," first-year biology major Kenneth Zander said. "I felt so bad for Krista. I just looked away immediately and pretended they weren't there."
Following Zander's example, the rest of the class performed the largest act of pure human empathy the first-year seminar program had ever seen. They interacted with Daniel not as a disgusting leper, but as a fellow human being.
The instructor, Dr. Mark Rylance, was very impressed with the way his students reacted to what could have been an emotionally volatile situation.
"I wish more of my students were like my first-years," he said. "They just understand embarrassment deeper than any other class at UNC and therefore are more inclined to be empathetic."
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