Abby Grace Bare Embraces Opportunity, Charlotte Experience on Path to Golden Niner
By Wyatt Crosher, Assistant Director of Communications for Student Affairs
During this fall semester’s first week of classes, Abby Grace Bare decided she was going to do something and not tell anyone. Not her family, best friend or even her fiancée.
She applied for the Niner 9.
“I was like, not a soul is going to know,” Bare said. “It was this thing that I was like, I could do this. I have a pretty impressive background, I'm an education major and I'm very involved in the education department. So I thought this is something I could do. And so I just did it.”
It’s safe to say everyone knows now.
On Oct. 18, Bare was honored as the fifth Golden Niner at halftime of Charlotte football’s game against Temple. By then, her friends and family were well aware and in attendance for the announcement. Bare was, of course, there as well, but the memory of the moment her name was called is not.
“I can't tell you what happened,” Bare said. “I'm sitting there, and they said ‘A-’ and that's all I remember. I remember my hands coming to my face, my whole pageant smile dropping and my shoulders fell to the floor.
“I remember getting off the field and being like, did that just happen?”
‘The Place Where I’m Abby Grace’
Bare’s initial post-high school plans didn’t include college at all. She had desires to go on a mission trip, but ultimately decided to look at potential universities. Her parents were both alums of Appalachian State University and Bare thought she would follow in their footsteps.
Instead, as she waited on a decision into UNC Charlotte’s honors program, she fell in love with the University and decided, honors or not, this would be the place for her.
“The more that I dwelled on it, and the more that I compared it with other options I thought wow, Charlotte really is my place,” Bare said.
Bare successfully entered the University Honors Program and became an Elementary Education major. She is set to graduate this May after just three years at the University.
Her first year on campus wasn’t always smooth sailing, but by the time it was over, Bare understood how much of an impact Charlotte made on her. She just didn’t realize it until it was time to leave her dorm room for summer break on the sixth floor of Scott Hall.
“I sobbed, bawled like a baby,” Bare said. “When I walked out of that dorm room, I [thought] this is where I want to be. This is where I want to graduate from. This is something that's completely my own. … This is this place where I'm Abby Grace.”
Support and Faith
This year’s Niner 9 featured all women for the first time in its five-year existence. Bare said the experience was amazing for how much support they each gave each other during the voting process.
“It was just so cool to be in a group of supportive women. Genuinely not one person on that court wanted the Golden Niner more than they wanted the Niner 9. Not one,” Bare said. “You get overwhelmed because you're human and it's all everybody's talking about and you have to tell people to vote, but we were so supportive of one another.”
Bare first found out she earned a Niner 9 interview while preparing for her teacher readiness assessment, and later was announced as a Niner 9 member in front of her education class in the Cato College of Education. Both times, she had prayed hours before for resolution, good or bad.
The same was true as she awaited the final results on the field of Jerry Richardson Stadium.
“I just had this moment right before, I was like, ‘God … If any of these women get it, that means you're going to be glorified more through their win than mine,” Bare said.
The Golden Niner title means so much to Bare for a multitude of reasons. She is the second education major, and first in early education, to earn the honor. It validates her campus involvement and leadership experiences she has always felt she had. On top of it all, Bare wants the Golden Niner to represent her faith.
“To be able to represent the Cato College of Ed and Mebane scholars, teaching fellows, honors and all those different things, it's just this surreal and blessed opportunity. To go into a classroom and my students get to say, ‘My student teacher won the Golden Niner,’ that's so cool,” Bare said. “The biggest thing is that Christ is being glorified through this opportunity … It's not even this weighty responsibility, but it's just an honor and privilege to go forth and to represent.”
Every Moment Matters
Bare’s advice to incoming Charlotte students is simple: Be a sponge to everything around you.
“Soak it all up,” Bare said. “Enjoy SoVi, enjoy Charlotte Greens and Crown [now 704 Social], just enjoy the life because it is so unique. … Even if you never do anything as part of a club, you are still enjoying so much. Soak it up because it's not going to be forever, these moments are so special. You should enjoy every second of it.”
Her first post-graduation plan is her wedding, which is planned for June. After that, Bare hopes to find a teaching position near her hometown of High Point, but above all wants to teach in her own self-described “Abby Grace way,” implementing everything she learned at Charlotte, including all the people and connections.
She also hopes to return to the University for graduate school, though she is not yet sure on what that degree will be. New degree or not, though, Bare will be back on Charlotte’s campus for her largest desire: To bring her future children back and have them experience the moments Bare didn’t realize she would miss when leaving her dorm room in tears after her first year.
“I say that all the time. It is my biggest pride to think about bringing our kids here one day and to see them in the little UNC Charlotte dresses and little bow ties,” Bare said. “I can't wait to bring them to games and to campus and to walk by Scott Hall and say ‘Mom lived right there, five floors up.’”
Now, Bare will have another story to tell those future children: the day she was named Golden Niner, a surreal and special moment, even if she can’t fully remember it.