GoHeels Exclusive: Buckingham Awaiting Next Chapter

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

In the month leading up to Sunday's Winter Commencement ceremony, North Carolina women's soccer player Megan Buckingham and her teammate Maya Worth often discussed their looming graduation.

They shared their anxieties about leaving Chapel Hill. But they also looked forward to what awaits them in the next chapter of their lives.

Finally, after weeks of reflecting, Buckingham moved a step closer to learning what was in store for her at the Smith Center on Sunday, when she and three of her teammates joined 487 other undergraduates in becoming UNC alumni.

Traveling back with her parents to their home in Novi, Mich., on Monday, the moment still hadn't quite sunk in.

"There's just a lot going on," she said. "We had dinner with a couple of girls on my team who were also graduating … and our families were in town. So it was nice. But definitely leaving this morning was sad because it was the last time I'm going to see some things for a while."

About nine years ago, Buckingham, then 12, first set foot on UNC's campus. Playing in a soccer tournament near Chapel Hill, she said she spent an off day walking around and, more than likely, buying some Tar Heel apparel.

"I was like, 'This campus is so pretty,' " Buckingham said. "And I've never really met a mean person here. I guess just the buildings drew me in when I was younger and, of course, the soccer."

A U.S. women's national team member from the U14s through U18s, Buckingham came to UNC after graduating from Northville High (Mich.) in June 2014. That fall, she was named Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year after starting the last 18 games of the season and tying for second on the team in goals scored with four.

She sustained a broken collarbone in July 2015 when she was training with the U.S. U20 national team. That limited her some as a sophomore. But she served as a steady presence in the midfield during her junior and senior seasons, starting all 47 matches and helping the Tar Heels to the 2016 NCAA Women's Soccer College Cup. Late in her senior season, she switched to defense and led Carolina to its first ACC Tournament title since 2009.

"It was just the most amazing experience soccer-wise because you're surrounded by three of the other best teams in the country at the time," said Buckingham of the College Cup appearance last year. "And you just get to enjoy it with your team. Team chemistry that year was phenomenal."

Off the pitch, she also excelled academically.

Buckingham earned ACC Academic Honor Roll accolades as a freshman, sophomore and junior. She was also named to the 2016 All-ACC Academic Team in women's soccer.

Buckingham said she came to UNC thinking she might want to pursue a career in business. But she remained undecided about her major until her sophomore year, when she took a class in the School of Media and Journalism that focused on both advertising and public relations. That led her to major in media and journalism's advertising sequence.

Amid the emotions of her final semester, Buckingham said she took her favorite class – "New Media Technologies: Their Impact on the Future of Advertising, Marketing, and Public Relations." During it, she helped create MyUNC23, a personalized bucket list platform that encouraged UNC students to craft a list of 23 must-do items.

"It was just really accurate to a real-life campaign," she said. "I was on the advertising and social media portion of the team. And basically, (you were) just working with your entire class on a campaign in real life, and he made it fun and exciting and made me want to pursue it as a career after college."

Before that, though, she hopes to extend her soccer career.

The National Women's Soccer League College Draft will be held on January 18, 2018 at the United Soccer Coaches Convention in Philadelphia, and Buckingham plans on entering it. If she's not selected, she'll look to continue playing elsewhere, either in the U.S. or overseas.

No matter where she ends up, she knows she'll benefit from her time at UNC.

"I definitely went through a change from freshman to sophomore year and was able to organize my life better, both academically and athletically," she said. "I think that going to college, regardless of where it was, would have taught me that. But I think UNC just helped me find out who I am as a person and who I want to be and the character that surrounds that person."

Players Mentioned

Megan Buckingham

Maya Worth

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