Senior Spotlight: Caroline Christman

Caroline Christman knew she had to do something. This time, it wasn’t about softball, her favorite sport. It was about something else, something bigger that she worried affected too many of her peers who kept silent rather than asking for help. 

Students at Southwest Guilford were coming to school hungry, and during her sophomore year, they began approaching her and asking if she had any food to share. Caroline did; she shared. She had volunteered at Open Door Ministries, High Point’s homeless shelter, and she knew the need was real even at Southwest Guilford. 

But when more students began approaching her, she started thinking about what she could do — and what she felt she needed to do. She then remembered seeing around

Guilford County, what looked like big bird houses full of books. 

A Little Free Library. 

That’s when she thought of her grandfather, the woodworker, the retired school principal from Maryland. He lived in western Greensboro, and in his workshop at the retirement community where he lived, he made a birdhouse and a dresser for her family. 

 “Can you help?” she asked. 

He said yes.  

Helping Hungry Cowboys  

Caroline looked online, sketched out a design she discovered on a piece of paper, and she and her grandfather built it together. He cut the boards; she drilled the holes; and they built a big box with a door and a window. She called it the Cowboy House, named after her school’s alma mater.  

Caroline took it home, painted it her school colors — green, black, and white – and in the fall of her junior year, she and her parents dug a hole in front of the school, poured in a little cement and planted it in the ground. 

When Caroline graduated Thursday from Southwest Guilford and leaves to study interior design architecture at UNC-Greensboro, her Cowboy House will remain and remind students to lend a helping hand for others in need. All they have to do is read the sign in front: 

“Little Free Pantry. Share what you can, take what you need, Free for our community and SW friends.” 

Caroline wanted her Little Free Pantry to be a judge-free zone. Students could pull something they need from the Cowboy House, and students could drop off something they believed others would need — peanut butter, a box of macaroni and cheese or any nonperishable food. 

“I like it, and it looks good,” Caroline says. “I think it builds up our community, especially for kids who don’t have a lot of opportunities to grab food if they need it.” 

Life Lessons at Water’s Edge 

For years, Caroline has exercised her empathy muscle. She talks frequently about her desire to help others, lessons she learned from her parents and her grandparents. Those lessons have taken root both at school and at her job at River Landing, a retirement community in Colfax. 

Caroline works there as the server in River Landing’s Water’s Edge Grill. During the school year, she worked weekends; during the summer, she works five days a week. 

She serves the residents their food, takes their trays, and engages them in conversation. They mostly talk about sports. That never surprised Caroline. That is her high school life. 

Caroline could hurl some kind of heat for Southwest Guilford’s fast-pitch softball team. During her career, she pitched six no-hitters. She also could hit a mean forehand. She played singles on the school’s tennis team and made All Conference this year.  

Caroline grew up immersed in sports. Her dad, Brindon Christman, has been the athletic director at Southwest Guilford for 27 years, and he coached Caroline in fast-pitch softball every year until she reached high school. 

Caroline knows sports, and at River Landing, she learned to start conversations with people as old — or older — than her grandparents. Those conversations gave her some priceless perspectives on how the ingredients in life need to include a healthy dose of empathy, compassion, and humor. 

Yes, those conversations made her laugh. 

“They were a little goofy sometimes, but I learned a lot from them,” she says. “They were glad I worked there. They’d talk about younger folks and start each conversation with something like, “Your generation …” But just by serving them and talking to them, they helped me strive to be who I am as a person.” 

Beyond The Pitcher’s Mound  

Caroline has ringed her mirror in her bedroom and her bathroom with pink Post-it notes full of uplifting messages. She keeps one of her favorites is on her Notes App on her smart phone and on a pink Post-it note on the dashboard of her car. It’s a message from her personal trainer that she discovered as an eighth grader.  

“Little things make big things happen.” 

“I’ve lived off that quote for a really long time,” Caroline says, “and I still live off it today.” 

Take the Cowboy House. She learned more about her maternal grandfather, Carey Reese, as they bonded over wood. Or her job at River Landing. While serving food, she learned how to build bridges between generations. 

Or her mom’s Canon camera.  

She picked it up during her junior year because she didn’t play a winter sport, and she began taking photos of the athletic side of Southwest Guilford: basketball and lacrosse, soccer and tennis, football and wrestling, cross country and swimming. After posting the photos on her Instagram account, she’d always write: “Another day another game!!!” 

By her senior year, she approached the mother of one of her former soccer teammates. The mom, Kelli Gowdy, was a professional photographer. Gowdy gave Caroline tips, and Caroline began branching out and taking portraits of her classmates. 

And then there’s Gina Chapman and Lisa Whitestone. They taught interior design at Southwest Guilford High. Caroline took Chapman’s first-level class her sophomore year and Whitestone’s second-level class her junior year and discovered how interior design — and her passion for art — go together like nails and wood. 

The more Caroline learned the more she realized how much others have helped her every step of the way. Like Whitestone. Or Deborah Caddell, her art teacher. Or Gregory Bowman, the 11th grade assistant principal who helped her be less anxious with herself. Or her dad who helped Caroline with discipline on and off the field.  

And her mom, Ginny Christman, a physician’s assistant.  

She helped Caroline before every game she played in high school. She did it with her text messages. An hour before every softball game and every tennis match, Caroline would see a notification on her Apple Watch and know right away who it was. Her mom. 

Take the text message before one of Caroline’s last fast-pitch softball games this spring. Her mom wrote: “Go play fierce in the field and behind the plate!! You got this!!” 

Those messages gave Caroline courage. And not just on the field.