Campbell relationships forged Faucette family legacy

Campbell legacy families have a wide variety of origin stories and reasons for choosing to enroll at the University through the generations. But one constant among them is the special relationships forged between students and their professors, deans or even presidents.

Though Jeff Faucette’s (’85) maternal aunt and uncle both attended Campbell, he was a first-generation college student in his immediate family, and he would become the parent of two Campbell students.

A trio of recognizable names led him to Campbell and led his children back. Campbell legacy stories like Jeff’s so often feature names such as Dr. Jerry Wallace (Campbell president 2003-2015), Dr. Norman Adrian Wiggins (Campbell president 1967-2003) and Jimmy Witherspoon (Director of Trust and Wealth Management, among many leadership roles over four decades with the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business).

“I had plans to go somewhere else for undergrad and met Jerry Wallace at a luncheon my senior year, and he made me promise to go see Campbell,” Jeff said. “And my brother [Dr. Joey Faucette (’82)] was there already so I said, ‘OK’. And then Dr. Wallace introduced me to President Wiggins and then I was introduced to the [Trust and Wealth Management] program, and suddenly, Davidson [College] didn’t look quite as good as Campbell did. I made the decision to go to Campbell and have not regretted it.”

When Jeff’s son Joseph (’23) started shopping colleges more than 30 years after Jeff’s graduation, Jeff said he had no intention of swaying his son toward one school or another. But they did tour Buies Creek together and “by happenstance”, those lasting Campbell relationships came into play again.

“We walked into [the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business] and walking down the hall was Jimmy Witherspoon, who had been one of my professors when he started at Campbell,” Jeff remembered. “We looked at each other and I said, ‘I know you’, and he said, ‘I know you.’ We talked and next thing you know, he takes Joe and [daughter] Caroline both up to his office and he’s selling them on the virtues of Campbell. And I didn’t have to do a thing.”

Some “good friends” of the Faucettes, who live in Huntington, West Virginia, then connected them with President Dr. Bradley Creed for a sit-down. Before long, Joe was receiving a 2023 undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Campbell. And Caroline, a current sophomore at the University, enrolled in Pre-Nursing.

“I really feel it was the Hand of God throughout the whole process,” Jeff said. “We by happenstance walked onto campus. There’s Jimmy Witherspoon that I had a tie with. Good friends all the way here in Huntington had a tie to Brad Creed. It really felt the same way it did when I walked into a luncheon on a Sunday after Jerry Wallace preached. From that standpoint, it’s just been a progression for the entire family.”

Though Caroline has switched her major a few times before finding promise in the Nursing program, she has felt at home in Buies Creek every step of the way.

“Oh, I love it. I love how tight knit the community is and that they really make sure it’s individualized to you,” Caroline said. “You can walk down the hall and say, ‘hello, Professor’ and they say, ‘hi, Caroline, nice to see you.’
“I saw that through my brother. And it drove me to work hard in high school to make sure I could have that great experience that he had.”

Caroline has worked equally hard in college, staying involved in extracurriculars. She’s an alumni student ambassador for the Alumni Association, a member of the pre-med Allied Health Honor Society, a member of the Delta Phi Epsilon sorority and a new employee at local staple, Creek Coffee.

“There are many benefits to being a legacy student, and [incoming] legacy students should know that there are networking opportunities for you that other people do not have,” Caroline said. “Do not be afraid to use those because Campbell really goes out of its way to help legacy students. And as long as you make those connections with your professors, and you talk to all the people you can, you’re really going to blossom at Campbell.”

Another point of excitement for the Faucette family is the fact that Jeff will, in late August 2023, receive his second degree from Campbell, a Master’s in Trust and Wealth Management. With his Master’s, Jeff, First Vice President of the Williams Faucette Advisory Group of Raymond James investing, hopes to soon teach others in the field of wealth management.

“I’ve always wanted to teach, and I figure in retirement, that’d be a good thing to look at doing,” he said.

This fall, close to 200 freshmen who have parents, grandparents or siblings that attended Campbell will begin their own Buies Creek journeys and be met with open arms at the University. Each legacy freshman is invited to Alumni Association Legacy events throughout the year, starting with the Legacy Luncheon on move-in day, Friday, August 18.