Class of ’26 | Kailey Elliott

Kailey Elliott | Lithonia, Georgia

A state champion hurdler from Lithonia, Georgia, Kailey Elliott is moving two states (five and a half hours) away to begin her college journey. It was a tough decision for her, but one she felt was necessary for self discovery.

“I came to Campbell to grow as a person,” she says. “I’m here to pass my classes, meet new people and have a new space around new people to realize who I really am.”

Elliott will study sports management while she runs and jumps for the track team, and, at least early on, she will be shedding the nerves that come with leaving the familiarity of home and adjusting to new surroundings.

“I’m the youngest, and I’m the only daughter, so my mom didn’t really want this to happen. But we’re going to make it work,” she says. “Campbell felt comfortable for me [on the first visit], so I know I’m in a good place.”

These stories are only the beginning. For this edition of Campbell Magazine, they’re an introduction to 12 students —chosen randomly during the third of four summer orientations hosted on the main campus this year — and a documentation of expectations heading into a four-year college journey.

All 12 agreed to give us more than just the 20 minutes it took to talk and take a few photos back in June. They’re allowing us to check in over the next four years to help chronicle their Campbell experience. And they’ve all agreed to sit down with us again in May 2026 to share their updated stories (and take a few more photos). In order to tell a story of growth and maturation, it’s best to start at the very beginning.

These interviews revealed a heightened sense of hope for a group whose high school careers were defined and marred by a global pandemic. Online classes became the norm, and many of their gatherings and social events were masked or socially distanced. Proms, athletic events and milestone ceremonies were either canceled, altered or virtual.

“Man is, by nature, a social animal,” Aristotle once wrote. Second to earning a degree and starting a career, this class is eager to connect socially with their peers and become part of an “experience” and a community that they mostly missed out on in high school.

It’s our hope that all 12 of these students join us again in four years to tell us all about their Campbell experience. We’re confident that those who do will return older, wiser, more confident and ready to take on the world.

We’re excited to tell these stories. See you in 2026.