First Impressions--Last Impressions

I myself am a little stunned at realizing that the SAU Honors College is graduating 35 students in May and December 2014.  I need to tell you how different they are now from when they first matriculated at SAU.

Before I talk about them I'd like to recognize some important people. First, I need to thank the wonderful folks at ARAMARK for laying out such a fine spread for us. I also need to thank Brad Stout and his crew here at Reynolds for setting us up in such a fine way. We were not the only group to meet this week-end and Brad and his bunch took special care to prepare the room early this morning so that Kara O'Neal and her decorating committee could come in a set the tables so nicely. Kara if you and your committee could please stand. Join me in giving all of them a hand.

On your tables you will notice two important pieces of information. Your table may have a small placard indicating that it is being sponsored. Sponsorship cost $100 each. This event, thus, is both a celebration and a vehicle to continue the work of the Honors College in the future. The money we raise here and elsewhere chiefly goes to support student travel. You may already know that this year honors students have or will travel internationally to South Africa, London, or New Zealand. Within the United States, honors students have or will travel to New Orleans, Savannah, Raleigh, North Carolina, Washington DC, Denver, and Little Rock. That amount of travel is expensive. Thankfully, the SAU Foundation has recently received funds designated specifically for student travel. Many honors students have received such funds. Additionally, the Honors College has supplemented those fund as well.

 As you probably already know, legislatures everywhere, including in Arkansas have drastically reduced financial support of state colleges and universities. When I first began working here SAU received over 60% of its budget from state appropriations. Today, that percentage is in the low thirties. The Honors College must raise its own funds in order to be able to provide for student travel, equipment, and supplies needed for honors education. Let's give our donors a big hand.

That brings me to the other important piece of paper on your tables. Each table should have two of these. Don't worry; I brought more. Those envelopes are for those of you who would like to give or pledge money to the SAU Foundation, which in turn, will maintain those funds for the use of the Honors College. We work very closely with Jeanie Bismark, Josh Kee, and Pat Owen at the Foundation. If any of you are here, please stand so we may all recognize you.

I hope you soon-to-be graduates will not soon forget your time here. And, when you have completed any and all postgraduate work and begun your successful career, remember us. One strategy is to start small. Send us $10 when you first can. Next year, send us $20. By your tenth year send us $100 dollars. Think about it, 35 graduates following that strategy over 10 years would mean total donations from this group of $19,250. Just imagine where we could send our students and the equipment we could purchase if each graduating class followed that donation strategy. Please think about supporting those who will follow you just like others have supported your efforts over these last several years.

Traditionally, college lasted four years. Today in Arkansas, however, only 19.7% of all students graduate in four years. More startingly perhaps, is the fact that only 38.7% graduate in six years. Let's compare those figures to those of the students entering the SAU Honors College in 2010. That year we admitted 52 students. Of those, 27 will or already have graduated in four years or less. That is 52%. What about the rest? Five students transferred to other schools. Two are still in the Honors College and should graduate within the year. The remaining 18 were dropped for not maintaining the required 3.25 GPA. But, many of those will still graduate from SAU, just not with an honors degree. So, honors college students really are different and in a good way. I have been telling parents of prospective high school students lately, "enroll in the Honors College and save a year's tuition."

So, first impressions/last impressions; that is the topic I'd like to turn to now. First of all I have learned there is no such thing as a typical honors student. If you don't believe me, just look around. Also, there is no reliable way to predict, three to five years later, what a high school student will be like when they graduate (if they graduate) college.

You might suggest ACT scores. Aren't they supposed to predict success in college? Not so much for honors qualified students. You might think a score as high as 30 or 31 might guarantee an honors degree four years later. Well, two of those students from this class that we were forced to drop had ACTs that high. Their GPAs were as low as they can go. Yes, they each had 0.00 GPAs at the end of their first semester.

Here the flip side of that coin. Sitting among you is a student whose ACT was 25. That student is graduating with a GPA over 3.6, and more interestingly, is the winner of numerous awards including a major one just a few days ago.

So, first impressions are interesting and often very wrong. Here is another wrong one. Some make jokes about this type of female, jokes that play on her lack of intelligence or, more kindly, her unique way of looking at the world. Well, a student like that will graduate in three years, has a GPA over 3.8, participated in a grueling sport, and held one of the most difficult on-campus positions for two years. So much for that first impression.

Also sitting among you is another three-year wonder. Others, early on, soon realized they were sitting with the smartest person in the room, faculty included, I'm sorry to say. Quiet competence was what they saw, then and now, demonstrated by a near pathological impulse to help peers while never speaking down to them. This student is graduating with a 4.0 GPA and had a choice between two of the most prestigious PhD programs in that student's field. That student will remain the smartest person in any room, I predict.

You have all heard about the freshman 15. And, yes, some of our students picked up those pounds and maybe a little more. What about the junior -80? Ever heard of that? This student, graduating with a heartbreaking 3.94, a B in Organic Chemistry, is certainly making a very different final impression. Throughout that student's four years here nothing changed personality wise, one of the happiest and friendly people you would ever meet, just lighter now.

Two of our students have or will complete an honors thesis. What is an honors thesis? It is directed study under the supervision of a faculty sponsor. Both of those students are graduating after only three years at SAU. One of them wrote a 40-page paper analyzing science fiction movies from the 1940s to the 1960s in order to examine how they portrayed American families. The student was especially interested in how fathers were portrayed. When this student arrived here the words "painfully shy" would have failed to describe the depth of shyness. (Be aware that shyness is a major issue among all college students, btw.) That student has come a long way. Presenting that thesis marked a milestone, more of those will be passed in future years, I'm sure.

The point of these examples, and I could give you all 52, is that first impressions of honors students are bound to be less than reliable. Instead, we should concentrate on our last impressions of them. Those students seated here (and some cavorting on stage as we speak at Seussical) have left our first impressions far behind. Now we can safely call them what they really are: Honors Graduates. They have earned our respect and admiration not because of what they looked like upon arrival or how they acted back then. Now, we know them. We know them through their hard work and their successful accomplishments.

Still, it is time for them to leave us. Bittersweet is always the mood at gatherings such as these. One the one hand we wish to keep our students here forever, but on the other hand we know that their sojourn here was always meant to be temporary. Who knew that only meant three years for some many! Regardless of how long they stay we are proud of their accomplishments thus far and expect even more from them in the future.

Graduates, please stand now so we can all see who you are and give you the rousing send-off you truly deserve.

Thank you!