Bucket List: William Ashcraft

When thinking about the concept of a bucket list, it’s difficult and almost intimidating to create a list of all the things I want to do before I die. What makes it even more challenging is the fact that my dreams and goals change frequently. My aspirations ten years from now could be entirely different from the ones I hold today. However, if I had to choose the things I would like to do before I die, I think I would want to graduate with an MBA, learn to draw, have a family, and become an author.

            I plan on graduating from SAU with an MBA. It’s more of a short-term goal, but one with long-term effects. Since I took multiple college courses in high school, I’ll be able to obtain my bachelor’s degree and MBA in four years.

            Also, I want to learn how to draw. It’s a much more trivial goal compared to getting an MBA, and I don’t have any grand ambitions of being an artist, but it’s a skill I’ve always wanted to learn. Currently, I have no artistic ability. The most I can manage is a squiggly stick figure, but I think with time and practice, I can improve.

            Perhaps the biggest goal on my list is to have a family. Not because it’s the one I strive for the most but because having one would have the greatest impact on my life. It wouldn’t necessarily have to be a wife and children. A wife and a couple of dogs would be enough for me.

            Finally, I hope to one day become an author. That may sound strange seeing as I’m a finance major pursuing an MBA, and I would have no issue going into such a field since I do enjoy it, but my goal is to eventually become an author, writing science fiction, fantasy, thrillers, or whatever else I feel like writing. Whether I’m able to make a living as an author or not isn’t of much concern, since I would mostly treat it as a hobby.

Bucket List: Darcy Ellerbee

 

When I think about creating a bucket list, it’s hard for me to narrow down what I wish to accomplish in my life before I die. My plans and my dreams change on the daily. However, if I had to narrow it down I would say that I want to travel to Italy, write a book and have it published, own a home and have a family of my own, and graduate college with honors.

Ever since I was a little girl, I always dreamed of traveling to Italy. All I want to do is visit there even if it is only for a day. I want to experience the scenery and the food.

My second goal is to write a book. If I were to write a book, it would probably be a fantasy or fiction novel. There is no particular reason for this other than I enjoy writing and I want to share my work with people who might enjoy it as well.

 My third goal is to own a home and have a family of my own. Now, I use the term family loosely. I would be content with having a husband and a few cats and dogs with a house of our own on a piece of land somewhere.

Finally, for more of a short term goal, I wish to graduate college with honors. I graduated high school with honors, so I hope to do the same in college. I aim to graduate with at least a 3.8 or higher, so hopefully I can achieve that. I’m aware that it is much harder to do that in college than it is in high school , but I believe that if I work hard enough, I will be able to reach that goal.

NCHC Day 3

 When one is on the road, eating becomes an issue. Where? When? What?

Typically, the prices at restaurants at large hotels are higher than those outside the hotel. At this NCHC meeting, however, such outside restaurants were scarce nearby. So, we had to Uber to them.

Unlike Magnolia (hah, hah) there was always a steady supply of Uber drivers nearby and their fares were reasonable. We found some nearby restaurants and enjoyed some good food.

At an upscale Italian restaurant we ate well. Here is my stuffed cannelloni:

But, before that we had a salumi and cheese plate that was laced with white truffle honey:

We also found a Mediterranean restaurant. I opted for the beef skewers:

So, if you want to try something other than SAU cafeteria food, be sure to complete your honors projects and submit them to NCHC in Chicago in November 2023 or to SRHC in Charlotte in March 2023.

Of course, eating was a diversion. We attended some worthwhile sessions too. We have been writing down some possible changes and additions we could implement at SAU. For example:

• National Fellowships
• These are money sources for students to study and travel. SAU honors students have earned such in the past but we want to expand our reach
• More opportunities for SAU honors students to mentor other students
• This might be by working more closely with our SSI program
• Re-instituting and expanding SAU's full honors classes
• Here, as always, money will be an issue
• We hope to appeal to faculty to teach these as free overloads and allowing them to offer a full honors course on a topic they enjoy but could not teach as a part of their normal load
• For example, I might teach: Animal awareness: There we'd examine questions such as Are animals aware? Do they think? How do we know?
   

 Honors students would then have a wider set of interesting courses they could take towards fulfilling the 24 honors hour requirement.

Suffice it to say that in addition to pleasing our palates we learned a great deal at this conference and hope to share it fruits with you and SAU soon.

NCHC Day 2

 Dr. Odendaal and I toured the JFK Sixth Floor Museum. We're thinking of planning an honors trip to Dallas in the spring.

Here is a bust of JFK

Here is the rifle Oswald used

Here is Oswald's shooting position on the 6th floor

Here is Jack Ruby shooting Oswald

NCHC Day 1

 

Dr. Ursula Kamanga (L) chats with Dr. Antoinette Odendaal (R) at the Welcome Reception at NCHC 2022 in Dallas.

Dr. Kamanga teaches communication studies at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Earlier, she and Dr. Kardas attended the meeting of the International Education committee. We three met up later and the two South Africans even conversed in Africaans, briefly.

Rocky Horror

 

Seven Rocky Horror "virgins" attended the showing of the classic (?) movie at
the Perot Theatre in Texarkana

Here are the honors students who went (L to R): Tori Burton, William Ashcraft, Nia Johnson, Brodie Gholson, and Jade Dillard

After we ate at IHOP, a first for many

Interestingly, the longer we stayed the more crowded IHOP got.

This is done when the Transylvania mansion is lit up.

Matriculation 2022 Photos

 Matriculation 2022 Shots

I'll have more later, but here are some photos:

Here you all are! I have room to photoshop in anyone who missed...

The cake was a big hit!

Matriculees cue up and sign up