Honors College Graduates: Fall 2021

 The SAU Honors College graduated five students in the Fall Semester of 2021. The are (L to R) Caitlyn Dean, Jordan Scrivner, Sarah York, Dana Hernandez, and Mackenzie Downs. We congratulate them and wish them the best in the future.

Bucket List: Christian Wiggins

 

Bucket lists show what others value: experiences, things, relationships, or a blend of all three. They show what people find important. For me, there are many small items on my bucket list, but the major items are long term. Others may find my list bland, but its items are important to me.

    Before I die I want to be a videogame developer and create a few successful video games. I don’t care about being famous. What I finally want to do is get the ideas in my head out and make games I’m proud of, games that people can enjoy. I want to give people a little bit of the fun that I’ve had with my favorite hobby. By doing that I would be accomplishing several things for myself while making something to let others have fun with as well. 

    Another item on my bucket list is more long term; I want to get married. I want to find someone I love and who loves me back. I want to make my spouse happy and live happily together. Others may find this item incredibly boring and sappy, but it’s something I want to do. I want to be with someone I love and trust and to be someone that they can love and trust too.

   I want to spend time with my family while we are together. I even want to give my dogs attention and make them happy while they are with me. I want to have good friends who I can hang out with. Living with as few regrets as possible is my goal.

Bucket List: Riley Payne

 

Bucket lists consist of the goals in life a person wants to achieve before dying. The lists can be simple or extraordinary. Everyone has a bucket list; some people write them down while others keep them their minds. Either way, bucket lists help people stay focused on their life goals.

My bucket list is simple but challenging. First, I want to graduate college and pass all my college classes. Most people overlook this goal, but to me it is important. After I graduate from SAU, I want to be accepted by the University of  Central Arkansas to continue my education and become a physical therapist. Before setting out on my career path, I want to find and observe physical therapists working at local hospitals and at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital. The goals above are some of my bigger goals in life. Others are quite simpler: getting married, starting a family, and to having a color guard solo during one of the SAU Band’s halftime shows. I love world travel either for vacations or mission trips. I want to see the Seven Wonders of the world. My mom has always wanted to go to Hawaii. So, I want fulfill a goal from her bucket list by taking her and my family to Hawaii.

    Bucket lists are very easy to create. People add to their bucket list throughout their lives. I hope that I 

achieve my goals and will be happy wherever I go in my life.

Bucket List: Jacob Brown

 

Growing up I never thought of having a bucket list. But today I can think of so many items that I could add that list, items that would make my life ideal. My items range from watching a Red Sox game, getting married under a willow tree, and to serving overseas. My items are not extreme but they will not bore me either. Those items will be a major factor in how I live my life.

            I plan to be a family man but  also to serve in the military; goals that may butt heads. My first goal is to first graduate college and then enlist into the U.S. Army. I’ve always wanted to be a soldier since I was a young boy; I’ve always told myself that I would serve someday. I’ll combine my goals of being in the Army with another goal, being a law enforcement officer, by serving as an MP officer in the Army.

            Beyond those two main goals are other minor but fulfilling goals: attending Razorback football, baseball, basketball games, and one of their track meets. I’d like to watch the Red Sox beat the Yankees. As a sucker for landscapes I would like to visit the Grand Canyon and Yosemite National Park. [FYI, neither are in the Midwest, ;-)] I have a fear of heights, but that fear may keep me safe. Still,  I would love to climb a mountain or two in the USA, just to help overcome my fear of heights.

Bucket List: Ashley Martin

 

Bucket Lists have never been a big hobby for me. I am very impulsive when it comes to ideas, but now that I think about it, I have some things that I have always wanted to do.

The first item on my bucket list is visit Yellowstone National Park. I have heard it’s extremely beautiful and I love going on hikes and outdoor adventures. Another item on my bucket list is becoming a travel nurse. That way I could  travel the world, something I love, and work in the pediatrics, my nursing field, at the same time. I would love to visit Alcatraz in San Francisco, CA. I find the whole “prison on an island” concept fascinating. Being an athlete all of my life, running a marathon would be something I would like to add to my list. I would have to train super hard, but it would be worth it.  Something I have always thought about doing is adopting a child. I am not set on adopting from any particular country, but I believe that fulfilling a child’s dreams and giving them love, maybe for the first time would be something we would cherish forever. The last and final thing on my bucket list is living on a ranch of over 50 acres. I have always lived in the city where everything is busy and crowded. So, living a calm and peaceful life is something I have always dreamt about it. My bucket list is rather simple and small, but it is filled with memories I would never forget.

Bucket List: Jiri Semrad

 

The only thing certain about the future is that it is not certain. What I am doing now may not be what I do in the future. Life will take me through all sorts of paths. What I do know is that setting myself up for success in whatever the future may hold is important to me.

The first and foremost item on my list is self-improvement. No matter what field or path I take consistent improvement will be the key to success in meeting my goals. Becoming stagnant will only hinder any moves to future goals. Those include art, coding, and traveling.

Before I die I want to host an art show. I was supposed to host one before Covid 19 but the pandemic forced its cancellation. I want to reach the point where I can comfortably understand code and coding. Whether or not I choose writing software as a career I’d like to practice and get better at it for my own satisfaction. I would like to go on a long road trip around the country and surrounding countries to just learn about the world I live in and get some stories before I settle down.

The last and most important goal for me is to not only let myself live a comfortable life but have the rest of my friends and family live comfortably. Going forward I want to be hired in a place I can passionately work because personally, it is less about the pay and more about enjoying what I do.

Bucket List: Joey Tan

 

I prefer to drift through life taking what is expected of me. As I grow older, I struggle to imagine what my future path will be. Yet, there are still things I know want to do before I die, my bucket list.

            I want to attend a League of Legends (LoL) eSports world final. I have followed up on the LoL eSports scene since 2018 and support many favorite teams and dislike others. Though I have never attended any large stadium event, I have heard many stories about the crowd’s electrifying energy, their roar making the game and the announcers inaudible, and no one seeming to care. Honestly, I am not sure if I would even enjoy such a scene, but I would like to find out for myself regardless.

            A cosplay, (short for costume play), is when people dress up as a character from a movie, show, video game, or any other media. Many people in cosplay attend comic or gaming conventions. I have been to some of these conventions before, but always in normal clothes. I know nothing about makeup, sewing, or prop design, but I would like to show up to a convention in cosplay one day. I find the idea of dressing up as a character exciting, since I would not really be “myself,” but I would be the character.

            Both these hobbies have always been something I have enjoyed or spectated from afar, but I want to participate in them fully, even just once.