More significant to me than the moment, are the people that made it happen. Coming to Western has afforded me countless opportunities to work side-by-side with some of the best people in academia, all of whom have walked me through those defining moments.
Looking back to the beginning of my collegiate career, before I ever took my first exam, bought my first book, or even registered for my first class, I was a wide-eyed, recent high-school graduate attending Summer Orientation and Registration (SOAR). Shy and overwhelmed by all the options and experiences that lay before me, I sheepishly walked table to table at the Activities Fair as my dad (a Western alumnus) talked to each department’s representative. That’s when I met Rick Hardy ’70, director of the Centennial Honors College. Initially, I decided to forego applying for the Honors College because, in truth, I didn’t think I had what it took to be successful in an academically rigorous collegiate honors program.