Wow,
that was really smart.
Um,
testing,
123,
do you,
can you say it?
Sorry.
Yeah,
testing,
123.
Hello,
um,
this is Emily Holdaway and Spencer Hawkhurst,
um,
interviewing Tricia Eardley on March 15,
2019 at
3:24,
it is Early,
Early,
I'm so sorry,
uh,
Early at,
um,
3:24 p.m.
And,
um,
Honors Hall 229C.
This interview is part of the Barrett Oral History Project.
Our goal is to preserve a record of
Barrett's history in honor of our 30th anniversary.
Thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with us and share your experiences.
You're very welcome.
Yeah,
um,
so first question,
um,
let's start,
um.
When did you attend Barrett?
So,
I was a student from
the years 2000 to 2004.
And then I've been an employee of Barrett from 2009 to the present.
Great,
um,
why did you choose ASU and beer?
So as a student,
um,
I was,
I'm from the Midwest originally,
um,
from Southern Illinois,
and I wasn't sure where I wanted to go to school,
but I knew I wanted to go
try something different.
I was looking at big schools.
I was looking at out of state,
um,
ASU was not on my radar,
and then I,
um,
received some recruitment materials.
I was a National Merit Scholar.
So
ASU was recruiting national mayors pretty heavily
at the time.
Ted Humphrey was the dean.
You guys may have heard of him through the Oral History Project,
I'm guessing.
Yeah.
So Dean Humphrey actually came to St.
Louis and took me and my parents out to dinner.
And talked to us about Barrett and how it was so
great and we should really consider it and it was this new
idea,
you know,
honors colleges weren't a huge thing quite like they are now,
um,
but it was something that was kind of like an up and coming experience.
So,
um,
I felt really special that the dean of the honors college
took my family out to dinner,
um,
so we decided to check it out.
So it was about April we flew out and checked out
Arizona State.
I'd never been to Arizona before,
but I just loved it.
I fell in love with the,
um,
the mountain.
Was this your senior year?
Yeah,
senior year.
Yeah.
So with National Merit,
you have to declare your school by May 1st,
and I hadn't really thought about ASU until April,
so it was a whirlwind and.
I decided to come to ASUU and it all worked out.
Yeah.
What did you major in?
My major was in fine arts.
So I was a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting,
and I did a business minor.
How would you describe Barrett's?
So Barrett,
um,
when I was a student,
you know,
it was a lot smaller.
It definitely felt like a family.
I think it still does today,
but in a different way.
Um,
it still has that kind of that small community aspect to it.
Um,
I felt like we were a pretty tight knit group.
A lot of the students that
I went to Barrett with at the time.
Um,
but the thing that I think describes Barrett for
me is the idea of like going above and beyond
as a student,
that's what I wanted to do.
I wanted to challenge myself.
I wanted to do more than I had to because I was just driven to excel and
challenge myself and try things that I hadn't tried before,
um.
And I feel that way as an employee too,
and I see that from the other staff that I work with now.
I really feel like we want to be the best that we can for the students.
We're always trying to challenge ourselves to be better advisers,
to learn other advising techniques.
Um,
so
I think that's something that I can see from a different perspective,
but has been true from my experience,
both as a student and now as a staff member.
Um,
were you involved in any organizations during your time at ASU as a student?
I was.
I was an honors devil.
Yes,
and I found an artifact
that I thought I could share with you guys.
Potentially.
This is a brochure
back from,
I think like.
It has the old logo of.
Yes.
Wow.
It has an old picture of Dean Jacobs on the back.
Oh gosh.
Um,
Here,
here I am as an honors double.
Wow.
That is so cool.
Isn't that cute?
That's super awesome.
Yeah.
That's super awesome.
So,
I was an honors double,
um,
I like to say I wasn't an ideal honors level
because we had the opportunity to choose what kind of
things we wanted to do and I would always choose
take prospective families out to lunch.
I love,
I know,
right,
the free lunch,
that was very appealing to me,
so.
I didn't do very many tours.
I only remember doing a couple tours.
I would just do the free lunches,
which was a ton of fun.
I really enjoyed that.
I loved meeting with the families,
and
I was an out of state student,
so especially when we had those out of state families
to tell them about my experience of coming out here.
That was a lot of fun.
So I was an honors double.
Um,
I enjoyed that.
Um,
I was part of Camp Sparky.
I think Camp Sparky still exists.
Um,
it's a group that goes to elementary schools and runs like day camps
for the students around a theme like to teach them about science or
whatever your theme is.
Yeah.
Yeah,
it's definitely still exists.
Um,
and then we did,
um,
one year we actually had like a summer camp for them for
I think a week,
like a day.
So that was fun.
I did that and then I was part of a group called
Muralles.
I don't think they exist anymore.
It's a cool name,
though.
Yeah.
So,
we would go to hospitals and do some sort of art with the patients.
So,
um,
it was either,
you know,
like the fine arts,
like painting.
Um,
sometimes we would do music.
That type of thing.
And that was miracles Murals.
Like a mural.
Wow.
Yeah.
Huh.
That's what I'm saying.
I'm sorry.
That's what I was like,
oh.
Those are the main things I was involved with.
Yeah.
As a student.
Yeah.
That's super cool.
What was your,
what was your favorite?
Like,
what was,
you know,
I mean,
not to say,
which one do you think you've most like interacted,
I was most
involved with Camp Sparky.
When I was a student,
for my scholarship,
there was a community service requirement.
So you had to do community service,
um,
and that's how I originally found Camp Sparky,
but then I just really liked.
And you were all part of,
um,
that club all four years,
I'm assuming or Camp Sparky,
I think I did all four years.
Uh-huh.
I was an honors double,
I believe,
three years.
OK.
Um,
two years.
I,
I didn't do it the whole time.
I can't remember exactly when I started.
Yeah.
Um,
and Miracles was a brand new club.
So,
I think I only did that two years.
Yeah.
That's super awesome.
Um,
Uh,
we heard that you met your husband,
um,
at Barrett.
Um
it's true.
Yeah.
Do you want to tell us that story?
That example.
So I like to say I'm a Barrett love story.
So I came
to Barrett.
I was out of state.
I was living in the residence halls.
We did just call them dorms at the time,
but,
um,
I lived in center complex.
I don't know if you guys are familiar with center complex.
Specifically,
I was best C 3rd floor.
That was the best floor.
We were proud of our floor.
Um,
so I was living in B.
Having a great first semester,
meeting lots of new people,
and then that second semester of my freshman year,
I was actually at an off-campus event,
and this guy came in and
the way he tells the story is he saw me across the room.
Your eyes
And he said to a friend like,
Who's that?
And his friend goes,
That's just Trisha.
And somehow
we had never met,
but he also lived in Bessy,
but he was on the set.
I know,
right?
So far away.
So we met and started hanging out and started dating and.
Stay together we're still together to this day.
So great.
And,
um,
what did he major in?
So,
he was an education major.
Got you.
Yes,
and he actually works at the Mesa School District here in.
Mhm.
Awesome.
Um,
were there any other significant moments,
um,
when during your time at ASU with Steven?
So another thing that I think was pretty cool,
um,
when I did my thesis,
it was definitely more of a creative project because
I was a painting major as I mentioned,
um,
and I had Dean Peggy Nelson as one of my thesis committee members.
She was my third committee member.
So she's a former dean
that just retired this past year.
Um,
so Dean Nelson.
She's an anthropologist,
but she's a big supporter of the arts,
so she was absolutely a really great person to add to my committee.
I feel like I learned a lot from her,
but at the time she was starting celebrating honors.
I don't know if you guys are familiar with celebrating honors.
That's the thesis symposium that's held at the end of each year.
Um,
the way it looks now is we take over the courtyard
and students have like posters and they present their work.
Is it still called that,
or that's what it's called,
celebrating honors,
yeah,
and it's,
it's in here?
Yes,
OK,
OK.
I believe I participated in the very first celebrating Honors.
It was in Old Maine.
Um,
Carson Ballroom of Old Maine,
and because I had a creative project,
I think I was the only creative project represented,
and I had literally brought like I hauled over these
huge canvases and like set them up in the room,
um,
and I had to get this cart to do it and like it was a big deal,
um,
but it was really cool and I,
I was the only creative project I believe represented,
so that was super exciting for me at the time
and that was your senior year,
yes,
that was senior year.
Um,
what was your thesis on?
So I was doing a series of,
of paintings,
um,
and,
um,
my work was oil painting and primarily figure based.
Um,
I actually think I can remember the title.
Um,
it was called.
People play some things forming first impressions and it was about
um how
we form first impressions based on like the things we see around people
so it had lots of things going on in the backgrounds as well
um and there were several artists that I studied to help me with my technique for this
um so that was kind of some of the research that went into the project on the back end,
um.
Several different arts that were influencing me as well
as in the techniques that I was using when
when doing the works,
um,
so it was a series of paintings.
I had space in,
uh,
a gallery on campus so that I did have like a show for the work as well.
You made your own show,
yeah.
It was really exciting.
Yeah,
thank you.
Wow,
good
for you.
Do you still have your artwork?
I have a lot of it.
I don't have
all of it though.
Unfortunately,
most of it is stacked in my garage
with like a sheet
laid on top of it.
They were big paintings like
5 ft tall,
3 ft wide.
Yeah,
they were big canvases.
So you said that like
the idea behind your honors thesis was
to like,
it was about first impressions.
So do you think it was more towards like fine
arts or do you think it was more towards like
social interactions?
Like what do you think?
That's,
oh,
I like that question.
It definitely was more fine arts focused,
but I wanted to bring a little bit of the social interaction into it and I think that
that was what I was trying to do with this idea.
Yeah.
Um,
yeah,
so it,
it had a little bit of that
aspect,
but the main focus
of what I did in the the research that I wrote about was on the fine arts side of it.
Um.
And then,
um,
expanding on the thesis,
was this like an honors thesis or was this a thesis?
Because I know that there's a difference.
Oh,
this was the honors thesis.
So this was my Barrett thesis.
OK.
Yeah,
yeah,
yeah.
And I know that,
you know,
one of the biggest things about
The honors thesis is it really doesn't have to focus towards your actual major,
um,
so
what do you think that like,
do you think that that's expanded,
do you think that's grown,
and do you think your experience
in general has like.
Taught you to encourage other students to like,
you know,
expand on their thesis outside of their major.
Yeah,
uh,
that's,
that's an interesting question.
So
I don't know if,
if there was a rule when I was a student that
you had to do your thesis in your major or not,
but everyone I knew did their thesis in their major.
So I'm not sure if that was a rule or not.
And part of why I think I don't know the answer to that
is because when I was a student,
honors advising wasn't a thing.
Really?
So,
when I,
I think they,
they hired a couple of honors advisors when I was a junior or a senior,
and it was like optional if you wanted to go and you could,
you weren't required.
Um,
Then a few years after that,
I believe around 2005,
they made honors advising
a requirement
where everyone then had to go in and meet regularly
with their advisor and learn about those rules like,
hey,
you could do a thesis outside your major.
Maybe there was a rule and just none of us knew it at the time when I was a student,
um,
so I think honors advising has helped
make,
um.
Students aware of the options they have with the thesis,
um,
and definitely I think my personal experience is helpful when I'm working
with students that have an interest maybe outside of their major,
a more creative idea
because I feel like I understand
what that looks like.
It's very different than a traditional thesis.
So
I really love working with students that have kind of that other idea and
talking to them about what that could look like or what you could do,
um,
so I think that my experience was useful in that sense.
Awesome,
that's cool.
Yeah,
so you graduated with a degree of fine arts,
and now you work at Barrett Advisor.
I advisor.
So,
like,
um,
can you tell us a little bit of like that process or like that transition?
Yeah,
so I got my bachelor's in Fine Arts and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life.
Um,
I'd heard about a master's program actually in painting
that I,
I put in an application to.
I wasn't sure that that's what I wanted to do,
but then sometimes life
sends you other things.
So,
um,
my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer around that time.
And so I decided it was important for me to move closer to home,
um,
to kind of be with her and be able to see her more as she was,
you know,
going through treatments and recovering.
So,
uh,
the program that I applied for was back in Illinois.
That's where I'm from.
Um,
and I got admitted to that program with a full fellowship,
so it was like
paid for.
So I,
I decided,
well,
OK,
then I'm going
because it's easy,
right?
That's paid for.
I'll be closer to my mother,
so that's what I did.
So I went and I did a master's program in painting and just side note,
you're not worried.
My mom is fine.
She came out a champ,
doing well to this day.
So happy to hear.
So I'm at this program back in Illinois.
I'm doing my master's in painting and I'm enjoying.
But what I found I really enjoyed even more was I was teaching a class on
fine arts for non-majors,
and I was supervising some other graduate students for a program
and I just realized I really liked working with the students.
I really had a lot of fun working with the students in the class I
was teaching and working with the other
graduate students and interacting with the staff.
I really liked that and all of a sudden I had the light bulb moment of.
This could be my career path.
I could work at a university.
Um,
so when I finished the master's program,
that's what I did.
I looked for jobs at universities and um that's how I ended up back at ASU.
Um,
I actually started ASU in admissions and then
transferred or transitioned into advising from there.
Um
So,
um,
now working and advising for Barrett,
um,
how do you think,
um,
like
Barrett effectively helps students navigate college
and prepare for their future?
Yes,
these are,
I wrote some notes for some of these questions because I,
I didn't want to forget the things I wanted to say.
So
I'm sorry,
which question did you ask?
Sorry,
I'm um,
the networking advising,
um,
how do you think,
um,
Barrett helps students navigate college and 3rd grade?
One thing that I think.
That Barrett does that I don't know that students always even know is happening is,
um.
We help remove barriers,
I think sometimes.
Yeah,
I notice.
Thanks,
Spencer.
Yeah,
no,
I noticed that for sure.
You know,
I was just talking about this with someone the other day.
I think,
We are a safe,
we,
we try to provide an opportunity,
a little safe space here for students to explore,
and we want to operate from a place of,
yes,
you can do that.
So there,
for example,
you know,
some,
some students,
maybe they want to major in engineering,
but they,
they always like taking history classes and they're like,
I was told I can't do both.
And I'm here to say,
well,
why,
why not?
Why can't we try both?
Why can't we do a history class?
Maybe you end up doing a thesis outside of your major in that area.
So I think that we offer a space where students hopefully can
imagine almost anything is possible.
Um,
and help them then figure out,
OK,
well how can we actually then make that happen
and maybe what are
the resources that we can connect you with or even just helping sometimes,
um,
brainstorm
what are the questions you should be asking or what are the words
you need to know so that you can navigate the system more effectively.
So,
I do think that we,
we try to remove barriers for folks.
Oh,
yeah.
Um,
I also think
the thesis or creative project is a huge gift.
I know it's going to be a lot of work.
I don't know if either of you started.
Uh,
I'm actually meeting with my FHA next week.
OK.
So,
starting I know it can seem very scary.
But it is a huge gift.
It is a big deal to do a thesis or a creative project,
and it's not something that's required.
This is something you are choosing to do,
yes,
and it is going to make a huge difference in your future,
even if you do a thesis that's.
unrelated to what you want to do in the future.
Like I did a painting thesis.
You will learn so much through that process about project management,
about working with people with disparate points of view,
and being the one who's ultimately in charge of this project.
Um,
it is going to help you.
Guarantee it whether you go to grad school or whether you go to employment,
whether you're interviewing for
an internship or a medical school or whatever,
you are going to gain a lot of skills from doing this thesis,
and it's such a huge gift and I think in advising we do a pretty good job of helping
prepare you,
but there's some things that you're just gonna have to experience on your own.
Definitely.
Um,
what's your favorite part of your job?
Well,
my favorite part of my job is working with students.
Number one,
but specifically,
I do really like helping students with the thesis.
Oh yeah.
I can see your eyes just light up.
Yeah,
it's so fun to hear
all these different ideas that students have.
That's the best part.
Students,
you guys
are in every single major,
so I get to meet students with all sorts of cool interests,
things I've never thought of before,
and they get excited to tell me about what they might want to do for their
thesis or interesting classes that they've done or
a cool honors contract that they've worked on.
That I love that.
I love hearing what students are interested in.
That is just so fun for me and then helping them figure out,
well,
how could we develop this maybe into your thesis.
Um,
what do you think has been like the most unique
thesis
or.
Multiple ones,
you,
I know it's hard to pick one,
but like what do you think is the most let me think of a memorable ones.
So,
um,
Most unique.
Well,
you know,
this was a pretty cool one.
This one I think is a.
A few years old,
I thought this one was super cool.
This student was,
um,
an anthropology major
and she was studying bone samples.
So like she literally would have a microscope with a little slide,
and she'd be looking at the little fragments of the bones.
That's what she was doing for hours and hours and hours on end.
I'll be honest,
I don't remember why she was looking.
But she was looking at the bone samples for some sort of anthropology reason.
And she was writing a very
scholarly academic paper based on what she's learned about these bone samples.
But as she's doing this,
and looking at these samples,
she's like,
they're really cool.
I feel like they're just really visually interesting to look at.
So she ended up having,
as a side project,
a series of um
of art pieces.
So she took
Like scans of the bone samples and blew them up
and then manipulated them and turned them into art pieces.
That is so cool.
Isn't that cool?
Yeah,
and that was just for fun.
So her thesis was kind of this dual thesis,
this academic paper,
but also these really cool visually stunning
art pieces that were created from that.
That one stands out to me as a really cool one.
Um,
yeah,
so kind of moving into the
future of Barrett,
um,
Uh,
where do you see Barrett in 5 years,
um,
1020,
30,
however far you want to go?
Yeah,
these are tough questions,
I think.
They're interesting questions.
Um,
Well,
I'm very committed to Barrett personally,
um.
As you may guess,
right,
I have a long history,
so.
Um,
right now,
I am actually
working on a doctorate,
so I'm in a doctoral program in educational leadership,
and through this program,
I'm doing a study.
Um,
in my workplace
about how to help students who are beginning the honors thesis,
there's another theme there,
a little tie there,
right?
So,
um,
I would like,
so I'm very committed to this whole like
experience and helping students through the honors thesis,
and I would like to,
to see us develop this a little bit further
of,
of developing some more structured pathways for students.
When they're starting their thesis project,
some students don't need that.
Some students have lots of ideas.
They build really wonderful connections to professors,
and it's really easy for them just to to start a thesis project.
But other students need a little bit more help,
I think,
in those early stages,
um,
and
other students.
I would like,
I think,
even more structured
projects that are,
are maybe
ongoing freestanding projects that they can get plugged into.
So I would like to see us maybe develop out some,
some things like that a little bit more robustly over the next
maybe 5 to 10 years for that,
for that idea.
Um,
so going off that,
you know,
you talked about this challenge of starting a thesis,
um,
and this challenge of interacting with professors.
So
when you start a thesis,
what do you think is like the most challenging part for a student?
Like
student comes in,
they're like,
I'm really struggling with blank.
What do you most often see?
Um,
I would say the most often thing is
students who haven't built connections to professors yet.
That means they're probably gonna go talk to a professor they've never met before,
and that's scary.
That is very scary.
I,
I mean,
I,
yeah,
so we have the honors contract.
I feel that,
yeah.
So I'd say that that is the,
the biggest struggle,
and
some of it is just telling students like.
It's totally OK to approach a professor you've never had before.
That's normal,
and
that's part of their job is to meet with you and talk with you,
um,
but still,
even just getting over that mental block for some students,
that's hard,
um,
but.
Then you know helping students
if they haven't built those connections,
um,
sometimes they have actually.
Sometimes,
you know,
when you start asking them,
well,
tell me about your classes and
what have been your favorites and what projects did you do for those classes,
then they'll start.
Opening up and you'll realize,
Wait a minute.
You're telling me a lot about this class.
You got an A.
I bet you have a connection to that professor,
whether you realize you really do or not,
right?
Oh yeah.
So I think that's the biggest challenge for a lot of students.
Exactly.
Um,
I think you kind of already touched base on this,
but,
um,
just in case,
um,
how would you like to see Barrett evolve?
Yes,
so.
I would say
I,
I actually have seen Barrett evolve.
Well,
I've seen Barrett grow a lot over the time from when
I was a student to when I'm here and evolve.
Like it's much more fully formed experience than it was when I was a student.
But
what I would like to see,
I would like to to
see us keep evolving.
I think we have to
so that we can be,
um,
competitive and
continue to be that gold standard,
right?
But what I would like to see is as we evolve we keep
kind of that the same kind of core values feeling going on.
Um,
I think I mentioned at the beginning that.
It felt like a real small family.
Like you,
you knew most of the people in Barrett,
and it's impossible for you to know everyone now,
but I still think it feels like that for a lot of folks.
I hope it feels that way to you.
Like it does kind of feel more like,
hey,
this is a family.
I've got people that care about me.
I think those things are true.
I just hope that we can continue to keep those types of core values throughout,
no matter what,
no matter where Barrett goes in the future.
Yeah.
So you're talking like expansion of.
Expanding it more.
Yeah,
I mean,
I don't think at this point in time,
knock on wood,
um,
I don't think we're,
we're planning to expand right now.
I think that's probably a good thing.
I think we're probably in a good critical mass for now.
We need to,
like
I know.
Keep at this,
this,
this size and develop things out from here.
Yeah.
You know,
one thing that I don't know what the future would hold for this,
but thinking future,
future,
um,
I mean,
even now we're seeing more and more classes are going online.
And
I think that is a.
A frontier that we haven't really crossed yet with honors.
What does online education look like in honors,
and I don't think personally
that universities have figured out what online education,
really good online education,
consistently looks like.
My my experience from hearing from students
is sometimes their online classes are great
and they get a lot and they think they're amazing and sometimes they're not.
I think it really depends on the level of commitment
of the student sometimes because I think that a lot
of time because all the accountability is on you.
I think it also is how the how the class is set up,
the level of commitment of the professor to keep it engaging.
It's not,
I don't think it's consistent at ASU yet,
and I,
I think though as
ASU continues to expand those offerings,
honors may have to take a look at how that,
how we may fit into that puzzle.
Um,
a lot of the,
uh,
because I know a lot of the honors like section classes and
obviously the human event are very heavily discussion based.
Do you think
that
AS
that Barrett could keep that online could have that online presence
while still keeping that very core like
discussion-based class?
I think that's a very good question,
um.
I'm just gonna speak from my own personal experience as I mentioned,
I'm
doing a doctoral program.
I've had a number of in-person classes and online classes for this program.
It's been kind of hybrid,
and in my online classes there have been things like discussion boards and whatnot,
and they don't,
I don't think they've been that robust.
I don't know what your experience has been like in online classes.
I don't think we've figured this out yet.
No,
I'm not just saying Barrett or ASU.
I'm just saying in general,
as,
as humanity hasn't figured this out yet,
but I think you hit the nail on the head that we,
if we want to have an honors experience
where it feels like you were having real meaningful
thought provoking interactions,
we haven't figured out what that looks like yet,
yeah.
Maybe Barrett will.
I don't know.
Maybe we'll be the one to figure it out.
Yeah.
Yeah,
um,
what do you think has been the biggest difference between
like your experience as an undergraduate and now looking at
almost all of the people
doing undergraduate through Barrett now?
I am just so impressed with you guys.
The,
I mean,
the Barrett students today are just so amazing.
So many students are just,
you guys seem I,
I don't know,
you seem smarter than I was back then.
Maybe,
maybe I'm not remembering things the same way,
but I'm just
so impressed by how dedicated these students are.
I feel like you guys are,
I'm talking as a whole,
but you two.
I'm sure you can keep looking at me and saying,
but I feel like the students that I work with every day,
they're so driven,
they're all really,
um,
proactive with their education,
looking at opportunities to get involved with,
um,
so many students involved with research projects,
um,
so many students that are,
you know,
uh,
doing really amazing internships and travel.
I just,
I just feel like Barrett students are.
Even more engaged than when I was when I was a student,
um,
there's,
I think there are more opportunities at ASU,
but I think that our students are better at getting plugged into them
than we were as students,
and I don't want to advising as the answer to that,
but
I do think advising plays a little bit of a role in that and that you
guys have to come in and hopefully we're pushing that kind of stuff out to you.
That's what I know I try to do is push these opportunities out to my students,
um.
And
I don't,
I think I went and saw an ASU advisor once when I was a student,
but I was never even required to ever see an advisor
at all the whole time I was a student at ASU.
So that's totally different,
um,
and there's a lot of other reasons why ASU,
you know,
ASU is with President Crowe.
He has done so much to bring in a lot more research funding
and to have way more opportunities for undergraduates
to get involved in these types of things.
So that's different.
The university looks different even,
um,
but I think that.
Barrett has done a better job of
helping students get connected to those opportunities.
Um,
I guess follow up from that,
and,
so you say that there's a lot of different opportunities.
So,
um,
do you think there ever,
ever will be like a threshold of like
too many opportunities because I know,
you know,
you'll go into your,
uh,
residence hall or dorm or whatever,
and you'll be like,
oh,
there's 15 things that are on my elevator,
like signs like
of things going on.
Do you think that there ever will be like.
So many opportunities that it will almost be voided and it's
like the opportunities will be so wide that they won't even,
I mean,
I think that I.
I don't think there's a blanket answer to that.
I think that is a personal thing that happens,
right?
You're a human being.
You can only take in so much information at once.
And when you're bombarded
all day long and you've got the Honor's Digest email,
but then you've got the lister for your major,
and then you've got 30 flyers outside your elevator in your,
in your dorm,
your brain can only retain so much and it starts looking like white noise.
I think that is a danger,
and
it is.
But I will say,
um,
I can't tell you how many times a student is
telling me about this really cool opportunity they're doing.
They're like,
oh,
I'm doing this really amazing internship,
or I just got connected to this
cool project,
and I'm,
I always ask,
how did you find that opportunity because I'm just curious and
so many times they say the Honors digest,
so.
My advice,
personal advice to you is try to at least glance at your Honors digest.
Yeah,
yeah.
Cause that,
that wasn't around when you were
a student or.
No.
That,
that's a really recent thing,
right?
No,
it's not super recent.
Um,
I,
I don't know when it started.
Oh.
But I think it was before I,
I came here as staff,
so it was before 2009 for sure.
Really?
Uh-huh.
And here's like an interesting little tidbit.
So,
when the Honors Digest started,
each
post was an individual e-mail.
Yeah.
Have you heard this?
Keith told you.
Yeah,
so you would that is very,
yeah,
people would,
you would get like.
Maybe you'd only get 3 emails today.
Maybe you'd get 10 tomorrow.
Maybe you'd get 20 the next day.
It was,
talk about a clogged inbox.
It was a little crazy.
Yeah.
So,
the once a day daily digest was like a revolutionary idea.
I'm like,
what if we just made it all into one?
OK.
Perfect.
Yes.
Um,
I'm just like very curious.
So,
um,
since you didn't have,
they weren't honors advising when you were like an undergraduate.
Um-hum.
How did people like navigate
the honors requirement?
Was
the requirements still the same as it is now,
or did it change throughout?
Yes,
I believe the requirements were,
The same.
There was 36 credits.
The human event,
your first two semesters,
the numbers were different,
but it was the same thing,
um,
and then the thesis,
your senior year,
and then you could do like honors contracts,
honors sections,
same,
same kind of thing.
I think we got like a,
a one pager,
and it was just up to you to make sure you completed it,
and I think someone just had to check at the end.
Sounds like a 2004.
Uh-huh.
And,
um.
A lot of people
Way more students graduate from Barrett now than when I was a student.
Interesting.
And you,
you,
I mean,
I would say,
and I think you would say it's because of advising.
Well,
I think that's one piece of the puzzle.
That's,
that's one piece of,
it,
it made it a lot easier for students to know their
requirements and to keep up with them.
Um,
but I think a lot of credit also
is due to,
um,
You know,
Dean Jacobs,
he came in in 2003,
and I think he did a lot of good
things for the honors college and helped really get students
involved and invested
and helped us grow in a smart way.
So you know
there's credit to go around.
Not,
not just my joint.
Um,
great,
uh,
thank you so much for your time.
Was there anything else that you would like to add that,
um,
you wish that we brought up
today?
Well,
um.
I did have one other story that I thought I might share.
I'm ready for it.
All the stories.
So,
I took the human event,
of course.
Uh-huh.
Two semesters of human event.
It was hard for me.
I don't know if anyone else felt that way.
Oh,
I,
I totally breezed past it just,
So the 2nd semester of the human event was my very 1st B.
And I remember that being really hard.
Because I was not used to getting these.
And
I'm so glad looking back that I got that B.
Like that was,
that was an important turning point,
I think,
in my college education.
I'm,
I think having that small failure,
those aren't air quotes
for your transcripts.
Thank you.
Um,
It really helped me view education differently
and it really pushed me to work harder
and um I'm I'm really grateful for it,
but I also am grateful for it now that I'm an advisor
because I see students in my office who are not
doing as well in the human event as they liked.
I remember feeling that way,
um,
so,
um.
I know how scary it can be in the moment,
but if you can make it through those times that you push yourself.
That's where you really learn the most about yourself,
so,
um,
I was really grateful for,
for my being in the human event.
Yeah,
I agree 100%.
I didn't,
I wasn't a straight.
A
high school student,
but once I,
once I got my first B,
I was like,
all right.
I'm ready to learn now.
Here we go.
I love that,
Spencer.
You said that so much better than I did.
Yeah,
no,
it's,
it's basically,
I think it was a big turnaround point
in the fact that,
you know,
you,
you were kind of breezing through it.
You're like,
oh,
this is easy,
and then you're like,
oh,
this is easy,
but I didn't get the grade I wanted.
Now it's time to try harder.
Um-hum.
So.
Yeah,
use it as motivation.
Oh,
yeah.
Yeah.
Oh,
yeah.
And to realize that the great is in everything.
Oh,
yeah.
Um-hum.
I mean,
obviously grades are like a factor,
but it's also like,
what do you take from it?
When you're in an interview or when you're
doing whatever you're going to be like,
I took this class and I know about this because
like I actually like paid attention and I studied and
I asked questions.
Yes.
So.
And I think,
I think that's a message to every,
every you know you see all these kids.
I have an.
It's the end of the world.
I,
I remember being that person.
I,
I haven't been that person in years.
I,
I'm like.
You've seen the light,
Spencer.
I've seen the light.
Yeah.
I saw the light a long time ago.
As long as I keep,
as long as I keep the Barrett minimum,
I'm,
I'm good.
Yeah.
Good job.
I'm not impressed with my luck,
but,
Yeah,
so
a little life lesson at the end of this interview.
Love it.
I love it.
That's awesome.
Well,
I wanna say you guys are really wonderful interview.
Thank you,
and I can tell that you just have like curiosity,
which I think makes a good interviewer,
so.
That was lovely.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Um,
yeah,
so that concludes our interview,
um,
for our Beryl oral history project,
um,
celebrating the 30th anniversary of Bear at the Honors College.
Um,
if you have any questions,
please contact the,
uh,
Vice Dean.