When I walked onto campus, I knew it was the place for me. I knew this would be the place I would want to spend the next four years of my life. It has been filled with its highs and lows but I have to say I would not change anything. It was rewarding experience going to Southern Methodist University (SMU). One that I hope every student who attends is able to experience.
Coming into college you do not really know what to expect and the road certainly had plenty of challenges from learning how to time manage to exploring avenues that would enhance my experience.

Over the past four years, I have committed myself to three organizations: Program Council, Public Relations Student Society of America, U11, and Boulevard Public Relations. All of these proved to be organizations that helped me grow and mature as a leader and as a citizen.

The most valuable thing I have learned during my experience at SMU is that leadership is a skill that you must continue to fine tune and is never a finished product. My leadership skills have grown exponentially over the past four years with each challenge being a new opportunity for me to learn from.

SMU shown me how much you can get out of an university besides just an academic education. The experience should be so much more and each of the four organizations helped me take advantage of those opportunities. The mentors and advisors at SMU were able to continue to challenge me and help me to continue to grow.

All of the hard work and challenges ended up paying off in the best way possible. I could not imagine a better to culminate my career at SMU than with the privilege to produce the Bush Block Party with Elise McDonald. Over the two month period, we were able to produce a show for over 10,000 people with over 120 students performing. The event was a huge success and with the leadership skills I learned over the past four years I was able to help coordinate a team for it. It will be an experience I will never forget and even with the sleepless nights and last minute changes I would do again in a heart beat.

I am an citizen of Southern Methodist University and will be proud graduate in just two weeks. All of my success is because of my mentors, advisors, professors, and peers. I look forward to coming back in five years and seeing how each of my fellow graduates has already started changing the world.

Special thanks to Steve Lee, Lauren Chapman, Ashley Stone, and all of my other mentors and peers who helped me get to this point. Each of you played a special part in making me the person who I am today.