Real stories, research breakthroughs, student achievements, and expert conversations from the MTSU Honors College.
Below you can check out the latest about Honors on MTSU News, browse Honors Spotlight podcast transcripts, and discover helpful tips and How-To guides!
At the heart of the Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors Building stands one of the most defining features of the Honors College: the bell tower. More than an architectural focal point, it serves as a symbol of academic tradition. Moreover, it is a marker of time and a source of connection for students across campus.
For centuries, bells have held deep cultural and historical significance. They have been used to signal important events, mark the passage of time, and bring communities together. This happens in moments of celebration, remembrance, and even warning. Their sound has long been associated with both civic life and religious tradition. At times, it represents joy, solemnity, or even the voice of something greater.
On college campuses around the world, the bell has become one of the most enduring symbols of education itself. While images like the torch, lamp, or apple may represent learning, the sound of a bell uniquely captures the rhythm of academic life. It announces beginnings, endings, and milestones along the way.
At Middle Tennessee State University, the Honors Bell Tower carries forward this rich tradition. The tower houses four specially tuned cast bronze bells, designed to produce melodic chimes when struck in sequence. This practice of creating musical tones through coordinated bell ringing dates back centuries, with early examples originating in China. Today, that same tradition resonates across the MTSU campus, offering a familiar and welcoming sound to students and visitors alike.
The bells themselves were crafted by the Van Bergen Company of Charleston, South Carolina, a respected firm known for supplying bells to institutions such as Davidson College, the University of the South, and the University of California, Berkeley. Their presence at MTSU places the Honors College within a broader tradition. This tradition is shared by universities nationwide.
Yet, what makes the Honors Bell Tower truly special is not just its history or craftsmanship—it is the role it plays in the lives of Honors students today.
Since 2005, a meaningful tradition has brought new life to the tower’s chimes. Following each successful thesis defense or creative project presentation, a special peal of the bells is sounded. With the simple press of a remote control by a student’s advisor, the bells ring out for several minutes. Therefore, it signals to the campus community that an important milestone has been reached.
This moment transforms a personal academic achievement into a shared celebration. Students leaving their defense hear the bells not just as a sound, but as recognition of years of dedication, curiosity, and perseverance. Additionally, faculty, classmates, and passersby alike become part of the moment, even if only briefly, through the familiar and uplifting sound carried across campus.
First introduced in November 2005, the tradition quickly became a cherished part of the Honors experience—one that continues to mark the culmination of undergraduate research and creative work. It does so in a way that is both simple and profound.
Today, the Honors Bell Tower stands as more than a landmark. It is a living symbol of academic achievement and community, bridging past and present through sound. Importantly, each chime serves as a reminder that education is not only about the pursuit of knowledge, but also about the moments that define the journey.
Two students from Middle Tennessee State University have been selected for competitive National Science Foundation-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates, or REU, programs at universities across the country this summer.
“These experiences provide opportunities for students to conduct advanced research alongside leading faculty mentors while building confidence, independence, and professional skills,” said Jamie Burriss, director of MTSU’s Undergraduate Research Center.
The students will conduct research through programs supported by the National Science Foundation. In these programs, REU provides undergraduate students with opportunities to participate in advanced research alongside faculty mentors. Additionally, the experience helps them prepare for graduate school and future careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, known commonly as the STEM fields.
Dalyn Wachala, a mechatronics engineering major, will participate in a robotics-focused REU program at West Virginia University.
“To be honest, my first reaction was pure shock,” Wachala said after learning of his acceptance. “I knew how competitive the program was, and I wasn’t sure if I would be selected. Once it finally sank in, I was just incredibly happy and grateful.”
Additionally, Zahraa Al Rubaye, a biochemistry major and Honors student, was selected for the Collaborative Approaches among Scientists and Engineers, or CASE, REU program at Auburn University.
Al Rubaye said she is excited to gain firsthand experience conducting professional academic research while developing new technical and analytical skills.
“I’m excited to develop and refine my research skills to a more professional level,” she said. “I cannot wait to learn about what it means to conduct research in an academic and professional field, as well as contribute to the development of a new project.”
She said the opportunity will help prepare her for future research environments and strengthen her long-term academic goals.
“I think the research opportunity will solidify my passion in research and further my interest in pursuing a dual doctorate degree in research and the medical field,” she said.
Wachala said he is eager to expand his knowledge of robotics research while also experiencing campus life away from home for the first time.
“My main goal is to learn as much as possible about robotics, so I am very excited for the research itself,” he said. “On a personal level, I am also looking forward to experiencing dorm life. I have commuted from home during my time at MTSU, so staying on campus at WVU this summer will be a brand-new experience for me.”
He credited involvement in MTSU’s robotics club with sparking his interest in the field and building the confidence to pursue research opportunities.
“The spark really started when I joined the robotics club here at MTSU,” Wachala said. “Getting to immerse myself in a real project for the first time was a feeling I truly loved.”
“These students represent the very best of MTSU’s growing undergraduate research community,” said Burriss. “Their selection into nationally competitive NSF-funded REU programs speaks to their talent, dedication, and readiness to contribute to meaningful research experiences beyond our campus.”
“Scholarships at MTSU changed the trajectory of my education. Funding for my degree provided more than just financial relief. It gave me the freedom to pursue four years of undergraduate research and three life-changing programs abroad. I am incredibly thankful for scholarships from the College of Basic and Applied Sciences and the MTSU Honors College. These awards ensured that my entire collegiate experience and every professional development opportunity remained entirely cost-free.”
National scholarships and fellowships are competitive awards that support research, graduate study, public service, leadership development, and international experiences. Unlike MTSU scholarships or financial aid, these opportunities are funded by external organizations such as government agencies, foundations, and educational institutions.
Examples include the Goldwater Scholarship for STEM research, the Truman Scholarship for public service, and the Fulbright U.S. Student Program for teaching, research, and study abroad opportunities. In addition to funding, the application process helps students develop writing, interview, and professional skills while clarifying future goals. There are typically two kinds of options.
Nominated or Campus-Reviewed Scholarships
Some scholarships require review, endorsement, or nomination by MTSU before students may apply nationally. These opportunities often have campus deadlines that occur well before the national deadline.
Open scholarships do not require nomination from MTSU. Students apply directly to the sponsoring organization, though the Undergraduate Fellowships Office can provide guidance throughout the process.
Students are encouraged to begin exploring opportunities early. Strong applications take time to develop and benefit from reflection, revision, and feedback.
National fellowships and scholarships can open doors to study abroad, research opportunities, graduate school funding, internships, and career development. While every program has different requirements, successful applicants often share a few common habits.
1. Get Involved
One of the best ways to prepare for competitive opportunities is to become involved on campus and in your community. Join organizations, volunteer, participate in leadership roles, and explore activities that genuinely interest you. Fellowship committees are often looking for students who have made meaningful contributions and demonstrated commitment over time.
Do not wait until an application deadline to create a resume. Keep track of leadership positions, service activities, research experiences, awards, employment, presentations, and other accomplishments as they happen. An updated resume will make applications much easier and help you identify areas where you may want to gain additional experience.
Many fellowships, graduate programs, internships, and employers require letters of recommendation. Strong letters come from faculty members who know you well.
Attend office hours, participate in class discussions, ask thoughtful questions, and seek advice about your academic and career goals. If a professor works in a field that interests you, consider reading some of their research or publications. Developing these relationships early can make a significant difference when you need recommendations later.
4. Look for Ways to Contribute
Successful fellowship applicants often notice what needs to be done and take initiative. Rather than waiting to be asked, look for opportunities to help, lead, organize, mentor, solve problems, or improve a project. Leadership is not always about holding a title. Often, it is about recognizing a need and taking action.
5. Read First, Then Ask Questions
Many fellowship programs provide extensive information online. Before meeting with an advisor, spend some time exploring the Undergraduate Fellowships Office website and reading about opportunities that interest you. Then come prepared with specific questions. Students who do some initial research are often able to have more productive conversations and develop stronger application strategies.
Final Thoughts
There is no single path to winning a national fellowship. However, students who become involved, build faculty relationships, maintain strong records of their accomplishments, take initiative, and actively seek information are often the most competitive applicants. Start early, stay curious, and remember that the application process itself is a valuable opportunity for growth and self reflection.
Robin Lee: Hello and welcome back to another episode of Honors Spotlight, where we showcase the incredible work of students in the Honors College at MTSU. I’m your host, Robin Lee. Today I’m joined by Sarah Huffman, a Buchanan fellow and English major who is diving deep into the world of video games for her thesis. Her project is titled Halo Reach: Humanity’s Desperation in the Face of Adversity. For those who may not know, Halo Reach debuted back in 2010 and quickly became one of the most beloved entries in the Halo franchise. Sarah’s thesis explores how the game embodies the indomitable human spirit and uses narrative, environment and player psychology to highlight humanity’s struggle in the face of overwhelming odds. So, Sarah, thank you so much for joining me today.
Sarah Huffman: Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Robin Lee: I must start this episode by letting listeners know that, at the time of this recording, you are still finalizing your thesis project and will hopefully defend it successfully this semester. So, in your thesis proposal, you mentioned that you started playing Xbox last summer.
Could you tell me a little bit about yourself and your background, and what drew you to working at a video game store with little prior experience in the video game industry?
Sarah Huffman: So, as you said, my name is Sarah. I am an English major with minors in both interactive media and university honors. I’m actually a first-generation college student, and I graduate this December 2026. Um, I am a commuter, just as you know. I do drive an hour here every single day. It is a trip, but I love it. Um, I am working to be a professor, specifically with video games as literature. I am also working to get my PhD. Sorry, this is so odd, and I actually have had prior experience. Um, not crazy prior experience I had. It’s been a while since I got back into the console world. I had been messing with my PC. Um, it had been since the 360-era when I was a kid. I played a lot of the girlier games because during that time, it was still a huge gender divide. I never really got to get into the huge franchises that we know and love from these eras. Halo: Reach actually does take place during the 360 era, so I did miss it. I started playing with my fiancé, who is now at the time of recording. Yesterday, he left for Marine Boot Camp, and I played with him the whole time. It was recommended to me by my boss. When I started working at Game Exchange, I didn’t have a lot of information on, like, retro consoles. I’d always thought it was really nice. I had always loved older consoles and seeing how they work, how they function, but I had always had a love for newer eras, as most people do. However, I think it’s really important that we keep video game history alive. I actually have a friend who works with video game archival, and that’s a whole other field. But as I was, as I asked my boss, sorry, I’m going to restart that. I had asked my boss, Hey, what game should I play? I just got a Series X. I had been dying to get back into this. What should I do? And he was like, you need to play the Halo franchise, but you need to play in chronological order. First, chronologically, Halo: Reach for everything. So, I went into this completely blind. Didn’t know I had my fiancé play with me for the first time, and it was generally one of the best experiences I think I’ve ever had. I know I don’t remember which Halo game it was, but one of the Halo games was one of the first games that I ever played in the online environment.
Robin Lee: Um, for me, it’s kind of funny when you refer to like 360 as an older console because I’m like, I remember Atari. Okay.
Sarah Huffman: Yeah. Actually, I got news this morning that the president of Sega has passed away. Um, gosh, I it is it is very sad. Um, but like when I was a kid, like I had a 360, I had a Wii, I had my 3DS XL, I still have them, I still have the 3DS XL, my Wii, and my 360 given out. But I, I had mainly just life gets busy and can’t play all the time. And unfortunately, that was me.
Provide the listeners with a little bit of an overview of your thesis project and why you chose Halo: Reach specifically as your subject.
Sarah Huffman: So my thesis is an analysis of Halo: Reach through a literary lens. I focus on hope, and this never-give-up attitude. The why we need to survive, why we don’t give up the indomitable human spirit. But specifically, reach is very different because throughout the whole Halo franchise, we see hope through Master Chief, through this beacon of hope and light, and the hero who never dies, never gives up, but reaches a little differently because you’re not Master Chief Noble Six, who you play as, is a vessel for the player. Now he is a standalone character, as we know, and we look at it like chronological history, and we can go into law on that. But you are playing as a vessel of yourself. And the idea that hope is something that’s fleeting, that we must stay strong and we have to keep going no matter what. When everything looks bleak, and when life looks like everything is going to fail. And in reality, you do fail. That’s completely different from the dramatic irony of you seeing yourself failing at the start. At the complete start, you are going to see yourself. You see a picture of a broken helmet, and then it cuts to a scene where you’re putting on that helmet and you know, ooh, something’s not gonna go well. But Halo Reach was Bungie’s goodbye before 343 Studios took over, and I think it is so beautiful and has such a strong emotional impact on me and who I am now, and why we continue to fight every single day.
Robin Lee: Absolutely. I think one of the most powerful themes of Halo Reach is that false hope narrative. You even describe the game as using false hope to drive the narrative in your thesis proposal. So to me, this draws on the dramatic irony that players already know the fate of reach before the game begins. The planet will fall to the covenant. Yet as you play, you get the moments that feel like victories. You get to complete missions, defeat your enemies, and secure objectives. Each win feels like progress, but the larger war is unwinnable. So, can you explain what you mean by false hope in this context and how you feel players experience it?
Sarah Huffman: So like I said, the false hope is the dramatic irony. It’s like I mentioned earlier, you see yourself, or you see Noble Six’s helmet on the ground. There’s smoke. It’s not a good situation. The helmet actually is through the visor. It’s broken, and you kind of know, like, oh, oh, something’s not right. And then you switch to putting that helmet on, and you go in, and we get to see an able team. We get to look at everybody, and we’re like, oh, maybe it’s okay. Maybe everything will work out. But there are so many small victories that the player wins. But this win is actually the downfall of the entire Noble team, all this false hope. The victories that you win, you’re given. Okay, maybe. Maybe there’s a chance. There’s a chance that I can live. There’s a chance that everyone here can live. And we can savor each. And we can. We can all live happily ever after. But you, you can’t. There’s absolutely nothing that you can do. And I felt it going in completely blind. I had hoped we could win, and maybe I could change it. Maybe there is something else that I could do. Because the hero always wins. Master Chief always wins. I knew that, I knew that, you know, and in the FBS genre, the first-person shooter genre, the protagonist is always successful. That is like every action movie and hero movie, and all of these strong, capable beings. I mean, you’re a super soldier. You should win, right? You don’t. You are a hero who dies. And in reality, you’re not really remembered that much. You’re kind of in the background. And. This false hope, this ending, the ending of Reach is the lone wolf mission. Now, you have to do this on by yourself, no matter how long. The only goal is to survive. That is where we get that meme from is Halo: Reach Lone Wolf Mission. No matter what you do, you can last hours. There’s like a record out there for how long you can last in this, but no matter how long, you can’t change it. People have tried. We can’t change that. And that false hope is so strong and so impactful that I remember bawling my eyes out.
Robin Lee: Okay, so I need to interject real quick. Hopefully, we are not spoiling this for anybody. This is a game that’s more than fifteen years old. If you haven’t played it, I’m sorry. So the game design may have some psychological effects. As you mentioned, you were really upset.
Sarah Huffman: I cried at every death. Don’t worry.
Robin Lee: It manipulates players into believing that they might save reach despite knowing the cannon behind the game, the adrenaline of digitized combat, the bond with Noble team, and that immersive environment fuel this illusion. When the inevitable collapse comes, the emotional impact is stronger because, and this is where I date myself again, but like David Duchovny’s character in X-Files, the players “want to believe.” But that’s what I love about this topic in particular: it connects with people. No matter what your background is, what your age is, or what kind of games you’re into. So, back to my original point.
How do you think that dramatic irony shaped your emotional journey while playing the first time and the second time, even?
Sarah Huffman: As I said, I had absolutely no spoilers for the first time. I had kind of guessed during all of it. I was like, Oh, everyone’s going to die. I was like, no one’s making out of this alive. Which spoiler one person actually does. The only reason that Joon, the sniper of Noble Team, gets out alive is that he is the one who stays with Halsey to get off. And also a fun fact, Joon is one of the trainers in the later Spartan generations. If you don’t know, while I was playing, I was sharing my thoughts with my fiancé, and I was like, Oh, this is bad. This is horrible. Like, I knew, like, it is that dramatic irony. It’s the I know that something’s going to happen, but I’m waiting, and I’m hoping maybe I can delay the inevitable. I wanted to believe. And like I said, I cried. I cried a lot. I wanted to cry while writing this. I was writing about the character deaths, specifically Kat’s death. And I think hers is the most realistic. And I was sitting in their library writing, and I was like, oh, I just want to cry. I’m listening to the soundtrack, and I’m like, oh, ooh, I get goosebumps even just thinking about it. But the second time I started playing through, um, I actually, on the second playthrough, first playthrough, I played on the Master Chief collection. In the second playthrough, I played the original. I have the original disc with everything included. In fact, it had a code that I could actually redeem. Unfortunately, I can no longer redeem it because I’m a year too late. But that bittersweet feeling of oh, I know how this ends, but I get to reconnect with him over again, and I get to look once again at all these characters that I love, and I know they’re gonna leave me. And I think that’s what Bungie does so well in Reach, is that it is so realistic that when you when in a war scenario and you’re just introduced to a team, you get to know them little by little as they open up and they get accustomed to you, but then they’re ripped away dramatically. Every single time that you get closer to a character, that character is ripped away. And it is tragic, and going in knowing it again. It’s so bittersweet, and I could cry.
Robin Lee: Now don’t cry. We’re talking about the indomitable human spirit here.
How does that cultural idea connect to Noble Six’s final stand in the game?
Sarah Huffman: Okay, so Lone Wolf is the lone mission that you have. You’re by yourself. You have to absolutely play by yourself. I had to play by myself, and this indomitable human spirit was a quick background in spirit. The meme kind of goes, oh, you know, there’s one less human. The aliens are like, oh my gosh, why isn’t this human dying? I mean, this person likes some of these memes that they have their arm ripped off, like, they’re like crawling on the ground. But we see, like, in real-life scenarios, people have lifted actual cars off their children. And lifting a car by yourself is hard. It’s rough, people. The reason is that when we’re in these life-or-death scenarios, and our fight-or-flight kicks in, it’s adrenaline. Adrenaline kicks in. It gives us these superhuman powers. And now, mind you, this is technically like a superhuman. He’s a Spartan three.
Robin Lee: So he has been genetically modified, like Captain America.
Sarah Huffman: Yeah. Kind of. It’s. It gets into, like, a whole, like, ethical situation, but like these, these people are, like, trained from, like, kids. So it is, it’s a whole ethical problem, but that adrenaline release keeps you going. And at the very end, you see, you see number six. And as I said, you can’t escape it. But he fights till his last breath. He fights a swarm of elites. Mind you, elites are. Or the Sangheili, the elites. They are some of the most powerful foes in the game. They are a pain in the butt. And they’re known as these generals. And they’re really powerful military figures. Their whole culture is literally about how many people you kill, and like your honor and your military, and how strong we are. But it took a whole swarm of them to kill Noble Six.
Robin Lee: So he’s the John Wick of the franchise?
Sarah Huffman: Kinda. Yeah. He’s kind of like John Wick. He is so strong, and like, it’s hyper lethal, is what they call them. There are only two people in the whole franchise. It was Master Chief and Noble Six, mind you. Fun fact about Noble Six was that he was going into these missions, where, like before, before all of before Reach, he was supposed to die. They sent him on suicide missions. Spartan threes are meant to be disposable. Super soldiers. Super soldiers. Excuse me, but Noble Six just kept coming back, and they were like, oh, oh, you’re. Why are you still here? So, as the original Noble Six and Noble team die, they send Noble Six in. And this was the final bit where he dies. And also, at the start of the game, like your whole, like, background information is blacked out. It is like maybe a few words. It is a government document. It is. Oh, but you keep fighting no matter what. Lone wolf, I think, the mission of the indomitable human spirit is when everyone’s dead. It’s just you left. Fight! Objective. Survive. That’s it.
Robin Lee: So, as an English major, you definitely understand the importance of having a good storyline in the background. Um, you’re bringing literary and narrative analysis into game studies. How do you see video games fitting into the broader field of storytelling alongside literature and film?
Sarah Huffman: So, really quickly, the first thing you learn in literary studies is that the class literature is just storytelling. A big misconception is that literature is just novels and the classics. You know, The Picture of Dorian Gray, we have Moby Dick. But in reality, literature is just storytelling. That’s all it’s ever been. In video games, do just that. No, of course not all of them. Mario Kart is not an example of literature. Um, I mean, you could make it literature if you made a story with it. But games like Reach, like Night in the Woods, are beautiful. Absolute literature. And when we look at video games and literature, we use techniques from both traditional literature, such as novels and film studies. So in literature, obviously, we have to do like the close reading and stuff like that. And like film studies, we look at the actual like what’s on screen. But the difference, and I argue the most impactful thing, is that this form of literature is interactive. You are participating in this story rather than just consuming it. Your methodology includes replaying Halo Reach and comparing it to other Halo titles. From my experience with most Halo titles, Master Chief embodies genuine hope, overcoming impossible odds. In contrast, Noble Six embodies false hope. He’s fighting bravely, sure, but destined to fail, and I think this makes reach unique in the franchise.
What differences stood out to you between Reach and the mainline Halo games featuring Master Chief?
Sarah Huffman: Now let’s look at let’s look at Master Chief and Noble Six. Just straight off the bat. Master Chief is a Spartan two. They are considered humanity’s deadliest weapons. They are. They’re taken from, like, six years old, and they are given a bunch of drugs. Spartan twos are I’m gonna just restart that. So, let’s look at Master Chief and Noble Six. Master Chief, who is the main protagonist of the Halo franchise, is a Spartan II. Spartan twos are the. The deadliest weapon that humanity has ever created. They are taken from six-year-olds and molded into these superheroes. Genetically, they have surgery done on them. It is a whole process. They are considered just as good, like the age of thirteen. They’re considered just as good as their special operatives. And that’s pretty intense. Now, number six is Spartan three. Spartan threes were, of course, the generation after, but they were created to be disposable. They are a lot cheaper. They are just orphans who volunteered. Which makes it, I guess, a little more ethical. But they’re not given as much there. It’s made to be really cheap and to just keep spitting them out so we can keep fighting. That’s like one of the biggest differences between them: number one, their backgrounds, but also, Master Chief is made to fight anything legit, anything. A scarab, a huge, huge ship. Master Chief can take it down by himself. And he did. Noble Six can’t. In fact, there is one in reach. But instead, it’s towards the very end. And Emil and Noble Six are getting ready to deliver Cortana to the Pillar of Autumn. Now, Carter has ejected them from the ship, saying, Hey, like I’ve been shot. Get out. I’m gonna take from the skies. And Carter sacrifices himself, goes, flies right into the scarab. And now Master Chief could have done that by himself. Carter can’t. Carter has to use his ship. Like, one of the big things in Halo is Master Chief. I’m like, I’m giving the covenant back their bomb. But they can’t do that. And it’s sad. That’s why Spartan threes are in more teams than they’re meant to be. Teams rather than Spartan two measures you can just be by himself, and their body language is different now. When Master Chief walks into a room, you can see that the whole franchise, you can see he kind of knows what he’s talking about. And it’s kind of this like, oh, like it’s more I don’t want to say necessarily relaxed, but it’s confident. Now, I’m not saying that Noble isn’t confident, but it’s more cautious, more. I have to look out for my surroundings just a little bit more because I could die more easily. Now. Reach there’s the game has hope in a different life now. My chief is a beacon of hope. He is the hero. When we think of Halo, we think of Master Chief and Cortana. That’s it. But normal six passes that torch to Master Chief. Without Noble Six, there would be no Master Chief and Cortana. Because if Cortana had not chosen Noble Six to deliver her to the Pillar of Autumn to Master Chief, humanity would not be saved. But we kind of forget about that. We just say, “Oh, yeah, Master Chief.” Master Chief, save humanity! Hooray! But this hope is just. Chief is this hope that is always there and never fails. And then if we look at novel six and reach, you do fail. But your failure is success. It’s a whole thing where, like, the player’s success is ultimately the protagonist’s downfall. But in this sense, the player’s success and the protagonist’s downfall mean the success of humanity in the setup for the rest of the games.
Robin Lee: Okay, so to help kind of close this out, what do you hope that listeners or even players take away from your thesis about Halo Reach in the way that video games can explore themes of hope, loss, and perseverance?
Sarah Huffman: One of the biggest things is that everybody needs to find their hope. You need to find your reach. Your reach will change depending on the situation and what’s happening. Like, my reach has changed. No matter what. And you have to keep fighting. No matter what. You have to fight. Um, in reach. Throughout all odds. You keep fighting, you keep adapting, you keep going. And there are going to be times when everything is hard. And there are days when I just don’t want to get up. And I fully admit that. But we have to keep going. We have to find that hope in, keep our reach in our hearts, and keep going. It is up to you, as my father says, Fred Huffman, ladies and gentlemen, if it is to be, it’s up to me. That was my senior quote, too. I’ve been taught that my whole life. And one of the biggest takeaways from reach is that you have to keep going. It is up to you. There are days you’re going to say, or you’re going to feel like, oh, I, you know, I can’t and I won’t. I’m telling you, you can and you will. And if there’s anything that taught me, it’s that to keep going no matter what and to keep fighting, always fight.
Robin Lee: Sarah, thank you for sharing your insights with us today. Your thesis not only highlights the depth of Halo Reach as a game but also shows how video games can serve as powerful narratives about humanity, resilience, and sacrifice. I believe the tension between hope and futility is what gives the game its lasting impact for our listeners. Remember that the Honors College is home to students like Sarah, who are pushing boundaries in their fields, whether through literature, science, or even video game studies. This has been Honors Spotlight, and I will see you next time as we continue to shine a light on the remarkable work of our honors students, alumni, faculty, and staff. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode!
Middle Tennessee State University hosted an in-depth and wide‑ranging panel discussion recently titled “War in Iran,” bringing together three campus experts to assess the rapidly escalating conflict that has drawn in Iran, the United States, Israel, and several Gulf states.
Sponsored by the Honors College and the American Democracy Project, the panel inside the College of Education Building offered sobering analyses of how the war began, why it has intensified, and what its consequences may be for the Middle East and the world.
Honors College professor Joan McRae opened the event by outlining the gravity of the moment: a war that began amid Iran’s internal unrest has now exploded into a multifront regional conflict. Attendees filled the room to hear assessments from three faculty experts whose fields span Middle Eastern history, military strategy, and international politics.
Operation Epic Fury and a region under strain
Sean Foley, professor of history and a specialist in the Middle East, who is also a nonresident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute, began with an overview of what he described as a conflict that has already “sent shockwaves around the world.”
According to Foley, the United States and Israel launched what has been named “Operation Epic Fury” on Feb. 28, initiating thousands of strikes on military and political targets in Iran, including an attack that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iran has retaliated with ballistic missiles and drones across the region, striking Israel, U.S. bases, and numerous Gulf energy facilities.
Foley emphasized the unprecedented economic impact of Iran’s successful efforts to restrict shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical choke points for oil and gas. With tankers grounded and refineries damaged across the Gulf, energy prices have surged worldwide, prompting governments from Thailand to India to impose emergency measures ranging from reduced workweeks to limits on electricity consumption.
Lebanon, Foley added, has suffered devastating consequences as Israeli operations have displaced over a million people — nearly a fifth of the country. “This is one of the most significant refugee crises Lebanon has ever experienced,” he said.
Strategic middle game with no clear end
Following Foley, Luke Truxal, a historian of air power and U.S. military strategy, framed the war as entering what he called the “middle game” of a long chess match. Truxal argued that the U.S. and Israel appear to be seeking regime change in Iran, an objective he said has no historical precedent for success through airpower alone.
“There is no example of a bombing‑only strategy achieving regime change,” Truxal stressed, citing Vietnam, Afghanistan, and other major conflicts. The U.S., he said, seems to have underestimated both Iran’s resilience and its ability to strike back through a coordinated oil‑targeting campaign that mirrors historically effective “oil offensives” used in conflicts from World War II to modern Ukraine.
Truxal also warned that rising civilian casualties inside Iran, especially the widely condemned missile strike on a girls’ school that killed almost 170, mostly children, are likely to strengthen hardline factions and deepen public support for the Iranian government. Iran’s capacity to wage drone warfare and overwhelm U.S. air defenses, he said, increases the likelihood that Washington will face pressure to commit ground forces, an outcome he called “deeply concerning.”
Global power, politics, shifting landscape
The final speaker, Andrei Korobkov, professor of political science, analyzed how the conflict intersects with global power competition. He argued that Russia and China, while not militarily involved, are positioned to benefit strategically as U.S. attention and resources shift away from Europe and Asia.
Korobkov highlighted surging oil prices, which have doubled Russia’s projected oil revenue, and shifting alliances across the Middle East. At the same time, he cautioned that Gulf states facing attacks on refineries, desalination plants, and population centers are confronting “social time bombs” due to high dependence on foreign labor and imported food.
While some observers speculate that the BRICS nations (an intergovernmental organization comprising 10 countries) may deepen their alignment in response to U.S. actions, Korobkov noted that internal rivalries, particularly between Iran and Saudi Arabia, complicate hopes for a unified response.
During an extended Q&A session, audience members asked about U.S. public opinion, the likelihood of a diplomatic settlement, religious narratives, Kurdish involvement, and the potential for retaliatory attacks on U.S. soil. Panelists consistently noted that polling shows Americans largely oppose the war and that diplomatic progress is unlikely in the near term.
Foley concluded by quoting a Somali proverb: “The game has a second half.” How the conflict evolves from here, he said, will depend on which actors adapt most effectively to a rapidly changing strategic environment.
The panel was recorded and will be available to watch on True Blue TV.
Middle Tennessee State University will host its third annual Fulbright Day on Tuesday, April 14. It will feature dedicated virtual sessions for students at noon and for faculty at 1 p.m.
The event is being coordinated by Mary Ellen Sloane, associate director of the Tennessee STEM Education Center, and Laura Clippard, undergraduate fellowships director and Honors College advisor.
The virtual event will inform and support students and faculty interested in international exchange through the Fulbright program.
The day will include two targeted Zoom sessions:
Student Session – Noon
Topics include:
Research grants
English teaching assistantships
Creative arts awards
Covering eligibility
Application components
Tips for developing strong proposals
Faculty Session – 1 p.m.
• Mary Ellen Sloane and a Fulbright representative outline global teaching and research opportunities through the U.S. Scholar Program, highlighting award types such as Scholar Awards, Postdoctoral Awards, and Distinguished positions across 130-plus countries.
• Panelists Greg Reish, musicology professor, and Sylvester Lamin, social work associate professor, share their Fulbright experiences. They offer guidance on the application process, securing host institutions, and the professional benefits of expanded teaching and research networks.
• Chemistry professor Sing Chong closes with an overview of the Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence program. The program brings international scholars to U.S. campuses to teach, lead workshops, and support internationalization efforts.
Additionally, one-on-one drop-in advising sessions will provide individualized guidance on project ideas, application strategy, and program fit. These sessions will take place between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on the same day.
Why Fulbright matters at MTSU
The Fulbright Program is one of the world’s leading international exchange initiatives. It offers opportunities for both students and scholars to conduct research, teach and build global partnerships. Fulbright Day at MTSU underscores a truth the university sees year after year. When students are given the chance to step onto the world stage, they return transformed and ready to lead.
Recent awardees show how these opportunities expand far beyond travel. Alumnus Josh Narrell, for example, turned years of studying German and exploring intercultural communication into a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Hamburg, Germany. There, he is building bridges across cultures and bringing home new insight into global youth engagement. He is also one of the key speakers for the student session.
Other students demonstrate how Fulbright-linked programs open doors to cutting-edge research and global problem-solving. Computer science major Jake Salter earned a Fulbright Canada–Mitacs Globalink Research Internship. He used decades of pollen data to study ecological change while gaining access to Canada’s top research institutions. His path from music major to data‑driven researcher shows how international fellowships help students discover new academic identities and contribute to urgent global conversations.
Even first‑year students can step into the Fulbright pipeline. As a freshman, political science graduate Victoria Grigsby earned a place in the Fulbright Summer Institute in Wales. There, she studied identity, nationhood and migration while engaging directly with Welsh communities and policymakers. Her selection highlights how MTSU’s commitment to global learning begins early and empowers students to see themselves as ambassadors long before graduation.
Recent faculty awards
• Sylvester Lamin (associate professor of social work) — Awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant to Sierra Leone at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. Lamin focused on teaching social work courses, advancing curriculum development, and conducting research on social services. In addition, he engaged in community initiatives to strengthen educational and professional resources in his home country region.
• Gregory Pitts (professor of journalism) — Recipient of a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award to Georgia (the country). His project emphasized journalism education, media studies, and professional development, fostering cross-cultural exchanges in media practices and democratic communication in the region.
• Guanping Zheng (director, Center for Asian Studies) — Selected for a Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant through the U.S.-Taiwan International Education Administrators Seminar in Taiwan. Zheng participated in professional development activities to enhance international education programming, build partnerships, and promote Asian studies initiatives at MTSU and beyond.
• Gregory Reish (professor of musicology and former director, Center for Popular Music) — A prior recent awardee (Fulbright-García Robles U.S. Studies Chair) to Mexico at the Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa. He taught courses on U.S.-Mexico relations and popular music. He conducted research and contributed to North American Studies programs, demonstrating MTSU’s sustained Fulbright success. This has led to more recent awards.
• Ngee Sing Chong (professor of chemistry and director of the Interdisciplinary Microanalysis and Imaging Center) — Hosted a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence. Chong hosted Yong Foo Wong at MTSU last year. During his residency, Wong co-taught an undergraduate chemistry laboratory course and delivered guest lectures in a graduate analytical chemistry course. He also served as an adviser and co-mentor for undergraduate and postgraduate students’ research projects, with a primary focus on analytical chemistry. Furthermore, he conducted research on microextraction, infrared and Raman spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry to evaluate contaminants and additives in food matrices.
Shown here outside the Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors Building at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Philip Phillips, Honors College associate dean and English professor, holds a copy of “Poe Spaces: Within and Beyond the Spatial Turn,” which he edited. Phillips was presented the Miembro de Honor award from the Asociación Española Edgar Allan Poe during its fourth international Edgar Allan Poe Spanish Association Conference held in February at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain. (MTSU photo by Robin E. Lee)
Philip Phillips, associate dean and professor of English in the University Honors College at Middle Tennessee State University, has received the Miembro de Honor award from the Asociación Española Edgar Allan Poe during its fourth international Edgar Allan Poe Spanish Association Conference held in February at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain.
“I am greatly honored to receive this diploma from the Edgar Allan Poe Spanish Association,” said Phillips. “I am especially grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with so many outstanding scholars from Spain and elsewhere on book projects and international conferences on Poe. The work we have done together attests to the enduring and worldwide influence of this great American author.”
The Miembro de Honor designation is the highest recognition bestowed by the Spanish association on scholars who have made significant contributions to the study of Edgar Allan Poe. According to Santiago Rodriguez Guerrero-Strachan, president of EAPSA, Phillips was selected unanimously by the organization’s executive board for his sustained research on Poe, particularly his spatial approach to literary studies.
In its award letter, Rodríguez Guerrero-Strachan cited Phillips’ “significant research” in recent years and noted that his service as president of the Poe Studies Association reflects his commitment to advancing and promoting Poe’s life and work. The honorary membership includes a diploma and lifetime membership in the Spanish association.
“Dr. Phillips is a stellar scholar and a leader in Poe studies, so it is no surprise that he received international acclaim for his contributions to the Academy,” said Leah Tolbert Lyons, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. “We are proud to have him as a member of the faculty in the College of Liberal Arts. He is an exemplar among our outstanding faculty.”
At the conference, which focused on “Poe and Pop Culture,” Phillips delivered a keynote address titled “The Poes and Popular Culture: Edgar, Eliza, and the American Stage.”
Phillips’ scholarship has centered on place, geography and literary space in Poe’s work. He edited “Poe and Place,” and “Poe Spaces: Within and Beyond the Spatial Turn,” both published in Palgrave Macmillan’s Geocriticism and Spatial Literary Studies series. Each volume earned the J. Lasley Dameron Award from the Poe Studies Association for the most outstanding edited collection of essays on Poe, first in 2018 and again in 2025.
Phillips currently serves as president of the Poe Studies Association and continues to publish and present internationally on Poe, reinforcing the university’s presence in global literary scholarship.
“Dr. Phillips is one of the most — if not themost — prolific and accomplished researchers that I have ever encountered during my 27-plus years in higher education,” said Stephen Severn, chair of the MTSU Department of English.
“Scholars in the field of English almost always focus their study on an aspect of the discipline that is relatively narrow in scope. However, he has distinguished himself as a scholar in three areas — one of which is almost wholly distinct from the other two. He can speak with equal (and absolute) authority on Boethius, the fifth-century Roman philosopher; John Milton, the 17th-century British poet; and Edgar Allan Poe, the 19th-century American author. That diversity of academic interest is virtually unheard of in English. And it deserves to be celebrated. Loudly.”
Welcome to another episode of Honors Spotlight, where we highlight the unique paths and passions of MTSU Honors individuals. I’m your host Robin Lee, and today’s episode is all about transformation through music, faith, and personal growth. Joining me is Alex Roberecki, a Recording Industry major from Canada with a minor in Entrepreneurship. Alex isn’t just writing songs; he’s using his music to share his story of redemption, and the powerful role faith has played in reshaping his life. From facing a destructive lifestyle to discovering purpose through his art and relationship with God, Alex opens up about the healing power of music, the support he’s found in the Honors College, and how his creativity continues to evolve. You don’t want to miss this inspiring conversation. Alex, let’s start by getting to know you a little bit. How did a student from Canada end up in Tennessee studying Commercial Songwriting?
Alex Roberecki: Interestingly enough, it was from another podcast. An alumnus, Hardy, a country artist, was doing a podcast with another songwriter. I was listening to a lot of different songwriting podcasts at the time to learn how to get better at writing songs and how the industry works. He said that MTSU is really a big help for him in that, and they did school a little bit differently than any other music school did, where they were a lot more practical, a lot more hands-on, a lot more teaching you in a way that is going to directly relate to the confusing and challenging competitive music industry, so I came here, and I toured, and that was exactly what it was, and then about a couple of years later, I came down here to go to the Songwriting program.
What drew you to Country Christian music as your creative lane, and how has your background influenced your style?
Alex Roberecki: My style started off with rock music and then went into rap music. I was not raised a Christian. I was secular up until the pandemic. I was just transitioning from rock and rap to country music because, at the time, I had a job that was very country, and I wasn’t feeling the rap. It wasn’t my thing, so I said, let’s try country. I needed some inspiration, so I started watching podcasts, and one of the podcasts was about outdoor stuff, but it also shared the gospel, the faith, and it shared testimonies. It shared direct Bible quotes, and that was something I had never seen before.
My opinions on Christianity were pretty negative, and I had never read the Bible fully. I never heard how it changed people’s lives. I just saw negative things about it and stayed away, but then this podcast put it all together. That’s why the people are Christian, that’s why, and then just learning more and more about that, researching the things I disagreed about with, and that is then just continuously going to actual Bible studies once things opened up again through the pandemic and going into the every day service or a mass, whether it was Protestant, Catholic, I went to them all. Just learning more about it, the more I learned about it, the more I’m, like, this is real. This was not what I was thinking it was, so then I would do country music, then I decided that there needs to be Christian elements to this because there’s a lot that just isn’t, and it wasn’t making me feel good anymore. I moved into the Christian God-honoring music after that.
Since you came to God through music, was there something specific, maybe, in your past that you want to share, or just walk us through what that journey looked like for you? How did you get to God in music?
Alex Roberecki: It’s a lot. In the Bible, music is really praising God. It really helps when you use music to communicate the gospel, different aspects of it, and teach it. I’m currently interning with my church’s worship pastor, and I’m learning about that. Before I thought music was more about entertainment, but I’ve now recently, through the internship, seen that every Sunday when you go, these songs are planned to communicate certain things that if you don’t remember the message, you still have the songs in your head, the melodies and the lyrics in your head, and it’ll just get stuck there, and it’ll keep on coming back, and then you’ll start seeing it as you’re reading the Bible. As you’re going out through life, you’ll start seeing it come out through the songs. Oh, that’s what that means. Meanwhile, it’s been in your head this whole time. Music really does plant ideas in our head, and it validates certain opinions, and it proves certain things. Music is a lot more powerful than people think, it’s a lot more than just entertainment. If the music you’re listening to is, let’s say, vulgar, or it says this lifestyle is good when it’s a destructive lifestyle, that is the lifestyle that I’m going to follow. That was when I was listening to a lot of more rap music before. I wasn’t listening to clean rap music, let’s say that. That was a lifestyle I was emulating. I wanted to be seen in a certain way. I wanted to be perceived in a certain way. I wanted to like the new cool whatever. By listening to that music, it really opened a lot of doors and justified a lot of bad behavior. I just kept on going down and down, and if it wasn’t the pandemic that stopped that all and then for me to see this podcast, then it just would have kept on going bad in that direction.
Robin Lee: Just as a side note, we have a Christian rapper who graduated from the Honors College. He goes by No Big Dyl. Have you ever heard of him, by chance?
Alex Roberecki: I have not. That’s why I mentioned rap music isn’t bad in itself. It’s just more about the content of the music I was listening to. It could have been pop music. It could have been the same style of Christian music I’m listening to right now, but the lyrical content was emulating that lifestyle. That is what brought me to those bad places. That’s how Christian music can bring you out, but it has to be mixed in with stuff like the Bible and everything.
Was there a specific moment, song, or experience that marked a turning point in your life?
Alex Roberecki: A turning point experience. That’s probably when I was watching that original country podcast, I’d say, when I started to realize that, because I was just writing things down to write country songs, words that they would say. It was from the show, “Duck Dynasty,” and that was the only country thing I knew at the time. I’m, like, I need to write these words down and get accustomed to the language and the things that are being said, so I can put them out in the song, like, we’re talking about the songs emulate the lifestyle. It solidifies what’s going on, so that’s what I was doing subconsciously, but then this other stuff started getting thrown in there. Before you knew it, it was mostly just a Bible study. They weren’t even talking about hunting or fishing anymore. It was mainly Bible study.
Robin Lee: What drew you to “Duck Dynasty” then?
Alex Roberecki: That was just a show I watched when I was a kid. It was on TV all the time, and it was fun to watch. Then the show ended, and it became a podcast and a few other things. I just went back into that, and I said, it’s the only country thing I know right now. That seemed pretty good to start learning about country music, to start learning about how to write country songs, to just get accustomed to the culture. That was the only thing that I knew about the culture at the time. I put it on, and that’s what drew me to that.
What stuff were you interested in as a kid? Were you always interested in music?
Alex Roberecki: Yes. I was always interested in music. I wrote my first song at, like, 3-years-old. I could naturally hear it, and we just do it. It was always something I was interested in it. I always wrote songs, but I didn’t actually start learning an instrument till my 12th grade, when I started playing guitar, and I didn’t sing, I didn’t do anything, so since then, I’ve been doing a lot of lessons and training and stuff like that. I’m at the point where I’ve been recording and playing shows for the last 2-3 years.
Robin Lee: That’s awesome. Now you’ve said that music saved you from that destructive lifestyle. What was that lifestyle like, and how did your faith help you break free from that?
Alex Roberecki: The lifestyle I wanted to emulate was the rap, rock star, party lifestyle, very self-seeking, very whatever. There was no moral compass in the sense of. It was whatever was good, and whatever I wanted to do, that was the way it was. It was the drugs, there was alcohol, it was sexual immorality, I think that’s the rock star lifestyle. It obviously was not extreme. It probably would have gotten to that extreme, continuing down that path, but that was something that was just in the beginning stages of really getting bad before I came to God or God came to me through the podcast and through just researching it and reading the Bible. That was stuff that I was into, and the negative effects of that was it was all my relationships. Whether it was my family or with my friends or whatever, I was choosing the wrong relationships, and I was choosing the wrong ways to behave in those. It was all self-seeking. How can I become a famous person? How could I become the best? How could I get more of this? How could I get the hottest women? It was all about me.
What God has focused me on the Bible is making it not about me, and it’s a sanctification process. This is big because I was deep into trying to self-promote and do a lot of music stuff, and one of the big verses that stuck out for me was James 3:16, “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder in every evil practice.” That was a lot of my music journey. It was just being envious of other people and wanting to be better and wanting to do that. As a result, everything I was surrounded with was disorder and evil practice. It was because that was my ambition. That was my drive. Now I’m in a stage of turning that and actually trying to follow God and release all the things I’m holding onto.
Another verse is in Proverbs. You just open that up here. Why not? We’ll do all the verses I have planned right now. It’s in Proverbs 3, I think, here. It says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to Him, and he will make your path straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body, nourishment to your bones.” That is what will bring you peace and prosperity, it says, up there. That is true because it was not a peaceful lifestyle. No matter if I succeeded or failed, I felt the same way. It was the self-seeking and the training. I’m going to watch this video, and then I’ll know what to do. I’m going to read this thing, I’m going to know what to do, but it was weird because I’d do it, and the people I was trying to impress in the industry or whatever. Now you need to do this, and now you read this, and you do more, and you do more, and you do more. I was seeing other people succeed, and then I’m, like, I’m doing all this. Why don’t you do more? They’re not even doing all this. I was wondering I was going down, I was reading these books, doing all these different things, and trying to do it my own way, trying to live life like I knew what I was doing. It just never worked. When I just let God do it, go to church, serve at the church, read the Bible, do all that stuff, and not try to have any angles or anything like that, things work out, and I’m much happier that way. There are times when I feel like I want to go; this happened to me. Therefore, I have to figure it out, read this, how to do this, how to improve on that, put this out, post this, whatever, it just leads back to that same negative side. It’s very good that “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” It’s just go to church, read the Bible, don’t listen to the noise of the world, and they’ll find that peace.
Robin Lee: I can completely understand where you’re coming from. As you’re sitting here talking, I’m reminded of an Eminem lyric about how Will Smith doesn’t have to cuss to sell records, but he does. Your journey and your story are very inspiring in a way that a lot of times, even people in the movie industry feel pressure to conform to a certain way, and you are saying, no, I’m going to put my foot down. This is how I feel, this is what I believe, and I love that. I want to segue a little bit more to your creative process now. You mentioned that you release music regularly.
What is your songwriting process like? I imagine that faith somehow manages to find a way into your lyrics every time, but I’ll let you go more into that.
Alex Roberecki: The songwriting process is changing a little bit more. For country music, it would be co-writing with people in Nashville or here, or whoever. You just write, get in a room, and save some ideas. You just talk like we’re talking right now. It’d be pretty personal talking sometimes, because that’s just with the random person you just met, because that’s what it takes to make these songs happen. Then you’d throw out a couple of ideas, get some hooks going, something catchy. Then you’d write the song, and you’d base it on other country songs that were already successful country songs, and stuff that you like to listen to, and songs that you like, and you base it on that, and you see what you could see. Then, now, what I’m doing with this internship is a bit different because we were, before, making music more for entertainment, relatability. Now we’re writing music for our church. It’s to prepare the message that will be preached by our preacher, and there’s a lot more to it. You have to have certain melodies, like the hymns. Our church really likes hymns. You have to be okay. To prepare them to hear the message, to listen to the song, and to remember the message throughout the week with the lyrics, we need certain melodies here. We have to say certain things here, to make sure that the gospel message is presented in the whole music. Basically, what our worship pastor said is that you have to make sure that if someone were to leave right after the song, before the preacher comes up, they’d understand. They walk out understanding the gospel if they listened to the lyric. You could choose certain songs, but you have to write certain songs for specific things. You’re writing a lament song, a song about having issues and how God deals with those issues and those tragedies in your life and how He helps you and how He comforts you. Is it a song of praise? Things are going good and praising God for what he’s given you? Is it a song of calling out for God, desperation? Is it a song of learning about what God has done for you? There are very specific things you have to put in there now, and there’s more of a structure, so that’s the process we’re writing now. We get in there, we take a psalm from the Bible or a verse from the Bible, see if there’s anything in there that sticks out, and then we write a song based on that.
Is there a particular song that you’ve written that feels especially personal or powerful to you?
Alex Roberecki: These more recently because, like I said before, those songs that I was writing in country music were for entertainment. I like those songs. They’re fun songs. They got little witty parts to them. I had a fun time writing them, recording them, and performing them. They’re fun songs for entertainment. Now if we’re talking about songs that are helping me on a personal level or a spiritual level, those are the songs that I’m writing now where, if I’m going through something, I turn to the Bible and then how I see God working to solve that, or I see what God has done for me in my life, and I write a song based off of that, or I see something, like a problem that’s happening in the church or problem that a lot of people are having, including myself. I use the Bible to explain that, then I write a song, and I’m like, this song helps me. Remember this. Those are the songs I’m writing right now. They haven’t been released. We’ll release them soon, hopefully put them through or have them played on a Sunday, write them with the people I’m writing with right now, and expand on them. They’re not just entertainment. They remind me of certain things that I’ve learned through being a Christian, through learning more about God. That’s how I got through this. Those are the songs that are helping me the most, because hopefully they’ll help other people, but they’re actually really helping me get through things. I process things. It reminds me, when I go back to that, oh yeah, that’s right. I don’t need to worry about this because of this, this, and this.
You mentioned previously that the Hardy podcast drew you to MTSU. How has being part of MTSU and the Honors College helped shape your development as a musician and a student?
Alex Roberecki: It’s the reason why I’m down here. That’s because I’m from Winnipeg, Canada. That is not close to where the country music is. That’s not close to where the Christian music is happening. There are a lot of really good churches and big churches, but here, there’s a lot more. It’s a lot easier to develop my faith. When I first came down here, it was more about country, more about wanting to get to Nashville, more about wanting to go into that, but through going to my church and just being at MTSU and seeing all the different opportunities they’ve had, and I really got to experience a lot of the music industry through MTSU. There are a lot of good volunteer opportunities that I’ve been going to in Nashville. I got to go to the Country Radio Seminar. That was just like, four days in Nashville, and you just get to see all the biggest country artists perform for the radio. You get to see all the labels, how everything works. Everyone is there, and it’s just this big event, and the way they teach how the music industry works. I was trying to find out for years how everything was working on my own, and they would just be like one class. It’s not as common knowledge as most people think about. What are the song splits? How do you make a career of being a songwriter? What is a publishing deal? How do you get a good publishing deal? How do you know what to look at, what to look for? You’re just basically immersing yourself in music and in what goes behind it, and you just see it all. It’s just that the last two years have been developing.
And then on the Christian side, just so many churches and so many events and so many pastors and just going here, going there. We went to Alabama for this training thing. There’s just so much opportunity. That has been the biggest. I actually joined the Honors because I wanted a certain history professor, because he was good at teaching the first American history, which I’ll take. I didn’t take that in high school. I’m not from America. I took American History 1, and it was really good, but the only class was American History 2. That was taught by him at Honors, so I joined Honors. I’ve now been really enjoying being a part of Honors. I go to the Honors library. I read. There’s, like, the classic literature books. I always wanted to read those, but they’re organized nicely here in the library, but they’re all spread out. I don’t know what to look for. I don’t know what to search for. I go in there. Here’s this, here’s that. There’s a lot of really good options there. I think there’s a lot of different things, such as getting the students to vote and stuff like that and just seeing that all around campus, that got me into an event that the former vice president was there, and that’s how I knew about it was through the Honors thing, and I went there, and I met the former vice president. That was my first year here. I was, like, it’s pretty cool. You’re not going to see stuff like that in Winnipeg. That was just my first year. It might have been my second semester here, and meeting the vice president of the United States, that’s pretty interesting. That’s something that I didn’t have. I didn’t see any other universities that have that. It’s been a pretty good time here. I’ve had a really good time and am thankful for all these different programs and opportunities, and I’m going to be taking two more Honors classes. I might be taking one, actually, a speaking one. It’s how to public speak and how to give presentations, interviews, and stuff like that. It’s going to be an Honors class. We can do another one of these after that class and see if there’s any difference, see if I learned anything in that class.
Robin Lee: You’re doing a great job so far, so I think you’ll do well in that class.
Alex Roberecki: Thank you. I’m in another one, the Honors Music History. I like it because the classes were small. Everyone was participating. We went into the Honors building. We sat down and there was no messing around. Everyone was very interested in the subjects. Everyone was very participatory. They had a lot of participation in the classes, a lot of good discussions. I got to know my class a lot better than I did in non-Honors History. It was a lot bigger than non-Honors History. There were fewer engaged students. I had a lot of friends and Honors, too, so I got a friend in my class, and now we’re going to be roommates. He’s moving off campus. You make a lot of friends in the Honors, then you grow a lot of friendships because you have a lot more common interests, and people are actually engaged in the class, versus I have to take this class, whatever. You’re going to find a lot more common interests if you’re interested in that stuff, and that’s what I like about it. It shaped me just in making connections and growing in that, and a lot of the faith is living it out with other people and learning. That’s what the Honors school has helped me do, and it’s made college a lot more enjoyable and easier for me.
You mentioned that specific class and that you wanted that professor specifically, so shout out to that professor. Who is it?
Alex Roberecki: Brady Holley.
Robin Lee: For anybody interested in a good history class, Brady Holley.
Alex Roberecki: Great history guy.
For someone studying both songwriting and entrepreneurship, how do you balance creativity with the music or the business side of music?
Alex Roberecki: It’s difficult. I don’t think anybody really likes the business unless you are going into business. I think it’s either you’re business-minded, or you’re creative-minded, and you just have to learn the other one. A lot of people who are business-minded go into the business side of music, but they must learn creative elements because you can’t just be all numbers when you’re working in a creative industry. Now, when you are a creative, you can’t just be all creative and not understand the business side, not understand what people want and how people will be, because that’s what it comes down to in the end, and this is how I balance it. The business is what people want, and then you give that to them. There are the technicalities, but what MTSU is doing is teaching me all the technical stuff. You know that you have that, and then you know, but what it also does is it gives you people who really do know that. If you do have a question about the technical business side, you can contact them. The professors have been helpful with that in helping me sort that out, but as far as creative goes, what are we creating for, and let’s best do that. What I’m looking at right now is how to provide the value. It just naturally through that comes to fruition. That’s basically going back to this. The business side is trusting the Lord with all your heart and leaning on your own understanding. That’s how I take care of the business, then.
If somebody listening is struggling with purpose or is stuck in a dark place, what do you want them to know based on your experience?
Alex Roberecki: Everything comes from God. That’s good. If you want to experience the freedom from any depression, anxiety, any addiction, any sadness, any controversy, any arguments, basically, any negative thing, it’s in the Bible. It’s through a relationship with God. I think there’s a lot of cultural stuff that the cultural Christianity has put people away. This has cut people off from thinking about it or trying it or going into a relationship with Christ. The cultural stuff, the negative stuff, that bad thing happened to me at church, or I’ve seen someone say this negative thing, or I have this opinion or that opinion, on the other end, I’m too far gone. I can’t. But it says in the Bible that no one is too far gone. I’ve seen people who are way worse than I was, and through the Bible, again, they have that peace. You get that peace that you can’t get anywhere else. Nothing else. No drug, no fame, no relationship will give you that. Only this and just doing what it says and then will give you that. That is the advice. I wish I had that advice a long time ago, because that would be a lot farther. We didn’t have to go through a lot of things that I went through. It would have been a lot smoother. Everything comes from God, and it’s just that we could choose to accept it, or we could choose not to.
Robin Lee: One of the verses that I’m reminded of that I think of often, and I don’t know why, but “if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” That, I think, would resonate even with people who aren’t religious. To me, there’s so many things in the Bible that can resonate, even if you’re not a religious person.
What are your hopes for your music going forward, and do you have any big projects coming up?
Alex Roberecki: The hope is music going forward. I’m going into the ministry, and that is worship leading, possibly preaching, and still writing songs from my church and releasing songs to other people. It’s going to be a lot more collaboration than I’ve done in the past. It’s going to be a lot more fun. It’s going to be a lot less “I need to do this. I need to do that.” It’s just trusting in God. Here are these musicians. Here are these guys that are here. We’re doing it, we’re willing to do it, we’re going to do it together and release songs as they come. We’re going to be writing songs right now for our church to show on Sunday, to display them on Sunday, and to see where that goes, maybe recording them, maybe having other churches, if they’re good, do that, but it’s just wherever God takes me at this point, that’s where we’re going. That’s what we’re doing.
Robin Lee: That’s wonderful. To wrap everything up, is there somewhere people can find your music or follow your journey?
Alex Roberecki: I am on Spotify. My country artist name is Alex Eastman, because I’m from Eastern Manitoba. On Spotify, on Apple Music, that’s my older country music. I recently released a song called “God, Family, Country,” and it’s about my time down here, my faith journey, and the culture and Christianity that led me to go to church more and deepen my faith. Then I also have some more fun songs that are more, like, traditional country. I’m getting away from that now, but they’re still on there, and you can check them out at Alex Eastman Country.
Robin Lee: That’s awesome. Thank you very much for your time and for coming to talk with me.
Alex Roberecki: Thank you very much for having me. It’s some great conversation.
Robin Lee: Hi, everyone. Welcome to the 2nd-ever episode of Honors Spotlight. The podcast that shines a light on the people, stories, and ideas shaping the MTSU Honors experience and beyond. I’m your host Robin Lee, and today’s episode is one I’ve really been looking forward to. Constitution Day is next week, so in this episode, we’re talking democracy. What it means, how we live it, why it matters, especially for students like you. There’s no better person to guide us through that conversation than Dr. Amy Sayward, Professor of History and the brand-new Director of the American Democracy Project here at MTSU. Now, if you’re not familiar with the American Democracy Project, don’t worry. We’re going to get into all of that. But what makes this episode really special is that we also explore Amy’s personal journey from growing up in a military family to her early experiences with civic action as a teenager to the moment she realized just how powerful democratic engagement can be. We’ll also dive into Constitution Day, why we celebrate it, what it means for our campus, and what you can expect from this year’s keynote with none other than a journalist and cultural commentator, David Brooks. Grab your earbuds, settle in, and get ready for a deep and thoughtful conversation about civic life, personal responsibility, and the power of student voices as we get to know more about
Amy. Let’s jump in. Dr. Sayward, welcome to Honors Spotlight. We’re excited to have you here.
Amy Sayward: I’m very excited to be here, Robin. Thank you.
Before we start discussing ADP and the upcoming Constitution week events, I want to explore, the history of the history professor now at the helm of it all. Can you tell me a little bit about your background in your journey to MTSU?
Amy Sayward: I grew up north of Buffalo, New York. There’s a whole county before you get to Canada. I don’t believe in snow days. Now that I’ve moved to Tennessee, we have a lot of snow days. We didn’t have a lot of snow days north of Buffalo, New York.
Robin Lee: We have potential ice days here.
Amy Sayward: That is true. I’m the proud product of public schools. I went to the very same school as a central school, from kindergarten all the way through 12th grade, in a pretty rural area. That’s actually where I first got involved with civic action.
What first sparked your interest in democracy and civic life?
Amy Sayward: I remember as an elementary student, our school was a polling place and before you had electronic polling places, it was the old machines where you pulled the levers, and we would vote for our student council in elementary school. We’d all go out and we’d line up to use those voting machines to vote for who we wanted for the student council. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
Robin Lee: Could you see who other people were voting for?
Amy Sayward: No. When you pulled the lever, it closed the curtain behind you. Then when you finish voting, pulling each of the levers, it would record it when you open the curtain again.
You had told me earlier about this personal story from high school and your first experience really with democracy in action beyond your elementary school days. Share that with everybody.
Amy Sayward: When I was a senior in high school, in New York State, I voted for our school budget, and a lot of times people don’t like more taxes, and so routinely the school budget got voted down. But it was odd because you weren’t really voting on the entire school budget. You were really only voting on the discretionary portion. After the school budget failed, then they would break out the different sections. That was school buses, and that was and shop supplies, library books, and athletics. Usually, folks would vote in support of school buses and athletics, and we’d move forward, and for years, we didn’t get new supplies for shops or home ec. But that was just how we move forward.
In my senior year, the head of the school board took out a full-page ad in the local newspaper and said that people shouldn’t vote for the school budget, even though he had helped put it together. Athletics didn’t pass that year. Nothing that wasn’t state-mandated came into play. Our principal had to set up how every family, every individual would pay for the sports that they played. I made things a little rough, a little chaotic for our senior year. Then, moving into graduation, one of my friends who was head of the student government said, “Hey, do you know that at graduation, the person who hands us our diplomas is the head of the school board?” I won’t mention his name. The person who had actively lobbied against the school budget. What? It stinks. He said, “Well, let’s go to the school board meeting and ask that the retiring elementary school principal give us our diplomas instead”. Three of us, the head of the honor society, the head of the student government, and the head of the student council, we went and we sat through the whole 2-hour-and-45-minute school board meeting until they got to new business and then they said, are there any new business? We stood up and said, we respectfully request that Dr. Bianchi give us our diplomas and we sat down.
You would think that that would be the end of it except it’s a small town. On the front page of the next day’s newspaper, it said Seniors Balk at Getting Diplomas. Then there followed a whole series of letters to the editor in which lots of people said that we had no right to an opinion, that we didn’t vote for the school budget, we didn’t pay school taxes, and so we weren’t entitled to an opinion. This struck me as really odd and contrary to everything I’d learned in school, that we are training you to be citizens and leaders in the future, and to think critically and all of those things. One piece of feedback that we really took to heart. Someone said, “Well, these are not representatives of the senior class. They’re only the head of the Honor Society, the student council, and the class president”. They said we weren’t representatives. We wrote a petition, and all but seven of the 177 members of the senior class said, Yes, we would like Dr. Bianchi to give us our diplomas.
Robin Lee: Just to be clear, Dr. Bianchi is not the superintendent who shall not be named.
Amy Sayward: That is correct. We will leave him out of the story. Then we went to the next school board meeting, which the school board was going to make the decision about who is going to give us diplomas. Before we got to that item on the agenda, the head of the school board stood up and he said, I refuse to give diplomas to this class. A bunch of troublemakers will probably ruin the ceremony for everyone. Which I thought was odd since we were the leaders of our senior class, never been in trouble in our whole life, sort of thing. He declined to give us diplomas. That was a little bit of a victory, but what I’m most proud of and what really resonated with me was our senior class. About half of whom were 18 before we graduated. We decided to do a voter registration drive. As soon as we’re 18, we can vote, we can vote on the school budget. That next fall, for the first time in 25 years, the school budget passed on the first vote. Because we were active, because we cared about the issue, because we cared to vote, we changed things in that community, at least for that year.
You come from a military family. How did that shape your views on service and civic engagement?
Amy Sayward: Both of my grandfathers served in World War II. Specifically, they both had two children before they joined the military. Both of my parents were born towards the end of the war. But, in World War I, now I teach a course on World War II. It really was a time when everyone was mobilized. Everyone recognized that they were part of this sort of shared conflict, not only in the United States, but across the world. They made a huge sacrifice. I kid my dad that he was a deployment baby. He was born while my grandfather was deployed fighting in Germany with the United States Army. When my grandfather got back to the United States, my father was two.
For two years, he was away from his family. I have all the letters that my grandma and grandpa say were exchanged while they were apart. I remember it was odd during the Persian Gulf War. I was watching the news with my grandma. I was visiting her, and it was an episode about military spouses and they were talking about how stressful it was, not being able to communicate every day with their spouses. My grandmother threw up her hands and she’s like, every day. I was lucky if I got a letter a month from Europe. Certainly, times have changed, and communication technologies have changed. But it was a super stressful time for everyone in the nation. My grandma went and worked Grandpa’s job at IBM while he was deployed.
Lots of moving around, lots of just doing the best that you can. My grandma Sayward taught school and had two toddlers. Trying to, keep the family working, keep everything moving forward during the war. Certainly, I grew up hearing those stories. My father also served in the Vietnam War and my brother served in between wars, with the United States Navy. But knowing the difficulties that come with being apart from family, talking about saying words, and complaining about communication technology. My father, one day, was complaining to my grandmother that he had not heard from my brother for a week. She said, it’s really difficult when your son is deployed to a war zone and you don’t hear from him regularly. Wink, wink. She was really talking about him, who didn’t think it was important to send her letters all the time. He’s like, nothing’s really happening.
Robin Lee: It’s easy to see that you are very passionate about history just from your experiences growing up. Another one of those interesting personal tidbits we’ve talked about previously.
You graduated from the same high school as Timothy McVeigh. I think you said he graduated either the year before or the year after you. How did learning about that connection affect you and how you engage with history?
Amy Sayward: Timothy McVeigh graduated the year ahead of me in 1986, and it always surprises people that he was voted best smile for his class. He was a guy who always has smile for everyone, which obviously doesn’t fit with the life that he pursued afterwards. It always struck me as very odd that someone who had grown up in the same community. Literally, Mr. McVeigh lived. If he went to the end of my parents road and hung a left, Mr. McVeigh lived right there and he continued to live there. That someone who went to the same school, lived in the same community, went to the church down the street, capable of carrying out that type of activity, blowing up the Murrah building, killing 177 people,
I think it was, including a number of children who were in the daycare on the bottom floor of the Murrah building. It got me thinking very much about motivations. I was already a historian working on my PhD at Ohio State, but it also got me thinking later about the death penalty because, of course, he was sentenced to death for his crime and it was the first time that I actually got to thinking about the death penalty and got me involved with some anti-death penalty organizations first in Ohio and then in Tennessee subsequently. I’ve also been working with non-profits, the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, which is now Tennessee for the Death Penalty, so the death penalty, I’ve been active with them since I moved to Tennessee in 1998.
That personal journey really lays the foundation for the work you do now. I’m going to shift gears a little bit and we’re going to talk about your role as an educator. You’ve taught history at MTSU for a year. How do you encourage civic participation in your classroom?
Amy Sayward: Ever since I started, I always have given extra credit for being a registered voter. I say the history, especially the history of the United States, is the history of Americans seeking to exercise government and to vote. When we look at American history from its foundation to the present, that continues to be a common motif. I always see history as very much a present endeavor, not something that just happened in the past, but things that were molding today. I’ve always given extra credit for registering to vote. Then when MTSU moved to EXL or Experiential Learning, I began to include as well, students working with groups that were promoting sociopolitical change. I’ve had students during that phase, who volunteered with the Tennessee Right to Life organization, who have lobbied their legislators, who have done door-to-door canvassing around health insurance issues. Involving themselves with groups that have promoted sociopolitical change in the present day as they were studying groups that had promoted sociopolitical change in American history, so that they saw the continuities between and discontinuities between the past and what was happening today. That history wasn’t just something that happened in the past, but something very much happening in the future, that they had the ability to shape and change.
Robin Lee: I think every generation has their historical moment or moments to, define their lives and shape who they become it’s that moment that they’ll always remember for I mean, honestly, the average age of college students now were born after 9-1-1 happened, so you’re still wondering what their turning point historical moment is going to be.
Why do you think it’s important for students to engage with democracy both in and out of the classroom?
Amy Sayward: Well, especially college students here at MTSU, obviously training to be the leaders of our industry, of government, of communities, of families, of our societies. Part of that training, especially as we become educated leaders, is critical thinking. That’s exactly what we need to sustain our democracy. Our founding fathers knew it, and every generation since, the people that we most need to be involved in and interested in government for it to continue to be a vibrant democracy are the folks who think about it, who care about it, who are willing to put themselves on the line. Every single person should vote because we need the input of every single person to get the best possible outcome.
Especially here at MTSU, our students, most of whom are going to stay in the region, will be leaders in their communities and so on. I want them to practice registering to vote, because you have to reregister every time you vote, and to be educated voters who research what’s going to happen before you go into the polling place. A couple of years ago, we had several constitutional amendments on the ballot in class, we went through each of them and why they were needed, what they meant, and one of my students reported back and she’s like, Dr. Sayward, I went into the voting booth and I was in and out in 2 minutes and all these other people were like, “What is this? I can’t believe they didn’t do their homework before they went”. Having those good practices of knowing where to get the information, looking it up, making up their mind, and talking to other people before they move forward.
Robin Lee: Being educated citizens.
Amy Sayward: Being educated citizens. Sometimes it can be a little harder to find that information. In Tennessee, when we were voting in the presidential primary, you don’t actually vote directly for who you want, but for who the delegates to the convention will be and who they represent, and there were more people than the minimum number you had to choose. We talked through that process. Again, if you just walk in and say, I want to vote for candidate X, and you don’t get to vote for candidate X, but you vote for X number of delegates, how do you make that decision if you haven’t thought about it ahead of time, if you haven’t done a little bit of research on it?
Robin Lee: Absolutely. It’s inspiring to hear how much thought you’ve put into helping students become engaged citizens.
That’s a perfect lead into one of the major ways students can get involved in campus civic life: the American Democracy Project. For listeners who aren’t familiar, what is ADP?
Amy Sayward: The American Democracy Project was an initiative of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities a quarter century ago. They said one of the key parts of our mission as regional state colleges and universities is to train future leaders. A key part of that is civic engagement. We need to be doing a better job more consciously helping our students think about how to be civically engaged. Not just registering to vote and voting, but also how you involve yourself in your community, and also realizing that those students who are more involved in their community, doing more community-based learning, are more civically engaged, and have a more positive experience in their education. Getting outside the classroom has been very valuable to students.
AASCU, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, has placed this emphasis on civic engagement across all its member institutions. Once a year, we get together and we share ideas. Just go back from Annapolis with 3 faculty members and 6 undergraduate students who made their own presentation about how they engage with democracy every day. We have an American Democracy Project Student Organization. They run voter registration drives, they do presentations at national conferences, and they have organized for the fall a issues form in which we’re going to look at a number of issues that impact specifically MTSU students and understand where the different political parties agree, disagree on those different issues. That’s part of it. The ADP student organization has been great already to be able to work with them.
How did it feel stepping into this role after Dr. Mary Evins, who led the program for nearly two decades?
Amy Sayward: It’s a fun story that I was chair of the History Department when Dr. Evins became the American Democracy Project Director. I was approached by the previous director who said, “Hey, I think Dr. Evins would be a good director.” I said, she’d be a great director. Both the former director and I went and talked to the provost and said, “This is the person who should be the ADP director.” Dr. Evins did such a great job of making Constitution Day on our campus such a broad and anticipated event. Not only do we have national-level speakers for Constitution Day, like David Brooks, who’s coming, Vice President Pence, who was here last year, but also every one of the colleges participates in reading the Constitution out loud every year during Constitution Week. May sound a little odd like why would we do that? But it’s so fundamental to our democracy, to not only know the constitution generally, but to be more familiar with its specific parts, to be able to when someone says, that’s unconstitutional, to really know what’s in the constitution and how things fit or don’t fit, how our constitution is written and how it’s functioned over the last almost 250 years.
Robin Lee: Absolutely. I know that reading the Constitution outside in front of one of the college buildings is something that they’re always going to remember. For the Honors College, we also give them cupcakes after they read. I don’t know what the other buildings do, but happy fail.
Amy Sayward: Everyone should come to the Honors College.
What excites you the most about the future of ADP?
Amy Sayward: What has excited me for 27 years of being at MTSU? I am always so excited to meet our freshmen, to meet our students and to imagine what they’re going to do next. I’ve had the honor and privilege over these last 27 years to work with thousands of students and to see them go on to careers in the legislature and classrooms and their commune. Every once in a while when you’re here long enough, folks will circle back and say, “Hey, do you remember me? Are you still on campus? Can I come visit you?” I had a student just recently who came to visit; Jason, who I had had in class 20 years ago. He said,” Do you remember me?” I said, “I remember that you were tall in dark hair. I probably couldn’t have picked you out of a lineup.” But he said, “Do you remember, the positions that I took in class?” I’m like, “No, it was a little too long ago.” He’s like, “I have changed so much over the years, in part because I kept learning.” He said, “I always remember in class, we could never nail you down on what your position was. You would always ask us questions to clarify our own positions.” He said, “That always just stuck with me.” He said, “If I had a chance to go back and talk to my 22-yearold self, I’d be like, What are you thinking?” What always excites me is the future, which is probably ironic for someone who’s a historian and studies the past.
Robin Lee: I think it makes perfect sense. Clearly, ADP is doing powerful work to connect students with real world democratic engagement. A big part of that centers around something we all know, but don’t always think deeply about perhaps, and that’s the constitution.
Why is Constitution Day important, especially on a college campus?
Amy Sayward: It’s actually federally mandated that we mark and celebrate Constitution Day, which I think is wonderful, because I don’t think that we think about the Constitution enough on a daily basis. Again, it’s a term that we throw around a lot, especially things being constitutional or unconstitutional. Once you really start digging in thinking about the intellectual work that was done by that founding generation to decide, how do we create a document that is broad enough that it can govern this future that we can’t quite imagine, but not specific enough so that it’ll only apply to us.
I’m always struck by the genius of that founding generation and their ability to craft our Constitution and include in it that amendment process to realize that it would have to change over time. That they couldn’t quite imagine how or when, but they put a process into place. I think that’s the genius of the document. It’s also the reason why we continue to have our courts functioning to interpret because they left room for ambiguity or change over time. Well, I’m sure that they could not have imagined that 250 years later, we’d still be operating with the same constitution, with just one huge constitutional crisis, the civil war and a lot of amendments over the years.
I actually did some research on the 26th Amendment that lowered the voting age, the early 1970s, and came to realize that two young men who had just recently graduated college were the two Tennessee legislators, the youngest members of the legislature who were responsible for getting Tennessee to ratify the 26th Amendment on the very first day that it was open for signature. Victor Ashe and Richard Krieg, I had the honor this past fall of being on a panel with them and having them tell their stories at the East Tennessee Historical Society about 52 years after they had played that pioneering role in pushing for the youth vote. It was so inspiring to get to meet them and talk to them about that experience. As I said, we did our homework better than some of the more established legislatures.
This year’s theme focuses on how constitutional values intersect with student voices and identities. What does that mean for you?
Amy Sayward: What it means to me is that every student needs to be thinking about the constitution, thinking about how it shapes the world around them, and how they may well shape the next generation and how that constitution is interpreted. There’s lots of language in it. I love the preamble to the constitution that lays out those broad ideas. I’m a big fan of the very first word of the Constitution I think a lot of times people talk today about how polarized we are. I would like us as Americans to spend more time thinking about what we share rather than what divides us. I think we’d be a lot happier and we’d probably be moving forward in a little more concerted of an effort these days.
Robin Lee: Absolutely. What ways do you think students can live out constitutional values in their daily lives?
Amy Sayward: Again, if I go back to we thinking about when we hear disagreements between different political parties or even different people or groups on campus. Again, to start by thinking about, well, what do we share? What’s the common ground that we have? What are our shared values that can help guide us and move us forward? We do that every day in the classroom as we work with other people who may not share the same ideas that we do. We can learn from one another and learn how to work together regardless of some differences and realize the things that we share in common every day.
Robin Lee: You’ve given us a lot to think about when it comes to living out constitutional values. Let’s talk about how all of that comes to life at MTSU, starting with this year’s Constitution week events.
Can you give us a quick overview of Constitution Day at MTSU this year?
Amy Sayward: Constitution Day is September 17th. It’s a Wednesday this year, and that’s when our big speaker and event will be on campus. David Brooks will be talking to student members of ADP’s Organization, talking about the role of the constitution in their everyday lives. That will be at 3 o’clock in the Tucker Theater. That event is free and open to the public. Everyone is invited, and after the initial questions and answers, we will throw the floor open for questions. The public is also welcome to the reception that we’ll follow immediately. They’ll also have an opportunity if they so wish to intersect and interact with Mr. Brooks as well as the students who will have been on stage. That’s at three o’clock on Wednesday, September 17th. Mr. Brooks will also be reading the Constitution, along with the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, at one o’clock in the Peck Hall courtyard. We would love for members of the community, as well as everyone on campus, to participate in reading the Constitution at some point during Constitution Week. The College of Media and Entertainment and the Walker Library will be hosting a Constitution Day reading Monday, September 15th at 11:00, 3:00 is when the Honors College will be reading at 3:00 with cupcakes. Tuesday, the College of Education and University College will be reading the constitution at 9:00 in the morning at the College of Education Portico. We have constitution readings taking place throughout the first part of the week as well.
Robin Lee: What can students expect from David Brooks’ keynote address?
Amy Sayward: He’s not giving a set address. He will be having a conversation with students from the ADP student organization about some of the key ideas that he has laid out, both about the constitution in general, current politics, and in his writings. He has written a lot about the development of character and being a good, solid American in terms of values. When I took the ADP student organization up to Indianapolis last month, I said, “This is what I’d like to have happen that all of you are interacting with him.” One student said, “His book on the Second Mountain changed my life.” I said, “Then you absolutely have to draft a question around how that idea of not just our original career goals, but as we climb that career ladder and we see as he says in his analogy, the mountain behind the things that we want to accomplish for communities to make the world that we leave behind a better place than the one we inherited.” Those are what I see as good constitutional values. He’ll also be talking about those as well.
How can students get involved in the American Democracy Project or even the Constitution Day activities?
Amy Sayward: Our student organization website is awesome. You can go on to student organizations and scroll through. I think last, there are 180 different student organizations that students can belong to. Everything from a knitting club to the American Democracy Project, to the Swim Club, all types of student organizations. I think it’s really one of the best ways to connect with peers across campus, to be connected to others who share similar interests, and to find your people as you settle into the college campus.
Robin Lee: Perfect. Well, thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of Honors Spotlight, and a huge thank you to Amy Sayward for sharing her insights, stories, and passion for civic engagement and the Constitution. If you’re curious about how to get involved in the American Democracy Project or Constitution Day events, visit amerdem.mtsu.edu or stop by the Honors College for more information.
