Honors College Stories and Insights

Podcast 25-16 The Narrative Power of Halo Reach

April 3, 2026

Guest: Sarah Huffman

Estimated reading time: 0 minutes

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!

MTSU experts outline global implications of expanding war in Iran

April 1, 2026

From left, Middle Tennessee State University faculty members Sean Foley, Luke Truxal and Andrei Korobkov offer their expertise during a panel discussion about the current war in Iran on Thursday, March 19, at the College of Education Building on campus in Murfreesboro, Tenn. (MTSU photos by Robin E. Lee; Illustration by Jimmy Hart)

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.

Audience engagement reflects wide-ranging concerns

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.

MTSU NEWS LINK: https://mtsunews.com/war-in-iran-panel-recap-march2026/

MTSU invites campus to discover global pathways at 2026 ‘Fulbright Day’

April 1, 2026

Middle Tennessee State University will host its third annual Fulbright Day on Tuesday, April 14, featuring 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.

Dr. Greg Reish, director, Center for Popular Music at MTSU — Dr. Greg Reish

Dr. Sylvester Lamin, associate professor, social work — Dr. Sylvester Lamin

• Panelists Greg Reish, musicology professor, and Sylvester Lamin, social work associate professor, share their Fulbright experiences, offering guidance on the application process, securing host institutions, and the professional benefits of expanded teaching and research networks.

Dr. Ngee-Sing Chong, chemistry professor — Dr. Ngee-Sing Chong

• Chemistry professor Sing Chong closes with an overview of the Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence program, which 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, offering 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.

Josh Narrell, spring 2025 graduate, Fulbright-Germany recipient — Josh Narrell

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, where 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, using 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 Grigsbyearned a place in the Fulbright Summer Institute in Wales, where 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, conducting research on social services, and engaging 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, conducted research, and contributed to North American Studies programs, demonstrating MTSU’s sustained Fulbright success, leading 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, delivered guest lectures in a graduate analytical chemistry course, and served as an adviser and co-mentor for undergraduate and postgraduate students’ research projects, with a primary focus on analytical chemistry. He conducted research on microextraction, infrared and Raman spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry to evaluate contaminants and additives in food matrices.

More information, how to register

The Zoom link will be sent to registrants prior to the workshop. Those interested can register at https://library.mtsu.edu/services/fulbright-program.

For more information, refer student questions to laura.clippard@mtsu.edu and faculty questions to maryellen.sloane@mtsu.edu.

MTSU NEWS LINK: https://mtsunews.com/fulbright-day-2026-preview/

MTSU’s Philip Phillips receives top international Poe award in Spain

March 18, 2026

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 the most — 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 17^th-century British poet; and Edgar Allan Poe, the 19^th-century American author. That diversity of academic interest is virtually unheard of in English. And it deserves to be celebrated. Loudly.”

MTSU NEWS ARTICLE: https://mtsunews.com/phillips-receives-international-poe-award-in-spain/

Podcast 25-4: Faith, Music, and Finding Purpose

March 17, 2026

Guest: Alex Roberecki

Estimated reading time: 0 minutes

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.

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.

Podcast 25-2: From Civic Spark to Campus Impact, Sayward Leads the ADP

March 16, 2026

Guest: Dr. Amy Sayward

Estimated reading time: 23 minutes

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.

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 26^th 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.

Podcast 25-3: Passport to Perspective – Ariel and Taylor’s Global Adventures

March 16, 2026

Guests: Ariel Nicastro and Taylor Tims

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

Welcome back to Honors Spotlight, the podcast where we go beyond the GPA to explore the real stories behind MTSU’s Honors students. I’m your host Robin Lee, and today we’re taking things global. In this episode, we’re joined by two remarkable students, Ariel Nicastro and Taylor Tims, who each stepped far outside their comfort zones for transformative study abroad experiences. Ariel, a Buchanan Fellow and Gilman scholar, traveled north to Canada while Taylor, an anthropology major with a love for languages, ventured to Brazil. From new cultures and academic insights to personal growth and unexpected challenges, Ariel and Taylor open up about what it really means to study abroad and how those journeys change them in ways they never expected. Let’s go ahead and dive in.

Ariel Nicastro: Hi, my name is Ariel Nicastro, and I’m about to be a senior. As Robin said, I am a Buchanan Fellow and Gilman scholar, and I’ve had two MTSU Signature Study Abroad experiences while at MTSU. My first one in 2023 was a cross-cultural perspective in tourism and leisure course in New Zealand. I just got back from a religious diversity course in Toronto and Montreal, Canada.

Robin Lee: Awesome, and Taylor.

Taylor Tims: Hi. My name’s Taylor Tims. I am a Buchanan Transfer Fellow and an anthropology major. I’ve also had two MTSU study abroad experiences. Both have been to Brazil, specifically for archaeology.

Robin Lee: That is amazing. What drew you guys to those experiences or programs?

Ariel Nicastro: I’m a physics major, so since these two courses don’t align with my major, my main reason for studying abroad is that I truly want to explore new cultures and better understand the world. Truly, my motivation to study abroad was travel, but also meeting others and gaining deeper insight into the culture.

Taylor Tims: Mine was a very similar reason, specifically for archaeology. Anthropology is the study of human culture, so I wanted to expand my knowledge and go somewhere new and also get the fieldwork experience while I was there.

Prior to these experiences with MTSU, had either of you been outside of the US before or traveled a lot?

Taylor Tims: I had not.

Ariel Nicastro: I have. I do have family in Israel, and in high school I studied abroad for a year, but it got cut short by COVID, so I spent a lot of time at my grandparents’ house, getting immersed in the Hebrew language and culture outside of my school.

What was your first impression when you arrived in Brazil?

Taylor Tims: For me, as I said, it was my first time abroad, so I was just shell-shocked, just by the experience of being able to go somewhere brand new. I don’t think it hit me that I was in a whole other continent until a couple of days in. I was at the beach, and people around me were speaking Portuguese. I just felt like, oh, my God. I’m really here right now.

Robin Lee: You’ve been to Israel before, Ariel. Was Canada a little different? Were there similarities?

Ariel Nicastro: Yes, I think Canada felt we first landed in Toronto. Originally, it did feel like I was just traveling to another North American city, but that has its own special aspect because it just makes you more excited to experience a new location, and you know that it’s a new country so it’s really exciting and special to be able to dive into exactly what details make Canada and the culture different from the United States, but in New Zealand, I thought it was fantastic. To even hear a New Zealand accent, because I don’t think I have before, so it felt pretty different, even though they still spoke English there.

Robin Lee: Is it different from an Australian accent? Because that’s what I imagine.

Ariel Nicastro: Surprisingly, yes.

Since you guys have both now traveled through MTSU, do you guys have any advice regarding group travel through the University?

Taylor Tims: I would say make friends with the people you’re traveling with. I think you guys are all going through an experience together, and you may know some people going down like that, you’re going with or you may not, but if you guys can connect even a little, it makes it a lot easier.

Ariel Nicastro: I would agree with what Taylor said. I have had two study abroad experiences, with Canada being my second and most recent one. Getting to know the people better before traveling abroad, I feel like it was a much more comfortable experience because when you go abroad, it’s new for everybody, and I think that having some sense of comfort with your peers is very important.

Is there a specific, standout memory from either of your times abroad that you really just captured the essence of your whole experience?

Ariel Nicastro: When I was in Canada, we were doing religious site visits to many different religious locations, and the first location we went to was the Ganesh Hindu Temple in Toronto. I vividly remember this because we could not take pictures, and honestly, I wish I could just capture this memory in my head forever because it was jaw-dropping, with colors everywhere, and temples to all the Hindu deities. There was a service going on. We had music, bells, smoke, and the smell of incense, and it just filled all your senses. It was honestly jaw-dropping and gave me chills just to be in this location and learn about the culture.

Robin Lee: It sounds beautiful.

Taylor Tims: For me, I think when I went to Brazil, we spent some time in the city, but then we went into the Amazon Rain Forest for the actual archaeology excavation. The first night there, we sat around the pool with people from the States, Brazil, and France, and just all over, and none of us really knew the group as a whole, but we all got to talk about what we liked about archaeology. It was the first time that I had been around that many people who weren’t from the same backgrounds, but we all liked the same things. I thought that was a really cool moment. It wasn’t anything glamorous or anything, but getting to meet all those people.

Robin Lee: How did you guys get to engage with the local culture? Was there food, festivals, daily routines, or conversations with locals in general?

Ariel Nicastro: In the Canada program I was in, we definitely had these religious site visits that sometimes came with food, time to interact with at least one person from the site, and a Q&A forum after being shown around the temples we visited. For example, we had a visit to a Sikuda where we had a Langar meal, which is where they prepare very large portions, and you come up with a tray, and they give you food, and you all eat on the floor together. It’s a very neat experience, and we also got to witness a service that they had afterwards. I think that each religious site visit followed in this pattern, where we got to experience in tandem the food and services, and have these conversations with people.

Taylor, I just am imagining archaeology, like digging up bones and things like that, so what was your experience like?

Taylor Tims: I got to learn a lot about the culture that we were actually going to the excavation for beforehand by going to the museum. We worked with a museum in Brazil that also went to the dig site, so that helped engage the culture a lot, but we also went around to other botanical sites, and there’s a famous market in Brazil called Veropzo. It’s like one of the largest markets in the world. We were able to go there, and I think that was definitely a cultural immersion. For food, Ossie is really big down there, which is one of my favorite things, so I eat a lot of Ossie.

Was there anything that surprised you about how people lived or worked, or thought compared to the US?

Taylor Tims: I was very surprised by, we call it Brazilian time, but people in Brazil are a lot more nonchalant, but if you say you’re going to be there at 9:00, it’s like, 9:00 ish. I think all the Americans were very stressed out because we’re so used to everything being so scheduled. It was a lot calmer about it. If you’re late, we’re cool with that. It’s a little detail, but I’m a very scheduled person, so I was freaking out.

Robin Lee: I think that would stress me out a lot, too, because I like to be on time.

Ariel Nicastro: As for me, I think it was very interesting to learn about how Montreal is tied very closely to the history of the religion there. In addition, there are a lot of land acknowledgments, and so this was the first thing that we learned before we went to any site on the first day. It was the land acknowledgment. We acknowledge that we are studying on indigenous land, and I’ve noticed that in Canadian podcasts or perhaps even in museums, they will have land acknowledgments. I noticed this also at an Anglican church service we attended on our second day. The United States has a similar history as Canada, being in North America, being on indigenous land, but Canada is a lot more cognizant of it, I think, or at least in a spoken manner about it.

Robin Lee: I remember that lecture series. I don’t know if you were in that class when they were talking about it, but I remember that.

Ariel Nicastro: Yes.

How did your academic focus connect with your experience abroad? Did it reshape how you saw your field of study?

Taylor Tims: Being an anthropology major, obviously, the archaeology tied in very closely to my field of study, but being able to go to Brazil the first time really got me interested in anthropogenic soil, which is soil that has been altered by humanity over time, and that ended up being what I chose to focus on for my honors thesis so it had an impact on that, and that’s why I ended up going back to study it more.

Robin Lee: What are some ways that humans change soil? Just to elaborate a little more.

Taylor Tims: For example, in Brazil, it’s called Amazonian dark Earth. The soil in Brazil, particularly in the Amazon region, is very infertile because of the environment, so people like to burn things and, over time, make it richer and more usable for farming.

Robin Lee: I’m surprised to hear that it’s infertile because I think of Amazon, I think of all the trees and the rainforest, wow. That’s impressive, Taylor.

Ariel Nicastro: As for me, this is very interesting because I received a comment from one of my classmates while in Canada about halfway through that says, I’m very excited you’re going on this trip because you’re not a religious studies major or minor, and it was an interesting conversation after that because we were understanding that I came into this with a different perspective than the religious studies majors. As a physics major, I was learning about religious studies from a blank slate. I just wanted to learn more and approach it from perhaps a logical perspective and really find these common themes, differences between different cultures. And this was definitely shaping how I saw my field of study because I could relate to a lot of the religious studies majors, and they were trying to learn more about cultures, and perhaps science is not too different from that. We’re also trying to just learn more, and in my case, learn more about the world around me. I think that science perspective was very helpful.

Was there anything specific that you remember from there that you could take back and apply in your physics studies or even towards your thesis or anything like that?

Ariel Nicastro: In general, I do have a theme of cross-cultural collaboration. This is also with an interest in management, I think that this will be very helpful just for soft skills.

Were there any challenges, be it academic, cultural, or personal, that you all had to navigate either before you left or while you were there?

Taylor Tims: I think, for me, the biggest challenge was the language, because English is not the primary language in Brazil; it’s Portuguese. I spent some time working on it before I went down, but it was the first time I had been in a situation where the people around me were speaking an entirely different language, and I didn’t always know what they were saying.

Ariel Nicastro: I did have to write a pre-departure reflection on how I felt being abroad. This was, in fact, one of the questions. I think that coming into it with an open mind, I didn’t foresee any big challenges, but I was just hoping that people would be open-minded in return. Perhaps, coming from a Jewish and Israeli background, I wasn’t too sure how that would be received, but everybody was very accepting and just of anybody’s culture. It was very exciting; they put all of their backgrounds and beliefs aside and just went forward and learn about other religions together. I think that was very exciting.

Has your opportunities studying abroad changed you all, maybe not as a student, but as a person?

Ariel Nicastro: I think that I am much more well-rounded. I think when I first came to MTSU in general, I had that science brain, and I think that was about it, but thankfully with the Honors College and the study abroad experiences that aren’t related to my major, I was able to get a much more liberal arts and well-rounded mindset. I think that’s been really helpful in interacting with others and leading groups.

Taylor Tims: I think my study abroad experience made me a lot more confident and willing to travel. As I mentioned, it was my first time going abroad, and I was really nervous beforehand, but since then I’ve reached out. I’ve pursued internship opportunities in Norway and Tanzania, and I honestly don’t think I would have even considered those had I not done this experience first.

You guys both sound like you’re interested in continuing to travel abroad and just learn new things and experiences, whether with MTSU or not, right?

Ariel Nicastro: Yes.

Taylor Tims: Yes.

Robin Lee: That’s what it sounds like.

Taylor Tims: I don’t want to put words in your mouth.

What advice would you give to students who are on the fence about studying abroad?

Taylor Tims: I would say just do it, and I know that that’s basic advice, but I think it is an experience that you can go abroad, obviously when you leave college, but being able to go with a group and other people who have similar interests or even different interests than you really creates a very cultivating experience so, go for it.

Ariel Nicastro: I would agree. I think that the aspect of having these at least MTSU signature programs that I’ve gone on, having these trips mostly planned out, means that you can just experience the most that you can in the shortest amount of time that you’re given, and there’s something really special about that, especially being with another group of people. I would say that there are funding sources, if that is the point of concern.

What if people are struggling financially or don’t know if they’re going to be able to afford a study abroad trip?

Ariel Nicastro: Fantastic. My first trip to New Zealand was funded mainly by the Buchanan Fellowship funds. There are the Office of Study Abroad does offer smaller scholarships, such as the commitment scholarship for the first eight or sometimes ten students to go on the study abroad trip, and there’s also a media scholarship for one person per each signature program to do a creative project, which could be social media, art, or even an essay, perhaps, that’s more engaging than just an essay, on your experiences abroad. For my trip to Canada, I was funded by the Gilman scholarship, which is for students with Pell grants, and it comes with its own requirements of updating the Gilman scholarship when you’re abroad and doing a follow-on service project. I will be writing an article about my time in Canada for the Areté Honors College magazine.

Taylor Tims: My experience was very similar. I got the media scholarship to go down to Brazil. For that specific study abroad, and I also received a lot of funding from the Buchanan Fellowship funds. I had another experience where I secured professional development funding for another internship abroad, which helped a lot. There are other resources, even outside of the Honors College or education abroad, that you can look into depending on the circumstances of your study abroad experience.

What do you think if I was a student and I’m interested in studying abroad? Where should I start looking for funding, especially if I’m not a Buchanan fellow?

Taylor Tims: I would say probably start with the education abroad. They’re probably going to be very helpful. First of all, the resources that they offer, but then also being able to put you in contact with maybe outside resources as well.

Robin Lee: Excellent.

Ariel Nicastro: I know that for the religious studies people who went with me, there was a scholarship for them that pretty much covered all of their travels, and I would say, based on that, to look into any departmental scholarships, as well.

Taylor Tims: That’s really smart.

Taylor Tims: Yeah, definitely. I want to get my PhD in geoarchaeology, so being able to do an Honors thesis where I can actually go to a place and do research on a topic that could potentially be my research when I get my doctorate is really influential, especially as I’m still an undergrad, so that’s been a great experience.

Ariel Nicastro: As for me, perhaps the study abroad experiences have made me more confused about what I would like to do after I graduate, because I’ve had such a fantastic time that perhaps I am unsure if I just want to stay in a company to do science. I would love to stay within the STEM field, but I would like to expand its impact and include international cooperation as part of my career goals.

What do you see yourself doing? You said this was your senior year, so what do you see yourself doing after you graduate?

Ariel Nicastro: Well, I will definitely be applying to the Fulbright Scholarship. I’m considering a program in Germany to teach English. I do have prior German language experience.

Robin Lee: That would help.

Ariel Nicastro: Yes. I’ve never been to Europe before, so this would also be very exciting for me, but I do hope to continue this international collaboration. Perhaps international travel wouldn’t have to be part of my job, but I would definitely be very happy taking these lessons learned with me into any job that I end up in.

Robin Lee: Cool. Well, thank you, guys. Is there anything else you guys want to add about your study abroad experiences or MTSU in general while I have you here?

Ariel Nicastro: This was a life-changing and fantastic experience. Both programs that I went to. Once again, I do highly recommend taking a look at these programs.

Taylor Tims: Same. I think you can find something, no matter what your interests are. I think we both can speak on the fact that you can find something in your major or completely outside your major, and it will still be a revolutionary experience.

Honors Spotlight Episode 25-15: AI, Social Media, and Depression

March 11, 2026

with Joshua Wheaton

Estimated reading time: 12 minutes

Robin Lee: Welcome back to Honors Spotlight. I’m your host, Robin Lee. And today we’re talking about something that hits close to home. For a lot of people, the connection between social media and depression, and how artificial intelligence could help identify when someone is struggling. Even with today’s technological advancements, the idea still sounds futuristic, yet it reflects something we’ve known for generations. People leave clues about how they’re doing. They always have. The difference now is that more people start that sentence over. The difference now is that more of those clues live online. This episode centers on an honors thesis written by 2025 computer science graduate Joshua Wheaton, titled “Using AI to Identify Depression on Social Media.” It’s a project that blends computer science, mental health, and the digital spaces where many people turn when they feel alone. Let’s get started. Joshua, tell me a little bit about yourself and your background, and then we’ll move on to your thesis project.

Joshua Wheaton: Yeah. My background is in computer science. Computer science has been something I’ve enjoyed for a very long time. I knew way before I was about to start college that it was something I enjoyed and wanted to study more.

What first pushed you towards studying depression detection, and was it something personal, academic, or just something you observed online?

Joshua Wheaton: So, going into starting my thesis, there were a few things I thought I wanted to pursue. One of the big ones was AI. I mean, it’s something I’d taken a lot of classes on. I obviously was getting popular at the time. I was kind of talking to different professors, trying to, like, get ideas. And one of them brought up this idea, and that really resonated with me, because mental health in general is something that has been near and dear to my heart for a very long time. So, when that idea was kind of brought up of looking for signs of depression using AI, I was like, That’s it. I want to do that.

Robin Lee: I know I am one of those students who would memorize something for what I was working on. And then once I was done with that assignment or test, I would just kind of dump the information. And it has been at least a year since you’ve completed your thesis. So, the fact that you remember all of that is amazing to me, because it is super helpful for what we’re talking about today. So now we’re going to get into a little bit about why this is so important. You don’t need a study to know that depression has become a part of the daily reality for millions. But the data backs it up. Cases are rising, and getting help isn’t always easy. Some people don’t know where to start, some don’t feel safe speaking out, and some head to social media not for attention but for release. Reddit, for example, is full of people writing honestly because the ability to stay anonymous gives them room to breathe. I see them all the time when I scroll through posts to find something relevant for the Honors College here at MTSU, and that’s what made it the backbone of Joshua’s research. The post is raw, unpolished, and honest. Exactly the kind of data an AI model can learn from.

When you first explored the Reddit dataset, what stood out to you about how people talk about depression in those online spaces?

Joshua Wheaton: Hmm. A little bit of a difficult question, but ultimately, I think the answer is just variety. Like, there’s no one way that people talk about it. You know, even with Reddit’s anonymity, it allows some people to be a bit more open. But even then, you still have just a wide variety in how people talk about it and how they speak about their own experiences.

Joshua Wheaton: Ultimately, Reddit was went with just because of the ease of access. Pretty much. My thesis advisor helped a lot with that. But yes, I do think there are some differences on different, social media platforms like Facebook definitely skews older, as with its, I guess, user base. And I think there’s a lot more stigma among older people with not just depression, but mental health in general. Looking at it in a different way, Twitter/X, I think, would also be very different just because of how it’s generally shorter, as far as you know, the text or tweets or whatever they’re called now. And that being brief about it, I think would also be a very different, uh, experience, probably a bit more difficult just because there’s less, uh, Less text to work with for each data point.

Robin Lee: So now we’re going to go into a little bit about how Joshua built his project. For this thesis, he trained three different machine learning models: logistic regression, LSTM, and BERT. In simple terms, one was basic and fast. One was designed to understand the longer strings of text, and the last one, BERT, was powerful enough to read context the way people actually speak. According to the data he shared in his thesis, all three models performed well, with BERT reaching nearly 98% accuracy. It’s impressive, sure, but the simplicity behind the results revealed something bigger. Sometimes identifying a depressed post was easy, because the dataset came from a subreddit where people talked openly about depression. But that’s not how people talk in the real world, and that gets to the heart of the limitations.

Did anything surprise you about how easy the data set seemed to be for the models? And did that change how you thought about real-world application?

Joshua Wheaton: Absolutely. Honestly, I didn’t realize it was the data set that was, quote unquote, too easy. At first, when I was kind of finishing up the training and the testing of the models and looking at all the results, I was surprised. I was like, you know, not just all of them doing very well, but even the simplest model only being a few percentage points away from the performance of the most advanced model. So, I had thought that I had messed up somewhere. I was like, oh, I, you know, messed up. I mixed up the training and test data, or, you know, didn’t do enough, uh, randomization in the way that the data was presented to the models, and I was, you know, going back and forth with my professor, and she was giving me things to check. And I was going through, and I was like, No, it all looks good. The code all looks fine. And then I started unwrapping how the final trained models were working and looking, especially the simplest one. And, kind of turned out that with the simplest one, if the word depression was just in the text, it was pretty much automatically labeled as having depression. A little bit of a simplification, but it was at that point that I started digging deeper and realizing that, oh, the thing that I thought made this data set such a great avenue for training these models having a space where people are willing to talk so openly about depression was at the same time, the kind of undoing of the purpose of these models, because instead of creating things that would be able to be useful in looking for signs of depression just on social media in general. Instead, they became just hyper-specialized in looking for it in spaces where people are already talking very openly about it. Yeah, and I think that’s important to go back and discover things like that, because so many people will post things on Facebook, for example, that it’s you can tell they’re having a bad day or that something bad has just happened to them in their life. And so they’re just posting and venting, and it’s not something that they would ever say in a real-world situation, face-to-face or anything like that. But it’s out there. Even if they immediately take it down, you know, that’s what your models essentially would be trained to pick up eventually, without the word depression being listed in the post.

Robin Lee: Naturally, anytime you mix technology with mental health. You walk a tightrope. You want to help, but you don’t want to mislabel someone. And that’s exactly what you were just talking about. You don’t want to invade someone’s privacy or replace actual professionals with algorithms. Joshua approached that with a healthy level of caution. He pointed out the dangers, the false positives, the false negatives, and the fact that social media isn’t a diagnosis. It’s a snapshot, sometimes an unreliable one.

If an AI tool misidentified someone, either by missing the signs or flagging them incorrectly, what concerns do you think matter the most?

Joshua Wheaton: Well, I think the most obvious concern is, you know, the false negative, you know, saying, oh, this person doesn’t have depression, or this person’s fine when really, they’re not. Because that leads to people not getting the help or the support that they need. And, you know, that’s it’s not good. But on the other hand, false positives can also be not good because, let’s say, someone’s flagged as having depression when they don’t. That could mean the resources being put towards them aren’t available to someone who may need them. Or you could also, you know, be giving this person a sense of, oh, no, is there something wrong with me? When there’s not. So, I don’t know if I can really say that there’s a singular concern in that kind of realm that I think matters the most. I think they’re both important, just in different ways. Yeah. And a false positive, I think, happens a lot. Just like when people start googling their symptoms, or they look up something in ChatGPT to figure out what’s wrong with them and why their belly hurts. You know, there are a lot of different ways to get false positives, and the more the AI becomes involved. I think, at least right now, that makes it more likely to produce false positives, unfortunately.

Robin Lee: The core takeaway from your study, to me, was simple: AI can pick up on language signals faster and more consistently than people can, but it’s not perfect and shouldn’t stand alone. Bert performed best, but the logistic model also revealed something important. Words like depression and anxiety were the strongest predictors. That’s obvious. But it also raises a hard truth. Real depression doesn’t always announce itself. It doesn’t always use the word. And instead, I think people are more accustomed to phrases like ‘I’m fine’ or the meme’ everything’s fine’ with a fire in the background. AI will need better data, deeper context, and more nuance before it can operate in real-world settings.

Given that real depression doesn’t always announce itself with obvious words, how could you redesign your data set to capture those subtler signs or subtle signals and better reflect real-world communication?

Joshua Wheaton: Yeah, with the power of hindsight. Hindsight is 20/20. I think the one thing that I wish I could go back and do differently is the actual data set itself. I think if I were doing it again, or I don’t know, making suggestions for other people in the future, I would say spend so much more time on the data set. I think, like in an ideal world, what that would kind of look like is having a, you know, your sample size, your sample population, and having all of them take tests by psychologists, psychiatrists for depression, depression screening. And then so you have. That’s going to be one part of it where you have not just depression or no depression, but also the degree, you know, mild, moderate, severe. Then on the other part of that, instead of just, you know, taking parts of, you know, single posts or anything like that, taking as much of their social media as possible across multiple platforms, um, and across a. Longer amount of time. So, I think, with a data set like that, you’d have a much more accurate model that could actually be used in the real world.

Robin Lee: I definitely agree that there are a lot of different ways that this could continue to develop in the future. So, anybody out there looking for a thesis topic? I mean, you’ve already got a place to start. So one of the most forward-thinking aspects of your thesis was your call for more accurate data from real social media users who complete clinical depression screenings. That kind of data set would let AI read someone’s broader digital footprint, not just a single post taken out of context. And that’s how early detection becomes practical, not just theoretical.

Where do you think the future of AI and mental health support is heading? I know you already talked about that a bit. So, I’m going to add, do you envision tools that assist clinicians, or do you envision AI integrated into platforms people use every day?

Joshua Wheaton: I think it could absolutely head in multiple directions, right? So, kind of like the latter part of that, the integration of AI into everyday social media platforms. That’s obviously the approach I was going towards. Uh, one of my I don’t know if I’d say inspirations, but one of my kind of ideas of an application from Reddit, specifically Reddit, currently has something called Reddit Cares, which is where if you see posts or comments that you find concerning, you think someone might be struggling, you can send them a Reddit cares, which is like, oh, hey, you know, you’re worth it. Here’s a resource kind of thing. Unfortunately, at least from my perspective, it seems more used for bullying, in a way. Like, if people see takes or opinions they don’t agree with, they will kind of send that as, like, “oh, hey, that’s a, you know, mentally ill opinion you have there.” That’s super stupid. So kind of my own, I suppose, is ideal. Idealized use of what I was working on would kind of replace that with something a little more automated and a bit less, uh, susceptible to misuse. Nefarious purposes, if you will. And I think, with the hope of having something like that, you know, functional, automatic, can help give people who might not think to look for resources or might not have a ton of access to resources. It would be able to help them all across the internet.

Robin Lee: I think that’s an awesome idea, because I know a lot of times people may see something and they know that a person is feeling down, but they feel uncomfortable maybe reaching out to them personally. And so, something along what you’re describing, I think, would be a great way that they could still reach out and show their support when they may not know the words to say or know how to interact with somebody who’s going through something that they may not have been through themselves. And so yeah, that’s a very awesome point. Thank you. Joshua’s research shows that technology may help alert people when something’s wrong, but it’s not a substitute for community, family, or professional care. And that hasn’t changed, and it never will. However, if AI can prompt someone to seek help sooner or help platforms identify individuals who may be struggling, then it’s worth exploring. The blend of innovation and responsibility is where the future sits. Joshua, thank you for joining me and for helping to move this conversation forward. Counseling services are available with licensed mental health professionals at MTSU, as well as a variety of workshops and other resources. Even a Zen Den to help you relax and recharge. For more information, visit counseling.mtsu.edu.

MTSU SGA presidential, VP candidates share visions on leading campus

March 4, 2026

SGA promo, features students running for positions with SGA at MTSU,a nd visitors asking questions

Middle Tennessee State University Student Government Associationcandidates for president and vice president laid out their platforms during a campuswide executive officer debate in the Student Union Atrium on Monday, Feb. 23.

Voting for Student Government Association, or SGA, officers kicks off at 10 a.m. Monday, March 2, and concludes at 11:45 a.m. Friday, March 5. Election results will be posted by noon outside Student Union Rooms 306 and 330 and on SGA social media.

SGA candidates vying for the presidential seat are Kennedy Garrett, Truvell Haddox and Devin McClendon, with Ally Pricer and Nia Moore competing for vice president.

“Students turned out, asked a lot of great questions, and I think the candidates were able to showcase who they are and what they are all running on, which was great,” said SGA Election Commissioner Luis Esmurria III, an accounting major from Clarksville.

Esmurria and Danny Kelley, interim vice president for Student Affairs and dean of students, moderated the debate, which highlighted priorities that include transparency, mental health support, student engagement and stronger advocacy across campus.

Throughout the evening debate that drew over 100 students, candidates emphasized leadership and experience, with a shared goal of strengthening student voice in university decision-making and campus support.

MTSU NEWS ARTICLE: mtsunews.com/sga-2026-officer-debate/

Podcast 25-13: Lyon Hall

March 4, 2026

Guests: Amy Korstange, Nana Adu, and Kera Reynolds

Estimated reading time: 22 minutes

Robin Lee: Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Honors Spotlight Podcast. I’m your host, Robin Lee, and today we’re covering one of the most unique living experiences at Middle Tennessee State University- Lyon Hall, home to the Honors Living and Learning Community. We’re joined by three wonderful guests, Amy Korstange, Nana Adu, and Kera Reynolds. Amy is the Associate Director of Residence Life. Nana is the area coordinator for Lyon Hall, and Kera is an Honors alumna who has previously lived in Lyon Hall. Together, we’ll explore what makes Lyon Hall special, answer student questions, and share advice for those considering living on campus. So, let’s start off with what makes Lyon Hall unique. It is one of the first living and learning communities at MTSU. It’s known for being quieter than the other halls, with study lounges on each floor, and it’s often considered the place to be if you’re an Honors student living on campus. So, Amy, can you kick us off by explaining what sets Lyon Hall apart from other residence halls?

Amy Korstange: Absolutely. Lyon is an old building. It has been renovated in the last twenty years. And it doesn’t look it, doesn’t feel old. It doesn’t look old. Except from the outside where it’s got pretty columns. Unique to Lyon is a really pretty skylit space and center staircase. It makes you feel more like you’re entering a hotel lobby than a residence hall lobby, and I think students really like that. One of the things you mentioned is correct. It’s quieter. And a lot of folks really like to live in Lyon. For that reason, we get more upperclassmen coming back to Lyon. We get students who are excited to live in a space where they can really focus on their academics, even if they’re not our students. The word has gotten out that it is quieter because there are Honors students there who are learning and studying quietly, and someone who just really likes to learn and study quietly will often choose to live in Lyon.

Nana, what do you notice about the community culture in Lyon Hall compared to other halls?

Nana Adu: So, there’s this vibe that I think I’ve come to call it the Honors vibe. You know, like when you see some resident halls, they’re, like, extremely quiet and academic. And then others too, are like, very lively and social. Lyon kind of draws between the two. So, the place is quiet and very academic at the same time. We have lively residents who are like, very social and willing to bond all the time. So, it’s like a family there. And yeah, that’s the vibe I call the Honors vibe. And then, another thing that I want to add is the residents’ involvement. So, we have a lot of general involvement and engagement in the hall. You might like a resident hall that belongs to the Honors Society. Honestly, it’s very quiet in there. But no, we have, like, residents coming together to help their RA decorate the hallways all the time. We have residents talking in the lobby, discussing, sharing ideas, holding study groups together, and all that. And I feel like that’s very key. A key element for resident halls and for LLCs in general. So, over the months we have residents helping their RA plan events together. Whether it’s like donating their game consoles to, like, have a game night together or like coming together to play games and then also like holding study groups and all that. And I feel like that’s a very unique experience in Lyon.

Robin Lee: It sounds like a really fun and comfortable place to be. That’s exciting.

Kera, as someone who’s lived there, what was your personal experience like?

Kera Reynolds: Yeah. First, I want to thank you at the Honors College for all that you do and the impact that you have on the students every day, whether it be here or at Lyon Hall. I lived at Lyon during the 2020-2021 school year, which was during the tail end of COVID and despite it being COVID, I think I had a very pleasant experience overall living there, even though I only lived there for one semester. They hosted different activities, such as I remember there was like an Honors bonfire, and that was where I first felt connected with the Honors College and with housing besides, like virtual activities. I met so many friends during that bonfire night, and I met a lot of friends, like in the hall. Despite, like the social distancing and wearing the mask, I remember me and my roommate at the time, we would host movie nights and we would also go to other people’s rooms and they would be hosting like game nights and stuff. And Lyon was also where my housing journey began. I was a desk assistant for the semester, and it felt more than just a job to me. I was able to build community with the residents who came in. Because most people, like, they just get, like, they’ll just give a key. They’ll give, like, a key out or somebody to a resident. But to me, I love learning to get to know the students who come in and like, how their day is going. And then, like, what’s something I can do to just brighten their day. And the resident assistants over therewere also incredible. I was going through a lot of personal situations. However, they were able to help talk with me, and that inspired me to become a resident assistant because of the impact they have made on me. And then after, being a resident assistant, I eventually became a resident director of Lyon, during the 2024-2025 school year and things have changed a little. Like when I was a student, they didn’t have the Difference Makers lounge, but now we have a Difference Makers lounge for the Tennessee Teach Back initiatives, and I assisted with anything that they needed.

Robin Lee: That is awesome. Thank you for sharing that with us. So, we listened to what our community was saying. And beginning this year, Lyon Hall has started reserving ten spaces specifically for Honors students. This is primarily because Honors Buchanan Fellows have until May first to commit to the fellowship, and we have actually had students turn down the fellowship because there is no housing available on campus at that time, and I really hate that. So, this is an amazing fellowship opportunity that covers tuition, provides additional funding for other things like study abroad. Not having a place to stay on campus shouldn’t be the deciding factor in where you get your education. So, I love that this opportunity has become available to our students.

Amy, will you tell us a little bit more about this new endeavor?

Amy Korstange: Absolutely. So, like you said, there’ll be 10 spaces set aside, which means that as of May 1st, we will get a list from the Honors College of folks that are interested in those spots. It will be for Honors students in particular, and we’re going to hold them out so that Lyon doesn’t get full before May 1st. Come May 15th, we will have to release those rooms back to the general population because we usually have a wait list by then. If we don’t have a wait list, we won’t have to, but we will probably have a wait list, and then we’ll have to release it back so that somebody that’s on the wait list can get a space on campus. That’s just fair. And, you know, we want everyone who wants to live on campus, to live on campus, but we also want the Buchanan fellows to have the opportunity to live in the Honors living learning community, because they are only going to make our community better, and a population of folks that we really do want to have an opportunity to live with us. Yeah, absolutely. So, for students listening, the housing application is available at MTSU housing. But here’s another common question seen recently on Reddit. Do I submit a housing form if I’m not committed to MTSU yet? When I talk with incoming students, students who are still making decisions about where they’re going to go, prospective students, their families, what I tell them is apply to live on campus. As soon as you decide that MTSU is where you want to go to school. So, we will fill up. We will have a waitlist, and we again want everybody that wants to live with us, to be able to live with us. So, the earlier you get your application to live on campus, the more likely it is that you’re going to be able to live on campus and in Lyon. So it’s a little bit of a toss up for students who are trying to decide between multiple schools, especially because we know that your financial aid offers are often coming in later in the spring, and don’t come in at the same time that your acceptance would come in. Um, so we understand that that’s a quandary that students face when they’re trying to figure out where they want to live, if they want to live on campus, that kind of stuff. Hopefully these ten spaces in Lyon will help that out quite a bit. But what I tell students, go ahead and apply. If you think MTSU is where you are planning to go. It always costs $350. You have to pay a three hundred and fifty dollars prepayment in order to apply. You never get that entire prepayment back. Half of it will go towards your fall rent, and half of it will go toward your spring rent. And if you cancel, you will get some money back, depending on when you cancel. So as of May 1st, you’ll get $175 back if you apply before May first. If you cancel before May 1st, you’ll get $175 back. If it’s by June first, you’ll get $100 back, and then, on July 1st you’ll get $50 back. So, you never get the full $350, which is why it’s a decision that you’ve got to make. You know how much, how much you want to gamble. But like I said, my standard answer for folks is to apply for housing. When you are confident that MTSU is where you want to go.

(Cost information mentioned above is accurate for 2026).

Robin Lee: Thank you for explaining the prepayment fee, because that was actually going to be my next question. So that helps out tremendously. I know that’s a question that you probably get asked a lot anyway. So yes, students in Lyon Hall are encouraged to enroll in at least one Honors class or at least stay on track with Honors requirements. But it’s not mandatory to be an Honors student to live in Lyon, so I kind of feel like I’m beating a dead horse a little bit. But I want to be clear because it can be confusing when we say that Lyon Hall is an Honors LLC. You all have said that many students prefer Lyon because it’s often a quieter space than some of the others on campus, which is important for those who thrive in quiet time and may not necessarily be here to party through their college experience.

I want to talk about what it’s like living in Lyon. Nana, explain a little bit about your role as an area coordinator, and how do you see students balancing academics and community life in Lyon Hall?

Nana Adu: Thank you for your question. So as the area coordinator for Lyon Hall, my role is to support both the residents and the students staff in creating a positive, inclusive and well-functioning community. I oversee the RAs, help guide their programming, and handle community concerns, and make sure students have the resources they need to feel at home. Because at the end of the day, we want to make the residence halls a home away from home. A big part of my job is balancing the administrative side. So, like having health and safety checks, enforcing policies, that is the MTSU housing policies and the student conduct policies, and then the operations side, making sure the space is clean for students. And then with the relational side, which is being present, approachable and engaged with students in the day to day experience. I see students navigating academics and community life with a lot of intention in Lyon Hall. So many students here value their academics highly, very highly. But they also recognize that having a supportive social network makes balancing everything easier. So we have students with very tight schedules who hardly have time for their social life. But even these students make the effort to check in with their RAs like they make sure to talk to their RAs like almost every week and tell them what they did during the week and all that, which is very good. And we also have students who strike a strong balance between academics and community life. And these are often the students who help. They’re always planning events, decorating the hallways together,playing musical instruments in the lounges and even like finding small ways to build connection. So that’s kind of like the students we have.What really stands out to me here is how students look out for one another in line. I think Kera was kind of like mentioning that earlier, and I’m happy because I know it didn’t start from my time here. So it’s been a culture of Lyon. So, whether it’s sharing resources, checking in during busy weeks, creating calm and focused spaces during midterms and finals, like Lyon students always look out for each other. Lyon has a culture where community and academics don’t compete. They genuinely complement each other. So when it’s learning time, the atmosphere is quiet. We all learn together. And when it’s time for social life, let’s talk. Hey, let’s share ideas. So that’s how Lyon is. I love that, and I love all the points that you made because it does kind of. I can’t think of the word I’m trying to think of. It does go in line with what Kera mentioned earlier.

Robin Lee: So to hear specifically from our alum, what kind of support or special programs did you take advantage of while you were living there, Honors or otherwise?

Kera Reynolds: Yeah, there were a couple events I attended while I was at Lyon, and at the beginning of the year, the Lyon staff was kicking off the Honors Living Learning community by hosting a bonfire night, where I got to meet other students from different floors who were part of the Honors College. And as I mentioned, I remember that was like one of the first nights I felt very connected to Lyon with the other RAs and also with other Honors students. Also one of the RAs of the building highly advertised the honor. I remember it was an Honors hiking trip, and she is part of the Honors College, and she advertised it to everyone on her floor and also on my floor, too. She wasn’t my RA, but she advertised it on my floor, too. And I love being outdoors, and her energy just made me want to go. And I’m glad I had the opportunity to go. And because I was able to meet new people and meet others who were not my RA. Meet more people who were not on my floor, and meeting those people and going on that trip just made me realize how tight knit of a community we have at Lyon. And then lastly, I just tried to participate or drop by other RA programs, including my own RA, whether they were Honors related or not. And all these activities inspired me to be more involved with the Honors College. I attended many of their events the Honors College hosted, such as the Ice Cream Social, and then also volunteered at Adams Place, which is one of the assisted living centers in Murfreesboro. However, I think my favorite way I was able to be involved with the Honors College is Honors Collage, which is one of the Honors College publications. That gave a creative platform for students to submit their art pieces and writing. I even submitted some of my own pieces, but I enjoyed being a member and looking at the other pieces and seeing how people use their voice to use creativity to share their voice. And then lastly, last school year, I was giving the opportunity to talk and give a presentation to the students who were in the process of doing their Honors thesis. And as someone who’s majoring in higher education right now in graduate school, I believe it is important to still keep connecting with others and keeping in contact with those who have helped you along the way. And I’m glad I was given all these opportunities to get involved with the Honors College. I also want to thank all of the people at Lyon, the staff members at Lyon who helped me with my journey.

Robin Lee: Thank you so much for sharing all of that. So, I’m going to ask some questions that you probably get asked a lot and that I’ve seen on different student forums. So, something we probably should have touched on at the beginning, but I was kind of eager to dive into Lyon Hall.

Specifically, what is the difference between a traditional residence hall and a living learning community?

Amy Korstange: A traditional residence hall is exactly what you picture on every TV show or movie you’ve ever seen about somebody living on campus when they’re in college. The traditional residence hall has double. We call them double loaded corridors, which just means they’re inside hallways with rooms for two people on either side and then a community bathroom. That’s a traditional residence hall. And it functions as a function. It’s there so that you have somewhere to go and to sleep and to study. We work hard to make sure that it’s a safe place. And that it is that we provide resources as they’re necessary. RAs are there to do events with students who live in the residence halls. They’re there to make sure they’re all right. They’re there to make sure that things are running smoothly. If something is not going well in someone’s life, they’re there to help them get resources. We do that regardless of whether or not it’s a residence hall or a living learning community. The difference between the two comes in the interests of the group of people who are living together in the building. A traditional living learning community is one where a group of people live together who all are interested in the same thing. More often than not, it’s academic. So in this case, it’s students who are all in the Honors college. We have other living learning communities on campus at MTSU. We have music at the Middle Living Learning community, where all of those students are interested in performing and classical jazz arts. We have one for students who are in the aerospace learning in the aerospace program. So those are academically focused on living learning communities. They’re designed to have a bunch of people living together who are interested in the same thing, taking the same classes, potentially needing to do study nights about the same content, to make it very easy for faculty and staff from those academic departments to get to get with students in their space where they live, and connect the students with their academic area. We also have a few living learning communities on campus that are theme based. And those would be like a rec village that’s over in Cummings Hall. And Rec Village is a partnership with the Student Recreation Center. We do yoga classes in Cummings Hall, those kinds of things. So, the biggest difference is you can live in a residence hall and not and not feel a whole lot different than if you were living in a living learning community. The difference is the intentionality that we put into connecting you with your academic college, with your academic department. At MTSU specifically, we have a slightly different version of that in that you can live anywhere on campus and be part of the living learning community. It’s a very inclusive model. And it’s interesting because a lot of schools have moved toward our model where you don’t have to all live together in one building. You can live all over campus but get together for events, which is why a lot of your listeners, if they are upperclassmen in Honors, they don’t live in Lyon because either there wasn’t space or they wanted to live in a first year, experience community and also be in Lyon. Or they wanted to do aerospace and Honors and chose to live in aerospace. So, all of our living learning community programs are open to anyone on campus who wants to be involved with that living learning community. Lyon is a bit unique in that it is a very, very clear tie between us and the HonorsCollege. We have a couple other LLCs that are like that on campus, but it’s pretty unique, um, that we really focus hard on it being in Lyon to keep students together.

Robin Lee: And I want to highlight something that I think is key for LLCS. I recently saw a post in the MTSU Parent and Family Association Facebook group asking about sending their son to live on campus with a small electronic drum kit in either Corlew or Cummings Halls. Many parents chimed in about a corner room or a single room, but my favorite response was shout out to Carolyn Phillips Riley, if you’re listening, who encouraged them to consider Monohan Complex instead. Because it’s an LLC for musicians and has rehearsal rooms in the basement. So, while you don’thave to be a music major to stay at Monohan or an Honors student to stay at Lyon, I think it’s good for students coming here and their families to know there are some major benefits to LLCs and forming like-minded communities within them. So, this leads to my next question.

Students often ask about hanging things on walls or bringing appliances, what items are allowed in dorms, and what’s something that’s prohibited?

Amy Korstange: Yeah. As somebody who lived in the dorms and was a former resident assistant and now resident director, I know many of the items that are prohibited and then items that I recommend bringing. So, for example, for one of the items for the rooms, as far as hanging stuff up, I do recommend bringing painter’s tape just because it doesn’t peel the paint off the wall whenever you are trying to hang something up. Some items that are prohibited include air fryers and candles, but I do recommend you can use a candle warmer. And then you can’t use air fryers, but you can use the ovens that are provided in the kitchens, which I do recommend because it does build community among the halls. So, if there was an issue in the kitchen, you’re able to talk with the community in the hall because you do share the space and it does, help you deal with real world situations. What about microwaves? You can bring your microwave. However, many kitchens do provide microwaves.

Robin Lee: Another question most recently seen on Reddit is about finding roommates. Is there a campus search resource, like an app or a social media group that students can use? And kind of walk me through the process that most students use to find roommates?

Kera Reynolds: I personally found my roommate through our class Facebook page. That’s how I got to know her. But I know that there are other apps out there now. Just because not many people use Facebook such as I know, recently Instagram started an MTSU story page, and so some people will ask on there like, hey, I’m just trying to find a roommate. Does anybody want to room with me? And I just do it. And something I recommend is just getting to talk to your roommates. Being able to find a room and being able to talk to them, get to know their interests, simple things like their major, what they want to do in life. And also, being able to set those boundaries and communicate what they want, what they want in the room, what they want to see as roommates. So that it doesn’t create any kind of like, roommate conflicts at the beginning of the year.

Amy Korstange: I think it’s also helpful to know that we don’t require you to stay with the person that you initially moved in with. So if you move in with that person and you know that this is not going to be a good fit for you, you just need to let us know and we will let you know where we have open spots and you can move to an open spot. There are places that make it harder to do that. We tend to let you move, if you want to move.

Nana Adu: Another thing that I would like to add is the group meetings. I know some faculties and departments like create group meetings for newly admitted students. And this is what has been helpful in the past. So, like students introduce themselves and say like, hey, I’m from Tennessee, I’m from Nashville. And then through that, they get to meet people who share the same experiences that they also share. And that helps a lot. Another thing that I also want to say is that we let our RAs use the roommate agreements a lot, so you don’t necessarily have to know somebody. I mean, people normally prefer to room with people they already know, but that’s okay if you don’t know anybody. Because we have several out of state students who do not know anybody here and it’s fine. We have always done the roommate agreements, which is like setting up the two rooms. The two roommates set expectations on how they want to use the shared space. And I feel like that is so good. So, it’s okay if you don’t know anybody. Um, we have the roommate agreement where, like, you can still get to share your expectations with your roommates and get along with them.

Robin Lee: So, you still get to put like-minded people together. Yeah. That’s good. So, let’s switch gears a little bit and talk about some tips for living on campus. We’ll start with what is one of the most important topics-food. Students want to know how they can get fed, and parents want the comfort of knowing that their child is fed.

What are some breakfast recommendations on or near campus, especially places that are walkable?

Kera Reynolds: So, as a student who lived on campus, I do recommend going into the dining halls like getting your own meal plan. That way you’re saving money in the long run, and you’re meeting people in the dining hall. And also, the food is affordable and delicious. We have McCallie’s dining hall, which is an all you can eat buffet style dining hall. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Personally, my favorite is the breakfast, just because it is so good. And also, my breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. And there are also places like other fast-food places like Chick fil A, Subway, Twisted Tacos. And then also there is a dining hall called Farmer’s Market where they serve food that’s grown on MTSU’s Farm or nearby people.

Nana Adu: We also have dining in the James Union Building that’s next to Lyon Hall.

Robin Lee: Okay, close, and walkable?

Nana Adu: Yes.

Robin Lee: What are some popular places to hang out or meet other college students?

Nana Adu: I feel like the connection point events were very helpful. We had some of the areas take their residents there, so that’s a very good place. So, just attending connection point events will help you meet a lot of students. And then, some of our RAs take residence there. We also have the resident hall council as well. They also put up programs every month. So just attending these events overall helps you like to meet people.

Robin Lee: Is there anything specific that you all want to plug that we haven’t covered yet?

Nana Adu: I think I would just like to say that normally when students get excited, when they get admission letters, they don’t really take the time to look at our policies. So just go on the website, just search for MTSU housing policies 501. Take some time and then read through it. It will save you a lot of time.

Robin Lee: So, this has been an insightful conversation. Lyon Hall and campus housing in general truly offer a supportive, academically focused environment for Honors students with the added benefit of affordability compared to off campus living. So, thank you to Amy Korstange, Nana Adu, and Kera Reynolds for joining us today on Honors Spotlight. For students interested in applying to live on campus, visit mtsu.edu/housing for more details. Be sure to subscribe and stay up to date with all things Honors.

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?

Provide the listeners with a little bit of an overview of your thesis project and why you chose Halo: Reach specifically as your subject.

How do you think that dramatic irony shaped your emotional journey while playing the first time and the second time, even?

How does that cultural idea connect to Noble Six’s final stand in the game?

What differences stood out to you between Reach and the mainline Halo games featuring Master Chief?

Operation Epic Fury and a region under strain

Strategic middle game with no clear end

Global power, politics, shifting landscape

Audience engagement reflects wide-ranging concerns

Student Session – Noon

Faculty Session – 1 p.m.

Why Fulbright matters at MTSU

Recent faculty awards

More information, how to register

What drew you to Country Christian music as your creative lane, and how has your background influenced your style?

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?

Was there a specific moment, song, or experience that marked a turning point in your life?

What stuff were you interested in as a kid? Were you always interested in music?

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.

Is there a particular song that you’ve written that feels especially personal or powerful to you?

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?

You mentioned that specific class and that you wanted that professor specifically, so shout out to that professor. Who is it?

For someone studying both songwriting and entrepreneurship, how do you balance creativity with the music or the business side of music?

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?

What are your hopes for your music going forward, and do you have any big projects coming up?

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?

What first sparked your interest in democracy and civic life?

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.

You come from a military family. How did that shape your views on service and civic engagement?

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?

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?

Why do you think it’s important for students to engage with democracy both in and out of the classroom?

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?

How did it feel stepping into this role after Dr. Mary Evins, who led the program for nearly two decades?

What excites you the most about the future of ADP?

Why is Constitution Day important, especially on a college campus?

This year’s theme focuses on how constitutional values intersect with student voices and identities. What does that mean for you?

Can you give us a quick overview of Constitution Day at MTSU this year?

How can students get involved in the American Democracy Project or even the Constitution Day activities?

Guests: Ariel Nicastro and Taylor Tims

Prior to these experiences with MTSU, had either of you been outside of the US before or traveled a lot?

What was your first impression when you arrived in Brazil?

Since you guys have both now traveled through MTSU, do you guys have any advice regarding group travel through the University?

Is there a specific, standout memory from either of your times abroad that you really just captured the essence of your whole experience?

Taylor, I just am imagining archaeology, like digging up bones and things like that, so what was your experience like?

Was there anything that surprised you about how people lived or worked, or thought compared to the US?

How did your academic focus connect with your experience abroad? Did it reshape how you saw your field of study?

Was there anything specific that you remember from there that you could take back and apply in your physics studies or even towards your thesis or anything like that?

Were there any challenges, be it academic, cultural, or personal, that you all had to navigate either before you left or while you were there?

Has your opportunities studying abroad changed you all, maybe not as a student, but as a person?

You guys both sound like you’re interested in continuing to travel abroad and just learn new things and experiences, whether with MTSU or not, right?

What advice would you give to students who are on the fence about studying abroad?

What if people are struggling financially or don’t know if they’re going to be able to afford a study abroad trip?

What do you think if I was a student and I’m interested in studying abroad? Where should I start looking for funding, especially if I’m not a Buchanan fellow?

How have your study brought experiences influenced your goals, whether they’re academic, career-related, or personal, have they influenced your goals?

What do you see yourself doing? You said this was your senior year, so what do you see yourself doing after you graduate?

What first pushed you towards studying depression detection, and was it something personal, academic, or just something you observed online?

When you first explored the Reddit dataset, what stood out to you about how people talk about depression in those online spaces?

Did you consider any other social media platforms, and how do you think that data might be different?

Did anything surprise you about how easy the data set seemed to be for the models? And did that change how you thought about real-world application?

If an AI tool misidentified someone, either by missing the signs or flagging them incorrectly, what concerns do you think matter the most?

Given that real depression doesn’t always announce itself with obvious words, how could you redesign your data set to capture those subtler signs or subtle signals and better reflect real-world communication?

Where do you think the future of AI and mental health support is heading? I know you already talked about that a bit. So, I’m going to add, do you envision tools that assist clinicians, or do you envision AI integrated into platforms people use every day?

Nana, what do you notice about the community culture in Lyon Hall compared to other halls?

Kera, as someone who’s lived there, what was your personal experience like?

Amy, will you tell us a little bit more about this new endeavor?

I want to talk about what it’s like living in Lyon. Nana, explain a little bit about your role as an area coordinator, and how do you see students balancing academics and community life in Lyon Hall?

Specifically, what is the difference between a traditional residence hall and a living learning community?

Students often ask about hanging things on walls or bringing appliances, what items are allowed in dorms, and what’s something that’s prohibited?

What are some breakfast recommendations on or near campus, especially places that are walkable?