Graduating on top – a look at the valedictorians
HASS
By Arie Kirk
After five years at USU, Scott Davis is graduating as valedictorian with a major in history and minors in Latin, Greek and French.
Davis said he hopes to continue his education in a religious studies program at Yale or Princeton after taking a year off of school. He wants to get a PhD in religious studies and eventually teach early Christian history at a university level.
Because of a strict work ethic and his love for history, Davis said he is driven to work with perfection.
“I have a definite passion for history and the work I do,” he said. “You need to make sure your work is dead on and you are not being slothful. Do work for its own sake, not because the professor wants it.”
Davis spent three semesters studying abroad in Freiburg, Germany; Annecy, France; and at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. Aside from seeing the world, he said the time he spent away from USU allowed him to really get to know himself.
While attending USU, 23-year-old Davis created the Edith Bowen Latin Club, a weekly after-school program for elementary school students. He said he began the club to offer a much-needed opportunity for children to learn Latin. He said it also gave senior Latin students at USU the experience of teaching classes.
Davis said, overall, his experience at USU has been enjoyable. He said he is most appreciative of the faculty’s kindness and their encouragement of his academic and professional goals.
In leaving a last word for his fellow Aggies, Davis said it is important for students to act with integrity. He also said college is a growing experience from which students should not shrink.
“It certainly has been a growing experience. It has allowed me to focus on what I want to do in graduate school and my profession,” he said. “The stress and the pressure will change the kind of person you are. Be excited. Be welcoming of those changes and don’t be afraid to develop. Expanding your horizons is not something to be afraid of.”
-ariek@cc.usu.edu
Business
By Alison Baugh
The College of Business has chosen Thomas Colligan as this year’s valedictorian.
Colligan is majoring in accounting and will start the graduate program this fall. He will continue to work for Junior Engineering on campus during his graduate schooling. After graduating, he hopes to work for one of the largest four accounting firms. Eventually he would love to become a partner in one of these firms. Yet with it taking 13 to 15 years to accomplish this, Colligan doesn’t know if he will be able to stick with it that long, but it is definitely something that he plans on working toward.
A Riverton native, Colligan said he came to USU “basically so I could move.” While this may have been his initial motive, he has enjoyed his time at USU, especially attending sporting events.
“I even went to all the football games last year, and I’m still a fan,” Colligan said.
Colligan’s interests include not only watching sports, but also playing them. At his home, the Anniversary Inn, he and his wife get ESPN, and he said he is sure his wife loves that they get it for free. The couple closes the books at night and then checks people in who arrive late. Colligan said his wife is a real go-getter and said the best part is the free rent.
“It’s the best job I’ve heard of,” Colligan said.
Intermediate accounting was Colligan’s favorite class at USU. He said that this was an interesting and challenging class with hard material, but one he enjoyed. Once people make it through this class, Colligan said they are good, as the class is known as a weeding-out class in the accounting department.
While Colligan wasn’t aiming at becoming the valedictorian, he said he always tries to do his best at whatever he is doing, and he said he feels lucky to have been chosen to represent the college.
-albaugh@cc.usu.edu
Education
By Alison Baugh
Mary Anne Jones has been chosen as this year’s valedictorian for the College of Education and Human Services.
Jones is from Malad, Idaho, and said she decided to come to USU because she likes Logan and the education program is one of the top in the nation. She has liked the caliber of not only the professors she has had, but also the students in her classes.
Graduating with a degree in elementary education with an emphasis in language arts and a Library Media Certificate, Jones said she will be teaching first grade this fall at Pioneer Elementary in Preston, Idaho. While she wants to eventually be a librarian, Jones said she mostly she wants to be a mom, but until then she is happy teaching.
Jones remembered one time when she was student teaching second graders, and she read them a book called “Hair in the Air” by a local author. She wasn’t sure of what the student’s reaction would be and was a little nervous, but she said by the end everyone was laughing. When she saw the students laughing, Jones said she couldn’t help but join in.
“I was practically on the floor laughing so hard,” Jones said.
After that experience, the students called the book “the greatest book in the world.” Jones said they asked her to read it to them every day because they thought it was funny.
Gifted Children in the Regular Classroom, a class she is currently in, is Jones’ favorite. She said she likes this class because she has learned so many things she didn’t know before, and after having student taught, she is able to identify students she had that were like the ones talked about in class.
After graduation next week, Jones will stay in Logan and finish her Library Media Certificate this summer. She said while working in Preston, she will continue to live in Logan because she has friends there that she wants to live with.
-albaugh@cc.usu.edu
Agriculture
By Ranae Bangerter
Working 30-plus hours a week at Stock Building Supply and 10 hours as a server at the Legacy House Assisted Living Center, Cindy Wilcken Pitcher still managed to pull off good grades and become the College of Agriculture valedictorian.
“She has worked so many hours,” said Noreen B. Schvaneveldt, director of dietetics, Pitcher’s major.
Pitcher said she likes being busy, and it helps her focus her time.
“For me it’s kinda like a priority thing. It makes you get your homework done because you don’t have time to screw off,” Pitcher said. “In a way it’s hard, but sometimes it makes it so you have to do your homework or do good because you don’t have time to do it twice.”
She said she’s always gotten good grades, and she won’t let herself settle for anything less.
“I think it’s something I just expect out of myself,” she said. “It’s not like I can slack off because it’s just not an option.”
Pitcher began college at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, her hometown, where she took a dietetics class. After that class, she talked to a dietician, who told Pitcher to go to USU because of its great program.
“I really like my department because my teachers are so willing to help with anything, and they’re just really personable and really willing to help,” she said.
Schvaneveldt said Pitcher has a fun personality and consistently exceeds expectations.
“Cindy is amazing. She’s just an amazing student, just an incredible student. She’s very bright, she’s capable and very driven,” Schvaneveldt said.
After graduation, Pitcher will be doing a seven-month internship in Davis County to become a registered dietician. She and her husband live in Logan, so she will commute for those months.
Pitcher is not sure what she wants to do for a career after her internships but said she is leaning toward elderly care and sports nutrition.
-ranaebang@cc.usu.edu
Science
By Jen Beasley
For College of Science valedictorian Melody Anderson, the greatest challenge presented in college was not in a classroom.
“It was remembering to have fun,” Ande
rson said.
The biology major worked as a volunteer undergraduate aid and later an undergraduate teaching fellow helping to teach her classmates in human anatomy. She worked as a supplemental instructor for a human physiology class, tutored kids at local elementary school, and did hospice and emergency room volunteer work, all while maintaining her 4.0 GPA.
“I worked super hard through college,” Anderson said.
Born in southeastern Idaho, Anderson moved to Utah as an adolescent and began to “toy with the idea” of becoming a doctor in ninth grade. Having recently been accepted to the University of Utah Medical School, Anderson now plans to study pediatrics. But she said she’s open to changing her specialty, and her goals.
“I figure life is an adventure. Wherever I end up, it’s up to me to make it work,” Anderson said.
Andy Anderson, a lecturer as well as the pre-health adviser in the biology department, said he asked Melody Anderson to be a volunteer undergraduate aid because of her intelligence and her ability to communicate.
“The thing that’s important with Melody is not only that she’s smart, but she has a voice that carries.” Andy Anderson said that voice came in handy when Melody Anderson would quiz students in class reviews, shouting out questions.
“She’s a dynamic young woman that I really admire. Great strength of character,” Andy Anderson said.
Melody Anderson said after she gets her doctorate, she would like to do medical aid missions to Africa or South America as well as help reform the American medical system, which she described as “totally out of whack.”
“As long as I’m doing something to help people, I’ll enjoy what I do,” Melody Anderson said.
She said the ability to focus on her coursework through college was aided by her knowledge that it was a step toward the rest of her goals, and she recommended that all students look at their educations that way to succeed.
“You need to set your priorities straight. You need to realize that it’s not just school, not just classes. You’re here for something bigger,” Melody Anderson said.
Melody Anderson said the most rewarding thing she’s done in college has been honing her personality and becoming more confident and well-rounded.
Andy Anderson described Melody as “thoughtful and thorough.”
“In my ethics class, I’ve learned that Melody thinks very clearly about her future as a physician. I have no doubt that she’s going to be prepared for it,” he said.
-jenbeasley@cc.usu.edu
Natural Resources
By Jen Beasley
Angie Cannon, valedictorian of the College of Natural Resources, is a woman of many goals.
“I’d like to write books. Just little thought books, you know, just random thoughts about life,” Cannon said. “And travel. I really just want to travel the world. I want to travel a lot. And I want to take up photography. And painting, I want to be a painter. And save the world, you know, save the earth, a little bit at a time. And I’d like a family, and all that stuff, and a big house with a porch swing.”
The environmental studies major said she plans to do these things by getting her master’s degree with a specialty in environmental justice in order to help poor communities domestically and abroad with environmental problems.
“You know, they’re usually the ones that get everything dumped on them. Everybody has a right to a safe environment, a healthy environment,” Cannon said.
Through her college career, Cannon, who is from Ogden, participated in undergraduate research examining the effectiveness of different off-highway vehicle education programs designed to encourage OHV users to be more environmentally sensitive. Finishing her degree in three and a half years, not counting a two-year break for an LDS mission to Brazil, Cannon has maintained her 3.95 GPA while working part time.
She said her greatest challenge in college has been finding time to get everything done, especially during one semester in which she held five jobs.
“That was a crazy semester,” Cannon said. “It wasn’t always like that.”
“I don’t like giving a half-hearted effort, I like to do well. So it’s finding time to do things right,” Cannon said.
Barbara Middleton, a senior instructor in the College of Natural Resources, said Cannon is “excellent as a student.”
“She’s thorough, she’s conscientious, she asks a lot of questions, and from that you get that she wants to do a really good job,” Middleton said. “She’s someone I’d love to have as a staff person, to work with her.”
Cannon said her willingness to ask questions and be taught, coupled with her writing ability, are the assets that have most helped her reach her goals in college.
Now Cannon said her immediate goals involve seeing the world, first working for the Institute for Outdoor Recreation and Tourism doing surveys of visitors to Flaming Gorge, Strawberry Reservoir, and the Uintahs to determine what the Forest Service can improve upon to meet the needs of visitors. Then in the fall, she plans on going backpacking through Europe with her sister and cousin.
“I’m way excited. I’ve always wanted to go there. I’ve never been. It’s one of the things I’ve wanted to do in this life,” Cannon said.
-jenbeasley@cc.usu.edu
Engineering
By Arie Kirk
This year’s engineering valedictorian will be graduating with his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering. However, Jared Bench isn’t leaving USU just yet. He will be returning for the fall semester to receive another degree in mechanical engineering.
After receiving his second bachelor’s degree, Bench said he is looking forward to moving out of the area and beginning his career.
“I’m kind of excited for the change and to move on with other parts of my life,” Bench said. “It is bittersweet, I guess. There is a lot I will miss about Utah State and Logan – the small town feel, the canyon and outdoors around here.”
Bench said he is also looking forward to getting married in June.
Bench said he doesn’t have one specific dream job. He said he only hopes to work with controls and system engineering.
During his time at USU, Bench said he built and designed satellites to put into orbit as part of a NASA space program. He also worked in the plasma physics research lab.
For his master’s degree, Bench said he did his thesis on radio frequency propagation.
The 26-year-old attributes his success to his work ethic and orderliness. However, Bench said it is important to have fun too.
“It took a lot of hard work and lots of organization and using my time wisely. You have to have priorities, but you’ve also got to go out and have fun after homework is done,” he said.
Students need to unwind and have fun in addition to being studious and dedicated, Bench said.
He said his favorite activities at USU were the basketball games.
“Going to basketball games was the best. There is just so much adrenaline with everyone in the Spectrum. It is really fun to be a part of that,” he said.
After two years at Snow College, Bench transferred to USU. He said he wanted to come here because his dad was an Aggie and also because of his attraction to the engineering program.
-ariek@cc.usu.edu