The Stars Residential College in Short/Denney Hall community at the University of Central Arkansas was my on-campus home for two years of my undergraduate college experience.
Centered on the arts, Stars@Short/Denney hosted a variety of students with so many different backgrounds, interests, and stories to tell. It was wonderful to be in an environment that was so affirming to my love of the arts.
Although I changed direction academically from music to International Studies, my artistic background continues to influence my desire to move, to motivate, and to inspire others by sharing my voice. I think that is probably what made the Stars@Short/Denney so unique and so appealing to me. Even among a wide range of personalities the Stars community worked because of the ways in which students connected over common ground. Being a member of the Stars@Short/Denney community was being in a place where there was truly never a dull moment. The Stars was a microcosmos of the university itself and being in an environment with such a collage of people and perspectives was a good preparation for my travels to Rwanda in 2013 and Ghana this past summer as a graduate student at Boston University. Being open to new experiences and appreciating other cultures is essential to traveling abroad and the Stars@Short/Denney was instrumental in developing that appreciation for the unique and the different. The University of Central Arkansas and the Stars Residential College has played such an important role in my life.