[fblike]By: Academy Staff
Can you describe your experience at the Gatton Academy?
In one word, unique. The Academy became my home, and I grew closer to my Academy peers than I had to any others throughout my school career. And still, 5 years later, many of those close “Academy” friendships exist today. I also enjoyed the many opportunities afforded to me by the Academy such as my research with Rachel Bowman (fellow Academy student) and Drs. Bruce Kessler and Peter Hamburger. My research allowed me to travel to Canada to present at an international conference. But honestly without the supporting nature of other students and the staff (both Academy and WKU), my Academy experience wouldn’t have been the same. 
How have your experiences at the Gatton Academy helped you in your adult life?
The Academy has made me who I am, for better or worse. Sometimes, I try to imagine my life had I not applied for the Academy. If my Pre-Calculus teacher never held onto an article about the Academy and given it to me the day I came back to school from being sick, my life would be drastically different. But other than that single moment, and the acknowledgement that things wouldn’t have been the same from then on, I can’t imagine what my life “might have” been like today.
Because I went to the Academy, I made friends that I cared for deeply and started on my college carrier a year earlier than I would have otherwise. Because I formed those relationships and gained the college experience I did, I stayed at WKU to finish out my degree. Because I got so much out of the Academy, I decided to give back a little and tutor new Academy students in Computer Science. Because I stuck around the Academy a few more years, I made more friends and my relationships with my professors and existing friendships grew stronger.
Today, I now work at WKU as an IT Consultant for Academic Technology, helping support and maintain many of the campus’s open and departmental lab computers, as well as the computers in classrooms around WKU. But it was all due to a series of events that Academy set in motion.
Since the Academy, what have you been up to?
What have I been up to? Life.
Since the Academy I have graduated with my Bachelor’s in Computer Science (minoring in Mathematics). I have cultivated a love for American Sign Language (ASL) and Deaf culture and have even joined WKU’s American Sign Language Organization (ASLO), where I use my computer talents to help promote the growing American Sign Language Studies (ASLS) program and the ASLO organization itself. I have obtained a full-time position at WKU as an IT Consultant for Academic Technology, helping support and maintain many of the campus’s open and departmental lab computers, as well as the computers in classrooms around WKU.
On a personal note, I have bought my first house (I am struggling to pick out paint colors).
What do you aspire to achieve in the next ten years?
In the next ten years? I have no clue. If you asked me that question ten years ago, I would never have imagined my life as it is today. Hopefully, in the future, I’ll still be doing something I enjoy – probably combining my love of technology and ASL as I am today. Maybe, I’ll be a little wiser and more settled into this new life that I’m starting – and maybe I’ll even be sharing it with someone.
What was your favorite memory from your time at the Gatton Academy?
The Yellow Couch? The J-Term ski trip? The crazy adventures my friends and I had around campus? The Ultimate Frisbee games in the Colonnades? It’s hard to pick. In general, I enjoy the memory I have of the Academy as a whole. But I’d have to say the most satisfying memory I have was changing non-Academy students’ perspectives on who we were and what we were like.
Some people saw us as a bunch of “privileged,” “immature,” high school kids, but in reality, we were just like everyone else (mostly). In fact, I remember enjoying the astonishment on non-Academy students’ faces when they would ask which dorm I lived in and I would mention Florence Schneider Hall. It was my personal goal then, and now, to change their views about who we were/are really like.
We would like to thank Mr. Luke Akridge for taking time out of his busy schedule to be interviewed. Next week, the Gatton Academy will be spotlighting Ms. Sammi Hawtry who is currently pursuing a double major in chemistry and biology at Western Kentucky University.
