I want to introduce you to Ellie Hegwood my wonderful partner who is an Obedient, Reliable and Eager student! I love how she used those words to describe her academic self because I know for me it is hard to be obedient, at times reliable and eager to be a student! For Ellie to be in high school and know her academic self already is great to me! I always thought it was cool that high school students were able to do dual enrollment! I wish I was eager like her when I was in high school to do dual enrollment! Ellie went to Cogburn Elementary School k- 5^th grade and after that attended Hopewell Middle School Ellie 6^th -8^th grade! Ellie is currently a senior at Cambridge High School and after that she will be attending University of Tennessee, Knoxville in the fall! While attending University of Tennessee she will be studying Forestry, where she wants her career to be a research scientist at the national park service!

Ellie told me something that stood out to me to support that she is eager to learn is that “I am not taking a year off because I want to go to graduate school and get my PhD so I want to get into school as soon as I can, plus I really enjoy school!” and also when she said It’s always been my plan to go to college after high school, since it is an option that I am lucky enough to have available to me I can’t think of a reason why not to take advantage of that.” I feel like those exact words support that she is eager and for sure obedient and especially at such a young age! She has goals and I know for sure she will achieve whatever she wants in the future! While she is at Gsu she is currently taking Elementary statistics and English II. Ellie’s biggest influence on academic self is a drive to succeed in her career, she is very passionate about what he wants to study in, that’s why she continues to work hard. A very big influence on her academic career is author Rachel Carson, what intrigued her was that she wrote an influential book for the environment movement. A mentor in Ellie’s life would be her old environmental science teacher who has been very helpful and important in her journey for the love of the environment!

In our interview I asked her what was she most proud of when it comes to her academic and she said “I am very proud of how productive I am academically and how success oriented I am and hardworking I am as a student” I feel like that is wonderful and very well said! Her favorite subject is English, specifically literature. I ask her how is scheduling when it comes to dual enrollment because I know the overload can get quite hectic. Her response was that “It can take a lot of specific scheduling and planning to make sure I don’t mix things up” but she gets it done because she knows that in the future she will succeed. I was wondering is her class work and college work ever overwhelming or does she focus on one more than the other, and she simply told me that they are both the same, they both must get done regardless. This semester she is a little more focused on her college classes as her high school classes are mostly done and she only has one a day. So that’s pretty cool, less stress! In the interview I asked her what her favorite video with the video that was talks about how to manage time well. I can see why she would like that because she always strives to be an obedient student! With time management you have to be obedient and dealing with her schedule with high and college I know could be hectic at time!

During this interview I had fun and learned a lot about Ellie’s academic background. It’s crazy how you can share a class with someone and never ask or even know about their background history. We are all achieving the same goals just going on different paths! I wish nothing but greatness and success for Ellie and I thank her for sharing her inspiring background with me!