The start of the 2019-20 academic year is right around the corner, and soon you’ll be seeing many fresh faces on campus with new students who are ready to start their college careers. 

More than 175 new students attended Freshman Orientation last week at UA Little Rock, where they talked about their hopes for the future.  

Colt Nix, a 2015 graduate of Ouachita High School and Malvern native, is thrilled to start engineering classes after getting some inspiration from a family member.

“I’ve been watching my sister the last few years,” Nix said. “She graduated last year with an engineering degree and inspired me to go to school.”

The former firefighter has just returned to Arkansas after taking a trip to see the world where he visited 28 countries. His favorite was Russia, because of the country’s many castles.

Jewel Leonard, a new freshman from Cabot, is looking forward to studying English at a campus where she has fond childhood memories.

“I didn’t want to go too far from my family, and I came to basketball games with my dad when I was a kid,” Leonard said. “We came and took a tour, and I felt very at home. I knew I would have good opportunities, and it would give me a new outlook on life.”

After graduating from Arkansas Virtual Academy in May, Kevonte Moore, a Conway native and chemistry major, is looking forward to making new friends and his future career in medicine.

“UA Little Rock has a good chemistry program, and I want to use it to my advantage to become a surgeon,” Moore said. “I want to become a surgeon because I’ve always wanted to help people.”

Another future doctor, Yashui Adhvaryu, a May graduate of Benton High School, chose UA Little Rock because it’s close to her home and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, which the biology and pre-med major plans to attend after graduation.

“I want to get good grades, meet new friends, and have better opportunities so I can succeed in healthcare,” she said. 

In the upper right photo, Orientation Leader Taylor Gully leads a group of incoming students and their parents on a tour of campus during a Freshman Orientation session. Photo by Ben Krain.