SIEL Names Kelsie Eddy as 2019 Valedictorian

Published: April 24, 2019 | Author: Parker Nelson | Read Time: 2 minutes

Coming from a long line of educators, education has always been important to 2019 School of Integrative and Engaged Learning (SIEL) valedictorian, Kelsie M. Eddy.

“I was honored to be named valedictorian for SIEL. It was really nice to be recognized for the efforts I’ve made toward academic success,” said Eddy.

Eddy hopes it means she did a good job of representing SIEL to the departments that played a big role in her education here at Southern Utah University.“SIEL is a unique position because a lot of our upper division classes are taken outside of the department,” said Eddy.

Eddy chose to major in SIEL because she wanted a degree that would fit her future career plans. SIEL was able to give her that. Eddy was able to customize her major so she could take a wide variety of classes ranging from computer science classes to marketing and graphic design.

After graduation, Eddy has a very specific career plan where she intends to put her degree to great use. Eddy and her husband plan on making independent video games as a small business.

“This is a field where a degree isn’t as important as experience, but having a degree is one of my life goals. Because of this, it was important for me to be taking classes that made sense and would be beneficial for my other goals,” said Eddy. “I was able to customize my degree to allow me to take classes that made sense for my plans and built on each other to give me a synthesized skillset.”

When asked about her plans after graduation she responded, “I’m excited to have more time to make games! Balancing school and homework with my job and other responsibilities has been tough these last few semesters, I’m looking forward to having schoolwork taken off my plate so I can focus my efforts elsewhere and get started as a full-time indie developer.”

As Eddy prepares to graduate and put her degree to use, she left a few pieces of advice to those starting their college career, “Stay organized and use the resources available for learning. Sometimes people need the lesson explained in a different way than it was taught in class and that’s totally fine. Between office hours, the class tutors, the tutoring center, textbooks, YouTube, and the other wonders of the internet there are many resources available to teach a lesson in a way that might make more sense for you.”

When asked what made the biggest impact on her time here at SUU she said it was finding the Interdisciplinary Studies degree.

“Being able to put a degree together that fit my specific requirements isn’t something that I was expecting and it has shaped my experience here. I’ve been able to take a variety of different classes and learn from excellent teachers across many different departments,” said Eddy.

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