‘Responsibility’ Key to her Royalty Title
During the Summer Welcome before Kadie Clark’s freshman year, while sitting in the orientation for Honors College, she had an ah ha moment, which eventually led to her becoming a geography/economics major. That day changed her life forever, and put her on the path for her recent recognition by the College of Arts & Science Royalty Court to win the first-ever “Responsibility” distinction and royalty title.
The award, presented by the Arts & Science Student Council, is one of four. “Our hope is to create a new tradition here at Mizzou for recognizing the College of Arts & Science students for both academic and personal achievement during Arts & Science Week,” says Bailey Moore, secretary, A&S Student Council.
This year’s event was held Feb. 22-26, and other award winners were: Raynesha Green (Theatre) for “Respect;” Meghan Lawlor (Biological Sciences) for “Discovery;” and Christina Chung (Biological Sciences) for “Excellence.”
“Respect,” “Responsibility,” “Discover” and “Excellence” are all core values set by Mizzou, added Moore.
As part of the award process, Clark, now a senior, was asked how she has displayed responsibility throughout her time at Mizzou. She started her story with that special moment in honors orientation, listening to the powerful message of J.D. Bowers, (current director of Honors College) who after welcoming everyone, went into a passionate discourse on his work and research on genocide studies.
“I realized this was not at all how I felt about biology – my declared major at the time,” Clark recalls. “I was enthralled. I had never seen someone speak about their vocation of field of study with such genuine zeal…. I decided to make the plunge into being an undeclared student in the College of Arts and Science. Though a strong fear of the unknown lingered in the back of my mind, this decision ultimately provided me with the space I needed to understand the moral obligations that drive me and the responsibility to uphold them.”
Finding Self
Clark went on to take many classes in many disciplines trying to find her path. Early on, Latin found her. “One of my favorite Latin words is the verb studēre, meaning ‘to study,’ but in its more archaic definition means ‘to direct one’s zeal to.’ – to me, that is what the four-year acquisition of knowledge of college is about.
“While there is comfort in familiarity, an education into humanities has inculcated into my academic philosophy the importance of seeking to understand others on a profound level, and has helped me to find myself in a place where I can err, falter, yet ‘direct my zeal’ and still feel as if I am home.”
Home to her is now geography and economics – her peace, her place, her existence.
“I feel a very strong responsibility into being very intellectually curious and to help foster that in others,” Clark says. “I’m a TA for Dr. Eric Parsons’ Principle of Microeconomics course. And we get a lot of students who come from various backgrounds and who have never taken an economics course before. So, it’s important for me to try to understand how students from different academic backgrounds learn and its important for me to make homework questions and exam questions that are relevant to students, even outside the classroom. Those are integral to my responsibilities as a teaching assistant.”
In addition to being a teaching assistant, Clark served as site leader for Mizzou Alternative Breaks, where during her freshman year she travelled to Bluff, Utah, to serve as a classroom aide in an elementary school on the Navajo Nation. This allowed her to immerse into their culture.
“(I experienced) a unique understanding of their traditional lifeways, which are rooted in respecting the land, and which of those lifeways have thrived, struggled, or ceased to continue into the modern era that is highly dependent upon fossil fuel and natural resource use,” she says.
She also served as a member of Marching Mizzou and Mini Mizzou and traveled with sports teams and other ensemble members representing MU through various parts of the country. This, she says, gave her a deep sense of pride and love for Mizzou.
“Every time I played ‘Fight Tiger’ or “Old Missouri’ and saw people rise to their feet, whether it be in Columbia or other parts of the country, I was reminded of the privilege it is to be part of one of Mizzou’s longest traditions, and the privilege it is to move people through music.”