Outstanding Leaders: Logan Bixman and Nicole Christy
From Dr. Peter Bradley, Honors Program Director:
“The Honors program at Ferris has, as a part of its purpose, the charge to encourage “service and leadership for the public good.” Each semester, we recognize students who have excelled at meeting this challenge. Candidates are nominated by their peers for this recognition. We review these nominations carefully, and, along with reviewing records, usually wholeheartedly agree with the nominations.
If you check the Honors student handbook, you’ll find that all Honors students are required to hold some kind of leadership position in a registered student organization by the time they are of senior status. I’ll note that not one of the students we are recognizing tonight is a senior. These three students, like good Honors students, completed this assignment early, and with style. When reading the Honors student handbook, you’ll notice that we recognize not only elected positions as leadership positions, but also any position where leadership is exercised. Leadership, as it says in the handbook, has no value on its own. It is only valuable as a means for bringing out the best in people, by inspiring and motivating them to commit their energies, skills, and talents to the organization’s vision. I can think of no better examples of that quality than the two young women we are so pleased to recognize: Logan Bixman and Nicole Christy.”
Name: Logan Bixman
Year: Second
Major: Biology/Pre-Pharmacy with a Minor in Spanish
Involvement: Treasurer of Honors Programming Board, Secretary/Co-Treasurer of the Honors Student Association/Honors Student Council, Student Representative of Honors Council, Communications Chair of the Honors Student Council, American Chemical Society, Honors Peer Mentor, Club Sports Council, FSU Presidents’ Club, Pre-PharmD Club, President of the Equestrian Team, Editor of the Endeavor, Honors Dawg Days Representative, Fall 2013 MHA Conference Representative, Honors Variety Show, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Salvation Army, United Way, Cran-Hill Ranch Retreat Leader, 30 Hour Famine Group Leader, Riverview Elementary School, MDOT, NRHH, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, United States Hunter Jumper Association, Intercollegiate Horse Show Association, Michigan Hunter Jumper Association
Achievements: Michigan Competitive ACT Recognition, Dean’s Scholarship, Honors Residential Life Scholarship, Phi Sigma Kappa Emerging Leader Scholarship, Spring 2013 College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s List, Spring 2013 Honors Program 4.0 Recipient, Fall 2013 Honors Program Outstanding Leader Award
From Dr. Peter Bradley, Honors Program Director:
“Nominated by four different individuals, Logan is frequently described as a “role model.” They all mention that she will go out of her way to help other students, even those for whom she is not a peer mentor. Logan holds a leadership role in a number of student clubs, including Editor of the Endeavor, the Honors Program’s student-run newspaper, our Honors Student Council, the Honors Programming Board, Club Sports Council, and she currently serves as the President of the Equestrian Club. I am also glad is one of three student representatives to the Honors Council.
Under Logan’s leadership, the Endeavor has transformed from a frequently forgotten, end-of-semester summary to a lively, contemporary blog that publishes news about the program, profiles of current students, and coverage of our events and service projects. I invite all of you to subscribe (ferrishonorsendeavor.wordpress.com), or volunteer to write. We recognize Logan Bixman for her outstanding leadership.”
As one of the most involved students (that I know of) in the Honors Program (let alone on Ferris’ campus), I frequently receive puzzled looks and comments about how mind-boggling and exhausting my schedule must be. Being a part of so many organizations is most definitely tiring, but so much more well worth it. Even though I get laughs at how excited I get about the Honors Program, I love recruiting future students at Dawg Days and explaining my love for academic, cultural, and leadership experience and success. Honors has enabled me to broaden my horizons and customize the program to fit my specific major and lifestyle.
Not only am I involved in community and academic clubs, but I am also President of Ferris’ Equestrian (horseback riding) club sports team. I have developed leadership qualities and characteristics so fast through this position, as well as time management and scheduling experience. Honors enabled me to be so successful as a captain of a team, allowing me to access others’ points of view and collaborate with my team to work for the success of the club.
Besides my love of involvement in clubs and sports, I love completing community service, tutoring, and helping others. I absolutely love being an Honors Peer Mentor, because of the countless people I’ve met and stories I’ve heard. The feeling of helping someone out, whether it is academics, sports, general advice, or guidance, is irreplaceable and cannot be obtained from any other outlet. I plan on participating in 125 hours (at least) of community service this school year. Challenges that make me push myself and also help others are something that keeps me grounded and reminded of my purpose as an Honors student—to better Ferris, the community, and myself.
Name: Nicole Christy
Year: Third (Senior Status)
Major: Biology/Pre-Dentistry with a minor in Psychology
Involvement: Pre-Dental Club (President: 2013-2014, Treasurer: 2012-2013, Fundraising Chair: 2011-2012), Student Alumni Gold Club (General Member: 2013-2014), SCHOLAR Peer Mentoring Program (Mentor: 2013-2014), Honors Student Council (Vice President: 2013-2014), Honors Programming Board (President: 2012-2013), Honors Peer Mentoring Program (Mentor: 2012-2013), FSU President’s Club (2012-2013, 2013-2014), American Student Dental Association (ASDA, Member 2011-2013), Endeavor Staff Member (2012-2013, 2013-2014), Dawg Days Honors Recruiter (2012-2013)
Achievements: Initiative 125 (2011-2012, 2012-2013), College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s List (Summer 2012, Spring 2013, Summer 2013), Michigan Campus Compact Heart and Soul Award (2012-2013), Honors Peer Mentoring Appreciation Certificate (2012-2013), Rising Star Award (2012-2013), Ferris Achievement Scholarship (2012-2012, 2012-2013, 2013-2014), Biology Faculty Sponsored Scholarship (2013-2014), Biology Ability Based Scholarship (2012-2013), Honors Residential Life Scholarship (2011-2012, 2012-2013), Michigan Competitive Scholarship (2011-2012), Dean’s Scholarship (2011-2012), Outside High School Scholarship (2011-2012) Honors Outstanding Leader Award (2013-2014)
From Dr. Peter Bradley, Honors Program Director:
“Nicole Christy was nominated as “the driving force that makes all Honors events happen.” Last year, as president of the Honors Programming Board, she led the discussions that produced our current governance structure of the Honors Student Association and Honors Student Council—upon which she serves as Vice President. She not only works extremely hard, but, in the words of her nominator, Nicole is “honest and humble when she forgets something or when someone credits her for events.” With Nicole’s leadership, we have created an entirely new structure through which students can participate in shaping the Honors Program. Nicole has inspired and continues to inspire a good number of Honors students with her dedication to the program. We are pleased to recognize Nicole Christy for outstanding leadership.”
The gigantic (and still growing) list of involvement and achievements Nicole has accomplished in her short while at Ferris is incomparable to a majority of the university. Her outstanding drive and motivation to succeed and help others do the same is something that every peer, professor, faculty and staff member, and company looks for in a friend, student, acquaintance, and employee. Nicole does not have a problem crediting those who enable her to be a leader, though. “I’m not sure if it’s that I’m involved in so many things, or that I get to work with awesome people,” Nicole shared. “I have so many people to look up to and I want to make them proud by following in their footsteps. Within the organizations that I have been involved in, I have a vast array of fantastic students and faculty members that I enjoy working with so much. Being able to organize something and have it be successful with the help of these people is such a delight to me.”
Nicole also shares that she was always a leader, but Honors has enhanced her leadership qualities and characteristics. “I had a lot of experience with leadership and volunteering through my high school. I thought I already knew all there was to know, but Honors taught me so much more,” she explains. “I have learned how to handle tons of projects at once and how to communicate with people better, especially executive and administrative persons of the university. I have met so many great people and formed so many amazing friendships, and I have the Honors Program to thank for that. The Honors Program has pushed me to my limits; it has helped me see exactly what I am capable of and realize that I can achieve more than I ever thought possible.
“As far as what I hope others have gained through my Honors experience, I can only hope that they have benefitted from my hard work and dedication to the program. Whether it be participating in a program that I organized through the Honors Programming Board, learning something from an article that I have written through the Endeavor, or even a crucial change to their own Honors experience through my service as Vice President of the Honors Student Council, I hope that I have given them something to take from the Honors Program that they can then apply to their own lives. I hope that my service as a mentor (also as an Honors Peer Mentor) will allow students to be able to learn from my mistakes and successes in order to better their academic journey through the university.”
Nicole is an important part of the Honors Program and is a major reason why new advances in the program have been created and so successful. Thank you, Nicole, for everything you have done and continue to do through Honors!
This article was written by the Endeavor editor Logan Bixman.
The Endeavor 