校友| 文理| 工商业| 新闻2024年5月31日

双剂量毕业

作者:伊恩·西尔维斯特

If you attended more than one commencement ceremony at the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith on May 11, it wasn’t a clerical error to hear one name called more than 一次. Recent graduate Joshua Merritt walked not in one but two ceremonies to commemorate 他在UAFS的成就.

The 19-year-old grad—that’s not a typo—walked across the stage at the Stubblefield Center to shake the hand of Chancellor Terisa Riley and receive his bachelor’s degree in 机械工程 at UAFS through the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville’s College of Engineering 在文理学院的典礼上. 后来，在商学院 and Industry program, he accepted his bachelor’s degree in 电气工程技术.

When most 12-year-olds prepare for what’s next in middle school, Merritt was busy prepping for the ACCUPLACER, a series of tests to evaluate his math, reading, and 写作水平. He was homeschooled and found that he quickly grasped topics 并成功地向前推进.

他承认:“这绝对是一项艰巨的工作。. “我没有走捷径或给予 成绩. 我的成绩更快了. 一天两节数学课，而不是 一，诸如此类的事情. … My parents were very dedicated to helping me get through all the required courses so that I would be ready for college.”

梅里特的努力得到了回报. He passed the ACCUPLACER and was admitted to UAFS, where his dad, Jason, is a senior instructor in the 工商学院.

At 13, Merritt attended his first course at UAFS as he embarked on completing his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and technology. 大学有限公司 him to only two classes during his first semester to ensure his success, but he was 总是学得很快. 梅里特证明了他能胜任这项任务.

“I’m very proud to say that there was a point where, age-wise, I was in junior high completing my high school credits, and I was also a full-time college student. 我得到了 to do all three at one time,” Merritt said with a chuckle.

By 15, he was about halfway through the program, but he joked that because he was still too young to work, he had time to spare for another degree path.

“I decided that instead of pushing through and getting done with my bachelor’s at 17 and having to wait a year before I can be employed in a goal-congruent role somewhere that can use my skills, I decided I would like to do another degree,” he explained.

After meeting with professors and mentors, Merritt was sold on the idea of pursuing 机械工程获得“硬币的两面”.”

While it may sound like Merritt's completion of both degrees was smooth sailing, he confessed it wasn’t without challenges inside and outside the classroom. 

“As I moved toward my first day of actual classes, I don’t know how to describe it—somewhere 在超级紧张和恐惧之间，”梅里特说. 那时我13岁 比别人小那么多. 对于第一个来说，这绝对是一个挑战 few weeks to talk with people a whole lot because I just didn’t have the depth to 能够与同龄人交流.”

As time passed, he began to connect with classmates and professors. 他详细说明了 schedules to reduce stress, which broke down his time in class, studying, or working 在作业. Eventually, he created a study plan to help him memorize material, 记录信息，减少干扰. 尽管采取了这些积极的措施 迈着迈着迈，迈着迈，迈着迈，迈着迈.

“我得到了 some really bad, bad news from several of my classes, and it was just going really, really awful that day,” Merritt said, recalling an afternoon during a 21-credit hour semester – a day he described as the lowest point during his college career. “I was talking with my dad in the engineering lab, and I was able to hold myself together through quite a lot of difficulties, but that was one of the only times that I actually cried because there was just so much weight from so many different directions.”

Having accomplished so much so early in life, Merritt was determined not to let this define the outcome for the remainder of his time at UAFS.

“I took the approach of saying, ‘Whatever I’m facing right now isn’t too big, and 就差一步了.我并不害怕第一次做出糟糕的作品. I would do things awfully the first time, and that would give me momentum. 我会的 something done, even though it was terrible, and I would come back and work through 再来一次，让它变得更好. 这样做，我可以保持势头，”他解释道.

As Merritt recounted his worst day at UAFS and how he used it as motivation, he detailed what became a silver lining to his challenges: meeting his future employer.

Mars Petcare参加了一个由 Babb职业服务中心. After meeting with Merritt and taking his resume, they called him for an interview 下个星期. 不久之后，他被录用了.

“I’m working as a junior controls technician,” he said proudly. “他们通常不会 have a junior control technician role, but they wanted me. 他们创造了这个角色 for me so that I would go to a controls technician role after graduation, which was awesome because I was only expecting to be offered an internship role.”

Merritt humbly dismissed the notion of being an academic prodigy. 他把自己的成就归功于 对他的教授、父母和同龄人. 回想起在UAFS度过的岁月， graduation stood alone as his favorite memory, and not because he got to shake Dr. 莱利的手两次.

“It was an honor to clap for every single person in both of those ceremonies,” he 笑着说. “每次都很棒.”

• 标签:
• 文理学院
• 工商学院
• 校友
• 电气工程技术
• 机械工程