Before we get too deep into the Spring 2015, I’d like to acknowledge our graduates from the Fall and Summer of 2014. One of the challenges of now being full-time with the program is getting closer to the students – only to have them leave. That is the goal, of course, but it is a little sad nonetheless. The espirit d ’corps of our community is a strong and attractive feature of the program.
The photos are [roughly] in the order of when these new alums joined the program (L to R): Heather Schlegel, April Koury, D’Shaun Guillory, Karl Irish, Mackenzie Dickson, Laura Schlehuber, Alex Clouse.
The veteran of the group is Heather Schlegel, who joined us in the Spring of 2010. As happens to many of our part-time students, we almost lost her when she took a job with Swift for a year. But she came came back and finished, despite a huge tug from the media for her views on the future. Among her many accomplishments in the program, she won the 2012/13 APF Student Recognition Award for “Success: The Human Problem.”
April Koury joined us in the Fall of 2012. She was a Graduate Assistant with us for a year, which means she played a prominent role if the lives of fellow students. She helped me a great deal on getting the Houston Futures website and blog in good order. She completed an internship with Christian Crews of Andspace before graduating.
And now we have a cohort, the class of the Spring of 2013: D’Shaun Guillory, Karl Irish, Mackenzie Dickson, and Laura Schlehuber. Not only did the come in together, but they stuck together throughout their time in the program. I still have an image of this group, and a few others, huddled together at a table at an APF conference. I’m proud of them for that. We preach the value of getting involved with the professional futurist community, and this group took the challenge. It showed up in the internships they got, Mackenzie going to Paris to intern with Riel Miller and UNESCO, Karl and D’Shaun with Alternative Futures Associates (aka Institute for Alternative Futures), D’Shaun also doing one with the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, and Laura with Andspace as well as with Stephen Aguilar-Milan and EUFO.
Alex Clouse is the first grad from the Fall of 2013. Quite amazing, that she finished in two years! Very few have been able to manage that. It takes an incredible amount of discipline to manage a full-time load for that period of time and not have your head explode!
I should also note that April, Mackenzie, and Laura were part of the Student Needs 2025+ research team. I am hoping we can do more of these kinds of projects and I appreciate their involvement.
I am going to miss ‘em, but I am also confident that they will stay involved as part of our extended community. Congratulations alums, and keep in touch! Andy Hines
