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Twenty years after graduating from Stephen F. Austin State University with their Doctor of Education in educational leadership, the class of 2003 returned to campus in June to celebrate their longstanding friendship and meet with current students in the same program.

Alumni Drs. Aaron Covington, Edgar A. Dillard, Kevin L. Dyes, Nici Esch, J. Leonard Wright and Sandra Wright have maintained their strong connection that began at SFA more than 20 years ago. They are the program’s first cohort to facilitate this kind of reunion after reaching out to Dr. Stacy Hendricks, associate dean of student services and advising for SFA’s James I. Perkins College of Education, to set up a visit to the campus.

Their goal was to reconnect with former professors and each other, as well as to offer what guidance they could to current students in the program — much of which focused on the many benefits of the program’s cohort model.

“One of the things we were very committed to as a group was to start and finish this program together,” Esch told the doctoral students gathered in SFA’s Human Services Building in June. “If one of us slacked, we would call them out. We pushed each other. We all had other lives and we all knew we had to get this done. We were literally pulling each other to the finish line.”

Since its inception, SFA’s doctoral degree in educational leadership has been a terminal degree offered in a cohort setting, meaning a group of students begins the program and continues in the same collection of classes throughout the duration of that program.

According to Hendricks, the cohort model offers students support from others, teamwork, networking and differing perspectives. Through this model, students can collaborate with a diverse group of colleagues for a more enriching cooperative learning experience.

“The 2003 cohort was fortunate to have everyone graduate the same semester, but that is not always the case with the dissertation as the end product,” Hendricks said. “Once students begin the dissertation writing process, the completion of dissertation timeline for students may vary due to a variety of circumstances.”

Despite having full-time jobs and/or families while in the program, which is now entirely online, the class of 2003 cohort fulfilled its goal of graduating together.

“The cohort model is the way you do it,” Dillard said. “This is the only way you get it done, and so we were very fortunate to have that mutual understanding in our group.”

The spirit of the cohort model continued even after their graduation through professional and personal relationships over the years. Whether they’re supporting one another during promotions or retirements, the cohort has kept in contact through group chats and occasional reunions.

“We’ve been there for each other,” Sandra Wright said. “We’ve always had a way to let everyone know what’s going on.”

The class of 2003 enjoyed their reunion and on-campus lunch with the current class of educational leadership doctoral students, including Lacey Folsom, Jennifer Goddard, Herbert Midgley and Claire Murphy.

“We loved meeting current students and told them to cherish the relationships you build,” Esch said. “Keep them very special and keep them close to your heart.”

To learn more about SFA’s Doctor of Education in educational leadership, visit sfasu.edu/humanservices.

By Parastoo Nikravesh, senior marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University

The School of Theatre and Dance at Stephen F. Austin State University will present a community preview at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 29, of an original play students will perform next month at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The preview performance of “Grandfather Frog’s Tales of the Meadow” will be in Kennedy Auditorium on the SFA campus. The event is a fundraiser to offset travel costs of the Scotland trip.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the largest performing arts festival in the world. SFA theatre students started attending the event and touring a play in the summer of 2015. This year’s festival runs Aug. 4 through 28. SFA’s performances are Aug. 4, 5, 8, and 9 in Venue 45, one of the oldest venues used by the festival, and the venue in which SFA performed in 2015 and 2017.

Theatre Professor Angela Bacarisse organized the first Scotland experience in 2015 as credit coursework using student actors to perform new works by student playwrights and works by former SFA Playwright-in-Residence Jack Hefner. When no student playwrights came forward for the 2019 trip, Bacarisse used the story of J.M. Barrie’s fictional character Peter Pan to create a new work that incorporated dance.

“It was so great, for faculty and for the students, to collaborate with dance, that we decided to do it again this year,” she said.

“Grandfather Frog’s Tales of the Meadow” is based on the “Mother West Wind” books by Thornton Burgess. Bacarisse interpreted the stories into scenes for the play, and Heather Samuelson, associate professor of dance and assistant director of the School of Theatre and Dance, choreographed the movement and dance. “We worked together to create a piece that is both movement and words. It is a series of stories, many told by Grandfather Frog, about the animals that live in and near the meadow and stream and how they learn to get along,” Bacarisse said.

In traveling to Edinburgh, student actors and dancers will learn how to build a show quickly with limited resources and how to travel a show halfway across the globe to perform it. It can be stressful – working on costumes and props, and setting up and striking each performance, Bacarisse explained.

“We also see several other required performances, and students can pick some optional shows to see from the 3,000 that will be performed at the festival,” she said. Students will also visit the Scottish Parliament, the royal residence Holyrood house, the National Museum, and St. Andrews and Falkland Palace; the palace is a location used in filming several scenes in the “Outlander” series.

“I also take them to the beach to dip their toes in the very cold North Sea, and we will climb Arthur’s Seat to view the city from above,” Bacarisse said. “Two special events are the Ceilidh and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. A ceilidh is like a barn dance; we get to learn traditional Scottish dance along with other students and dance the night away accompanied by bag pipe and fiddle. The Military Tattoo is a tradition of the Fringe performed in a giant stadium constructed on the grounds of Edinburgh Castle, and it involves military bands and color guards from all over the world, as well as video mapping on the castle itself. It is really exciting.”

SFA Provost Dr. Lorenzo Smith and Dr. Gary Wurtz, dean of the Micky Elliott College of Fine Arts, awarded partial scholarships to students making the trip. The preview performance is a pay-what-you-can event with proceeds going toward technical expenses and performance costs in Scotland.

For more information about contributing to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe performances, contact Bacarisse at abacarisse@sfasu.edu or the School of Theatre and Dance at (936) 468-4003.