2 Arkansas student leaders meet up at Clinton School

Two top undergraduates, two former student body presidents, two new University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service students.

Two Connors: Connor Donovan and Connor Flocks, both 22.

The similarities between the pair pretty much end there, they said.

Still, the "two Connors" -- as they're known in the class of 43 -- mark a first for the Clinton school, said Skip Rutherford, the school's dean. It took all of 13 years and 13 classes for the Clinton School to be home to both the former University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Associated Student Government president and the former University of Arkansas at Little Rock Student Government Association president at the same time, he said.

He credits Alex Thomas, the school's director of enrollment services, for recruiting students to the two-year master's degree program. Thomas also would have brought in Fayetteville's student body vice president, Maggie Benton, but she is taking part in the Miss America pageant this year, Rutherford said.

"One thing I've seen with these two and with other students over the years from Arkansas is the outstanding talent in our state," he said. "I'm glad the Clinton School can play a role in keeping that talent in the state and giving them a unique education opportunity."

The school accepts between 35 and 45 students a year, and each student takes part in three public-service projects. The first, in the first year, is a group project that is assigned. The second, which runs through the summer, is an international service project. And the third is a capstone project, or an individual project of the student's choice.

The groups learned last week which first-year project they were assigned, and the two Connors can't wait to get started.

Donovan will work with ForwARd Arkansas, helping build community partnerships with middle schools in the Little Rock School District, and Flocks will work with Dumas-based Phoenix Youth and Family Services, helping create economic opportunities in the Arkansas Delta.

The Connors will start classes this week -- even though neither of the two had originally planned to attend the Clinton School.

Flocks, of Greenwood, graduated from UA with a marketing degree and an economics minor and planned to start a full-time job. Donovan, of Little Rock, graduated from UALR in international business with a concentration in the Chinese language and had been looking at other programs with an eye on a Rhodes Scholarship.

For Flocks, the UA student body's attempt to get a voting center on campus helped sway his decision. UA's student government had worked with the Washington County Election Commission to try to get a voting center on the campus, but the students were ultimately denied the chance, he said.

It was through that process that Flocks met Rutherford, who quickly became a mentor throughout his presidency, Flocks said. Rutherford helped him see that his passion for business was very much connected to public service, he said.

"In business, your bottom line is profit," he said. "In public service, your bottom line is service back to the community you represent. That's what Dean Rutherford helped me see a lot."

For Donovan, he began wrapping up student body duties and schoolwork and started thinking about what was ahead. He was working on the Rhodes Scholarship application, when an adviser asked if he'd thought about the Clinton school. He heard the question twice more before he looked into it and loved what he saw, he said.

"I've always been a person who has been very specific about getting action done," he said, "so when I read into the program and saw the public service emphasis, that stood out."

He also spoke with Rutherford, who had heard about some of Donovan's work as student body president, including turning in a student petition seeking a feasibility study to bring football to UALR.

Despite their positions, the two Connors had never met in person until earlier this month, when the school started a nearly weeklong orientation for its new class.

Donovan said he expects to learn a lot from his peers and hopes to use that to better serve others.

He was amazed at the different culture of the school. Growing up, Donovan said, there's always been competition in school: getting the best grades, earning scholarships, getting internships and jobs.

"There's a cool opportunity here: the fact that we're from different parts of the state and from different universities ... but all in all, we're all on the same team," he said. "We're all working toward the advancement of our country."

Flocks said he expected a culture shock going from a university of more than 27,000 students to a class size of 43.

"I expected it to be different in the sense that it was going to be very small and so many brains that think the same, all prepared together to learn public service," he said. "But I've got 43 people in my class who are incredibly diverse in their background: the way they think, their ambitions, what they want to follow. The small community is great, but what I love is that the people are legitimately so different."

Going forward, he said, he would like to be confident in what he knows but "be humble enough to take it back and say, 'Why do you think differently from me? Why do you have the perspective that you have?'"

"I think it's something we could learn from," he said, "but I'm thrilled for the opportunity to spend a master's degree learning how to do it best."

Metro on 08/20/2017

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