Emily Blackard’s former adviser at Arkansas Tech University called her brilliant, but he said that’s not the main reason the Russellville student — this year’s outstanding female senior — has been so successful.
The 21-year-old, who graduated Saturday, received the Margaret Young Award, and she was nominated by her adviser, Jeff Woods, dean of the College of Arts and Humanities. She graduated in three years with a 4.0 grade-point average with a degree in international studies and four minors.
“She’s clearly brilliant, but more than that, she has this kind of drive and determination that you pick up on pretty quickly,” Woods said. He said Blackard has what Arkansas Tech University President Robin Bowen calls “grit.”
Blackard grew up in Russellville, the daughter of Ed and Penny Blackard, and she has a younger brother. Her father is in management at Nuclear One in Russellville, and her mother is a potter. Blackard said she was home-schooled by her mother until she was in the eighth grade.
“There’s that stereotype of being home-schooled,” Blackard said, “but I grew up going to church; I had a lot of friends. I did dance when I was young and played soccer until junior high. I love learning, so home schooling kind of taught me how to teach myself.”
She and her best friends, who had also been home-schooled, rode together to Russellville Junior High School when they started public school.
“Oh, my gosh, that first day was terrifying,” Blackard said, laughing.
She was happy for the opportunities of public school, though.
“I think I would have missed out on some of the broadness of my education if I hadn’t gone,” she said.
While attending public school, Blackard didn’t miss much. She was on the homecoming court every year from ninth grade until her senior year, and she played the flute in band until her junior year. She made All-Region band, was president of the National Honor Society, served as an officer in Student Council and did “all kinds of stuff; I wore myself out,” she said.
Another case in point: Blackard said that because she is “self-motivated,” she decided she wanted to speak at her high school graduation. That meant taking — and excelling in — seven Advanced Placement classes her senior year.
“I don’t know why I did that to myself,” she said.
Her graduation speech was telling of her journey.
“I remember trying to make it sort of lighthearted,” she said. “My senior year, I never knew really what I wanted to do when I grew up; I was interested in so many things. My teachers were telling me, you could do this; you could do that. None of them really lit me up and got me excited.”
She said her message to students was based on a quote by author and philosopher Howard Thurman: “Don’t ask what the world needs; ask what makes you come alive and go do it.”
“I wanted to encourage our class not to buy into that lie that our culture has that you can only do one thing and get that one job and do it till you’re 60. I wanted our class to follow our passions,” she said.
It took some time and soul-searching to find her own passion.
Her plan was to go to the Honors College at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, but she said she never had “a peace” about the decision. Her boyfriend, now her fiance, was two years ahead of her at Arkansas Tech.
“He had an exciting college experience and made a ton of new friends. Through him, I was given a window to all Tech had to offer,” she said. “Gosh, that choice has been validated over and over again.”
Not one to sit on the sidelines, Blackard was vice president of the Campus Environmental Coalition, which worked to get a campuswide recycling program instituted. She said Arkansas Tech was one of the only major universities in the state without such a program.
“The new administration has a lot of support for this recycling program,” Blackard said, adding that Bowen met with her about the issue. As a result of the coalition’s efforts, recycling is available in some residence halls on campus and in a central location.
“It’s cool to see sort of how the winds are changing,” Blackard said.
She was also in the university choir for a semester.
“That was really fun; that was kind of a random thing,” she said.
Blackard also stayed involved in the college ministry at First Baptist Church in Russellville, where she has participated in and led Bible studies.
When the pressure was on to declare a major, Blackard said she took a survey at the Career Services Center on campus, almost in desperation.
She was introduced to the international studies and cultural affairs degree. With its heavy emphasis on history, anthropology and sociology, “I just fell in love,” she said.
When she told Woods the major she’d discovered, “he just really validated that, and I remember walking out of his office so relieved and feeling so emotional,” she said. Blackard recalled that Woods told her, “I wish more people thought like this and remained open to the possibilities of what they could pursue.” She also said he called her “brave” for exploring that avenue.
“My only contribution, really, to that was a few conversations that helped her decide,” Woods said. “She was asking, ‘What can you do with an international studies degree?’” He told her that the options included foreign service, governmental relations and teaching. “I just sort of outlined different options for her that she could do and gave her confidence,” he said.
In addition to a minor in Spanish, Blackard attained minors in history/political science, geography and religious studies.
Blackard said that because she graduated in three years and has another year left on her scholarship, she started the master’s in English program, with an emphasis in teaching English as a second language.
“I’ll be doing that in the fall,” she said. “After that, I don’t really know what the plan is, except I hope to go on to graduate school and study human geography. It’s really interesting and very broad — populations, migrations, religion.”
Tech doesn’t have a study-abroad program, Blackard said, but she has been to Canada twice through First Baptist Church’s summer-discipleship college ministry and to Mexico on spring break through the church.
“I’d love to travel internationally, live internationally — all those things,” Blackard said.
The Arkansas Tech graduate said she has no regrets about her college experience.
“I would just encourage people to not be afraid and not to limit themselves. In college, you get all sorts of opportunities to do all sorts of events and take random classes and meet all kinds of people,” she said. “It flies by, and it can be the most formative time of your life, or you finish and look back and say, ‘I wish I had done this.’ Try everything; if it’s awful, you can laugh about it and say, ‘That was awful.’”
Blackard, who plans to get married in November, has an internship lined up for this summer in San Diego with an organization associated with the Southern Baptist Convention. She has been hired to work with a new church run by a former Russellville resident.
As far as her career, Blackard said, she is considering being a professor or a professional researcher for a nonprofit.
“My goal always has been to do something that matters, and when I say matters, something that will help people, change something,” she said. “Someday I hope to effect change in a positive way.”
People who know her, including her former adviser, have no doubt that she will.
“Emily is truly remarkable,” Woods said. “She will do some amazing things with her life.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.