Senior Spotlight: Garrett Allred

The final senior spotlight looks at the experience of a transfer student. Garrett Allred originally started his associate in psychology at a small school in Minneapolis, MN. After finding out his program was cut, he transferred to Regent in his sophomore year. He expressed his gratitude towards Regent for their willingness to help him transfer quickly. When describing the transfer process he said, “That’s a whole whirlwind of picking up and changing complete environments. You’re changing the people you’re surrounding yourself with – you’re really changing the ideology you’re surrounding yourself with, too, because each geographic location is going to have its own value system and emphasis. So, coming from Minneapolis, which is a pretty liberal area, to Regent, which is much more conservative, you do kinda learn how to adapt to this new situation. As the Regent motto is to be leaders to change the world, you do have to adapt to that surrounding, while still holding onto something of yourself. That’s what I’ve been trying to learn with each new location – figuring out [how to] let the environment impact you as much as it can, in a good way, and be able to impact the environment in your way. It’s the back in forth of that interaction that I’ve really enjoyed.”

Garrett Allred, Jan. 2018. (Regent Athletics)

Garrett Allred, Jan. 2018. (Regent Athletics)

After transferring, Garrett got involved on campus right away.

He started out on Regent’s new track team. He explained, “my roommate at the time was trying to talk me into track with him. I obviously had some athletic background but nothing collegiate level and nothing that committed, and so we went to the first practice and my roommate ended up quitting that day and I just continued on.”

He delved into the impact track had on his college experience, “I mean you’re waking up at 5 a.m. and going out running with a lot of other people almost every day of the week, so it’s going to be obviously very physically draining but very rewarding too. I can’t speak for the other athletic teams, but track especially has tried to be very community oriented, trying to actually hang out and enjoy each other. So, that’s caused a lot of good relationships that have carried over outside of just track, and that’s made my college experience a lot more rewarding because a lot of emotional stuff comes up with track. You’re out there running for so long your brain has time to process stuff you didn’t think you were trying to process. Us all experiencing that in the same environment helps you help others and others help you.”

In his time at Regent, Garrett challenged himself intellectually as well as athletically. He joined the moot court team, a part of Regent’s Undergrad Debate Association (RUDA). He compared his experiences with the two teams, “I also competed in [moot court] the first year I got here, my sophomore year. I really enjoyed that because it is another form of competition, but totally the opposite because it’s much more intellectual competition. I actually was asked after that first year of competition to be on the Regent Debate Board; I’ve actually been serving as treasurer for what they call RUDA.”

The Fall 2017 RUDA team, Oct. 2017. (Katie Zehnder)

The Fall 2017 RUDA team, Oct. 2017. (Katie Zehnder)

Reflecting on the lessons he’s learned at Regent, he expressed how “the most impactful moments you have are the ones you have when it’s a personal interaction. And while you definitely have those kind of interactions in the classroom, I think it’s really important to try to look for those moments… and so for myself just trying to be open to that. In track you’re going to have those moments where you’re going to be down and people are going to try to feed into your life. I’m a natural introvert and kind of a loner, so my natural response if I’m dealing with stuff is I’m going to pull back. I’m trying to teach myself that its really important to be open to people feeding into your life. That’s one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over my time at Regent, especially the last year and few months. Just really trying to focus on fostering those kind of relationships, even if it doesn’t come naturally because that’s what is going to be beneficial in the end.”

As a psychology student, Garrett has enjoyed getting to know the three professors in the department as “each has a very unique specialty within their field, and just personality in general, I have really enjoyed trying my best to enjoy their contribution to me as a student and to the program of psychology as a whole. Meeting them in office hours and just treating them like people rather than like professors – I really enjoyed that experience of seeing that side of Regent and college in general.” Garrett has a heart for helping people address and work through their brokenness and hopes to pursue counseling in the future. After finishing at Regent over the summer, he hopes to have a counseling internship before going on to pursue a master’s in psychology.

Funneling everything he’s learned at Regent into one piece of advice, Garrett said, “I think you need to try to balance things very well. For most people this is their first point in their life where they are responsible for making sure they do everything they need to do in every aspect of their life. The best way to balance that is to do your best to rely on people you can trust. You are going to get stressed out, you’re going to get overwhelmed, you’re probably going to get pretty depressed at times, so finding people you can really trust at those moments to help you get through it, I think, is the only way people get through college. You have to rely on people.”

Thanks for tuning in to this last senior special. That is all we have for 2018. Congratulations to all of the graduates!



 

Renée Hogan is a department head for the Daily Runner.

Renée Hogan

Renée Hogan

Renée Hogan is the Managing Editor of the Daily Runner.