Sara Jennings
Sara Jennings was eight years out of high school before attending her first college class, but quickly got back into the swing of academic life. A Butte native, Sarah finished high school in Idaho Falls and after working, “pretty much every service job you can possibly imagine,” was ready to return to Montana and school. She figured The University of Montana, “was a good place to start again,” because she loves Missoula and liked what the school had to offer. “It’s really an advantage as a non-traditional student to walk into a place where you feel comfortable and familiar and where you have access to your professors. I can’t stress enough what a big difference that makes in the quality of your education.”
Sarah was able to switch to part-time work with financial aid and after a couple of years of concentrated study at UM had garnered an impressive GPA. Her hard work and aptitude led to a handful of scholarships including the Watkins scholarship from the Davidson Honors College. From the history department she was most recently awarded the Jewels-Carlin Endowment for Seniors. Sarah has just one semester remaining before graduation and says she chose her double major in History and English Literature because of, “an ardent love for literature,” and the lasting influence of a high school history teacher, who, “doesn’t teach history, he teaches people how to think.”
Along with school, part-time work and tutoring, Sarah says that, “a big part of my life,” is coaching speech and debate at Loyola High School. That’s not surprising when she points out that Loyola’s speech and debate team just won its 24th national championship in a row.
Sarah is grateful to UM’s donors and says, “they make a big difference in the world. Without the scholarships I couldn’t do what I do with speech and debate and maintain my GPA and pay my rent.”
Sarah sees many reasons for someone to invest in higher education, but from a humanities perspective, says, “I think that the things we learn and that we hone from higher education . . . critical thinking, creative problem solving, writing, and the ability to communicate with each other through discussion type courses . . . it carries on to all aspects of our lives, and the more we communicate with each other the farther humanity as a whole can progress.”
