For anyone not familiar with the area, you may not know that
Clarksville, Tennessee, is home to the Austin Peay Governors. For those of you
who are from Clarksville, you have probably at least passed the campus located
in the downtown area. Recently I graduated from the lovely school for the second
time with my master’s degree, so I can say for a fact that Austin Peay is an amazing
place to spend one’s time as a student.
When I first started looking for colleges while I was in
high school, most of the students around me seemed to talk about wanting to go
away to big, far away colleges. However, my heart was set on Austin Peay—and for
a few reasons. The first was simply financial. It seems like many high school
graduates don’t take in how expensive college can be, despite the fact it’s
talked about so frequently. Just staying at home makes such a large difference
in the expenses, which makes living in a college town an amazing advantage—especially
if entering Freshmen take advantage of opportunities such as the Tennessee
Promise! Another reason I decided to attend Austin Peay was because the campus
is beautiful. The school takes pride in planting the campus red each spring,
and there are plenty of outdoor sitting areas to take advantage of during warm
weather. The buildings are a mix of old and modern, making for an interesting
scene while walking across campus, not even mentioning the statues and water
features that students enjoy hanging around.
The main reason I decided to attend Austin Peay, though, is
because I heard wonderful things about it as a school. And having attended, I
can attest that Austin Peay really is an amazing school. While I didn’t have
the experience of living on campus, I did spend a great amount of time
attending events, classes, and taking advantage of all my college had to offer.
I enjoyed several readings by visiting authors, film festivals dedicated to
diversity, and even participated in the yearly school pageant of Miss APSU as
well as many student-run readings as well where I was able to present poetry
and short stories to a small audience. Austin Peay’s capable students, led by
compassionate faculty, held concerts and plays each year—my favorite remains
the musical production of Anything Goes that I ushered for five nights only
to find it was increasingly better.
Unlike some students, I did take advantage of the wide array
of classes available, spending time in my undergraduate years in different
departments even after I had finished my standard core classes. I went to extra
psychology classes and took beginning education classes as well; I went beyond
the mandated one year of foreign language and took four semesters of French,
attending the off-campus immersion days so lovingly hosted by the French professors.
I even took a step fitness course for a credit during one of my last semesters
and I still regret not being able to take the scuba diving courses that were
offered, or the aerial silks classes. Austin Peay certainly has a larger catalouge
of potential classes than I ever expected—and if you don’t believe me, you can
scroll through them yourself here!
Of course, my favorite department obviously has to be the
one I spent the most time in—the English department. While it is only one part
of a much larger university, I feel like the professors that make up the
English department show the amount of dedication that Austin Peay has to offer
its students. Even as a Freshman, I quickly found the professors incredibly
approachable and easy to talk to, but through the years I found myself
surrounded by encouraging instructors who all strived to see their students be
successful, ones who were honestly
passionate about what they were
teaching and the act of sharing it with others. These professors saw the
ability in their students, and they always helped in whatever way they could.
Really, I feel like my experience at Austin Peay was so amazing not because of
the school itself but because of the dedicated professors it is made of.
Austin Peay is certainly not a big city college. It isn’t
exactly glamourous, our sports teams aren’t on the top scales, and if there are
wild parties to mark the college experience, I never heard about them. I know
to some people, going to a small-scale college isn’t exactly the dream. I know
for kids who grew up in Clarksville, the dream is getting out of a suburban town.
However, the benefits of going to Austin Peay don’t just include staying in the
beautiful city of Clarksville. Austin Peay is a university filled with unique
and incredible professors, with opportunities to explore things you hadn’t
thought a smaller scale university had to offer, and a chance to really
discover all of the great things Clarksville has to offer. Located in the downtown
Clarksville area, Austin Peay State University is truly something that makes
this city more incredible.
(Photos taken by Samuel Millspaugh)
Historical homes are a dime in a dozen in the modern age.
Wear and tear of time have taken many beautiful houses over the course of
years, while others were neglected to a point of no return. There are many,
though, that remain to stand out among others with unique flare and
architecture. Most people don’t like to bother with the maintenance that comes
with an old structure, but many can appreciate the beauty that comes with antiquity. Some, however, can picture themselves owning a beautiful historical house.
