Bowling
Green, Ky. - Alicia M. Miller knew she was capable of graduating as a top scholar but that wasn’t her goal when she arrived at Western Kentucky University in 2002.
“I consider myself highly ambitious. And I always strive to give 110 percent and produce quality work,” said Miller, a native of Erlanger, Ky., who lives in Wilson, N.C. “I live by the motto that anything worth doing is worth doing well. So I strove to put forth my best effort to maintain the highest level of academic performance possible.”
Miller, who completed her degree in August, was honored as WKU’s first Ogden Foundation Scholar at Saturday’s 160th Commencement. “It’s really great to reach a point where you are considered to be one of the best, but the true achievement is not the designation or the award, but the work you do to make you worthy of such recognition,” Miller said of receiving WKU’s highest graduation honor.
In past years, the Ogden Trustees’ Award had been presented to graduates who had earned a 4.0 grade-point average and all coursework completed at WKU. But effective this fall, the Ogden Foundation Scholar Award is being presented to one graduating baccalaureate degree senior who has demonstrated exceptional academic achievement and outstanding university and civic engagement.
Miller, who graduated with a 4.0 GPA, also was honored as Scholar of WKU’s Potter College of Arts & Letters at Saturday’s ceremony.
Miller, a 2002 graduate of Beechwood High School and daughter of Glen and June Miller, majored in political science and German at WKU and was active in numerous groups and organizations including the University Honors Program.
“Western truly helped me find a passion for intercultural issues,” said Miller, who works as an administrative assistant for Cherokee Investment Partners. “I am so honored to be recognized, among other things, for my efforts to promote cultural understanding and cooperation.”
While courses in a foreign language major opened the door to many international opportunities, a University Honors course in intercultural communications was truly a life-changing experience for Miller. In the course of interviewing international students for a class project, Miller met her future husband, Oscar Medina, a native of Colombia.
“He still likes to joke around about how I interviewed him and he got the job,” Miller said.
Miller became involved with the International Club, Latin American Student Association and German Club. She also was a member of WKU cheerleaders, College Democrats, Amnesty International, Mock Trial, Pi Sigma Alpha, Phi Kappa Phi and Delta Phi Alpha.
She also encourages all students to take advantage of engagement opportunities offered in high school and college. “Civic engagement wasn’t really something I had in mind when I first started,” she said. “It was more of something that I was inspired to do, based on my experiences both in and out of the classroom. I do think there is a correlation between my participation in these activities and the push at WKU toward becoming a university with international reach.”
Miller’s engagement activities included writing letters to state representatives, helping register students to vote, canvassing in Iowa during the 2004 primaries, visiting day care center and reading to children, volunteering at the Bowling Green International Festival and the Sister Cities International 50th Anniversary Conference, planning and attending International Film Series events, volunteering at WKYU-PBS and NewsChannel 12, participating at the American Model United Nations program, and tutoring at the Learning Center.
Her honors and scholarships include a four-year Regents Scholarship, Pi Sigma Alpha Washington Internship Scholarship, Washington Center’s Association of College Honor Societies Scholarship, Honors Development Grant for Professional Travel, Honors Development Grant for International Travel, William R. Walls Travel Award, Phi Kappa Phi Study Abroad Scholarship and President’s Scholar. She also received achievement and academic excellence awards from the German and Political Science programs.
“These experiences really helped me learn how to interact with people from different backgrounds and cultures and helped me understand cultural differences,” Miller said. “Differences can lead to conflict, but the way to produce harmony is to understand where someone comes from, respect his or her beliefs, and find a way to peacefully coexist. In a society where conformity is standard, sometimes we forget to realize that other opinions and ways of doings things can be equally valid, even if they aren’t our preference. And I really began to understand how much we all are influenced not just by our individual experiences but also our culture.”
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