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When he reflects on three years as an ����ר�� student, Reid Stevens is as “cool, calm and collected” as two mentors who have made his experience especially memorable.

“I’ve been a student worker in President Keenum’s office since freshman year, and it’s fun because the work we do varies every day,” Stevens said of the university’s chief executive whom he got to know as a member of First Baptist Church in Starkville.

A Starkville Academy graduate, Stevens said he also “owes a big thanks” to Instructor of Philosophy and Religion Albert Bisson, whose example inspired him to pursue a different academic and career path than he originally intended.

“I was a business major and interested in taking the communication route when I first started at ����ר��, but I became really interested in religion when I saw the classes listed in the university’s master class schedule. I felt the Lord was calling me there,” he said. “I enrolled in Mr. Bisson’s Judeo-Christian Ethics course, and that class really got my gears going about pursuing a degree in religion. He’s very smooth and laid back, and the way he teaches gave me a desire to learn the material.”

With encouragement from his academic adviser, Stevens ultimately became a philosophy major with a concentration in religion. Now a junior, he plans to graduate a semester early and is considering options to attend seminary for graduate school.

“The mental framework that I’m getting from my religion classes at ����ר�� has been great, and my work in Dr. Keenum’s office, involvement in Sigma Chi Fraternity and service as an intern for the college pastor at First Baptist have given me the ‘people’ aspect that’s important in ministry,” Stevens said. “I’m seeing how the academic material is relatable to people’s lives. Loving people and building relationships will help me be effective.”