Major: Photography
Classification: Junior
Hometown: Houston
Stopped: 10:30 a.m. Dec. 4 on the first floor of the Fine Arts Building

What brings you here today?
I’m a student in the Form, Shape and Structure class, and I’m here to see my own project and those of my classmates. It’s for an egg drop.

And what might that be?
You construct designs that must float down from four stories and keep an egg safe. You also try to create your own design—something that’s ‘you.’ You use colors and shapes to make the design uniquely yours, but it must function to save the egg.

How did your design fare?
It did very well in gliding down to the surface. But my landing gear pretty much failed and caused my egg to be destroyed. My wings were perfectly untouched. Looking back, I would have made the landing gear sturdier.

In 1960, some ROTC cadets here marched 160 miles to summer camp. What would you think if someone asked you to do that?
That’s an interesting question. I had to walk 16 miles once, and that was a stretch for me. But 160 miles just seems excessive. And think about all the baggage you’d have to carry. Maybe I wouldn’t be going to summer camp. Wouldn’t there be somebody who could drive me? In their case it’s more training, and in the end you see that there’s a benefit. But it still may be a little extreme.

What do you think about the recent tuition increase?
It’s a little disappointing from the standpoint that I’m already struggling with financial difficulties. I understand that tuition increases can happen at any school. It’s an investment in my future, but I want to see some results that will help me personally.

What message do you have for UTA’s new president?
Students expect him to help our experience here be better, to increase the quality of our education. He should help all academic programs and not favor one over another.

— Mark Permenter