Chase Powell Stoudenmire

Practical politics: Homecoming king's new career path is education

• Hometown: Greer, S.C.
• High School: Riverside High School
• Major: History (secondary-education minor)
• Video (1:18)

An energetic combination of lock-down decisiveness and pragmatic flexibility, Chase Stoudenmire knows what he wants—but is not afraid to change his mind.

The Greer native came to the University of South Carolina convinced he would major in political science with an eye toward eventually teaching somewhere in the state.

"It was pretty much a no-brainer," he said. "I thought I liked politics. Now, I realize I do not."

Rather than completely overhaul his career goals, however, Stoudenmire merely fine-tuned them. He changed his major to history, with a minor in secondary education, and discovered a passion for an aspect of education that, he hopes, will lead him to a career in teaching in higher education.

But first, he's off to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he will pursue a master's degree in higher education administration. Turning down competitive offers from Virginia Tech and the University of Tennessee, Stoudenmire will assume a graduate assistantship for leadership development in the Department of Residence Life. In that role, he will advise student government organizations, conduct leadership training and do some teaching with the resident assistants.

"They are giving me the opportunity to work on my thesis, do some master's-level scholarly writing," he said. "I did some interesting papers here and would love to continue that."

After Arkansas, Stoudenmire will perform a year of service for Teach for America, a branch of Americorps that places prospective teachers in challenging, high-need school settings. Eventually, he would like to earn a doctoral degree in the social foundations of education.

"I would like to be a professor of education, ultimately," he said. "I enjoy studying the humanities and how they apply to education and what role education plays in society."

Stoudenmire's diverse list of university honors—Homecoming king, president of Omicron Delta Kappa, president pro tem of the student senate, columnist for the Daily Gamecock—reflect full immersion in the student experience. Not surprisingly, the two professors he lists as having the most influence on him— David Britt from theater and Ben Greer from English—are completely outside his area of study.

"They showed how to make a career out of something they love," he said. "And they were able to share that with other people," he said. "With both of them, you felt comfortable going out and having a beer. It transcended the instructor-pupil relationship and became peer to peer."

Being at a large university in a capital city held strong appeal for Stoudenmire, whose family is predominantly Clemson-oriented.

"You really want to come to a place that will challenge you," he said. "This has definitely been good for me, both the highs and the lows."

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