Madison Starks didn’t just learn more about who she is as president of Arkansas Tech University Student Activities Board (SAB). She learned who her audience is and where her focus should be.
“It has been a journey and a challenge, for sure,” said Starks. “Coming off COVID, it was very strange. Things felt uneasy. We put on events that worked in 2018, and they just didn’t land. We’re doing this for the whole, not the loudest group. We get people who say they are still in school because of SAB events or they love campus because of our events. Remembering who we do it for is the most important thing. We don’t do it for ourselves. We do it, truly, for the people who come to our events. There may be some loud negative voices sometimes, but there are people who really appreciate what we do. Ultimately, we just have to remember we are doing it to make people happy and make people feel good.”
Starks is the 2024 Margaret Young Award winner as the most outstanding senior female at ATU. She will be recognized during ATU spring commencement ceremonies at Tucker Coliseum in Russellville on Saturday, May 11.
“This is not something I take lightly,” said Starks, who is graduating from ATU with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a minor in journalism. “The people I know who have won the Margaret Young Award have been people I 100 percent looked up to for all four of my years at Tech. I’ve known the last four winners (Andrea Amador, Kaitlyn Wright, Emilee Smith and Bailey Greenwood) on a personal level. They are people I have always held in a very high regard, so to enter those ranks…I feel flabbergasted. I am so grateful and so blessed. I feel like I’ve worked very hard and enjoyed the time I’ve had here.”
The daughter of educators, Starks graduated from Bigelow High School in Perry County. She has four older brothers who went to Arkansas Tech, but she wasn’t sold on following in their footsteps until she attended virtual informational sessions as a high school senior and learned about the campus life opportunities available at ATU.
“To me, togetherness is championing for each other,” said Starks. “Truly, across the board, the people (at ATU) are 100 percent for each other. That, to me, is so telling and important for campus life. It’s indicative of our campus culture. Coming onto campus as an 18-year old freshman, I was just looking for a community. Everything here is so interconnected. There are people I met my first day of my freshman year that I’m still extremely close with. This university offers a community like no other.”
That’s not to say it’s always been easy. Fortunately, a staff mentor helped Starks reclaim her mojo along the way.
“My sophomore year, I was feeling adrift,” said Starks. “Full transparency…my grades were bad and I was not attending stuff the way I should have. I withdrew a little bit. The biggest change came when I started working in the student union again. Chelsea Neal (ATU associate dean for campus life and the student union) pulled me out of that by getting me in a routine. After that, I didn’t want to waste any more time when I had all these opportunities around me.”
Those opportunities included serving as co-editor of the Arka Tech newspaper, building manager for the Hull Building Student Union, freshman orientation leader and resident assistant. She held membership in the ATU Honors program, Alpha Sigma Tau, Russellville Mayoral Advisory Board and Pre-Law Club.
But Starks’ greatest imprint on campus came through her leadership in ATU SAB, where she was an integral figure in reimagining the organization and helping it meet the changing needs and wants of students in a post-pandemic environment.
“I’ve seen it ebb and flow,” said Starks. “It might seem like the rebrand has been really quick, but it has not. It has been four years in the making. Those who came before me (as SAB president)…Matt Wheeler, Sarah Smith…had goals and made them happen so the next four years down the road could be smooth sailing. Working back through that and seeing how those two people, specifically, and those boards worked…the love and passion they had for the student body…I took a little bit from this and a little bit from that. I knew when I was a sophomore I wanted to be (SAB president) at some point. What I’ve always tried to do is listen, hear people and what they want and adjust as need be. With hard work, over time, we’ve started to get back to where we want to be. I’m excited for what’s coming next year.”
As ATU SAB president, Starks supervised and aided in the production of approximately 50 events during the 2023-24 academic year, continued to restructure and rebrand the organization and utilized external relationships to bring vendors to campus.
“The biggest part of SAB is having fun,” said Starks. “It doesn’t have to be that serious or something that you dread and is stressful. All you do is talk to people, make deals and bring fun and exciting stuff to campus. This is kind of an old term…but we brought it back this year because we think it’s fun…SAB is the fun experts. I hope that I’m remembered as a pusher of fun.”
