{"id":8402,"date":"2013-10-07T11:01:09","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T15:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.cos.ucf.edu\/?p=8402"},"modified":"2019-06-18T16:06:59","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T20:06:59","slug":"shining-knights-octobers-featured-graduate-patrick-stewart-88","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/shining-knights-octobers-featured-graduate-patrick-stewart-88\/","title":{"rendered":"Shining Knights, October\u2019s Featured Graduate, Patrick Stewart, \u201988"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Patrick_Stewart-poli_sci-5\"<\/a>Author, researcher and educator, Patrick Stewart, \u201988, said, \u2018\u201cBe prepared to pay your dues to realize your dreams. Being great at anything means working very hard for a long time.\u201d Stewart has certainly taken his own advice and over the years has slowly turned his dreams into a reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout a solid start in my education, I could not have progressed like I have,\u201d said Stewart.<\/p>\n

He graduated from UCF with both his bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in political science then went on to Northern Illinois University to receive his PhD.\u00a0 While at UCF, he was a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, the Environmental Society, and Club Canada. He was also a moderator of WUCF\u2019s \u201cUCF Students View the News\u201d and played soccer with the International Student Association. Stewart has stayed connected to UCF by keeping in touch with his professors at professional conferences, or whenever he finds the time to come by campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI owe my professors for providing me a solid basis in political science and for the care they put into their teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

He describes the overall feeling he had during his time at UCF as his best UCF memory. He had a hunger to prove himself at the next level.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day I drove home from campus down University Blvd., I remember telling myself \u201cthis is the big time\u201d and treated my education like a job, studying or going to class during the 9-5 hours (unless I had to work), and not watching television or playing video games until after 5 p.m. And whenever there was an opportunity to try something new, and court failure, I took the opportunity!\u201d<\/p>\n

When Stewart was asked what advice he would give to current students he had quite a bit to offer, such as:<\/p>\n