Preston Busby, criminal justice senior and music minor, is in his final semester.

“I’m taking 15 hours this semester but two of those are online,” Busby said. “I have my alarm set for five o’clock in the morning to wake up. I do not usually wake up until six [or] seven.  I would then get ready to come to the office usually about ten o’clock. On Mondays, I have a meeting with Dr. [Keith] Lamb, [vice president for student affairs], and then I would head to math which is 12 p.m. -1 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Then I have an hour break before choir which is at 2 p.m. On Tuesdays, I wake up roughly around the same time, I do the same thing, and although my first class is at 9:30 a.m. I am done by 10:50 a.m. I would then spend the rest of the day either in the office or visiting with Ruby [Arriaga, student involvement activities coordinator], or Dr. [Syreeta] Greene, [director of Office of Equity, Inclusion and Multicultural Affairs].”

The office Busby refers to is the Student Government Association office, in the Clark Student Center. Although the office is officially open Monday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Busby said it is an easy place to be and he tends to spend a lot of time there. This seems understandable given that, as Vice President of the SGA, he has a number of responsibilities to attend to throughout the week.

“I am in charge of running the meetings so I am in charge of putting the agenda together. If a meeting requires one, then I would organize for guest speakers. My meetings with Dr. Lamb on Mondays are concerning school topics such as budgeting, SGA plans, what the school has going on and how we feel the students would benefit or feel about it.”

As part of his SGA position, Busby sits on two committees the traffic appeals committee and academic council. The traffic appeals committee meets weekly to review student tickets and parking violations to determine who qualifies for an appeal. The academic council is which meets almost monthly to discuss issues such as the academic calendar, admissions requirements, and different course catalogs.

Although Busby is enjoying a lighter-than-usual course load this spring, he keeps busy the with a number of other activities. He has been an active member of the University Programming Board and Omega Delta Phi, a multicultural and service fraternity, since his freshman year and took on a new challenge as a sophomore- singing in the Echoes of Gospel Choir.

“At first, I didn’t really want to do it because I never started anything before. But as I started asking people… I saw that more people would be interested in joining it or at least having one on campus,” Busby said. “I had always wanted to be in a gospel choir outside of the church so I was like, ‘yeah let’s do it!'”

The Echoes of Gospel Choir holds a concert every semester and meets every Thursday from 6 p.m. -7:30 p.m. in Fain C 117.

Busby said, “Everyone is welcome if you want to praise God or play an instrument, we take anybody.”

The footwork involved in starting a new organization seemed to only serve as a stepping stool for Busby and gave him more room to discover how else he could be immersed in student life.

“That really got me involved.. recruiting members and talking to new people,” Busby said. “Within that same year, I also became more active in SGA and I joined the service committee, just doing community service around Wichita Falls and stuff. I became vice president and that [was] just a whole other thing… Now I feel I know more of and understand the inner workings of the campus and why things seem different, why things change. And now when students come and [ask]  ‘why did this happen’ I can explain and be like well this is the reason why.”

As hectic as his schedule can get, Busby knows that order is key to having a successful day. He said he cherishes his mornings the most.

“[On] the days that I wake up late, usually that’s a sign that I will have a rougher day…if I wake up on time and I’m energized and eat before then I’m pretty decent. I’d say it’s the most important part because it sets my pace.”

Unreserved as Busby may seem he, like many students, prefers to do his schoolwork solo.

“I have to study alone,” Busby said. “It’s hard for me to study with other people because I end up talking or not focusing. I need a little bit of sound to be able to study so I usually have music or like a TV show playing in the background.”

Taking inventory of what study habits are effective as he continues his academic career, Busby said he intends to study criminal law after he graduates this May. He also took the Law School Admissions Test, the LSAT.

“The LSAT is a lot of…not necessarily games, but you have to know the test before you take it,” Busby said. “You have to understand the wording, how they phrase things, you have to understand an argument, a conclusion and then figure out assumptions from it and how the argument should logically end. So the hardest part is figuring out how it’s set up I guess.”

According to the Princeton Review, the LSAT is comprised of four sections; logical reasoning, analytical reasoning, reading comprehension and a writing sample which is not scored. The first three sections are given scores ranging from 120-180, the average being 151.

Busby said he finds it helpful to set a goal and remain intent on accomplishing it. What drives his efforts most is wanting to attend law school. Others who have worked with him convey the impression that this is reflected in his work ethic. Syreeta Greene, director of the Office of Equity, Inclusion and Multicultural Affairs said Preston is an enthusiastic and is a proactive leader.

“I remember when I first had a chance to meet him. He was thinking about bringing back the choir,” Greene said. “We talked it through, and he moved forward with it after seeing that it was something he thought was important not only for him but for the students. I find him to be very committed to being a student leader and [he] has great follow through.”

After graduation Busby said he is, “looking forward to getting another foothold in the real world and slowly becoming [more of] an adult.”