top of page
Search

Whomever You Want to Be

  • Journalists
  • Jul 12, 2019
  • 2 min read

By: Jaley Adkins


“Sancho, I know who I am and I know I can be whomever I want to be,”

Aristófanes Cedeño said as he summarized his favorite quote from Don Quixote, a book that has made a tremendous difference in his life. For those familiar with this Spanish Literature masterpiece, it is not hard to draw parallels between Don Quixote and Aris. From a young age, Aris demonstrated characteristics of his hero. Living in Panama, he took advantage of every opportunity that came his way. Though some would see attending five different schools before sixth grade in a negative light, Aris said they were all wonderful experiences and laid the foundation for his itinerant life. Similar to Don Quixote, Aris remained optimistic through his travels and passionate for the people around him. Aris describes himself as a humanist; he said he is “all about the human race”. He has demonstrated this through his involvement with the Kentucky Humanities Council. This council focused on telling the story of Kentucky, does so through historical reenactments, plays, and other types of performances. As an avid reader, Aris has enjoyed his involvement with the Kentucky Book Fair the council organizes every year for the people and communities of this state. Just as Don Quixote believed it was his fate to be a knight errant, it was fate in 1991 when Aris saw a flyer advertising the Governor’s Scholars Program. The flyer was looking for “innovative educators”. Naturally, Aris called the number and the executive director and founder of the program answered. On January 19, 1992, he was accepted to be an instructor at the Murray State campus to teach Spanish.

From there, Aris continued to work his way up the program and in 1994 he became the

campus director of Northern Kentucky University. Later, he became the Executive Director and Academic Dean of the program.

“The beauty of the job is working with bright minds,”

Aris said. His adoration for the people he works with is shown in the grace and passion he exhibits every day. Aris has stayed hopeful throughout his years involved in the program that the participating scholars will grow emotionally, mentally, and in a few cases physically. It is his goal for the program for every student to leave after five weeks with a mentor, an idea for a vocation path, and something that will begin a trajectory of success in their life.

Aris has always known that he can be whomever he wants to be. Through the course of

his education, career, and life in general, Aris has become who he wants to be. He still works

continuously to be the best version of himself and has advised those around him to “own the

growing”. Growing does not come without struggle, it’s not something anybody else can do for you. This relates back to the story of Don Quixote. People were wary of his ambitions and

wanted to hold him back, but as Aris said, “You have to set your goal and keep going”. This is

how you will become whomever you want to be.



Comments

Subscribe For Updates

Thanks for submitting!

Faculty

Unknown-1.jpeg

Jennifer Price grew up in Hopkins County, Kentucky and attended South Hopkins High School. She was a Governor’s Scholar at Murray State University in 1992, and was assigned the Social and Political Theory focus area. After high school, she attended Transylvania University and pursued a degree in Psychology. She finished her bachelor’s degree and then decided to complete graduate school at the University of Arkansas, where she received a doctoral degree in clinical psychology. She has been a member of the GSP faculty and staff for many years, ranging from 1994 to present. She has done every job available except be a focus area instructor. Jen was recently encouraged by her friends to begin running and even completed a half marathon last may. Jen is a wife to Pete, and a mother to two children, Jacob (15) and Eli (12).

Unknown.jpeg

Josh Woodward was a 1992 scholar at Murray State University. After completing undergraduate school at the University of Kentucky, Josh obtained a Masters in Water Resources from Minnesota and a Masters in Teaching from Cornell University. Outside of the program, Josh teaches a variety of science classes at Berea Community High School. When asked about his favorite part of the program, Josh responded with, “My favorite part is the notion that the five weeks is not really the program. It is everything after.” Nearly thirty years later, Josh and his fellow scholars are still close friends. 

Unknown.jpeg

Helen Heines grew up in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, which is in Bullitt County. She attended North Bullitt High School where she applied and was accepted to attend GSP at Murray State University in 2010. Upon graduation in 2011, she continued her education at Western Kentucky University with a degree in elementary education. Currently, Helen is a 5th grade social studies teacher in Louisville, and spends her summers deeply involved in the GSP community. She began working as a Resident Advisor (RA) at Bellarmine University in 2015. She began moving up the ranks to become head RA and then later she obtained the title of Assistant Campus Director, a title that she still holds. 

© 2019 by Bella's Journalists. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page