Student Spotlight:
Justin Bush is only a freshman but he already has blossomed since coming there.
“Back in high school I really wasn’t involved in the institution,” he said. “I felt that once I graduated from high school I wanted to come to Saint Augustine’s University and be nothing but great and step out of my comfort zone.”
Bush seems to have done that. He serves as Freshmen Vice President of the Student Government Association, is a member of sons of Saint Augustine’s, a member of Falcons for Health, a member Presidential Advisory Board, and a member of TRIO.
The elementary education major from Holly Springs, NC, said his experience at SAU has been “life- changing.” He added. “When I came to SAU, I felt that I had low self-esteem and SAU help be strive to be the best that I can be.”
Bush said the university’s staff is helpful and that he has been able to find it a lot of good role models and good mentors. “There are many people that I can look up to and appreciate and there are many who I can go to for advice.”
One of his role models is Isis Thomas, the SGA President. “She is very strong and smart and knowledgeable and open-minded,” he said. He also said he likes the fact that the SGA members is constantly trying to help the organizations on campus and improve the university. He has enjoyed working on campus clean-up activities and finding new ways of getting students to come together and interact with one another, Bush said.
One other thing Bush likes about Saint Augustine University is being around African Americans who have the same dreams and drive as him. “What motivates me to do my best is my family,” he said. “I am the first person in our family to go to college.”
Bush wasn’t sure, after he graduated from high school, that he even wanted to go to college. He interrupted his education for two years to “find myself,” he said.
He is confident he made the right decision. He already knows how he will the elementary education degree that he is working on.
“I want to open my own business – a daycare for single mothers,” he explained. “It will be low-cost so they can have somewhere safe for their children to go without costing them a lot.”
— Sterling Raynor
