Sensing there was an unused creative side patiently waiting under her tool belt, Hannah Hudgens decided to pursue agricultural communications at Texas Tech University. She is a second-year student at Texas Tech from Lubbock, Texas. Hudgens is a double major student, studying agricultural communications and creative media industries, while also minoring in natural resources management.
In high school, Hudgens was a high achieving student. She said her academics were very important to her but felt like she did not give herself the grace to do something creative. Hudgens said she planned to explore her avenues, possibly studying journalism and the technical writing aspect of things.
But when Jerod Foster, Ph.D., made a guest lecture appearance in a class, Hudgens said she immediately became interested in creative media industries.
“Jerod Foster lectured in my intro to ag comm class and was talking about the Adventure Media course and just all these opportunities as it relates to outdoor recreation,” Hudgens said. “So, my freshman year of college I added CMI as my dual major in hopes of doing some of these cool outdoor programs.”
One year later, Hudgens was accepted into the second cohort of the Bridge Adventure Program, a program for undergraduate students aimed at promoting diversity and inclusion through transformative learning experiences related to the natural environment.
“We’re preparing right now for a canoeing trip in Arkansas and we’re going to be canoeing the Buffalo River,” Hudgens said. “We’re going to be having some kind of research component with the organization.”
Hudgens said it was neat to see her classmates learn and experience the outdoors for the first time. During her time working with the Bridge Adventure Program, Hudgens said it was heavily focused on outdoor recreation.
“Watching people set up tents for the first time, and kind of just dip their toes in the water, it’s been really cool just watching them get excited about it because not everybody comes from an outdoor-based background,” Hudgens said. “Like going camping when they’re little or fly fishing or just doing things outside, so it’s been really fun watching them learn.”
During a close to 175-mile bikepacking trip for Adventure Media, Hudgens said there was a day when they biked over 45 miles.
“You just have a sense of gratitude that you’re able bodied and that you can do something so fun and so challenging at the same time, but then also it brought out a lot of humility,”
Hannah Hudgens
“You just have a sense of gratitude that you’re able bodied and that you can do something so fun and so challenging at the same time, but then also it brought out a lot of humility,” Hudgens said. “But doing it with other people and having that sense of community was really just a neat opportunity to grow as a person and grow more mindful of those around you and doing it as a collective effort.”