“I love central Arkansas. I did not want to leave central Arkansas,” Gainor said.

After moving to Little Rock from Trujillo, Honduras, as a high school sophomore, he had grown to love the region and knew he wanted to remain here. He also wanted to attend a university that would give him the opportunity to stand out, and the University of Central Arkansas answered both callings and much more.

“I wanted to separate myself from the crowd and have a different experience, and I felt BT天堂would allow for me to have that different experience, and it did,” Gainor said.

As a BT天堂student, standing out is exactly what he did. Gainor was involved in a variety of campus groups including Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity, the Student Orientation Staff, Association of Future Alumni and the Student Government Association. He also took part in many of the activities the university afforded.

“The career fair and relationship with the university and the employers allowed for me to get a fast start and create the ultimate goal of being employed after college,” he said.

Gainor interned with Northwestern Mutual then accepted a permanent role with the company after graduation. He currently serves as managing director of his Northwestern Mutual office in Conway.

He continues to be involved as a community volunteer and mentor, and he encourages the employees in his office to do the same. More recently, Gainor and his family endowed a $50,000 scholarship at BT天堂in memory of his father, Drew Marshall Gainor.

“My wife, Lauren, and I wanted to start on this career path of philanthropy at a young age rather than wait until we were in our 50s, 60s or older than that,” he said, adding that he has begun to challenge others to consider funding scholarships. “A scholarship can make a huge difference at any level.”

Starting in 2019, the Drew Marshall Gainor Scholarship will be awarded to Hispanic students majoring in finance, insurance and risk management, or innovation and entrepreneurship. This is the first scholarship fund established at BT天堂for Hispanic business students.

He said he is proud to have the family name associated with the university and believes his father would also be proud.

Gainor said, “I think he would say that it was the right thing to do, and he’d be proud that I did the right thing.” 谓 Fredricka Sharkey

On any given day, a television, bookcase, couch, washing machine and several racks of clothes could be found in the space鈥攁nd it鈥檚 all because Bunting runs a ministry of sorts right out of his home. Bunting, a Conway native who retired as a skilled trades helper at the University of Central Arkansas Physical Plant in 2014, has collected and distributed donated items of all kinds for well over a decade for the elderly, low-income and others in need.

鈥淚 think the biggest thing is everybody needs a hand up at different times,鈥� Bunting said.

Bunting was raised in a family of ministers and missionaries and considers service a key part of his upbringing. He began his ministry by collecting clothes for people of all ages and eventually added appliances, furniture, toys and more.

He does not advertise this work. Word of mouth keeps his ministry strong and much of that has come from BT天堂faculty and staff, who post about his need for donations online.

鈥淭hey鈥檝e been great. They have done basically the greater percentage of this,鈥� Bunting said. 鈥淚 started out with them, and it just kind of grew there. That鈥檚 basically where a lot of people got my name and my number from.鈥�

Those in need can browse Bunting鈥檚 garage like a store. When someone doesn鈥檛 have a car, Bunting delivers the items free of charge. It鈥檚 been about eight years since he鈥檚 regularly stored a vehicle in his garage, he said.

鈥淎ctually, I considered renting a building one time because there were so many donations coming in I couldn鈥檛 accommodate everything in here,鈥� he said.

In the future, Bunting hopes this outreach can be housed within his church, Sinai Church of God in Christ in Conway.
鈥淚鈥檓 hoping at some point in time that I can actually move the distribution point from here to the church because it would be more accessible for people to come and look and everything,鈥� he said.

Bunting said he plans on remaining persistent with this ministry, which allows him to see happiness on others鈥� faces.

鈥淧eople are so grateful. They say, 鈥極h, man, thank you, thank you. We really appreciate this,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the joy that I get, the satisfaction I see on their face and the relief on their face. Because a lot of times they don鈥檛 have anything, and they鈥檙e desperate. They don鈥檛 have any money. When they get something, they鈥檙e really grateful.鈥�

After graduating in 1986, Jennifer Moore came back to BT天堂in 1994 to teach in the Department of Occupational Therapy and became chair of the department in 2015. Within a few years of her employment at UCA, she identified a way to bridge her professional knowledge with her work with students and give back to the community.

In 1997, Moore began co-directing a program called Acting Creates Therapeutic Success (ACTS). This program provides opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to participate in the performing arts.

鈥淭he reason I do it is I just think everybody ought to have the opportunity to fully participate in their community to do the things they want to be able to do,鈥� she said.

Starting in the spring each year, Moore and roughly 20 occupational therapy students meet weekly with 60 of these individuals from the Conway community to create and perform a theatrical piece. The performers are involved in all aspects of the production of the play, from costumes and set design to theme and character development.

Moore sees the interaction between the university community and performers as entertaining but also uplifting.

鈥淭here are no scripts or anything like that. We come up with the theme, and the performers take it over and develop the storyline,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淪o if the setting happens to be a Western, it doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean that Elvis won鈥檛 make an appearance. It can be whatever they want it to be.鈥�

Then in the fall, performers and volunteers begin play rehearsals, and the show is held in November at Reynolds Performance Hall for about 400 in attendance. Moore praised the lighting and sound team at Reynolds for helping to make the play successful.

鈥淚 cannot say enough about them; they are now used to working with individuals who have disabilities,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淭hey recognize that since we don鈥檛 have a script, our performers may or may not say when they are finished, so they are in tune with what may or may not happen, and they help us help them perform to the best of their ability.鈥�

While Moore has enjoyed her time at BT天堂mentoring, teaching and advising, she accepted a position as the founding chair of the occupational therapy program at Arkansas Colleges of Health Education in Fort Smith. Her new role started Nov. 1.

The Woodson native, who earned his degree in middle level education in May, is not only an educator but also a spoken-word artist and rapper, an artistic path that he uses to challenge perceptions and give a voice to the marginalized.

“Poetry is a unique method of expression because there is no limit,” said Pennington, who is an eighth-grade social studies teacher at Pinnacle View Middle School in Little Rock. “It’s the power of words. You start with an idea and then manifest from there.”

At age 5, Pennington’s uncle encouraged him to experiment with freestyling and rhyming. When he was 12, he learned how to put his words to music. Pennington first took to the stage to compete with a spoken-word piece during his senior year at Wilbur D. Mills University Studies High School in Little Rock, where he was also inspired to become an educator.

“Though teaching is not a lucrative career money-wise, you can get rich in spirit,” Pennington said. “You have the opportunity to help people who will be a part of a world that you won’t be in. But your lessons [and] how you reached people will.”

Pennington has reached members of the University of Central Arkansas campus community through performing pieces on bullying, gang violence and self-esteem. His skills have even caught the attention of UCA’s College of Education, which invited him to recite his poem “School Politics” that explores how teachers must inspire students in order to bring out the best in them.

Studying at BT天堂influenced many of the themes he covers in his work, too.

“When it comes to the experiences they’ve provided me, when it comes to working with people, when it comes to life lessons that you learn as you grow up, I feel like I’ve learned most of those lessons at UCA,” Pennington said.

While continuing his career path as an educator, Pennington said, he’ll still incorporate poetry into his journey.
“If I never do anything else in my life, I’m happy being a teacher,” he said. “But at the same time, I feel like God wouldn’t have gave me this ability to do what I do if I wasn’t supposed to at least attempt it.”