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From the "Ouachitonian": Jace Bradshaw

January 01, 2020
Previously published in the 2017 Ouachitonian yearbook. 

One of the largest buildings on campus, the Jones Science Center, was home to many great minds. Science scholars were no strangers to success. In fact, these students were known on campus for living inside of Jones. With so much work to do, they almost never had time to leave.

One of those students not only spent his four years at Ouachita living inside the building, but was inside from the moment it was built.

Jace Bradshaw, a biology, chemistry and applied physics triple major from Arkadelphia, was the son of Dr. Joe Bradshaw, chair of the department of chemistry, He was one of the most decorated students in the Patterson School of Natural Sciences. Science had been part of his life for as long as he could remember because as he grew up, the science building grew with him.

“My dad has been teaching here for 23 years. I’ve grown up around the campus. Moses-Provine used to be the science building a while back, so I have memories of being inside there. Then I can remember when they built Jones, and they moved all the chemicals over to the brand new building,” said Bradshaw.

Bradshaw got to experience college from an especially unique perspective at an early age.

“Every year they take a trip to the American Chemical Society meeting, and that was a big deal to me,” Bradshaw said. “They were always held at a cool place, and I got to hang out with college students from an early age. My dad used to do late night study sessions, and my mom took classes at night, so I always had to pick one to go with. I always chose my dad because he would have a little set of goggles and bottles for me to prepare and play with while he taught his classes. In fact, to this day there’s still a little pair of goggles and bottles in his office.”

This early exposure to college life and science propelled Bradshaw on to an rigorous academic path. After taking Physics I and II while still in high school, he had serious aspirations ahead of him.

“I was hardly considering Ouachita. It wasn’t really on my radar. I had been accepted at Rice and Vanderbilt to name a few, but at the end of the day, those relationships at OBU I had already formed led me to pick the school,” Bradshaw said.

He was the winner of the Freshman Chemistry Student of the Year award, the Brown Biology Award his sophomore year and the Provine Scholarship his junior year. In addition to these awards, Bradshaw was the recipient of the Edwin Gaston National Scholarship and the Alpha Chi Regional Scholarship, while also receiving a research award at a central Arkansas symposium.

Planning to be a physician, Ouachita played an important part in solidifying Bradshaw’s passion for natural sciences at a very early age.

By Ian Craft

Photo by Andy Henderson


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