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Every Maryville College graduate genuinely wants to make a difference, wherever their future paths take them. Eli Preswood, for instance, plans to return home to the Elk Park, North Carolina/Roan Mountain, Tennessee, area and use his degree in environmental studies to obtain a job with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, or with the state park service, or with the water or soil districts in his home county. It matters little, he said, as long as he can have a positive impact … and given the manner in which he wrapped up his higher education journey, it seems a safe bet to make that he will.

Preswood was named to the dean’s list for the spring 2025 semester; consideration for the dean’s list is open to full-time students who have a grade point average of at least 3.6 in all work undertaken, no grade below a “C” and no incompletes for the semester. In addition, he took part in the college’s May 3 commencement exercises held in the Clayton Center for the Arts, earning a Bachelor of Arts with magna cum laude honors (awarded for a cumulative grade-point average, or GPA, of 3.75 to 3.94).

“My long-term career goal is to be able to work in an environment and in a role in which I will be able to impact my community positively and leave an everlasting imprint for the betterment of the community,” he said. “The environmental studies degree provides me the flexibility to succeed in any role I put myself into, whether I end up working for the government at any level, such as the National Park Service, or pursuing a role in private industry. My goal is to create experiences and lasting memories for those around me.”

At April’s Celebration of Student Achievement, he earned the Outstanding Student in Environmental Studies Award, and last fall, he obtained a championship ring as part of an MC football squad that won the USA South Conference with a perfect record against conference opponents. The offensive lineman played a total of 25 games during his career with the Scots, being named to the USA South Academic All-Conference team twice.

In the classroom, his proudest achievement, he said, was the completion of his senior study, which examined organic farming in Southern Appalachia, a subject about which he’s fiercely interested. Ever since he came to Maryville College, he added, faculty members have encouraged him never to give up on his childhood dreams of working with and in the outdoors, and the proximity of the school to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, as well as the Maryville College Woods in its backyard, have reassured him that his career path is the right one.