Christopher Sawyers, Outstanding Sociology Minor

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Congratulations to Christopher Sawyers who has been named an Outstanding Sociology Minor.

Christopher is currently serving in the United States Air Force and has had many unique experiences between his online classes and his military career. His sociology classes have helped him adapt to the many changing environments and cultures he often finds himself. These skills have proved themselves useful time and time again in his current deployment to Japan, where he has been stationed for the last two years. “Cultural awareness is a crucial skill that is vital towards executing tasks that I deal with on a daily basis.”

Christopher also has used his sociology lessons to further understand the darker social issues children and families often experience. Some of the social issues he learned about in class prompted such passion, he continued to educate himself and learn about these issues on his own time. He feels that the issues faced by many people need more attention and that the knowledge gained from WKU has equipped him to lead others out of these dark situations.

As an active duty service member, Christopher has had many leadership opportunities. He is a chairman on the Outreach Committee in Okinawa where they provide service to the community. He was most recently involved in a toy and food drive in January 2020 for 52 local orphanages, single parent homes, and welfare offices. He and others worked to collect 596 toys and 901 pounds of non-perishable food. All together their efforts helped support 194 local Japanese households. Christopher truly displays the passion he feels for his sociology education and his military leadership through experiences like these. And his take on the leadership qualities he exhibits is quite modest, “The words ‘leadership’ and ‘military’ honestly are like synonyms to me. To put it simply, I put my uniform on every day and try my best to lead about thirty troops I serve alongside, in the right direction.”

Even though he hasn’t had a traditional college experience, Christopher got to participate in study abroad in a unique way. Because of his active duty status and his enrollment in the On-Demand format, he has been able to complete classes in 16 different countries including his two deployments to the Middle East. Christopher has no regrets and believes that without a doubt, he chose the right path.

After graduation and time in service has ended, Christopher wants to attend law school. With the passion, knowledge, and experience he has gained throughout his sociology classes, Christopher feels ready to take on the issues that excite him most. He plans to focus on family law; advocating for foster care reform, working in familial disputes, and child advocacy. He also plans to work on getting more legal aid for our nation’s veterans. “There are a few amazing law programs and clinics offered in our country that I have my eye on. They will hopefully build on what this department continues to lay the foundation for.”