Last spring, Ryan Millikin attended his first Forty Acres Scholars interview. Now, just a year later, Millikin will experience interviewing from the other side of the table as an elected First-Year Representative for UT's Student Government.

Millikin, a mechanical engineering major, decided to run for the position because he enjoyed being involved in student government in high school. Without the money, time, or staff professional politicians have for campaigning, Millikin learned to be resourceful.

"I stayed up until 2 a.m. making nearly 200 cookies," he says. "I knew my chemistry professor, so I took the cookies to class and handed them out. That was 600 people I got to talk to who might have voted for me."

As a first-year representative, Millikin is part of the 40-member Student Government organization. He has the opportunity to propose legislation and push for change. Millikin even gets to help distribute $30,000 to students as a member of the Financial Affairs Committee. Interviewing students, Millikin says, helps him to "have a better idea of what I need to be doing in interviews in the future."

Millikin is grateful for the Forty Acres Scholars program, which has given him the opportunity to pursue extracurricular activities, including Student Government and Texas Wranglers.

"It's easy to say, now that I have my college paid for, that it's not about the money—I'm able to be all about the experiences," Millikin says.

One of those experiences: bonding with his 13 fellow Forty Acres Scholars, whom he says are all already very close.

"We make time for each other," Millikin says.

While Millikin is enjoying his first semester with Student Government, it may not be a permanent gig.

"It's probably not something I'd do as a career, but it is something I enjoy," he says. "I'm definitely going to run again in the spring, though maybe for a different position."