Each year, our sophomore Tower Scholars sit down with the NexPoint Tower Scholar seniors to interview them so that they can create a “Senior Spotlight” blog post highlighting the senior’s unique story. Seniors share their journeys to develop a well-informed perspective on policymaking and international affairs through a combination of theory and practice in the program, alongside their multidisciplinary major courses of study. The conversations captured reflect the experience of our scholars and their learnings not only in the Tower Center but at SMU overall.
Aaliyah Staples ’26 interviewed Alexandra Pugh ’25 to learn more about her time as a NexPoint Tower Scholar to understand how the program has shaped her experience at SMU and how it will continue to shape her in the future.
A junior graduating in 2025, currently majoring in music and political science and minoring in public policy and international affairs, Alexandra Pugh hopes to work in policy.
As you reflect on your experience and memories in the program, what features of being a Tower Scholar will be a significant part of your life post-grad and why?
Tower Scholars is without a doubt the best part of my experience at SMU. I have learned so much through the program that I simply would not have been exposed to anywhere else on campus. The practicum, the D.C. trip, and the first Tower class with Professors Newton and Stanley are some of my favorite parts. I recently represented the Tower Center at a foreign policy conference in New York as well, which was a great experience. The Tower Scholars Program has a knack for hands-on learning. This dual practical and academic education will certainly stick with me post-graduation. I think the structure of the program places an individual responsibility on each student, too. There are only ten of you. You must contribute; you must have constructive thoughts to offer. It’s a very engaging setting.
The cohort system is another important element of Tower Scholars. The ten of you bond throughout three years of shared classes. The cohort camaraderie has been significant for me because I’ve had a fairly chaotic college experience. My dad was diagnosed with cancer soon after I started college, and I later took a leave of absence to help take care of him, which is why I’m in the senior cohort but still a junior at SMU. Having Tower Scholars as a home base helped me tackle what was candidly a very difficult undertaking.
I saw that you are a Research Intern at the Bush Center. That is awesome! What is your favorite part of working there, and how do you feel like your experience as a Tower Scholar shaped you in this position?
I love working at the Bush Institute. My research there is on Ukraine’s NATO accession prospects. It is rigorous, meaningful work, and I value the opportunity to engage with a very salient issue outside of the classroom. Two senior staff members at the Institute supervise my research: David Kramer, the executive director, and Igor Khrestin, the director of global policy. Both are brilliant policy professionals and true subject-matter experts. It’s an honor to work for and learn from them.
I started working at the Bush Institute for my Tower Scholars practicum. I initially anticipated providing research assistance to full-time fellows, but I ended up getting my own project and it’s been a really positive learning experience. The research and relationships stuck, and I returned to continue my Ukraine-NATO project after the practicum ended. I’m enormously grateful for the Tower Scholars Program for setting this opportunity in motion. I’ve been fascinated by the global implications of Russia’s newfound belligerence from the beginning; in fact, my first-ever Tower Scholars memo analyzed the Russian troop buildup only days before the invasion actually began. Completing my practicum and beyond on this subject has been a fulfilling full-circle moment. To be clear, the war in Ukraine is tragic, costly, and all-around horrific – but that’s what makes it so important to study. It’s a privilege to work on an issue so internationally vital and personally compelling.
I see you are a music major as well as a political science major. Are there any policies you are interested in related to music/music education?
Oddly enough, I found my way to political science through music. Five years ago, I started Downbeats, a program designed to engage disadvantaged middle school students in music. I’ve taught and run Downbeats ever since, and it’s a passion project in the truest sense of the phrase. Downbeats led me to consider the intersection of music and public policy, which in turn influenced me to apply to the Tower Scholars Program. Tower Scholars sparked my interest in a range of policy and IR topics, and I enjoyed it so much that I added a political science major – and now we’re here. Downbeats, like many good arts education initiatives, is about more than music. I do want my students to become better musicians, and I write the curriculum and music for that purpose. But I also want to facilitate personal growth and a sense of belonging through music. The point is not that every student becomes a professional musician, but that every student learns skills that equip them to overcome challenges and lead meaningful lives down the road. Downbeats is just a drop in the bucket, of course, but small, intensive change is what grassroots efforts are all about.
Outside of SMU, I also serve as the head drum major of the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum & Bugle Corps, a professional classical music ensemble. We rehearse throughout the winter and spring, then go on tour for the summer. As drum major, I am the conductor and the top performer leader of the corps. Marching drum corps is one of the most important things I’ve ever done – professionally, personally, you name it. It may seem like nothing here connects to Tower Scholars or even policy, but so much of my conception of leadership and institutional structure has been forged through drum corps. I also have fun applying political science concepts to drum corps, new lenses through which I analyze my corps. For example, models of the policy process have given me interesting insight into working between the four drum corps captains. Drum corps is intense: you’re rehearsing and performing for twelve hours a day, seven days a week, then hopping on the bus each night to head to the next city. Excellence is expected one-hundred percent of the time – in musicianship, but also in teamwork and discipline and integrity. I can’t overemphasize the importance of this deep dive in leadership, and I continue to draw on my experiences in drum corps even as I pursue a career outside of music.
If you could describe your experience in college through the lens of a candy, what candy would it be and why?
Sour Patch Watermelon. Sweet, a little sour, and bearing only a passing similarity to the picture on the box.
Finally, what advice do you have for current/future Tower Scholars as they navigate the program and college in general?
Try everything. See what sticks. When something isn’t a good fit, let it go; when something is, pour your energy into it. In no other stage of your life will you be tasked with simply learning everything you possibly can. I’m here now, doing this senior spotlight, because I decided to try something new, and it ended up being a career-defining interest. On the other side of the same coin: you have time. It’s okay to change course. It can seem like we should have it all figured out when we start college, but that’s rarely reality. If your current path isn’t right for you, now’s the time to take the plunge and find a different one. As a Tower Scholar, you already have a great network to learn from in your fellow scholars, your professors, and other professional connections in the program.
