When Carter Little walks across the stage on May 11 to receive his diploma during the University of the Ozarks’ 2024 Spring Commencement, it will mark a milestone in his immediate family’s history.
The business administration major from Oklahoma City will be the first in his family to earn a college degree.
“It makes me feel proud, but more than anything I think It makes my parents proud,” Little said. “I know how hard they worked for me to be successful, so to be about to graduate means a lot for myself and my family.”
Little expects 10-12 family members to attend the graduation ceremony, including an impressionable younger sister named Carlie.
“I hope that it will show her that if I can do it she can do it,” Little said. “Carlie really looks up to me and copies everything I do. I wish she wouldn’t because she has way more talent than I do. Setting a good example for her and achieving something like this is a way I can just be a great role model and big brother to her.”
Little said he was recruited to Ozarks to play basketball and committed to the University without having set foot on campus.
“Out of all the schools recruiting me, Ozarks was the least expensive, had the best professors, was one of the closest, and had a really pretty campus,” Little said. “My decision was a little different than most because I chose to attend here without ever coming on a visit. So, when I say that the school was pretty, it was just from the pictures I had seen.”
Little has shined both in the classroom and out of it during his time at Ozarks. He helped the Eagles win the school’s first conference championship in basketball in 27 years in 2021 and has been a student ambassador and a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee for two years. He served as student ambassador president during the 2023-24 academic year.
“I became a student ambassador because my first head basketball coach said I would be good at it,” Little said. “I had to attend this leader’s weekend that the student ambassadors, RAs, and OEMs were all at looking for new people to hire. At the end of the weekend, all three wanted to hire me, but I wanted to be an ambassador.”
With his friendly, outgoing and laid-back manner, Little soon found his niche as a student ambassador.
“I enjoy the people aspect of the ambassadors,” Little said. “People at Ozarks are nice, friendly, and wonderful to be around. It enhanced my time here because I learned how to work in a professional environment, be more dependable, learned to work with others, and learned to communicate better in a work setting. Being the lead ambassador forced me to become more organized and to think on all sides of issues and how it could affect people differently.”
Little said he considered transferring from Ozarks when the coach that recruited him left for another opportunity going into his junior year.
“The reason I stayed was because of the people and how Ozarks made me feel,” he said. “I talked to my family about transferring, but the conversations did not last long because Ozarks was home to me. Home is where your family is. It is where you grow up and feel comfortable. There was something about Ozarks that I knew was special. I mattered here. I was more than a number to people; I was Carter. People are always smiling, laughing, talking, and including you in everything.”
Following graduation, Little plans to attend graduate school with an eye on a career in coaching or athletic administration.
“As I became more involved in campus and played more years of basketball, I noticed I had a knack of communication and making people better,” Little said. “I decided on being a college coach because I feel that is the way I am being called. I realized that I am good at coaching people in life and making people better. I want to coach in college because I like the traveling aspect and the recruiting part. In being a student ambassador at Ozarks, I’ve been a part of the recruiting process, and I really enjoy it. There is a certain way family faces light up when you are on tour, and they realize they are getting an opportunity to better their family while playing basketball.”
Little believes his business degree will come in handy in a career as a coach or administrator.
“I continued to pursue my business degree because once I decided on coaching, I concluded that the business side of coaching is an asset I would need,” he said. “Managing money, income, and resources of a team is the same as doing it for a company. The same can be said for running an entire athletic program. With the human resources and marketing classes I have taken, I feel confident in not only having the right marketing for a program, but being able to hire a diverse and well-versed staff. The business degree is something I see as an asset as well as a great diversification in my academic and personal background. During my time here at Ozarks, I have developed the dream of being an athletic director and/or a coach. Having the diverse academic background is something that has over prepared me for my next chapter.”
Summing up his time at Ozarks, Little use the word “growth.”
“I grew a lot as an individual here; I grew physically, academically, personally, and just as a whole,” he said. “I was very much in my shell in high school and was not very involved. I would not go out of my way to do things or help my school. Now, I am the opposite. I want to help, I want to be involved, I want to make this place and everyone else better. I like being involved and leaving people with a smile. In my four years here, I can look at pictures and watch myself grow up. It is something that I don’t think many people can see in such a short time, but I can see it. I can think back to my freshman year and see how young and immature I was. I am super grateful for everyone that has helped me along the way because I did not do this alone. This place was the place for me to grow into who I needed to be. Ozarks will always be home to me. A place where I have grown, made memories and friends, and a place that I will always love.”
Another thing Little loves is knowing that on graduation day there will be one proud set of parents and numerous family members cheering him on.
“My parents worked hard to give me the opportunities I’ve had and to see me grow and capitalize on them is something I know they are proud of,” he said. “My parents say they took the hard road in life not getting a degree, so to see their first child walk across that stage will be emotional. I wouldn’t be surprised if my dad cried. They worked just as hard as I did to get here so this degree is not just for me, it’s for my whole family.”
Topics: Student Stories