Ask Eric Barnard, BS ’09, to recall the highlight of his four-year Purdue career and he has a quick, albeit surprising, answer.

It wasn’t earning a bagful of leadership awards and scholarships since arriving on campus in 2005 from Carroll (County) High School.

And no, it wasn’t even being named the winner of the G.A. Ross Award as the outstanding graduating man at Purdue when his academic career ended in May. Nor was it his election as Purdue’s student body president prior to his senior year.

“Although that was pretty cool,” admits the agricultural economics major.

What Barnard remembers as the highlight of a sparkling academic career (3.75 GPA) can be found way down on line 13 of his résumé under the leadership and activities heading.

It was the Purdue Student Government retreat at Rawls Hall in January 2007. Barnard was in the middle of his term as student body president.

“Everybody who was involved in Purdue Student Government participated,” Barnard recalls. It was a meeting that proved to Barnard that getting involved in student government can be much more than just a résumé builder.

“As a group, we asked, ‘Did we leave a mark, or was it all talk?’” Barnard says. “We just started throwing out what we had accomplished during the first semester, and we filled an entire chalkboard with the things we had done for students. Most of what we had done was not recognized by the majority of students, but that didn’t matter. At that moment, I think we all realized that it wasn’t all talk. That was pretty awesome.”

With classes, student government meetings and other campus activities, Barnard’s schedule had very few open spaces to accommodate things such as relaxation or hobbies.

“Hobbies?” Barnard says, as if it were a foreign word. “That would be great if I had one. I don’t know what I’d do if I actually had some free time. I have bank statements I haven’t looked at in six months.”

In June, Barnard started an internship with RICS Software (Retail Inventory Control System) in Indianapolis, a Web-based company that designs and supports software for retail businesses.

Barnard was one of 13 graduates from Indiana colleges and universities selected to participate in the Governor Bob Orr Indiana Entrepreneurial Fellowship this year. The goal of the two-year fellowships is to keep Indiana’s brightest young minds at home by matching them up with innovative host companies throughout the state.

“It’s a great opportunity to make a step in the direction I want to go,” Barnard says. “I have a whole list of things I’d like to do. I think it will be really interesting to see what I get involved in during the next year.”

Who knows? He may even find the time to read a few of his bank statements.

Contact Barnard at eric.m.barnard@gmail.com