22 | NPAR
alumni spotlight
LUKE HOGUE
“North Port High provided all these different opportunities to me,
and it taught me the lessons of time management, prioritizing and
figuring out what you’re truly passionate about...”
has been voted the No. 1 campus
tradition in the nation and attracts over
40,000 attendees each year.
Written by: Megan Hart
NPAR Correspondent
F
Hogue’s accomplishments do not end
there, though. In 2016, he won Mr. UCF,
a title that came with the
opportunity to travel the country and
speak on youth leadership and
empowerment. His on-campus
involvement also scored him a once-in-
a-lifetime trip to the Middle East with
the David Project, an Israel-based or-
ganization that brings together student
leaders from all over the world.
or anyone who attended North
Port High School with Luke
Hogue, it likely comes as no
surprise that the 2013 graduate
has gone on to do big things at the
University of Central Florida.
Hogue, a former NPHS student
athlete, is involved in several
leadership organizations. He served as
the three-time chair of UCF’s
homecoming and was named Mr. UCF
in 2016. He even earned the opportunity
to travel to the Middle East where he
met with other campus leaders from
around the world. According to Hogue,
all his success has come, in part, thanks
to the lessons he learned at North Port.
“North Port High provided all these
different opportunities to me, and it
taught me the lessons of time
management, prioritizing and figuring
out what you’re truly passionate about
so that you never have to really do a day
of work in your life,” Hogue said.
At North Port, Hogue was involved with
student government, National Junior
Honor Society, theater and athletics.
He played basketball and competed on
the track and field team. In fact, he was
a back-to-back state finalist in the high
jump during his junior and senior years.
Although Hogue hung up his high
jumping shoes when he went to UCF,
he did become an active member of the
campus community. He joined the
fraternity Beta Theta Pi, which he lead
him to a group called LEAD Scholars.
LEAD Scholars introduced him to
homecoming committee, and the rest is
history.
After volunteering as a coordinator his
freshman year, the Office of Student
Involvement selected Hogue to serve as
homecoming chair during his
sophomore year. He was the youngest
chair of the event in UCF history. As an
18-year-old, he managed a $450,000
budget. His responsibilities included
booking concerts, public speaking and
organizing Spirit Splash, an event that
Hogue visited Israel, Jordan and the
West Bank. On his travels, he
experienced everything from a
five-star resort in Tel Aviv to huts in the
desert. Along with other students from
universities across the globe, Hogue
learned about the region’s cultures and
religions.
“I learned that different cultures share a
lot of common values and are working
toward the same future,” Hogue said.
Thanks to Hogue’s involvement and his
excellent grades – he has landed himself
on the Dean’s List every semester at
UCF – George Washington University
accepted him into its graduate school,
where he will earn a Master’s in
Organizational Leadership and Learning.
He will head to Washington D.C. after he
graduates from UCF on May 4.