I Attended NMU…Without Even Visiting First

I had the acceptance letter, the logoed t-shirts…it was set: I was going to Tougaloo College in Mississippi. Then Hurricane Katrina hit and even colleges had to take a pause to rebuild. So, I had to figure out Plan B – which took me north (wayyyy north) instead of south. 

NMU offered me a scholarship so I said, “Alright, let’s do this!”…even though I had no idea where Marquette was. My mom and I packed up the car and printed out the Mapquest directions. Before the ink was even dry she looked at me and said, “Wait, it’s eight hours away?!” I shrugged and got in the car.

You see, my mom always raised me to understand that the world is our neighborhood, made up of different people from different cultures and backgrounds. She put me in STEM classes (on the weekends!) and had me audition for plays. Sometimes I was the only black person in the room. She made it a point to surround me with people of other ethnicities and various walks of life, so I wouldn’t be lopsided in how I communicated with others. So, I’m not sure why she was surprised when it didn’t scare me to choose a school that was eight hours north of home and a campus I hadn’t even stepped foot on yet.

I spent my first day on campus taking it all in – this was my home now. At the time, I didn’t realize it was going to be home for over six years!

In undergrad, I studied media productions and journalism – I wanted to be the next hottest news reporter! But during my junior and senior year, my plans changed. I wasn’t ready to jump into the “real-world” and needed more time to figure out what I wanted to do. I enrolled in NMU’s Industrial Organizational Psychology program and began graduate school immediately after graduation. In this program, we focused on process improvement, organizational development, how people think and what motivates them…I loved it!

My capstone at NMU was an internship in Human Resources and I was able to put everything into practice that I learned in the classroom. I’ve worked in HR ever since and am currently the HR coordinator at a rehab facility.

I’m always open to trying new things (as you can see by my spur of the moment move to Marquette!) so I’m not sure what the future holds. But I know I’ll continue to carry the lessons learned at NMU with me. NMU helped me learn how to adapt, not just to the climate, but in the ways I interact with people and accept who they are as a whole person. I am more confident, secure and open to new experiences – NMU gave me the resources to be able to feel that way. I struggled my first year of graduate school and through the resources on campus, found out I had ADHD. I was provided with a tutor and helpful tips for navigating the way I learn vs. the way everyone else learns. This was life-changing for me.

I was the president of the Black Student Union for two or three years and we always felt the support from the campus community. We were able to bring advocates to the university to speak on culture, inclusion and other topics. We hosted a world festival of food and brought hip hop artists to our stages. The leaders of the university at the time recognized that it was necessary to support minority groups because of our location. They were aware of the diversity issue and made sure that anytime we wanted to bring a piece of our cultures or history to campus, we were supported.

I’m grateful to NMU for letting me be me, so I could share where I came from but still be part of NMU’s story. And it could be part of mine.