Jerome is currently working five jobs, four of which are just to pay the bills and do not have anything to do with his end goal. His primary focus is his website,
LTASEX.info, which he wants to build into the ultimate resource for sex education.
and starting my new, jobless college life. College was… college. Like many students, I meandered
quite a bit. I took classes I liked, slept in too oſten and partied too much. I didn’t get my bearings until I saw my abysmal final grades from winter 2010, my fiſth semester. From there, things sped up to a blur and before I knew it, I was staring my final semester dead in the face. Te idea of graduation terrified me; I had no idea if I was
ready to take the next step. For weeks, I was consumed by the idea that aſter successfully walking across the stage I would immediately trip and fall flat on my face. Te feeling that I would fail to launch post-graduation kept growing and by November I would panic just thinking about Dec. 19. I’m not sure when or why but at a certain point, I decided to
simply take my impending graduation with grace. I’d spent five years and thousands of dollars working towards a single goal. I had to trust I was ready and I’m glad I did. Because, as it turned out, I was more than ready. I’m still a litle shaky on my feet and the uncertainty of the next
few months is a bit scary. But with so many opportunities on the horizon – many of which started before graduation – I can say that I’m excited. Despite our many differences over the years, I have EMU to thank for that.”
—Jerome Stuart Nichols (BS12) psychology, human sexuality minor
“I
really enjoy interacting with people and learning new things about people. I volunteered for orientation as an undergrad and was able to use what I was learning in anthropology in my role, in being their group leader,
24 Eastern | SPRING 2013
Michael has started graduate school at EMU and is working as a graduate hall director for Residence Life. He’s studying student affairs and will be looking for jobs in Residence Life or New Student Orientation at universities comparable in size to EMU.
Ten I thought more about it, and realized it was such a great opportunity to have a live-in position, have the experience of supervising undergraduate staff members and handling crisis response, conflict mediation, just the overall administration of a residence hall, so I took him up on the offer and applied for this position. I found out two days before commencement that I was going to have this job. I was very fortunate to go from undergrad to a grad program three weeks later.”
—Michael Volkman (BS12) in Anthropology with double minor in Geography and History, graduated with University Honors and Summa Cum Laude
showing them around campus, providing them with resources, helping them acclimate to the university. I realized that while I enjoy the academic seting, history and geography and anthropology, as a career I wanted to make sure I could be helpful to people. Tat’s why I geared more toward student affairs. I was a nervous wreck at commencement in December, but at the same time this was cool. I knew I was going to finish early, in three and a half years. I knew I was ahead of my game. In the middle of my junior year, I knew how many credits I had, how many I needed, and what courses to take. I had systematically planned it all out because I’m like that. Ten I applied to three different graduate programs for student affairs for Fall 2013. My goal was to take a semester off, relax and just reward myself. But then my adviser/mentor presented me with an opportunity to apply for this open position in Residence Life. At first, I was like I appreciate it but I want to extend my horizons, go to a different university.
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