Sometimes it is good to rest and take time for yourself. But to reach her goals, Nakiera Bea knew she had to push out of her comfort zone. The question was how?
“I'm not athletic. I'm really not that mathematic, either. Science? I don't like any of those kinds of things, but I'm more of a community and leadership person,” she said.
The challenge was figuring out how to turn that proclivity into something meaningful. She took a step in the right direction by joining the Ambassadors Campus Team and the Student Leadership Challenge to get more involved.
The capstone project for the Leadership Challenge, a proposal for a peer-led mentorship program, inspired Bea.
“I'm looking forward to building a greater sense of community,” she said. “Really making a change at AACC to put my mark (on it).”
But she already is.
“Being involved more kind of gives me those doors that have been opened to me,” she said.
One of those doors was the chance to participate in Student Advocacy Day. For Bea, getting to speak directly with legislators about issues facing community colleges and students was a “life-changing experience.”
“Not a lot of my family has gotten a chance to step into that realm,” she said. “It gives me a chance to actually look at people that are for our school.”
Now, as a business administration and entrepreneurship major planning to transfer to Morgan State University, Bea says her perspective on community college has completely changed.
“Coming here, it showed me that there are people that are willing to work with you, take the time to sit down and talk to you,” she said.
To students just getting started, she recommends that they pace themselves and give themselves “mercy and grace,” but not get too comfortable.
“Immerse yourself fully,” she said. “Let go of that fear. Drive and push yourself to do things.”
Because, she’s learned, outside the comfort zone is where change happens and where you begin to leave your mark.