thank you so much for joining our
project for being part of it can you
start by introducing yourself a little
when you’re going to graduate what you
my name is dionne nicholson i am class
of 22 so i’m going to graduate this
my major is music education
continue my education go to grad school
that’s what i’m hoping to do in the next
coming coming years and then eventually
you know go and teach college just like
that’s excellent so what do you think
about teaching at you know as a you know
at local schools uh you know as part of
my training in music education it’s been
and i definitely know that teaching will
always be part of my life and i’ll be
probably the rest of my life
did you how did you hear about ulp
yeah i heard about it i was at boys
state if you don’t know what that is
uh a summer camp kind of deal where
you’re in like your junior year a high
history teacher might recommend like
boys from your school and you can go you
and there’s like a bunch of other just
uh there and it’s like a simulated
government kind of thing so like you
kind of build up your own
system of government and stuff and it’s
like it’s like a fun thing and like you
you learn a lot about you know how
politics and stuff work and uop
was there on like their college
like fair kind of thing and that was the
first time i ever heard of it if you
were university pacific and uh
instantly like like oh wow this is super
cool like i i went and talked to him
after i got onto like the emailing list
and then they sent me like the tiger
thing whatever the link that you can
apply and i was i was just
hooked since day one yeah
you know many african-americans or maybe
i shouldn’t say many there are some
african-americans who have never had the
opportunity in their family to go to
university college and is your family
are you the first generation or
yeah how does that make your family feel
um my family has always been super proud
they’ve shown it a lot they’ve shown
you know they’re very very protective of
went through schools uh one of them went
but and the first one has been like you
continuing and continuing the education
there’s like a lot of aspects to like
being a first generation other than just
like academically that like i
don’t really realize like financially
uh it’s like the first time they’ve had
to like you know save the money and do
all this stuff to get me through school
it’s been all right but yeah
or do you feel pressure you know and as
a you know the person in the family
you know that to succeed to make sure
that money’s been well worth being spent
that kind of classroom yeah
i think i always feel pressure
but not not necessarily a bad way you
know uh just as a black male i feel
be always on it but that’s kind of just
that like drives me you know my pressure
i have people who are expecting me to
that’s so cool you know i know that part
not only just focusing on your academics
but it’s about building community and
relationships are you involved in any
aspects of campus life apart from your
classes that you attend yeah um i’ve
of pacific stop tone she’s like our
collegiate acapella group for four years
um i’m a member of five you alpha it’s
like a greek life uh it’s like a music
fraternity on campus i’ve been a member
my sophomore year so this is coming on
you know i’ve been a part of a lot of
the culture of culture groups like like
uh vsa i’ve like gone to a lot of their
their events and stuff so i i try to
keep myself kind of connected to these
um just kind of like available i guess
i’ve been you know contacted a lot by
psa and stuff and we’ve done we’ve done
yeah i just really try to stay connected
you know not just like my
my own circle in the conservatory but
it’s kind of like a whole broader
that’s excellent being a small campus
there are aspects of it you’re able it’s
easy to stay connected i think but did
you feel even though it’s a small campus
yours your color could have been
you know there’s just no there’s not a
a lot of us on this campus
we kind of just stick out like yeah
yeah but since there’s not a lot of us
you gotta get the both sides of it of
there’s not a lot of us so we’re more
welcomed more loved or more
you know we have kind of a little bit
more leeway kind of thing out the other
side where it’s like we’re kind of
feeling more ostracized more pushed away
just like not like not to be done with
um so you kind of feel both sides i
don’t see it as an issue because i you
know tend to stay on the good side
um and you know i just kind of ignore
there’s that shouldn’t be a reason to
stop me from from doing the things i
want to do absolutely i want to go back
to the fact that you are involved in the
stocktonians and the stocktons
do you have any leadership roles in any
of those yeah i’m the i’ve been the
music director for pacific stock dance
you know so i like him putting all the
concerts and like we recorded an album
this semester so that’s going to drop in
june so that’s really exciting um
uh just kind of like a representative of
finding alpha in terms of like uh
um i’ve been a representative of that
for a year so yeah that’s excellent
you know i wanna thank you so much for
um you know giving your time and sharing
you know a little bit of your experience
here thank you so much i just wanna end
with something if you’re talking to an a
perspective or new student
african-american student male or female
is there anything that you would share
i’d say it’s gonna feel different
uh but i say like really appreciate the
use this as the opportunity to diversify
it will it will make you a better person
that’s going to stop you except by you
thank you so much dionne thank you so