At the end of her first year as a student at Brock University, Nicole Chirichella found herself facing a greater challenge than studying for finals: a cancer diagnosis.<\/p>\n
Throughout her second year, the Concurrent Teacher Education student kept up with a reduced course load, coming in once a week to stay connected to Brock and complete two courses.<\/p>\n
Back in good health, Chirichella graduated during Spring Convocation Wednesday, which was just a little later than she\u2019d originally planned.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very difficult,\u201d she said. “But I have to say the people I met in residence were a large part of bringing me out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chirichella became a Residence Life Staff member when she returned to full-time studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people I met in the training were very therapeutic, so I credit a lot of my growth to them,” she said.<\/p>\n
That personal growth is what defines Chirichella’s Brock experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI frequently tell people I\u2019m almost unrecognizable from when I got here six years ago.”<\/p>\n
Describing herself as someone who used to be rather shy, Chirichella developed confidence working with students in residence. During her four years as Residence Life Staff member, she served as a Don, Don of Academics, Head Resident and Residence Programming Assistant.<\/p>\n
\u201cHelping students adjust to university has definitely been something that\u2019s important to me, as well as helping my students get through a lot of the hurdles they face in their first year such as moving away from home, building new relationships and dealing with mental health,” she said.<\/p>\n
Chirichella\u2019s own Don helped her adjust to university life when she came to Brock.<\/p>\n
She first considered Brock after a guidance counsellor recommended it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI decided on my first visit here that I wanted to go here because it just felt very homey in comparison to the places I had visited,\u201d she said. \u201cI kind of just went with my gut feeling. It was a really good decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Growing up, Chirichella said she was a poor student who struggled with reading and writing. Things changed in high school, where a teacher inspired her to achieve more.<\/p>\n
“It wasn\u2019t even necessarily what she did. It was more so that she didn\u2019t assume I couldn\u2019t do it. That motivated me to do well and to not disappoint her,” Chirichella said.<\/p>\n
That experience encouraged her to pursue a career in teaching.<\/p>\n
As a Concurrent Teacher Education student, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours), majoring in English Language and Literature, and a Bachelor of Education.<\/p>\n
Chirichella will be back at Brock next year to complete a Master of Education, which she views as a chance to become a more well-rounded educator and strong female role model who can empower girls to be well educated.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s grateful to be coming back to Brock.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy experience here has been transformative. It has been the most supportive, open and opportunity-filled place that I could have ever asked for.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At the end of her first year as a student at Brock University, Nicole Chirichella found herself facing a greater challenge than studying for finals: a cancer diagnosis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":51590,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,40,3319,1,4],"tags":[6196,156,32,98,6696,6693,2071,1759],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51557"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51557"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51591,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51557\/revisions\/51591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}