For Nigel Lamar Davis, entering Temple’s Bachelor of General Studies program, was all about removing barriers.
“About three years ago, I made the decision that I wanted to go back to school. I felt like I was being held back because I didn’t have a degree,” said Davis, 36, who was selected to be one of the Student Speakers for the University College Graduation Ceremony on Thursday, May 7. “I talked to my cousin (shanina dionna) who had graduated from the BGS program and when I met with my advisors, it sounded like the right place for me.”
For Davis, this was the first time he had been in a college classroom for several years.
“I graduated from high school in 2008 and started at Reading Area Community College — I initially wanted to be a basketball star, but I didn’t necessarily have the grades. I wasn’t a great high school student, but I turned into a really good college student, though it took some time,” he said. “I transferred to Millersville for two years, but when I stopped playing basketball, the motivation to stay in college just wasn’t there for me at the time. I decided to take a break and find somewhere else where I thought I’d fit.”
The gap between his first foray into higher education and reaching the finish line this time around included a whirlwind of jobs where he wore many hats. Many of his responsibilities, however, placed him front and center in the lives of at-risk youth and provided him with avenues to ensure the educational success of the students he worked with.
“After a stint with a moving company and then a factory job with Pepperidge Farm, I started working for Glen Mills Schools overnight. I was essentially a youth counselor,” he said. “For a while, I was working full-time for TE Connectivity during the day and Glen Mills at night — that was not an easy time. I went on to work at Immaculata University as a security guard and then finally moved fully into the educational field working as a direct support professional at the elementary school level where I worked with some of the children that needed support the most.”
Today, in addition to completing his degree, Davis is a behavior specialist at FullBloom, which provides education and behavioral health services for children in the School District of Philadelphia.
“We work in the Stetson Middle School Continuation Academy at John B. Stetson Middle School,” he said. “If a student is having some difficulties, we try to give them a new outlook on school, and it does tend to work.”
Needing a gym, art and health teacher, the school turned to Davis, who is now in his fourth year of teaching.
Davis said his impetus to return to the classroom came when he was exploring an upward move in the educational field.
“When I was looking at jobs that I was truly qualified for in terms of experience, every single one of them said a bachelor’s degree was required,” he said. “I felt capped out. I had the capability to do the job, but I needed the paperwork to back me up.”
After deciding to go back to school, he didn’t immediately jump into the BGS program, however, Davis said.
“I went to the Community College of Philadelphia for a year. I truly wanted to see if I could still even be a student,” he said. “It worked out for me and when I knew it was right to continue further, I came to Temple.”
Coming back to school “as an older adult,” Davis said, “It’s something I take that very seriously.”
“In the BGS program, I’ve placed most of my focus on psychology courses, because that is a lot of where my focus is professionally,” he said. “I also work at Devereux in their behavioral health program — those are kids that you need to build a strong rapport with. They can tell if you’re being real with them or not — you need to just be yourself and they appreciate that.”
Davis has found numerous ways to connect with students over the years, both inside and outside of the classroom. On weekends, he’s a self-taught recording studio engineer at Creative Hope Studios, and organization designed to “empower young individuals by providing them with a platform for self-expression, personal growth and positive change” through music. Creative Hope works to inspire youth within the juvenile justice system, schools and adult corrections.
“My sister let me know they were looking for an engineer. Music and recording music are passions of mine so when I learned what the mission of Creative Hope Studios was, I knew that was right up my alley,” he said. “I work with kids at the youth detention center in West Chester, Chester County, on most weekends, and sometimes during the week, for a few hours. I mentor the kids, showing them how to create music, how to use the programs and help them write songs — whatever they need to give them a positive outlet.”
The goal, Davis said, “is that they leave the center with a skill where they know how to create music and use music in whatever positive way they want when they get out.”
Davis said his inspiration to go into education came from his mother, Sheryl Davis, and his grandmother.
“My mom has always said I should be a teacher, but at the time I didn’t think I wanted to do that. When I was somewhere around 14 or 16, my grandma volunteered me to be a counselor at a church camp overseeing younger kids who were between 6 and 10 years old,” he said. “Every day I had to figure out things for these kids to do — those kids said and did the craziest things — and it was a great time. I was just thinking about it recently and I think that is where my love of working with kids came from.”
As he got older, Davis said, “I realized it was the teenagers who really needed me.”
“At Glen Mills, when I would talk to them, they’d say ‘I’m never coming back here Mr. Davis, I got you.” And I would say, ‘Don’t do it for me, do it for you.’ For me to be any sort of motivating factor for them sparked something in me,” he said. “Wherever life has taken me, it keeps me coming back to helping at-risk youth. I believe that’s where I’m supposed to be, that is what I’m meant to do.”
Being chosen one of the student speakers for the May 7 University College Graduation Ceremony, Davis said, “is a big honor for me, something I never would have expected.”
“It’s kind of a full circle moment for me. My cousin introduced me to this program, and she was the alumni speak at the ceremony last year — I’m sort of following directly in her footsteps,” he said. “During the ceremony, I want to share my story, my ultimate path to getting my degree — it wasn’t all highs, there were some lows; a lot of mistakes made, and a lot of lessons learned.”
Ultimately, Davis said, “if you have a goal, you have to go for it.”
“There might be a lot of things that try to stop you but don’t let them. Some people will tell you don’t do that or ask why you’re doing it in the first place — if you start listening to those voices, you will never accomplish anything,” he said. “You fight through. I’m fighting illness right now, but I’m still pursuing my goals. I’m here at 36, a father to Miles Davis, a husband to Cecilia Ortiz-Davis, and a student working three jobs — I made it.”
Davis said it was his wife “that gave me the extra push to go back to school.”
“She said ‘I got you, I believe in you’ — she is my biggest support system,” he said. “We’ve been doing this school journey together because while she already has her degree, she’s going back to school to become a nurse.”
Degree nearly in hand, Davis doesn’t believe this is the final chapter in his own educational journey.
“Reaching the finish line, I feel amazing right now. But I’m still in school mode, so I think after graduation I’d like to get my master’s degree next,” he said. “I do have an opportunity where I could a get master’s in special education, but there is a part of me that would like to see where a master’s in psychology would take me. There are a lot of avenues to explore.”