Alumni Spotlight: Nadia Hicks

Ms. Nadia Hicks : A Model Alumni 

by, Destanie Jefferson-Lee

Photo: Courtesy

You can learn a lot from the people that came before you. In this case it would be alumni. You learn by looking at decisions they were made and how those decisions shaped their lives. They can offer advice and insight that we may not want to hear, but we can benefit from in the long run. The advice they give can help us figure out the path we want to be on.

Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing alumna Ms.Nadia Hicks. Her current occupation is Business Manager for the US government agency General Services Administration. General Services Administration is the agency that serves all of the federal agencies. They provide our customers with a variety of services to ensure they are capable of functioning at the highest level of performance. As Business Manager for the New Jersey Field Office of GSA, she perform the duties of office manager to a major public buildings services facility. I supervise the administration staff and monitor the field's budget activities. She provides technical expertise to their acquisition, project management, leasing, and GSA FAS divisions. She also support the directors of the NJ Federal Executive Board and the NJ Childcare Facility.

I followed that question up by asking, What personal attributes do you think are essential for success in your profession?

Her response: 

"The personal attributes essential for my profession is integrity, flexibility, and innovation. As a federal employee, your action in the workplace impacts the lives of everyone in your country. You are held accountable to be ethical and honest. Having integrity allows me to be reliable to my coworkers and my nation. I have a very complex position in the agency. Unlike my coworkers, I am responsible for a multitude of tasks in which I am essential to everyone and the daily operation of the office. Therefore, I have to be flexible and readily available for them. Working with a budget that steadily decreases yearly I have to be able to guarantee the office will function. That requires that I be innovative and develop ways to perform differently while producing the same output."

Her job sounds super important and I imagine she needed to go to college to do what she's doing. And I was correct, after graduating University High School in 2002, she attended Montclair State University with a full scholarship. She obtained my B.A. in Family and Child Services with a Concentration in Early Middle Childhood Education (K-5 Certification) in 2006. She later attended Kean University and achieved a Master of Public Administration in 2010.

Her job sounds like a profession that she may have planned to do from the time she entered college. So I asked if she always saw herself doing what she's doing today?

She said, "No, I did not see myself doing what I am doing today after graduating University. I thought I would be this awesome teacher illuminating the minds of brilliant young children. That changed my senior year at MSU when I actually started teaching. Teaching was what I expected. I saw smiling faces every day and taught lessons I felt were perfect, but I didn’t feel fulfilled. I begin working in my current workplace, when I was a senior in high school. So while I was away that year, teaching, I missed the office tremendously. When I returned, I knew that I wanted to make a career working for the government. There is where I felt complete."

I asked Ms. Hicks if she though UHS adequately prepared you for college and/or a career. To which she replied the following: 

"Without a doubt UHS prepared me for college and my career. During my six years at University High School, I was very fortunate to have teachers who were dedicated to their students. Being in the classroom, most of our teachers prepared lessons that went beyond the curriculum. We were given life lessons and the best of them instilled the value to love Newark. While I was in college, I was amongst many who automatically judged me when I said I was from Newark. I never felt ashamed, I was prepared to give that person or group a piece of Newark. I challenged every ignorant comment and debated every misinterpreted statistic with the facts I learned being inside a UHS classroom. The UHS guidance counselors, Mrs. Noble, Ms. Law, and Mrs. Mahon, did an excellent job in providing the graduating class with several scholarship opportunities. I left University with a full ride to college, and a few scholarships to support my books and living expenses while there. UHS taught me how to become a professional. We learned how to prepare a resume, dress for an interview, answer interview questions, and close out an interview. We also learned how to understand a paystub, and prepare our taxes. The skills I learned from UHS helped me obtained the career I have today."

Many people wax poetic about their high school days. I've had fun here but I am ready to see what college has to offer. I wondered what Ms. Hicks thought about her days at Uni so I asked her to share her fondest memory she said:

"My fondest memory of University High School was being apart of Mr. Velazquez’s Law in Action Class my senior year. In his class we were introduced to real issues and matters that affected us in our community. We discussed race issues, injustices, and our civic duties. His classroom environment promoted autonomy and self-worth in the students. Towards the end of the year, we participated in a national project called Newark Student Voices. During this project we engaged in civic and political issue discussions surrounding the most controversial mayoral election in our city. It was Cory Booker’s first attempt to run for the position against incumbent Mayor Sharpe James. Our class was actually videotaped throughout the project for pedagogical or educational purposes, which teachers across the nation can use as a resource today. Mr. Velazquez gave us the best advice as far as picking colleges to attend. He told us to attend the school giving you the most financial aid, because what your future employer is looking at isn’t the name of the college you attended; it’s the degree. He was right! The countless lessons and experience I had being in his classroom alone have been some of the most rewarding memories I have of UHS."

I followed up that question by asking her to tell me what she most looked forward to doing at school. She replied, "At school I looked forward to participating in Model UN meetings. Model UN allowed us to explore international matters and develop resolutions to address those issues. We would travel and compete at forums held at various colleges. One year, our team competed at Harvard University. Being a part of the Model UN team was not only enlightening but fun."

Lastly, I wanted Ms. Hicks to leave us with some advice. Her advice is as follows:

"The advice I would give the current students of University is to persevere and never give up. You will experience setbacks, disappointments, and make terrible decisions. But never give up your goals and desires to achieve."