Nadira St. Hilarie is a senior communications studies major from Roseau, Dominica. Moving to the U.S. was a difficult transition from island life to mainland life. Today she has learned to come out of her shell and has become more involved, which has greatly impacted her college experience.
Life in the Caribbean has been a rewarding experience, from watching the sun set on the beautiful island beaches to enjoying the sun rise as I walk through the town’s farmers markets on a Saturday morning with my mother. It has taught me to enjoy the basic elements of nature, the rich friendliness of island people and the values of the highest moral standards.
The backbone of my life is my family. I can truly say I have the best family anyone could ever wish for. The foresight and rational thinking my parents have employed in raising me is largely responsible for many of my successes. Despite my disappointments, my parents have always stayed by my side and given me that extra push with a constant reminder that I can accomplish anything, as long as I’m determined. Because of this sound foundation, I have lived with the attitude that giving up was not an option, hence, my determination to continue to push forward until I reach my goals.
When my brother was ready for college in 2006, my parents decided the whole family should move to Florida so that we could fully experience the land of opportunity. My mom had secured us dual citizenship years earlier through her business travels to the states. Uncertain of where we wanted to settle, my mother decided the best way to look for a new home would be to narrow it down to areas near A-graded schools. We ended up in Wellington, where I attended Wellington High School.
I was very sheltered compared to the other kids my age. When it came to sex, drugs and slang, I was completely lost. I was used to my simple lifestyle of climbing trees barefooted, and picking fresh fruit. I was used to camping out by the river and telling ghost stories outside with flashlights held up to my chin or even enjoying the sweet sound of a steel pan playing as I sang along to old-time calypso. I wasn’t used to rap music or being in front of a computer all the time. Though some people found that intriguing, the majority of people used the opportunity to make fun of me, so much so that I was listed in my senior yearbook as the girl who could not pronounce the sound “th.” I was happy to have graduated and moved on from that experience. I was over the endless teasing and being the bigger person.
After graduating high school in 2008, I attended Palm Beach State College for a year before transferring to NSU. I was so excited when I got accepted. My brother had attended college at Florida Institute of Technology and all I ever heard was how much fun college was. I hadn’t really had a chance to experience that type of excitement at a community college.
But, much to my disappointment, NSU was not as exciting as friends had described college to be — at first. There were no raging parties, people weren’t really mixing and everyone stuck to the people they already knew. It really started to bother me when the winter semester of my first year was coming to and end and I had made no real friends. My daily schedule consisted of class, food, residence hall, food and sleep, which started to depress me because I am a people person. I voiced this complaint to my older brother who is my mentor and his advice to me was to be a leader. He could not understand why I was looking for a group to follow, so he encouraged me to join the Caribbean Student Association.
I found the Caribbean Student Association (CSA) right before the semester ended. At the time, the student organization only had about five active members. But I was still so happy to finally meet people who could relate to me and had no reason to make fun of any aspect of my life. Although we were all from different places, we all experienced pretty much the same things growing up.
I then decided it was time to make something of myself on campus and I used CSA to make that happen. I became the vice president and, with the help of my St. Lucian friend Katleen, we took the Caribbean Student Association from five active members to 135 active members, turning it into a home away from home for all international students, not just those from the Caribbean. I finally felt like I had a place on campus.
Today, I am extremely active on campus between CSA and Student Media. Despite how busy my schedule is, I just cannot seem to let go of the place I call my home here at NSU. Bringing myself out of that shy shell and discovering this campus and the people and resources it has to offer is the best thing I could have ever done. While NSU may not be a “party school,” it has so much more to offer in so many other ways. We always hear people say, “Get involved and you will have fun” and we tend to just brush it off. However, I have proven that being involved has made my experience much more memorable, and now I can graduate from NSU not only with good grades but also with good friends, networks and an amazing experience to remember for the rest of my life.
