The Winding Road Leads Back to Unity for Nicole Collins

As the poet Robert Frost observed, sometimes taking the road less travelled makes all the difference.  For Nicole Collins ’00, Park Management, her preferred path to personal and professional development led right back to Unity College.
    
Collins put the skills she developed at Unity College to good use in her early career.  In turn, those skills and experience gained since graduating in 2000 made her an ideal choice to serve as an Assistant Director of Admissions.  Her success in that job led her to yet another challenging new role at Unity College as Career Counselor / Internship Coordinator at the Career Resources Center, located on the web at http://www.unity.edu/CareerServices/CareerResourceCenter/Staff.aspx.
    
On a daily basis, Collins works closely with students who are exploring their career options.  She is able to draw from a wellspring of first-hand knowledge gained from her time as a student at Unity, and also from her years spent away from the College as a professional in a variety of settings.
    
Though it all, Collins has felt a strong personal connection to Unity College.
    
“Unity was the first college that popped up on a college search computer program,” Collins said of her initial contact with Unity.  A nature lover and avid hiker who knew the woods and trails behind her home like the back of her hand, Collins was intrigued by Unity but thought she wanted something different than what Unity appeared to offer.   “I loved it but wanted a large university experience, so I first attended the University of Maine at Orono.  After a year, I realized what I wanted was to be a person, part of a community, and attend a college where the average class size is smaller than 150 students.”
    
When Collins speaks about her experience as a student at Unity, there is a joy present that is unmistakable.
    
“Unity has so many strengths,” Collins said.  “The faculty, staff, administration and students are engaged and dedicated to giving it their best effort every day.  I also think that there is a diversity of outdoor enthusiasts at Unity, along with the fact that the overall community is supportive, nurturing and accepting.”
    
A native of Southbridge, Massachusetts, Collins was an engaged, academically successful student in high school.  She graduated with honors in the top 10% of her class.
    
While some at Unity describe hunting in passionate terms, Collins expresses a similar passion for philosophy and music.  At Unity, such interests including as Collins says, wondering about “the mysteries of the universe,” place an individual within the segment that President Mitch Thomashow calls The 1969 Club (because they look like I did in 1969).  In point of fact she seems more professional than flower child. 
    
“I’ve always cared about people and been intrigued by the factors that bring them together,” said Collins.  In high school and college, Collins was involved in a great many extra-curricular activities, including playing varsity soccer, baritone saxophone (jazz and concert bands), participating in Kung-fu and gymnastics.
    
A favorite professor at Unity was Tom Mullin. 
    
“His classes were truly practical and had noteworthy real life applications,” she said.  “Steve Guthrie was another favorite of mine because his Program Planning course gave me infinite planning skills.  Also, Charles Diviney was excellent.”  In Diviney, Collins found a kindred spirit who also wondered about the mysteries of the universe.
    
Though she was a successful student and by no means shy when she arrived to pursue her studies at Unity, in hindsight she realizes the ways in which it had a profound impact on her academically, socially and with respect to her personal development.  She got her money’s worth and then some.
    
“I learned that I am capable of far more than I had ever dreamed possible before I came to Unity,” said Collins.  She also learned that Unity offered many challenges, each of which brought a big payoff.
    
“Directly helping people is something I learned that I wanted to be part of my life’s work,” she said.  Now, her job at the Career Resource Center is the fulfillment of that realization made while she was a Unity student.
    
“Whether it’s finding a cross country travel route through Denali Wilderness or exploring ways to write an effective cover letter, my job in the Career Resource Center (CRC) gives me the kind of daily, hands-on contact helping people I enjoy,” she said.
    
“I love being part of the Unity community,” Collins noted.  “It’s a lot of fun to work internally with students, faculty and staff, and externally with employers, alumni, and environmentally focused organizations.  Most of all, I love helping and inspiring the next generation of dreamers.”
    
Her job in the CRC is also ideal because it brings her into contact with many of her former classmates.
    
When asked to name a few of her classmates with whom she has kept in touch, Collins reels off an amazingly long list of people with whom she communicates regularly by e-mail including Michelle Fisher, Becky and Paul Meinnersman, Alex Delucia,  Bob Giollito, Scott Stidsen, Josh Surette, Jeff McCabe, Marky (love) Horan, and Asa Wagner.  She adds that every few weeks or so she, her husband, Travis '00, whom she married in 2003, along with Calla (age 5) and Sawyer (age 3), socialize with former classmates including Korah Soll, CJ Walke, Lee and Jackie, Lisa and Jeremy Martin, and a friend she simply calls “bub.”
    
When she graduated in 2000, Collins worked for the National Park Service.  She enjoyed her position but found its seasonal nature to be less than ideal.
    
Thinking about Unity’s future as a college, she feels it is at an important point in its history.
    
“Unity is at an incredible place and time,” Collins said.  “I feel it is on the brink of emerging from its adolescence.  The increasing awareness of environmental, the unique academic niche Unity serves, and its highly motivated and visionary community combine perfectly.  Unity is taking off and doing a great job preparing the next generation of environmental leaders.” 
    
“This is an exciting time to be at Unity.”