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Josh Nicholas
Self-Determination
I forced myself to be different because if you want to change, if you want to be better, you have to step out of your comfort zone and try something new.
Josh Nicholas
It's only 50 kilometres from Chapel Island First Nation to NSCC's Strait Area Campus but Josh Nicholas says when he was growing up, it might as well have been a world away.
Josh dropped out of school early and says he wasted his days drinking and hanging around with the wrong crowd. When he was 23, his girlfriend got pregnant. "I hadn't been able to get a job in a year and it scared me and I decided I couldn't have a family and keep going the way I was going," remembers Josh. "I knew I needed a career."
He enrolled in the Adult Learning Program to get his high school diploma. With that decision, Josh left his shyness behind and began a transformation.
"I forced myself to be different because if you want to change, if you want to be better, you have to step out of your comfort zone and try something new."
It took dogged determination just to make it to school every day. There's no public transportation from Chapel Island to the campus and he didn't have a driver's licence. Every single day, he stood on the road and put out his thumb.
"Oh man, I must have travelled with over 100 different people and if it wasn't for all of them I wouldn't be here today. There was even a guy from Maryland in a pickup truck one November. He said he had no room in the cab but I was welcome to ride in the back and I said, 'no problem'. "
Before long, Josh was well-known on campus. As his confidence grew, he became someone other students could look up to and turn to for encouragement and help. He even became president of the Student Association.
"I loved helping people out. School was so awesome for me; I wanted them to have just the same or an even better experience."
After he got his high school diploma, he entered the two year Electrical Construction and Industrial Diploma program. When he graduates this year, Josh will be valedictorian. He says his theme will be hard work and dedication.
"I am going to be nervous. I will feel the weight of all the graduates on my shoulders. I'm going to talk about keeping your head down, working hard and keeping your eyes on the prize. It must be a good formula I guess."
He says he walked into the school with a plan to get enough education to get a good job, but he says he is leaving with a completely different perspective.
"I realize I learned so much about myself that I can do whatever I want," Josh says. "Four years ago I had no options and now I have tons and tons and it's overwhelming. Now that I've reached my goals I have to set some new ones."
He says he wants to achieve those goals not only for his son Dimitri, who's now three, but for the people of Chapel Island.
"I want to become a role model in my community, bring the people back together and make it a better place to live again," explains Josh. "And I want to pass as many students through that college as possible. I want to see these kids grow up and reach their potential when they're supposed to instead of waiting so long like I did."
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