I’m a higher education professional, a future college president, a father, and a self-proclaimed nerd. To be nerdy in my eyes is Family Matters’ Jaleel White as Steve Urkel: suspenders, glasses, a funny voice, and everyone making fun of you for being different. It’s also being openly intelligent, a problem solver, and knowledgeable about things other people don’t care about.
As a kid I loved to read. My grandmother was a librarian and I participated in my local library’s summer book program, where you received prizes or rewards for reading more books. I saw the stories as a way to learn and explore different parts of my imagination and the world I couldn’t personally experience. Also, like Steve Urkel, I was made fun of for being smart. I grew up with a single mom. Along with my younger brother and sister and my mom, I moved between houses in my hometown, and back to the tiny home my great-grandfather built throughout my childhood. I remember gunshots, people who were known thieves, and other illustrations of crime or lack of safety.
At school, the other Black kids from our neighborhood made fun of me because I liked books and because, they said, I “talked white.” They gave me a hard time for not trying to play tough or fight others. I was just a kid who enjoyed exploring and didn’t get into much trouble. Young Jamiere is like I am today — just trying to make my mom proud!
One of my early memories of kindergarten was a “dream of your career day.” Someone asked me the typical question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I said, “The first Black president.” People laughed, because even in 1995, that seemed like a dream that we would not see in our lifetimes. (I later had the personal pleasure to vote for Barack Obama in the first election I was old enough to vote in!) Regardless, early on, I was ambitious and aiming high.
Today, I remain a nerd. I love to read, listen to podcasts, and learn about new things or explore different cultures, foods, or new theories that I can’t see every day. I have continued to lean into my personal curiosity through school. I earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from a liberal arts college. I’ve found a passion for working with young people and encouraging them to pursue their dreams, earning my master’s degree in higher education. I also am now working to earn my Doctor of Education in higher education management, to lead a college or university one day where I can implement policies, practices, and programs that promote diversity, inclusion, and belonging, and encourage students of all identities to feel that they can fit in and excel as part of the college environment.
I’m proud that I love to learn and that I get to help others lean into their curiosity as well. If you’re a young Black nerd, worried that you don’t fit in because you don’t make the choices others do sometimes, be confident in your curiosity, your wonder, and your interest in all that the world has to offer. Being a nerd allows you to study new ideas, find out about new cultures, and help make the world a better place.
