Student Profile: Jaycee Nelson
After quitting cheer in high school, Belleville senior Jaycee Nelson thought she had hung up her pom-poms for good. But when she came to Alma College, she decided to give the sport another try.
“Cheer is a lot of hard work, but it’s also very rewarding,” she says. “The team is one of my strongest support groups on campus, and we have a lot of fun together.”
Nelson admits that she wasn’t sure about giving Alma a try, either. It was the last college she says she visited, and she did so only at the prodding of a family member.
“My aunt is an Alma graduate, and she insisted that I go on a tour even though I was sure I wouldn’t like it,” she says. “I knew it was the one right away. It felt like home, and I deposited the next day.”
Whether she’s cheering at the top of her lungs or talking to teammates off the field, it’s clear the communication major is a natural at interpersonal relations. However, Nelson, a women and gender studies minor, came into Alma on a different path.
“I thought I was going to major in secondary education, but I fell in love with my first communication class,“ she says. “I love developing a better understanding of how and why we communicate.”
Nelson sees herself working in public relations after Alma or getting her master’s degree in social work. No matter where she ends up, she says Alma has equipped her with memorable experiences that will enable her to succeed—like a month in Ecuador and a summer internship in event planning through the Philadelphia Center.
“I think that my Alma experience has taught me how to do a lot of things in a little amount of time and pushed me out of my box,” she says. “I’ve learned to do more, try more, be more open-minded, and to not be afraid of doing new things and having new experiences.”
