 |
James Wilkinson2019 winner of the ACT for Excellence and Student Initiative Scholarship |
|
|
It was a Wednesday afternoon when I had the chance to speak with James Wilkinson. We sat right in the main URC office, in the chairs by the front desk while meetings happening all around us. James is one of the 2019 winners of the ACT for Excellence and Student Initiative Scholarship, which rewards students for extraordinary community and campus engagement. As we spoke, the extent of his campus and community involvement took me by surprise. Not only is he a dedicated neuroscience major, he also works at Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton. “I did a lot of volunteer work with Lourdes,” he told me, “and they were like, ‘You volunteer? We want to hire you.’ So I actually work for Lourdes now. I’m a patient care technician in their hospice and oncology unit.” James explained that some of his passion for nursing stems from his own history with childhood illness, and we commiserated on our hospital experiences. He emphasizes that part of his own story in the work that he does, “A lot of times these are low-income individuals and they are unfortunately in the hospital [because] they have cancer or are in hospice. So it’s a very vulnerable population that I work with, but I recognize how pivital a role I can play in their health.” Despite his hectic schedule, James still makes time for his hobbies, even picking
up a French Literature and Language minor to support his love of French culture and
cooking. He also mentioned that he’s currently “the vice president and director of
Gospel Choir, [because] I love to sing. You’ll catch me singing every day, all day.”
Unfortunately, I didn’t think to ask for a free concert. Although he uses his positions in the SSS office and as an RA to support his fellow students on campus, he wanted to pass on the advice that, “You can use anything that you do to support others. Yes, I’m in the Gospel Choir, but we often do things for the community through the Gospel choir. [In the past] we’ve done a food drive for CHOW, volunteered at the boy’s and girl’s club, even volunteered at the zoo, so you can use whatever you’re a part of as a platform.”
|
||
