For many, becoming a first-generation high school graduate is a big achievement. For others, it is being the first in the family to earn a degree at a community college. But for Ni’Cole Sims, it is all that and more.
Sims will not only pass across the Rose Garden Arena’s stage with her fellow Portland State graduates June 13, but will also deliver the commencement address.
She will walk away next Saturday with a bachelor’s degree in not just one major, but in four separate majors. She hasn’t just passed her classes; she has excelled with a 3.93 cumulative GPA.
And she won’t be experiencing this momentous occasion alone. Her family is just as excited.
“My mom’s ecstatic. She’s really proud of me,” Sims said.
Sims credits her mother, who single-handedly raised three children, as an inspiration behind her many accomplishments.
“She has just really taught me that hard work is the way to achieve exactly what you want out of life,” Sims said.
Another driving force for Sims, now a single mother of two, was the birth of her first son, Malik, she said.
“After I had my first son, it was definitely a changing point in my life. I want a better future for him. I want him to have all the things that I didn’t have,” Sims said.
Since then she has been busy working toward majors in communications, social science, psychology and arts and letters, with a minor in Black Studies.
“I picked communications first because I’m a talker,” Sims said.
She admits that she originally intended to get a degree that would allow her to graduate as soon as she could, but quickly realized that her interests could not be contained in just one discipline.
“I felt like I would not be doing justice to myself if I didn’t major in all of them, to tell you the truth, because I really am interested in all of the fields,” Sims said.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in all four majors, she plans to continue at Portland State to work toward a master’s degree in education through Postsecondary Adult and Continuing Education, or PACE.
She said that her time as a college student gave her a passion for education and to help others achieve their goals.
She plans on eventually becoming a dean and hopes to one day become a president or provost at a university.
“It’s important to have somebody there that’s been through as much as I’ve been through, and overcome as much as I’ve overcome, and to be in a position where you can help other students out,” Sims said.
In addition to succeeding in her academic career, she won the Ford Opportunity Scholar Award in 2005, became a member of Phi Kappa Phi in 2007 and has mentored both at PCC and Portland State in the TRIO program, an outreach program that provides resources to students in underprivileged areas to stay successful from middle school to post-baccalaureate programs.
With her varying commitments and extensive academic résumé, Sims felt, at times, that she had to sacrifice time with her children to make it through college.
She recalls a point where she was so overwhelmed, she confided in a close aunt about her doubts if she was doing the right thing, and her aunt made one statement that helped with her dilemma.
“She said, ‘You know, Nikki, you’d be either going to work or you’d be going to school, so pick one,'” Sims said, recalling that conversation with her aunt.
She realized that as a single mother, providing for her family would require time away from family. But continuing with her education, she explained, would allow her to provide a better future for her two sons, Malik, who is 7 years old, and A.J., who is 4 years old.
In spite of her hectic life, Sims tries to make free time for other things. She loves to travel and had the opportunity to travel outside of the country for the first time last summer when she went on a cruise to the Cayman Islands and Jamaica.
She also enjoys shopping; especially for shoes, Sims said. But most importantly, she enjoys spending time with her family.
Sims encourages her children to pursue their aspirations and said that both boys are involved with sports and music lessons.
“My kids do so much. They have more stuff going on than I do,” Sims said.
And of course, she said, she stresses the importance of getting a college education to her children.
Sims said that no one is more thrilled to see her graduate than her oldest son, who was quite disappointed that he couldn’t see his mom through the crowds of people at her PCC graduation ceremony, Sims recalled.
“He said, ‘Did you really walk across the stage?’ and when I told him I was going to be a speaker at this ceremony, he said, ‘Good, I can finally see you this time!’ So he’s excited,” Sims said.
She said that he’s so excited, in fact, that he is preparing his own speech for his mother at the family graduation party after the ceremony.