Jeseñia Colondres Brown

February 2007

Jeseñia Brown’s positive attitude will serve her well as she moves forward into the future.

“Any hardship that comes your way, the Rollins community will support you,” she said.  “I’ve found my professors here are completely understanding and supportive.” In fact, she credits the encouragement and support from the faculty with allowing her to be the first of over 50 people in her extended family–including brothers, sisters, and cousins–to graduate from college.  She hopes to receive her Bachelor of Arts in anthropology in May.

Like many Holt students, Brown chose the Holt School for the flexibility of evening classes which allows her to combine college with a full-time job.  And like many new college students, she explored several disciplines before deciding on a major.

“After taking some anthropology courses I found that I loved them and wanted to study that more than anything,” she said.  The knowledge she gained from studying the physical, social, and cultural development of humans helped her discover her personal and professional goals and map out a plan to achieve them.

“I plan on finishing my graduate studies and pursuing a career in the nonprofit sector, focusing on child welfare reform,” she said.  She also can better appreciate the differences and similarities between people.

“Almost all facets of everyday human life can be related to a study or field in anthropology,” she said. An ability to recognize and accept an individual’s uniqueness is critically important to help make our world a better place, she said, and the best place to start making needed changes in the world is with children and the social systems affecting them.

She also has learned a few things about leadership at Rollins as it relates to the College mission. “A responsible leader is one who takes a holistic approach to leading.”   Such leaders “realize that regardless of the size of the task or the role they hold it’s important to look at it from every angle and address all parties equally.”

To anyone contemplating returning to college, Brown had some significant advice. The most important thing after actually getting started is to “take it easy,” she said.  “It’s not when you finish, rather [it’s] that you finish,” because hurrying through the learning process reduces the benefits and lessens the experience.  “Do this for yourself and your future.”