Hi all! My name is Brooke Stutler, and I’m proud to be able to introduce myself as GEAR UP NV’s new Communications Specialist! I’m currently in my Junior year studying Psychology and Theatre at the University of Nevada, Reno, and I have a passion for all things creative. In my free time, I love to go camping, play Dungeons and Dragons, play video games, and act. From the time I learned to operate my family’s clunky desktop computer, I’ve also always been a fan of tech. In fact, before I found my passion for psychology, I was enrolled as an Information Systems major. Like many students, however, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with my degree. In my Freshman year, I had already changed my major from Anthropology to Computer Science, and from Computer Science to IS. For the longest time, I felt lost, uninterested, and unmotivated. Fortunately for me, there were plenty of resources at UNR where I could reach out for help without judgment. With the assistance of my professors, advisors, and the Career Center on campus, I was able to discover a path for myself that I was finally excited to follow.
As Communications Specialist, my goal is to make school easier for students in a similar way. Obviously, I know from experience how scary college can be. It’s understandably intimidating to feel like you need to have your whole life together when you’re only 18. Working with GEAR UP, I want to do my very best to inform students of all the resources available to them through their college journey. Even more importantly, I want to encourage them to give everything they’ve got when it comes to finding their passions and building a future they can look forward to.
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with our GEAR UP ambassadors to learn more about the different events they’ve put on and continue to plan for new students. I recently received a handful of emails with pictures from the September welcome event, and they reminded me of my own Freshman year. It genuinely warms my heart to see so many pictures of smiling, eager, (and maybe even a little frightened) faces. Knowing where they are right now, I’m sure they’re at least the slightest bit intimidated by the path(s) ahead of them, though it excites me to know that they’ve been given so many opportunities to feel as welcome and prepared as possible. It’s hard to feel motivated when you don’t know what you want to do- or what you even can do- with your life, but I believe that with the right amount of hard work, information, and encouragement, anything is possible. Personally, I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
