Jonathan Crockett, Coordinator of Essential Needs & Community Resources
My name is Jonathan Crockett. I live in Lowell. I am a father, a husband, a brother,
a son. I am a white man from a low-class background living a middle-class life. I
am a nature-lover, a home-owner, and an avid “do-it-yourselfer”. I have worked in
higher education for almost 20 years in residence life, student activities, sports/recreation,
and health and wellness. I have worked in public and private colleges, with students
from a variety of different circumstances. I am a firm believer in higher education
– it is the best vehicle to upward social, financial, and occupational mobility, and
opens up many doors to opportunities otherwise inaccessible.
30 years ago, my path into higher education as either a student and a professional was highly unlikely. I grew up in rural Maine, first on a small working farm and then in a small village of less than 100 people. My parents married young, and both came from families where poverty and struggle was a way of life. My parents did expect me to attend public school and eventually to graduate from high school, but college was not on their radar. When I was 8 my parents divorced, and my father met a woman whose vision for possibilities extended beyond the geographical boundaries of small-town Maine. She had attended college, and believed that is was a possibility for me. In high school, she took me to visit some local colleges, talked to me about what colleges have to offer, and encouraged me to apply to a few. I was eventually accepted to a small college in Wisconsin called Beloit College, where I spent four of the best years of my life as a college student. Like so many students, I worked through college and accumulated debt to cover costs. I also worked very hard academically – I was not a gifted student, but worked hard to maintain good grades, and developed a genuine love for learning.
College was undoubtedly the most transformative experience of my life. It opened my eyes to new worlds – social, academic, intellectual, physical, occupational, recreational, geographical, personal, and more. It provided time and space for me to succeed, to fail, to experiment, to develop, and to grow. I met my wife in college. I started a career path, unrelated to my major, that has served me for almost 20 years. Now, as a professional in higher education, I am so inspired by the students who are making a commitment to furthering their education. This is especially true of the “first in family” students, who are paving the way, charting the unknown, serving as role models to their families and communities, and stepping far outside their comfort zones to pursue higher education. I applaud these students, and I am committed to supporting their efforts. I know first-hand what it means to be “first in the family”, and I want to be an integral part of supporting others who are “firsts” in their own families to take this step forward.