Discovering New Possibilities: Nikkia Jordan
When Nikkia Jordan began college, she expected to pursue a career in education. Instead, communication courses introduced her to new perspectives, meaningful discussions and a passion for connecting with others. By the time she completed her capstone project, she had also discovered an interest in website design that is shaping her future career goals. In the Q&A below, Jordan reflects on the experiences that helped her find her path.
Nikkia Jordan
Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Nikkia Jordan, and I'm studying communication. I'm concentrating in social interaction, and I have minors in English and general business.
A fun fact about me is that I love photography, and I hope that in my future career I can incorporate that passion somehow.
What does a concentration in social interaction involve?
Yeah, so with social interaction, I had to take a lot of courses that focused on interpersonal communication, working in group settings and understanding group dynamics. That's something I learned a lot about, and I also got to experience working with my classmates quite a bit.
That's something I really enjoyed about being in the communication department. You get to learn different perspectives and talk to different people, and even if you don't agree with something, it's interesting to have those conversations and hear different points of view. That's what I really liked about that aspect of communication.
What brought you to ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ, and what made you decide that it was the right place for you?
I've actually been taking classes through ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ since my junior year of high school. I got to do that because they offered dual credit through the... At first I was homeschooled, so the homeschool program I went through offered dual credit. Then, when I started my senior year of high school, they also offered it at the high school I attended.
Because of that, I also had opportunities for different scholarships, and it was just a really good opportunity for me. I just think ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ offers so many different opportunities for people from ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ and outside of ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ to pursue their degree.
In your own words, why study the liberal arts?
Studying liberal arts was actually a really easy decision for me because I really enjoy learning about different people and cultures. Getting to do that through liberal arts was something I wanted to do, hands down.
Like I said, I got to learn different perspectives from the people I met in my classes and from the research papers I read. I got to learn all the different points of view that people have and learn how I, as an individual, can interact with other people, even if they don't have the same perspective that I do.
How has your time at ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ changed you, either academically, personally, or professionally?
My time at ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ has actually changed me a lot. When I was in high school, I was planning on pursuing a degree in education. I enjoyed working with children a lot, but I realized that being in that authority figure role wasn't really the right place for me. I feel like I was trying to force something on myself, and I didn't really know what I truly wanted to do.
But when I started taking different classes and took my first couple of communication classes, I really did feel... it's kind of cliché, but I felt a little spark for something I enjoyed and wanted to learn more about. So, for me, professionally and personally, taking those communication classes and really learning what I enjoyed doing and talking about was something that was really important.
If you're interested, my favorite communication class by far was probably Gender and Communication. It's a really interesting class, and you get a lot of perspective on how gender impacts communication. I feel like that's something a lot of people don't really think about. There were some really cool assignments in that class, too, so that was my favorite one so far.
What’s one experience at ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ that really stands out to you, and why?
Since I didn't attend ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ in person, one experience that stood out to me was in one of my classes. The class that I just finished, actually, my last communication class, was my capstone project class. Pretty much the whole class focused on doing research, writing a really long paper, creating a deliverable and then presenting it to the professor.
I feel like the deliverable was really important for me because I didn't necessarily know exactly what I wanted to do with my degree. I had a good idea of what I might do, but I feel like this project really helped me narrow down what I want to do.
For my deliverable, I created a website, and I realized that I really like the graphic design aspect of building websites. I think that's something I might pursue after graduation.
What are you excited about next, and how has ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ prepared you for it?
What I'm excited for next, now that I'm graduating from ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ, is my future career. I'm excited to use everything I've learned in my classes at ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ. Especially, like I was talking about with my capstone project, I'm excited to use the skills I learned and the ability to create websites like I did for my deliverable. Maybe I can do that in my future career and potentially pursue website design as a full-time job.
Congratulations to Nikkia Jordan on being named the Department of Communication's 2026 Outstanding Undergraduate Student of the Year. Learn more about the Department of Communication and explore more Outstanding Student spotlights from across the College of Liberal Arts.