Lucianie Pierre: Far From Home, Finding Her Voice

Lucianie Pierre came to Lincoln University from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, not entirely sure what she was getting into. She'd done her research. She'd looked at the community, the culture, the way students seemed to move through campus like they actually belonged there. What she found when she arrived confirmed what she was hoping for.

"I wanted to be a part of like a family of some sort," she said. "A home away from home."

She didn't have to wait long for that to be true.

Somebody Will Always Notice
Ask Lucianie what she loves about her experience so far, and she doesn't point to a classroom. She points to the hallways, the ordinary moments between classes, the way people pay attention to each other here.

"Even if you're down or feeling some way off yourself, somebody's always going to be there to make sure that you're okay," she said. "If you're walking around and one day you just feel like you're not feeling the best, somebody will always notice and be like, 'Are you okay?'"

She's been on both sides of that. When a fellow student was struggling, ready to leave campus, convinced things were too hard to push through, Lucianie stayed with her. She gave her what she needed to hear: that it was okay to feel that way and that walking away wasn't the answer. "We all go through it," she told her. "Don't give up."

She has her own people who have shown up for her the same way. Her work-study supervisor, Asia Duncan, is who Lucianie calls her campus mom — someone she's with constantly, who checks in on her the way a parent does. Arkeem Robey is like a big brother, always making sure she's okay. They're not administrators to Lucianie. They're family.

Growing Into Her Own
Lucianie is a nursing major, a first-year student still finding her footing, and she'll tell you that the transition from high school to college hit her harder than she expected. Getting up for early classes. Building new habits. Learning to email a professor when she was struggling instead of just falling behind.

"It's not like high school," she said. But she figured it out. She reached out. Her professors gave her a second chance to show what she could do.

Lucianie says she’s more comfortable in her own skin now. She speaks more freely. She's running for office. She's less shy than the person who arrived from Fort Lauderdale not so long ago.

Her advice to anyone about to start college is simple: have fun, be around and meet people. But do your work, because the reason you're there matters.

"There's never a dull moment," she said. "There are always happy moments, probably sometimes sad, but we all come together as one to make sure that everybody goes through it together."

Lucianie Pierre is a first-year nursing major from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She is currently a work-study student and a candidate for sophomore class president.