Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is.
Javante Watson-Hall started at UW-Stout with a hospitality major. He'd heard it was a great program from his high school counselor. But when Watson-Hall started his coursework, he realized he didn’t want to work in hospitality.
"My heart led me to the Human Development and Family Studies program," Watson-Hall said. "It was one of the best decisions I have ever made."
When Watson-Hall first arrived at Stout, he was very shy and had a hard time interacting with people. One of his biggest challenges was earing his degree while trying to make connections with other students.
"Stout is welcoming and has a lot of great resources on campus that do help students strive for greatness," Watson-Hall said. "But as far as seeing students that looked like me, they just weren't there."
Watson-Hall joined the Multicultural Student Services's Stoutward Bound Living and Learning Community where he met other students of color facing the same struggles he was. The people he met through Multicultural Student Services helped Watson-Hall's confidence grow and helped him on his journey to success.
"I had a lot of these wonderful people throughout my time at Stout help keep me grounded and fill any voids of loneliness because they became my family away from home," Watson-Hall said. "I honestly can’t recognize who I used when I first got to Stout because I have grown so much mentally and physically."
Watson-Hall will begin his full-time position with AmeriCorps Milwaukee, working for a year with first-year and ongoing students in college. He then plans to move to Vermont to attend the School for International Training to pursue his Master’s in International Education.
Co-op:
Office of International Education at UW- Stout
Scholarships:
Boys and Girls Club Stein Scholars, Sponsor-A-Scholar, Ruth E. Westfall Scholarship, Dietrich and Elisabeth Thompson, Ethnic Minority Scholarship, and Lawton Retention Grant.
Extracurricular Activities:
International Relations Club, Black Student Union, McNair Scholars Program, Honors College, Multicultural Student Services, and ASPIRE: Student Support Services.