Sharing Your Visions

My name is Nicholas Storms, and I’m a student at Centenary University, who is goal-oriented student and loves to play sports, do fitness, meditate to keep my spirits up, and operate with a positive mentality. Being a student at Centenary is a blessing because I love to socialize, meet and greet new people, and have conversations with students about what they do for a living and what they see themselves doing after college. 

So, I came up with the idea to start a podcast called “Sharing Your Visions” on the media. In this podcast, I interview students about their college life and what career they want to pursue after graduation. Each episode follows a similar structure, starting with an introduction of the guest, followed by a discussion about their current role and future aspirations. 

I did this to make friends and meet people who genuinely have a vision and want a successful career. Seeing other people striving to achieve their goals puts a massive smile on my face to know 

what hard work and dedication look like. 

The amount of motivation I got when I was younger to strive for my goals and be myself boosted my confidence in my skills and extracurriculars. In the future, I have no doubt that other people can build confidence and achieve if they put their mind to it. A significant impact on me was when I was seeing a lot of my family members achieve their goals. For example, my mother is an advertiser, and my father is a marketer. As I saw their industry work, I wondered what they did to get there. 

They told me, “Son, you could make anything happen. It's possible, but you must stay dedicated, motivated, and persevere through the bumps life throws at you.” 

Watching my sister pursue her own passion, which is doing makeup for many guests, made me realize that finding your favorite hobby often becomes your passion. 

After seeing my family accomplish their goals, I discovered my passions and that my time was next. So far, I have a lot of great members who joined the podcast, and we had a lot of great answers.

The main question I ask every guest on the show is what they do for a living and if they could predict their future, where do they see themselves in ten years. So far, I have had seven guests on the show, each with a unique story and vision. 

One of the first guests I had on the show was Tanner Sullivan, who has firm commitments at the radio station. He sees himself pursuing a career in the media; he has a vision of marketing social media or continuing his work in radio. 

My second guest on the show was Kenneth Pinedo, a former Centenary student who works in the student activities organization. I asked him an interesting question: if he sees himself working here at Centenary all his life or sees himself in another industry. He said that he's doing student activities in partnership with his graduate studies and  getting his master's in finance. He wants to pursue a career as a financial planner; so far, two guests have had a great sense of thought about what they want to do after college.  

My third guest was Christopher Encarnacion, my former Step-Ahead mentor, during the summer of 2023. He recently graduated and became a graduate department representative working in student life. He is also working on his master's degree, and as a side hustle, he loves doing videography. He's working diligently to excel in his Instagram platform. As we got to know each other, we discovered we have similar hobbies and decided to collaborate, pursuing our passions. This spirit of collaboration and shared interests is what makes this podcast a community, and I'm excited to see it grow.  

The rest of the guests are Jamil Dekouza, a sophomore who wants to pursue a career in the real estate industry, and Erin Cooper, a sophomore who wants to pursue animal health, Cameron Fulcher, a junior who wants to be in the federal investigation department, and Osaivie Igiebor, a senior who works in summer camps to help the younger generation with any needs; he wants to work in a school community. 

My podcast's highlight ended with the president of the Centenary, Dr. Dale Caldwell, who gave a great, fascinating story of his dad marching with Dr. Martin Luther King.  

Starting this podcast was a great idea for me because the guests shared their meaningful stories and their great conversations  inspired me and my audience. Their stories of determination, resilience, and passion have the power to motivate and inspire. 

I appreciate everyone who joined in the show and look forward to seeing what the future holds for all of the guests. 

In addition, I look forward to continuing this podcast to see how far I can go with more guests on it. I plan on having DJs, entrepreneurs, models, actors, innovators, and all kinds of people who are very successful in their industry and how they came from humble beginnings. 

Stay tuned.