Nichole Mathis

Student

“What I strive for every day is personal growth. To always continue learning and growing is the reason we’re here.”

“Before I even came out of the womb I was introduced to Mozart, Bach, Handel and Beethoven,” says Nichole Mathis. “My father is a contemporary composer, and I guess he and my mom decided that my education just couldn’t begin early enough.” Given her early exposure to classical music, it’s no surprise that Nichole was drawn to ballet. “I’ve performed in so many Nutcrackers, it’s unbelievable,” she says. “I just found a old video and there I was, doing the Nutcracker when I was 12! But it’s awfully hard to make ends meet when you’re dancing ballet,” she continues. “So I decided to come back to education and live a ‘normal’ life.”

But for Nichole, a ‘normal’ life is always going to demand an immersion in creativity. “My passions always tend to lead me away from making big bucks, but I’d like a life where I can find some comfort and still grow artistically. I’m planning on getting degrees in anthropology and music history,” says the talented violin and piano player. “And then I’ll go on to UCLA and maybe combine studies in both skills.”

Nichole reports that SMC “is a tough, challenging place to study, but it’s full of rewarding surprises, too. I’m just discovering the world of literature in my English 2 class with Professor Carter and I’m loving it,” she says. “We’re reading a lot of short stories and doing a lot of writing, which is always good for discipline. And in my voice class, I recently had to get up and sing—solo! Because of my musical background, my teacher thought I’d already had that experience. But I had no idea what would come out of my mouth,” Nichole says with a chuckle. “Fortunately, I think it sounded pretty good.”

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