When Djean Nikitov’s plane touched down on U.S. soil about two years ago, he carried with him a bag of uncertainties and hopes.
With little money in his pocket and hardly knowing anyone, he started studying at SUNY Orange in Middletown, determined to make the most of every opportunity.
Door after door opened for him as he sincerely reached out to people, until this fall, when he was sworn in as the student representative to the SUNY Orange Board of Trustees, which he referred to as the peak of his student service at the community college.
“I just really care about how everyone is doing,“ he said. ”That is how I met so many amazing people and ended up getting amazing opportunities. And the way people embrace me here gave me strength to be the best version of myself.
From Uruguay to Orange County
Mr. Nikitov was born and raised in Montevideo, Uruguay, which is nestled between Argentina and Brazil, where he was used to a laid-back lifestyle centered around a strong sense of community.“We share a lot, and we do a lot of activities together,” he said. “Soccer is more than a sport—it is a national obsession and a very deep part of our culture and community.”
When he was studying for a communications degree at a public university, the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the college elected to switch to virtual learning for almost two years.
“I prefer to be in an environment with real people, like being with a professor in the class,” he said. “For the first semester, I could keep up, but after that, I just felt totally disconnected.”
Meanwhile, a desire grew within him to go out and do more with his life, he said.
With the help of his relatives in Newburgh, he applied to SUNY Orange, got his student visa, and boarded a plane heading for the United States on Christmas Day in 2021.
“I took a flight that day because it was the cheapest ticket,” he said. “It was hard saying goodbye to my family, but they were also the biggest supporters of my endeavors.
“Sometimes, you jump to things that you don’t know how it is going to go. You just do it because you have a bag of hopes,” he said.
“My first semester was rough, but that was kind of like what people moving to a foreign country always need to deal with,” he said.
“We need to take every single opportunity offered, and we need to make the most of everything.”
He made his first friends through his job as a student ambassador serving new students, which also helped cover his life expenses.
Whenever he saw students with the board of activities organize events on campus, such as giveaways, craft projects, and holiday celebrations, he asked them if he could help.
“I was like, ‘Do you need help?’ and they said, ‘OK,’ so I was always helping them,” he said. “It wasn’t like I was searching for it necessarily; it just happened naturally.
“All the doors just opened naturally after that.”
Opportunities and Service at SUNY Orange
One staffer, Andrienne Victor, and Shanice Burns, a student active on the SUNY Orange campus, suggested that Mr. Nikitov run for student senate the following semester.Student senate serves as the link between the student body and college management while overseeing campus clubs and managing mandatory student activity fees.
“I trusted them a lot and believed in them, though I wasn’t fully sure myself,” he said. “Sometimes, you need other people to see the stuff that you cannot see in yourself.”
Mr. Nikitov and fellow senators in the SUNY public college system convened in Albany last year to inform lawmakers on issues that matter to them.
He also took part in an annual convention organized by the student assembly—the student governance body of the SUNY system—and advocated more international student representation.
One of the biggest highlights of his work at the student senate is the opening of a new lounge space on the first floor of the Shepard Student Center.
He and other senators rallied students to design the space and partially funded the renovation through student activity fees.
“Every stakeholder did everything they could to get it done, and as senators, we did everything to get input from students on what they’d like to see there,” he said.
“At the end of the day, it is about involvement and making involvement fun for students.”
He was chosen as the student representative to cut the ribbon on the new lounge in August.
At the beginning of the fall semester, Mr. Nikotov was sworn in to serve on the SUNY Orange Board of Trustees, representing the college’s more than 4,000 students at board discussions.
“This college has done so much for me that I believe that is the least I can do to give back,” he said, adding that he also got a scholarship from SUNY Orange Foundation to cover most of his tuition.
Last month, he traveled to Las Vegas to attend an annual meeting by the National Association of Community College Trustees, which he said was another transformative experience for him.
“I got wonderful opportunities here to develop myself, way more than what I expected,” he said.
“The second family that I’ve built here, and the support I have through them at hard times, is what makes me keep going forward with more strength.”
“Djean is an energetic and vibrant force on our campuses. He is one of the most visible and engaged student leaders that I’ve seen in my tenure at SUNY Orange,” SUNY Orange President Dr. Kristine Young told The Epoch Times. “He appreciates everyone, has fully immersed himself in the college community so that he can become the best version of himself possible, and is improving life on our campuses along the way.”
