Tuesday, October 25, 2011

SocialNet Guest Speaker Series: Mr. Pete Nicholson - The English Teacher Tale

Our second guest speaker, Mr. Pete, 'Mr. Nic,' Nicholson.


Topic: The transition from high school to today.


Here are our cliff notes from the day.


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Communications major 'by default.' Unsure of what he wanted to do.


Internship on 10 o’clock News in Philly. Found the career to be cynical. Looking for tragedy all the time.

Interviewed for sales postion. Door-to-door type thing. Couldn't really see himself doing it. He didn't want to be the most annoying man in the world. 


Sister got him a gig at Nickelodeon in the copy room.
Worked up to being a production Assistant: “first real job.”
MTV show ‘Unlimited.'
‘Show went too high brow to be successful. Should have been more trashy.’
Overall, the PD job was a 3-yr gig.
Constantly praised for work ethic... and made him wonder just how bad other employees were who had his job previously.
Had a philosophy... get there before your boss and leave after.

One day he had his existential moment where he asked himself, "is this it?" Decided that the current career path he was on wasn't working for him. So he saved up his money and decided to buy a used car and he followed Horace Greeley's advice and he went West. Started hoarding money. Packed up shop.

Traveled 8 months alone from Missoula, down the West coast, through New Mexico, and all the way back to his brother in Vermont.

Read ‘The Alchemist.' Book had a large impact on his thinking.
Started asking himself ‘what am I going to do when I get back?’
Started daydreaming of teaching.

Took some classes in Albany to get English credits and then moved to Bristol and went to UVM to get his Masters in English.  

He and his then girlfriend, now wife, decided to move back to Manchester and it was after he moved back, he then interviewed for the teaching position at BBA which he obviously got and the rest, as they say, is history.


As career went on... stopped thinking about perfection and more process.
Life is not without battles. Self doubt and the like.

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