When Madeline Robison (formerly Madeline Wiley, integrative studies, 2008) arrived at New Century College for a pre-orientation trip in August, 2004, she had no idea that her camping partners would stand beside her at her wedding, ten years later. Through NCC, Robison met lifelong friends and explored a different style of learning that helped guide her to an unexpected career path.
When entering George Mason University, Robison planned to study for a career in medicine. By her sophomore year, however, she began to question that path and began to consider other professions, while keeping up with her interest in health and fitness.
She said, “NCC helped me discover myself. I loved the degree because I could explore all the ‘ologies’. . . NCC let me touch on almost everything that interested me.”
Following her graduation, Robison worked as an educator for students with special needs and then as a personal trainer. She earned a graduate degree in human resource management and now handles employee benefits analysis and management for USI Insurance Services, a nationwide insurance broker.
Madeline and Geoff Robison
Although her career path is not the original course she expected to take, she traces her job-skills training to NCC. Robison said, “NCC set me up to learn and excel quickly on the job. NCC taught me how to learn new material quickly, break it down, and make it my own…NCC’s experiential learning opportunities showed me that my job can combine work with my interests.”
At NCC, Robison also came to know a cohort of supportive, engaged peers who are still close friends. In her first weeks in NCC she met the women who helped her celebrate her June wedding to Geoff Robison (who owns his own personal training and fitness studio, Custom Kinetics) almost ten years later.
Remembering that 2004 NCC trip, Robison said, “We brought up a lot of global issues that I had never considered. It helped me be more aware. My NCC peers had a sincere concern and care for the environment, for the people around them…it just felt like the NCC students and professors shared that and were a great support network.”