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Faculty spotlight: Nechawn Johnson

Scarlett LaBuda

Photo: Harlie Mast, Photography Editor

Nechawn Johnson is the coordinator of student life and has held this position for about a year. Student life helps coordinate campus events with different clubs and organizations such as Student Activities Board (SAB) and Commuter Assistant’s.

“I like it, it’s a very good position,” Johnson said, “student life is my thing, my jam. I come from a background of student life and I love it.”

This job is enjoyable for Johnson because of the students and the activities she gets to facilitate.

“I love being part of a meaningful activity,” Johnson said. “Homecoming is obviously a big one for us.”

The commuter assistant event “Meet Me Where You Are” is something Johnson helped facilitate for the first time last semester and commuter students really enjoyed being involved.

“We take donuts, pastries, juice and water and go to the different parking lots and meet commuter students there before they get to the building,” Johnson said. “It has been a big hit with the commuter students. They feel so appreciated. They feel seen and mostly they feel important.”

For Johnson, student life is all about getting students from all backgrounds involved in the activities and events she helps orchestrate. For Black History Month, Johnson went as far as making a display walkthrough that showcased the different types of black hair and hairstyles.

“Curly, straight or kinky, it was a really meaningful event,” Johnson said. “Black women were able to share their stories about their hair, their journey, and ultimately how they felt about it. Girls were crying, it was truly an emotional activity.”

Johnson is also responsible for facilitating welcome weekend for the incoming freshman and transfer students. With this responsibility she took it gracefully and completely revamped it.

“What we were doing in the past, I completely tossed it out,” Johnson said, “I tried something completely different. I essentially threw something at the wall and just hoped that it would stick and it did.”

One activity specifically got really emotional for both students and parents. The trust fall activity allowed students and parents to openly tell each other how they were feeling within this change with no explanation. Everyone who participated really got emotional and it was something different for all to enjoy.

“Everything really came together, students really enjoyed it,” Johnson said. “We wanted to push, challenge and engage everyone.”

Johnson originally got her degree in communications at both a bachelor and a master degree level but ultimately was always involved in student life. Before becoming the student life coordinator Johnson wanted to be a weather girl on the news. As time went on she changed what she was pursuing.

“As I went through grad school so many of my professors told me I would be a great professor myself,” Johnson said. “I was unsure if I wanted to get my doctoral degree but I knew I wanted to be working somewhere within higher education.”

In her free time, Johnson is an avid Sims 4 player and enjoys researching a variety of topics. Her recent research has taken her down the rabbit hole as to the events leading up to the crash of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Johnson spent roughly five weeks researching and creating different situations as to what could have possibly happened.

As much as Johnson enjoys her time spent freely researching these topics, she thoroughly enjoys the work she does for St. Francis. Make sure you keep an eye out for different events that are quickly approaching being hosted by SAB and the Commuter Assistants.


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