SOCRATES BY DAY; WIDE RECEIVER BY NIGHT Skyler Simon shows his work — a portrait of his girlfriend and landscapes.
BALANCING ACT Each day at 5 p.m., Skyler Simon comes into the Dean’s Office, a reminder that it is almost time for faculty and staff to go home. Wearing headphones and sporting a friendly smile, he always offers an upbeat greeting as he goes about his job—emptying the trash, vacuuming, making sure that the office, along with the rest of the Edwards Building, looks clean and inviting. Part of a cadre of student workers employed by Facilities Operations, Skyler is a senior studio art major who manages to balance school, extra-curricular activities, and a social life on top of working 20 hours a week. He didn’t always have it so easy. In 2010, he was working third shift at Wal-Mart, 40 hours a week, and going to school full time when his roommate told him about the opening in Facilities. Skyler interviewed with Laura Hickman the next day and was hired on the spot. He says that he prefers the flexibility provided in the position at Coastal, even though it meant cutting his hours in half. It is now easier to coordinate his academic and work schedules, leaving him time to participate in his fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi Inc.; the Marketing Club; the Dalton and Linda Floyd Mentoring Program; and a community organization, Freedom Readers.
Once he graduates in December of 2013, Skyler wants to enter the M.A.T. Program and become an art educator, but his long range plans are even more ambitious, more inspired. He wants to advance in the field of education to the point where his political influence can make a difference. While he was growing up in New Jersey, he says, the value of education was not stressed; instead, students were just focused on staying alive until they reached the age of 21. He wants to be part of changing this perspective, not only for his brothers and sisters, but for all the other children who come through school after them. Skyler is not sure why he developed his passion for education and for art, but he suspects he may have been influenced by his mother, who always expected the best from him. Skyler is currently working on a series of portraits, not surprisingly featuring members of his family. Hilda Kelley, the second shift crew leader, is proud of Skyler, and is quick to sing his praises: “Skyler is a pleasant person, a good person, the kind of person who would go the extra mile for you. You can depend on Skyler.”
Niccolo Mastromatteo is a philosophy major in the Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts. An excellent scholar boasting a 4.0 grade point average, Niccolo also fields punts and catches passes as a slot receiver for the football team. Although his plans for the future are not firm, he intends to apply to medical and law school while also keeping other options open. Niccolo comes from a large, close-knit family. He is the oldest of nine – five boys, four girls. Three of his siblings, all high school athletes, are now enrolled in colleges in Tennessee, Ohio, and Maryland, but only his brother, Sonny, has joined Niccolo in playing on the collegiate level. The other five children enjoy sports and attend Everest Academy in Clarkston, Mich., where Niccolo went to school from third to sixth grade. The athletic abilities within the Mastromatteo family extend to Niccolo’s father, who played football and baseball in high school, and Niccolo’s mother, who played softball and, as his dad likes to say, was an “all world” tennis player. Niccolo explains his family’s success: “We have all been raised to take academics, sports, and music very seriously. Everybody works hard to get good grades, performs well in sports, and everyone plays the piano. Some of us play guitar, and Sonny plays violin.” Niccolo played both football and baseball in high school and graduated in 2008 from Walpole High in Walpole, Mass. During a postgraduate year of studies at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, N.H., he was injured in the second football game of the season. After attending classes at SMU, and allowing time for his knee injury to heal, Niccolo decided he wanted to transfer and began looking for a new school. Maurice Drayton recruited Niccolo for the Coastal Carolina football team, introducing the young football player to former Coach David Bennett. Niccolo emphatically states that he would never have become a Chant if it were not for
these two men. He is always quick to tell others about his respect for both mentors as people and as coaches. He loved the location of the campus and knew he had a good possibility of starting as a kick returner his official freshman year. Receiving a full scholarship, Niccolo came to Coastal, starting as the punt and kick returner for his first two years. He played some as a slot receiver his second year, but in the fall of 2013 he hopes to start at wide receiver. Niccolo’s success story at Coastal Carolina University is not confined to sports. Interested from the beginning in a liberal arts education, Niccolo was attracted by the description of the philosophy curriculum in the course catalogue. Niccolo says, “After sitting down with Chair Nils Rauhut to talk about the philosophy major, I was convinced that I wanted to declare.” David Killoren, Visiting Ethicist in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, describes Niccolo as being comfortable in the world of abstract ideas, an attribute that has allowed him to excel in the study of philosophy. Killoren adds, “Niccolo is an excellent writer, easily among the best writers I’ve seen at Coastal. And he is willing to defend unpopular views, which shows his intellectual integrity.”
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