my little brother By Nicole Hager Nicole Hager is the dean of students at NMH. She is responsible for residential life, health services, and student activities and outreach. She has shared this story with faculty at a professional development gathering and with students at an all-school meeting last year. During each weekly all-school meeting, there is an opportunity, called “Moment of Silence,” for a student or a faculty or staff member to tell a personal story.
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uch of the time I stand before you, I am laying down the law and asking you to make good choices. It’s part of my job. I’m the dean. For a few minutes, though, I want you to see me as someone’s daughter, to know me as someone’s older sister. I remember taking trips into Seattle when I was young. The “hobos” who occupied Pioneer Square fascinated me, as did the masses of pigeons that seemed to share the same sidewalks, benches, and scraps of food. It was so sad to me but, fortunately, so distant from my middle-class suburban reality. How did those people get to that place? Never in my wildest nightmares would I have imagined my little brother living there amidst the filth of spoiling food and defecating pigeons. Never would I have imagined that he would provide an answer to my haunting question.
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NMH Magazine