NSU Horizons Spring 2014

Age: 25 Hometown: Lancaster, California Background: A United States Marine Corps veteran, she joined the Marines at age 18 and spent five years on active duty. What is your major? Business administration How has being a veteran impacted your time at NSU? It has been a tremen- dous growth for me. I’m president and cofounder of H.E.L.O., and it has been my biggest accomplishment. H.E.L.O. basi- cally brings student-veterans together and creates camaraderie. Helping people is true satisfaction. I’m also the president and founder of the NSU Student Veterans Association. We give veterans a place to come together, to narrow the gap between the community and those who have served. What advice would you give a veteran consider- ing NSU? NSU has a lot to offer, and we need more stu- dent-veterans who have leadership experience. After my first week here, I knewNSUwas the school for me with its small class sizes and experienced professors. Dur- ing my classes, I have never had to question whether or not I felt engaged. What’s the best part about being a Shark? The best part of being a Shark is that I feel there is so much potential for growth. [Our university leaders] want to see the Sharks growandwant to see that school spirit. Forme, that’s the best part—being at a university that allows me, as a newcomer, to come in and be like, “Hey, this is something that we’re missing. Can we do this?” What’s your favorite class or professor at NSU? There have been so many, but I would point out Randy Pohlman [Ph.D., the dean emeritus of the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship]. I took his Organiza- tional Behavior class—and I was amazed. I would look around and see every other student in the class engaged. And that’s not an easy thing to do. He’s also a veteran. What is one thing that most people ask you about? They want to know about my “date” with Justin Timberlake. We went to the Marine Corps Ball. A Marine had asked [actress] Mila Kunis to the ball. So, I made a video and invited Justin and he accepted. We went to the Marine Corps Ball together—the whole shebang. We went to the cocktail hour and dinner. He danced with all of my friends. He was incredibly respectful—a very awesome, down-to-earth, cool guy. What do you do for downtime? Mixed martial arts training! It’s one of my big passions—fighting competitively. What are your career aspirations? This is a big year for me because I’m a senior at NSU. After what I’ve experienced these past two years here, I’m considering doing my M.B.A. here. But I’m taking this year kind of slow, because things are really speeding up for me. n president and cofounder of the Heroes Entering Life’s Opportunities (H.E.L.O.) founda- tion and NSU’s Student Veterans Association Kelsey DeSantis Kelsey DeSantis: “Helping people is true satisfaction.” 39 HORIZONS By Kara Pound