The one that got away
January 10, 2012
Roy Ivey
January 13, 2012Although offers have already started to roll in, Jessi Boudwin isn’t yet sure whether she’ll take a job after she completes the master’s program at Nicholls State University.
After all, a potential doctorate is already beckoning the 22-year-old Houma native who completed a four-year program in Nicholls’s business administration program over the summer … in three years’ time … with a perfect 4.0 GPA.
“I studied pretty much every day, all day,” Boudwin said over the phone during a break at the gym. “I didn’t have a job, so I just studied and took every class like it was serious and really, really mattered.”
The daughter of Brian Boudwin and Jody Landry, the recent graduate is the youngest of her three blood-related siblings and a step-sister.
She graduated from H.L. Bourgeois in 2008, and earlier this month completed the first semester of Nicholls’ business administration master’s program under the tutelage of Dr. Luke Cashen, who called her a “model student.”
“Interacting with her throughout the years, I have witnessed first-hand that she has the intellect, work ethic, communication skills, drive, and confidence to be successful in all her future endeavors,” Cashen said. “Her ability to simultaneously grasp the fine details, as well as see the ‘big picture’, will make her a huge asset to her future employer.”
Boudwin said she’s not sure what job opportunity would pull her away from a doctorate program, but she has a solid grasp on a long-term goal. “I really would like to be a human resources consultant, but I would have to have a lot of experience,” she said.
As a child, Boudwin said she became enamored with law and dreamed of one day becoming a judge. Instead of the years and years of studying in law school, she opted for a field she described as “mini-law.”
“Human resources is pretty much law,” she said. “You’ve just got to follow the law and you make your own laws by creating policies for your company, kind of a mini-law, you know?”
Other than keeping in shape at the gym, Boudwin spends her free time engrossed in novels. She’s currently reading “The Hunger Games,” by Suzanne Collins, but her all-time favorite is either “Pride and Prejudice,” by Jane Austin, or “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” by Khaled Hosseini.
Boudwin was one of 562 graduating students to receive a diploma when Nicholls held its 89th Commencement last month. Chef John Folse, namesake of the school’s culinary institute, received an honorary doctorate of commerce and delivered the keynote address.
Among the graduates, 366 were from the Tri-parish area.
Lafourche had more graduates than any other parish with 192. Terrebonne had 130 and St. Mary, 44. Fifty-seven Tri-parish residents obtained master’s degrees.
Kaleb M. Plaisance (accounting), of Lockport and Meryl A. Waguespack (elementary education), of Vacherie, also graduated with 4.0 GPAs.
They were among nine baccalaureate recipients who graduated with summa cum laude honors, which designates graduates with a 3.9-or-higher GPA.
Dillon A. Barron (geomatics), of Raceland; Alissa M. Callais (general studies), of Galliano; Brittany A. Champagne (elementary education), of Houma; Hanh H. Chung (accounting), of Houma; Aaron T. Hubbell (art), of Gramercy; and Brad D. LeBoeuf (accounting and finance), of Larose, also received highest academic honors.
LeBoeuf graduated summa cum laude in both programs.
General studies was the most-completed program, with 73 students receiving degrees. Forty-four finished the nursing program and culinary arts had 35 completers.
Outside of the Tri-parish region, St. James had the most Nicholls December 2011 graduates, with 20. Assumption graduated 18, Jefferson graduated 17 and St. Charles graduated 16.
