They’re athletes, these two.
They see one of their vital classrooms as being the Human Biomechanics and Physiology Lab, the state-of-the-art home of HPU’s Institute of Human Health and Sports Science Research.
Nicole Giordano studies the effects of pollution on the cardiovascular, respiratory and immune system, and Nicole Karlesky has worked with a dynamometer to measure the torque and force of an athlete’s legs.
It’s applied science, and for these two exercise science majors, this big classroom has become a high-tech spot where they can apply everything they have learned in class.
And Giordano and Karlesky, both seniors, have learned much. They’re Presidential Scholars and members of the National Society of Leadership and Success for their work in and out of the classroom.
They both have been named HPU’s Extraordinary Leaders for the month of February.
And they’ve excelled. It wasn’t because of sports.
Finding Inspiration In Every Corner of HPU
At a fine-dining restaurant in Connecticut, surrounded by seven other Ph.D. candidates and two doctoral students, Giordano knew exactly what to do.
The others? Not so much.
They didn’t know whether to stand or remain seated when a woman returned to the table, and they sure didn’t know about the proper position of a knife and fork on the plate at the end of the meal.
It’s at 5 o’clock, Giordano reminded them.
“You could teach a course on this,’’ said one.
“I’ve never heard of this stuff,’’ said another.
But Giordano had. She had learned about etiquette and decorum at 1924 Prime, HPU’s fine-dining restaurant created to help students thrive when restaurants become boardrooms and relationships are created around a place setting.
A few weeks ago, she went to the University of Connecticut to interview as a potential candidate for its Ph.D. program in biomedical science.
She felt comfortable at the restaurant. And she felt comfortable with her skills because she knew HPU had given her more than facts from a textbook. HPU helped her become a deeper thinker – and a leader.
It started with HPU’s new organization, Health Occupation Students of America. She became the president, served for two years and went on to accept a litany of leadership roles.
Meanwhile, she tutored as many as 15 students six hours a week and helped them with not the easiest of subjects – all academic forms of chemistry.
She knows her material well. In May, she’ll graduate summa cum laude with a double degree in biochemistry and exercise science, pursue a doctorate and look toward a potential career studying the immune system.
Giordano wants to become a scientist. She thrives on being busy.
At HPU, beyond being a tutor and student leader, she has served as the risk management coordinator for her sorority, Alpha Gamma Delta, and she works as a facility manager and group fitness instructor at Slane Student Center.
But why the academic drive? Her two bad knees.
She wanted to play field hockey in college, and she was good enough to get recruited. She played goalie, wore No. 122 and was known to her teammates as “Nikki.’’
But after games and practices, her knees hurt so bad she couldn’t walk up the 14 stairs at her home in Bridgewater, New Jersey.
“I think you’re going to need knee replacement surgery before you’re 40,’’ her father joked.
She laughed. Still does. But she has turned her athletic energy into intellectual horsepower.
With the help of HPU, look what happened.
“By being in this environment I got so many opportunities, and with its emphasis on leadership and service, that helped me blossom,’’ she says. “Nobody wants to hire someone who is just smart.’’
Helping Grandma, Helping Others
Nicole Karlesky hated to see her paternal grandmother struggle.
She watched her grandmother, a once able-bodied woman, become frail. She fell too much and needed two new knees to help keep her upright. Karlesky’s grandmother is 81, and she needed physical therapy to regain her strength.
Right then, Karlesky saw her future unfold. She wants to become a physical therapist. HPU will help her do that.
In May, she’ll graduate with a degree in exercise science and a minor in Spanish, and she’ll look to enroll in a physical therapy program that could be close to her home in Charlotte, North Carolina.
When she does, she’ll use what she learned at HPU.
She made the dean’s list every semester, she’s part of the school’s honors scholar program and she’s expanded far beyond the skills she acquired in basketball and volleyball at her high school in Charlotte.
But it’s bigger than that.
At HPU, she served in various roles with the Student Government Association, including Executive Vice President. But the work she performed away from campus that should catch your attention, too.
She helped build homes for Habitat For Humanity, an easy drive from campus. She tutors children at a local federal housing community and babysits children at a local YWCA through the school’s service organization, Alpha Phi Omega.
She acts as a youth leader at a Kernersville church, and she has helped a middle school student cope with the death of her mother.
Meanwhile, she went to a rural village in Guatemala where she built stoves, scrubbed soot from interior walls, slept in a hammock and took cold showers for a week during an alternative break.
She now wants to become a physical therapist and work in a Spanish-speaking country to help people like the woman she calls Grandma.
“In the Bible, there is a verse that says when much is given much is required,’’ she says. “My parents told me that. My Grandma told me that. And I felt it was my duty to give back to others, and it’s the best feeling in the world.
“Even in the darkest situations, you can see a little hope and light. And here (at HPU), I got pushed out of my box and found how little things can change who you are.’’