Nikelson Michel

Economics ‘19

From the moment Nikelson set foot on the HELP campus for orientation in 2015, a world of possibilities opened up for him. “I saw all the people working in different fields, and it was a lightbulb moment. It inspired me and I saw that I could continue helping people and accomplish my professional goals. I was always told that I should become a priest, but at HELP I saw that I could serve the world in even bigger ways.”

While HELP may have changed Nikelson’s vision of the future, it is his mother who provided the motivation and determination to succeed in primary and secondary school. “Growing up, life was not easy,” Nikelson says. Raised by a single mother, who was an orphan, the family struggled financially. Things got markedly worse when Nikelson’s father arrived and took him and his sister to a remote island in the Gulf of La Gonâve. There, the children were largely neglected and did not attend school for several years until their mother was able to bring them home. “My mother is my model, my inspiration to become better, to become better than my father, better than my environment. Growing up, when everyone else wanted to play soccer, I wanted to be at the library. My mom saw that and supported me. And the best way to give back to her was to be the best in the class. Each grade I got was a gift for my mom.”

At HELP, Nikelson found a new kind of support. “In the dorm I got much more than a room. The other students became a family, and I got the opportunity to build a network - it’s priceless.” Nikleson also points to the library and career services department as key elements of his time at HELP. “I did three or four internships while I was at HELP that allowed me to be a more competitive candidate when I graduated. Because of my internships, I was able to apply for jobs right when I graduated.”

Today, Nikelson is a research economist at CHRAD in Port-au-Prince. He works on business plans for local enterprises and consults with NGOs on implementing monitoring and evaluation plans for their projects. He still uses the skills he learned in his HELP classes. “The HELP IT course taught me Microsoft Excel, which I use every day. And I find myself using a lot of the tools I learned in leadership class as I navigate the interpersonal relationships at work.”

Jean Lucien Ligondé, Director of CHRAD, was so pleased with Nikelson’s work that he spontaneously wrote a check to HELP. “HELP has given us one of the best employees I’ve ever had,” he says. “So I had to contribute, to thank you for educating and training Nikelson. All Haitian companies should do the same, because it is businesses who benefit from having quality employees.”