Month: March 2024

Southeastern’s spring semester has shown growth in nearly all student categories. 

The university realized solid increases in enrollment across both undergraduate and graduate students. Undergraduate enrollment rose by two percent, while graduate enrollment experienced an increase of 14 percent. 

With an overall enrollment increase of three percent at 13,800 students, an enrollment number for spring not realized since before the pandemic, Southeastern experienced growth in several categories. New or incoming student increases included first-time freshmen at 14 percent, transfer students at 21 percent, graduate students at 17.3, and dual enrollment students with an increase of 6.5 percent. Southeastern also experienced a 22 percent increase in international students.

“Southeastern has been working diligently to strengthen purposeful enrollment with a strategic focus on mission and core values centered on student success,” said Southeastern President William S. Wainwright. “Seeing growth in multiple categories is a testament to a commitment of the students, faculty, and staff to a progressive Enrollment Management Plan, positioning our university for continued growth and most importantly, student success.”

Southeastern currently offers over 150 programs of study, including many that are regionally and nationally ranked. To apply, visit southeastern.edu.

Ever since Jonetta Kaiser was a small child, she knew she wanted to be a professional actress. But in addition to this resolute determination, she embodied something else that would help reach this goal and much more: a diversity of interests and an unstoppable entrepreneurial spirit.

BY SHERI GIBSON

By the time she was 13, Jonetta Kaiser was designing Myspace pages for clients, creating websites, and earning money through Google AdSense. While this alone could be considered a major accomplishment for someone so young, and was indeed an indication of the entrepreneurial drive that would remain a part of her life, for Jonetta it was also a way to help her reach her ultimate goal. She invested the small income she received in photo paper for printing and mailing headshots, taken by her sister in her grandma’s backyard, in hopes of landing roles as an actress.

After seeing the movie Salt starring Angelina Jolie, she knew for sure she had found her path.

“That’s when it kind of clicked: I could actually do this,” Jonetta said. “So, when I graduated high school, I did. I took a gap year and did extra work on sets in New Orleans. I did American Horror Story, the “Coven” season. I did a Miley Cyrus movie called So Under Cover, a Will Smith movie called Focus, and a CW TV show about aliens.”

Knowing how important STEM-related skills could benefit her throughout life, though, at the end of the gap year Jonetta, a Hammond native, enrolled at Southeastern to major in biochemistry and minor in computer science.

“I knew I needed to go to college; that was the way to do this,” she explained. “I knew I wanted to learn something in STEM, because that’s where jobs are going. That’s where the world is heading. Technology, and for example AI, is increasing at such a level that if you’re not paying attention, then you should be. I always knew that that’s where things would be 20 years from now. So, I decided that I’m going to study this, and then somewhere along the line I’ll figure out how to pivot. And I did. I really did.”

While gaining science skills is important in its own right, at first glance this field can seem quite disparate from acting. But to Jonetta, there are actually a lot of similarities, with both science and acting alike in process.

“I genuinely just love the process of figuring things out. I like challenges,” she said. “It’s the same reason I love acting so much, too, because it’s looking at something and figuring out the problem and solution. How can I get an end result? With coding, it’s starting a project and talking to a client and identifying how we can get from point A to point B. It’s the same thing with acting—you look at a script, you have a character, and then you have to figure out how can I get to the end of the script and create a journey for this part.”

Jonetta enjoyed her time at Southeastern, where she studied with her two best friends from childhood—who are great friends to this day. And while most of her time in college was spent hustling between two jobs, one at PJ’s Coffee and one at La Carreta, and being a fulltime biochemistry student, she noted that when she did have time to go to games and other events “it was always such fun. The school spirit at Southeastern was great.”

Jonetta also loved the quality of instruction at Southeastern, noting how the University had “the best teachers” and giving an anecdote about the calculus class she took. “My calculus teacher didn’t rely on calculators, and the way he explained calculus was next level; I still have those memories with me forever. And I grew to love calculus—which no one loves calculus. But it was because I really understood the why behind the course.”

After three years of acquiring a solid base of science and technology skills, in 2018 Jonetta suddenly woke up one day with an instinctual pull that it was time for her to make her pivot back to acting. With new professional headshots in hand, she boldly made the trip by herself to California in chase of her dream.

Because of how expensive Los Angeles is, she first lived on military base Camp Pendleton in Oceanside while commuting three hours to the city for acting classes and auditions. But she was soon able to start landing parts, and after only six months, she made the move to Los Angeles.

While she was able to start seeing her goals as an actress come true, Jonetta discussed how she couldn’t have done it without the technology skills she had earned as a student—with almost all working actors and actresses needing other revenue streams as they get started or to keep busy between jobs.

“Los Angeles is so expensive, and you really need to figure out how you’re going to get by,” she said. “The reality is that actors can make a lot of money, but if you have no other skills and you just come out [to Los Angeles] and want to be an actor, you’re going to have a tough time. You have to figure out how you’re going to make money and acquire some skills until you become the next Angelina Jolie.

“I’ve been fortunate to consistently work since I moved out here in 2018. I started working right away as an actress, but most of the time as an actor, you’re unemployed. So, it’s been incredibly helpful—the skills that I acquired when I went to Southeastern, to learn how to create websites because I took computer science classes as a biochemistry major.

“I’m so grateful for that time. Honestly, I wouldn’t have known what to do otherwise.”

While parts started rolling in remarkably quickly for Jonetta, her favorite one so far has been Sonya Sharp in the Peacock series Vampire Academy, based on the best-selling book series. Not only did Jonetta identify greatly with the character as a fellow bookworm, but the series was also both one of her favorites as a child and her gateway into the genre. “The reason I loved Twilight and The Vampire Diaries was because of Vampire Academy books,” she said.

Learning that she would get to play Sonya was a surreal realization for Jonetta—and the start of an amazing new experience. With the series filming in Spain for seven months in 2022, she was able to learn Spanish, a useful skill which she is grateful to now have for wherever she may go in the future—and more travel is a definite on her list. She was able to do greenscreen work and be on wires, which she loved. Since her character can communicate with birds, she was also excited to get to feed and interact with trained crows.

And as with all her roles, it was the work and process of finding the character that also really spoke to her. “The prep work is my favorite because that’s where you do the work. You’re finding the character and then it comes alive when they call ‘action,’” she said.

Since Vampire Academy, Jonetta also starred in the movie A Party to Die For before the SAG-AFTRA strike. And with this development, having other skills has become even more essential than ever for actors.

“Right now we’re seeing that if you have no skills, what are you going to do?”, Jonetta commented. “Hollywood is completely shut down right now. No one is working. If you’re not an A-list star to have made millions of dollars to support your home, you have to figure out how you’re going to survive. You have to have a skill. And going to school and learning how to survive in the real world first is probably your best bet.”

During this acting downtime, Jonetta has indeed kept busy with not only hobbies but also other work. In addition to some of her favorite activities, such as reading, making jewelry, and taking Pilates classes, she’s been working on a couple of AI-based startups with her boyfriend and also building websites for clients, doing coding. While she has been lucky enough to have worked on a popular show that helps pay the bills, it hasn’t put any damper on her drive to continue to achieve more.

And while her acting prospects are indeed bright, her potential for success in other fields is also limitless. Her positive attitude, down-to-earth and friendly personality, and energetic dedication to work, coupled with her belief in education, also serve to enhance this.

“I always knew if I were to pursue acting that the skills I acquired while I was at Southeastern, learning coding and other things, would come in handy and would be essential for me to know,” she said.

In the darkest of times, one member of the Southeastern community was able to create a new light through giving to others.

BY TONYA LOWENTRITT

For Southeastern alumna Jeanne Brooks, the spring and summer of 2014 forever changed her life. In May she lost her husband of 30 years after two major heart attacks. Just nine weeks later, her son Jordan was tragically killed in an ATV accident on the job as an interpretative ranger at Bogue Chitto State Park in Franklinton.

In 2014, Brooks had been working at Southeastern as the Library of Congress Coordinator and continued in that role for one more year.

“I was a mother and wife for 30 years, and overnight I wasn’t either one. Though she lived just a few doors from me, I was the primary caregiver of my mother, now in her 90s,” Brooks recalled. “I knew I couldn’t continue. I did all the things grief counselors say not to do. I quit my job, put my home on the market, and connected with a tour group as a counselor for students touring the United Kingdom.”

Brooks had worked at Southeastern as a “retired rehire,” having retired from both Louisiana and Mississippi schools. She worked with literally hundreds of people rebuilding schools, libraries, communities, and lives after Hurricane Katrina. This time, however, it was time to rebuild herself. Upon her return from the UK, Brooks contacted Southeastern because she felt she belonged there.

“I knew I needed to work with students, and I needed to make a difference in the lives of others,” she said. “The timing was perfect. An opening in the College of Education, Department of Teaching and Learning had become available just the day before my call. This time though, it was not with the Library of Congress program; it was as a full-time faculty member. I was exactly where I belonged!”

After a long and rewarding career, Brooks retired once again after having been a teacher for decades, reaching thousands of students. “Retirement” though did not mean sitting in a rocking chair and knitting—not for Brooks. With no children or grandchildren, she chose to establish the Jordan Brooks Smith Endowed Scholarship to give back to those who had given her so much. Established in honor of Jordan, himself a Southeastern graduate, the scholarship will go to a student who has been admitted to Southeastern and is majoring in one of the teacher preparation programs in the College of Education.

“Education enriched my life and Jordan’s life. Even on my darkest days, it was the medical staff at University Hospital who became my family. And yes, many of those were Southeastern graduates,” Brooks recalled. “I have
a deep love for Southeastern. Across campus, across departments, Southeastern gave me so much. It is only fitting that I give back.”

After the establishment of the endowment in memory of her son, Brooks still felt like she needed to do more. She began to ask herself what she could give as a visual reminder of Jordan and what his legacy entailed.

“We were both ‘teachers,’ but in different ways, so there must be something to continue to teach generations of children,” she thought.

Therefore, after nine years of talking, researching, volunteering, fundraising, and mountains of paperwork, the Interpretative Ranger Jordan Brooks Smith Kids Trail in Bogue Chitto State Park was born. The trail is an accessible children’s trail complete with animal sculptures created for inquisitive children’s minds. Its purpose, Brooks said, is to connect children and families to nature through environmental education and hands-on experiences with native flora and fauna. One of the animal sculptures, the fox, a central part of Jordan’s legacy, includes Brooks’ handprints and those of Jordan as a child.

“Southeastern has etched its handprint on my heart,” Jeanne said. “With the Jordan Brooks Smith Endowed Scholarship at Southeastern and the Interpretative Ranger Jordan Brooks Smith Kids’s Trail at Bogue Chitto State Park, Jordan and I have etched our handprints for generations to come.”