As we continue our series getting to know our students a little better this fall, we’d like to introduce you to Zachery Cramer, one of our SAHE students! And, check back to meet more students each week right here!
My name is Zachery Cramer, and I am a second-year graduate student in the Student Affairs in Higher Education Program (SAHE)!
I was born and raised in central Illinois — Princeville, IL, to be specific. I’ve been slowly moving north over the years as my undergraduate degree is from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL, where I studied Hospitality and Tourism Management.
I’ve lived in Milwaukee for a year and a month now! I live on the eastside and about a 5-minute walk from Bradford Beach. It’s definitely a nice change of pace after basically living in a corn field for 22 years.
My dad is a farmer and mechanic, and my mother is a Special Education Aide for middle schools. My younger sister just graduated high school and has been accepted to cosmetology school (so exciting!). Over the last several years, our family has become more dynamic as they have started to foster, and we have welcomed several dozen little ones in and out of our family.
My favorite educational experiences have been through my graduate program. There have been multiple courses where I lacked confidence in the topic areas, but our professors have done an amazing job in challenging my peers and me. Thanks to their work and belief in me, I feel like I’ve become more confident in my academic work and my capacity for engaging in new content.
This year I am serving as the Alumni Relations Chair for the Graduate Organization for Student Affairs in Higher Education (GO SAHE). I’m stoked to be able to engage with our alumni network from the SAHE program to serving as mentors, resources, and more for our current students. I’ll also start job searching in the spring, but I’m not too excited for that process yet.
I work a lot. I have a Graduate Assistantship (GA) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where I serve as the Riverview GA and the Leadership Programs GA. There, I supervise Resident Assistants, help to oversee a building of 150 students, and facilitate leadership programs for all of campus, from individuals to student organizations. This semester I am doing my graduate internship through the Marquette Student Wellness Center where I supervise the office assistants, work with our marketing and social media, and assist with other programming that comes out of our office.
A hobby that I have gotten into over the last year is running outside. I’ve become a snob where running inside is no longer enjoyable, and I need to be outside in the fresh air. This semester I plan on running three 5Ks! The Panther Prowl (UWM), Homecoming 5K (Marquette), and Hustle for Hearing (NIU). Running has been a very calming way for me to get outside and exercise while also allowing me to decompress after a long day/week.
I’ve also started “reading” audiobooks. Thanks to OverDrive (a super helpful app to check out) I can register my Milwaukee Public Library card. It allows me to check out books for a week at a time and listen while I’m commuting back and forth from Marquette to UWM to home. Just in August and September I finished seven books. If you have recommendations for good dystopian books, please let me know!
I really want to be able to support students as they go through their collegiate careers. When I was an undergraduate student I changed my major six times and never felt like I belonged in the classroom. It was thanks to student affairs professionals that I felt connected to the campus and the activities in which I was engaged. Thanks to these experiences and professionals, I now know that I am in the right place and doing the work that I’m meant to do.
I want to give a shout-out to some of my cohort members! Without them and the connections and experiences we have, graduate school would have been ten times harder than it already is. When I first decided to come here I was worried about being queer at a Jesuit institution, but I’ve felt supported the whole time I’ve been here! For those cohort members that work with me, thank you for making sure my work is quality and supporting me when I needed help. For those that share identities with me, thank you for helping to make being queer at Marquette possible. For those that meet up with me every Sunday for coffee, crying, and reading, thank you for always being willing to stay on topic (or completely veer off track).
The Marquette Educator 