NOVA Student Awarded 2020 Student Veteran Leadership Award

NOVA second-year student Copey Marquis Rice has been awarded the 2020 Student Veteran Leadership Award and was featured in the August issue of G.I. Jobs magazine. The inaugural list honors 48 student veterans who are making a positive impact at their school and in their communities. Rice was nominated for the award by his Campus Veterans Advisor Jinky Ebarle-Tweedie (AL).

Rice, who prefers to go by Marquis, is a funny, energetic, ambitious young man.

Originally from Valdosta, Georgia, Rice said that, where he grew up, “there really are not many opportunities to grow and expand your knowledge for Black Americans.” He went on, “being an intelligent African-American with a bubbly personality only gets you so far.”

Working two full-time jobs and attending university, he got bored quickly and enlisted in the Army. He enlisted for the travel, networking opportunities and benefits to, as he put it, “elevate his status as a human being on the economic and social hierarchical scale.”

It sounds as if being an intelligent African-American with a bubbly personality does, however, take you far in the military. Rice was assigned as 92 Gulf Culinary Specialist (aka Cook). But he was also in Army Entertainment in 2014, where he did sing dance and spoken word to promote the message, “Suicide is not the answer.” The group performed and encouraged soldiers to tell someone if something happened to them and to remember, “We have each other‘s backs.” The group performed at 87 installations and traveled to Germany, Korea, Kuwait, Japan and Afghanistan. “It was awesome!” he said.

He left the military in Nov. 2017 after eight years of service and decided to go to school.

“NOVA was the best decision I could ever make,” he said. “I was finding my path, and gaining knowledge is the best way to do that. NOVA is the best option at any time, and I appreciate it for the experience. The diversity, the staff and faculty willingness to help and the opportunities that I am able to cultivate from my experience here have been amazing.”

Majoring in Business Administration and General Studies at NOVA, Rice plans to pursue international business and trade. His goal is to make it onto the Fortune 500 CEOs list by age 50. His current degree plan, he says, does allow for him to do that and expand his knowledge in the business sector.

He says his favorite courses at NOVA have been History 101—the gossip and drama of old people; Art 101, where he learned that everything in the world is art and if an artist doesn’t create it, it does not get built; CST 100, Principles of Public Speaking; BUS 280, Intro to International Business and BUS 270, Interpersonal Dynamics in the Business Organization.

He gives shout outs to several of his professors at Alexandria Campus: Dr. Stephen Ward who teaches BUS 270 and provides stimulating conversation and professionalism. Dr. Whitney Kruckenberg who teaches Art 100 and provided ways to integrate the physical world of art into the classroom environment and helped him cultivate a lasting internship with the gallery director at NOVA’s Schlesinger Center and Prof. George Raub, BUS 280, whom Marquis calls an extreme asset to the school. Rice said BUS 280 was extremely difficult, but it checked every box for him—creativity, business, debates, presentations and knowledge.

When asked his best experiences outside the classroom, he says among his favorite experiences was winning a maroon NOVA shirt at a student services function at the Alexandria Campus. He got the hat to match, too. (Sometimes, it’s the little things that stick with our students.) He also says that his internship at the Schlesinger Center with Mary Welch Higgins, the gallery director, was an excellent experience. “The music and the art that is in there is crazy,” he said. Finally, he counts helping NOVA’s veteran students as a work-study student in the Office of Military and Veteran Students to be among his most gratifying experiences at NOVA. “Helping those who serve will forever be ingrained in my DNA,” he said.

Marquis Rice is an ambitious young man who will go far and make NOVA look really good along the way. He has high aspirations and is destined for great things.

“I’m always looking for internships to gain that hands-on experience,” he says, “if anyone wants to hit me up.” (Cmr2017@email.vccs.edu)

Meet all the 2020 Leadership Award recipients Here.