News
April 17th, 2018
Board Member Profile: Nicole Eversley Bradwell Brings a Focus on Youth
For more than 20 years, Nicole Eversley Bradwell has dedicated herself to working with young people, from high school students around the world to local youth taking a computer class at the Southside Community Center.
She is director of admission at Ithaca College (IC) and one of our newest board members. Invited by a friend and board member, Christine Barksdale, to consider joining the board, she spoke with George Ferrari, CEO, and decided it was a good fit for her skills.
” Community Foundation is an essential organization, and the board was seeking someone with a background in communications and someone who had a youth perspective,” she said. ” Many of the programs supported through Community Foundation focus on youth.”
Eversley Bradwell grew up in Johnston, N.Y., a small town outside of Albany, and graduated from SUNY Oswego. Although she initially thought she wanted to become a radio DJ, she ended up majoring in communications and public relations.
Her first job after graduation was an IC admission counselor recruiting students at high schools or college fairs. Over the next two decades, she moved into a variety of positions in the admission office, including 17-years in international recruitment and travelling to Asia, and Central and South American to meet potential applicants.
In 2016, she was appointed director and supervises an office of 40 employees. During her time at IC, she earned a master’s degree in organizational communication. ” I really enjoy working with students. It’s a powerful and wonderful time to be part of a person’s life as they look at higher education,” she said. “And I like the field of admission because it’s always changing. “
Eversley Bradwell has always believed in serving her community and has concentrated on organizations that serve youth. She was president of the board of Southside Community Center from 2003 to 2013 and was a board member of Tompkins County Youth Services and the Sciencenter.
Eversley Bradwell sees many challenges that youth are facing in Tompkins County. ” We are not able to serve all the youth with after-school or summer programming,” she said . “All of the programs maintain wait lists, so we need to create programs or support existing programs to meet the needs.”
“My goal is to see where I can best support Community Foundation by offering a perspective on where I see youth headed and what their needs are. “Ithaca is my home. In order to make your community the best it can be, it needs full participation of people supporting the community.” she said.