Aaron K. Jackson, 24

Aaron Jackson is currently a Stony Brook University senior and health science major. Here, he has become a campus leader. He joined the school’s gospel choir as a way to escape drama and stay connected to his roots. He became its president during the 2017 to 2018 school year.

Currently, he is president of the Student African American Brotherhood, an organization which helped him discover his own ethnic identity. As president, he promotes the education and uplifting of other Black men.

Aaron has faced much of adversity during his college career but chose to push through his hardships. Initially, he started at Utica College. When his grandfather—one of his best friends— and aunt fell ill, he left school to take care of his family who have always taken care of him. Once he had the opportunity to go back to school, he transferred to Stony Brook for its Health Science Program.

Aaron’s grandfather valued education very much and made sure he preached its importance to his children and grandchildren. He did everything in his power to make sure his family was set up for success, and when he died, he left Aaron a handsome sum of money to help pay for school. So, he decided to establish a scholarship in his grandfather’s honor.

“I guess the whole point of this all is to really give back. I want to help as many people go to grad school as I possibly can because one thing I realized is applying to grad school and being a student in grad school is not cheap at all.”

Aaron will be attending grad school at Temple University where he will study for his master’s degree in kinesthesiology while simultaneously teaching Temple undergraduates anatomy and physiology. He hopes to one day hit the big leagues, becoming an athletic trainer for either a division I university, the Nation Basketball Association or Major League Baseball.

James Breton is a senior chemistry major at Stony Brook University. At Stony Brook, he is a material scientist.

“We test a lot of different gel like materials like toothpaste or medicines, and we test their physical limits in a way. Like how much pressure you can put on it before it begins to change phase. Or things like trying to mimic natural products that are gel like, like aloe vera or things like your cartilage.”

He is also a part of the Educational Opportunity Program, which has a higher graduation rate than the rest of the University. As an EOP student, Mr. Breton is graduating early, obtaining his bachelor’s degree in only three years. Every semester, he has challenged himself to surpass the school’s 19-credit limit. After graduation, James will continue at Stony Brook to pursue his master’s degree in Chemistry, which at this rate, he will earn in only four years at the age of 21.

This was made possible by the school’s fast-track master’s program for chemistry. Usually, four years of undergraduate study, and two years of graduate study are combined into one 5-year program. But since he finished his undergraduate degree in three years, he will be able to get his master’s in four.  

There are few Black people at Stony Brook and even fewer in the field of chemistry and James has already experienced hardships. One time, while walking around Stony Brook, he was called the n-word by young White people speeding by in a pickup truck. Another time, while working at an internship in Kansas, someone refused to get on the elevator with him because of his race.

To stay strong, he recognizes some people’s ignorance and continues to learn and grow with the kind, helpful people that he has encountered both at school and in the workplace. It also helps him to find other Black people in his field to find inspiration and guidance in them.

James aspires to one day get his doctorate degree in Chemistry and plans to continue doing research hoping to one day run his own lab while teaching at the same time. He would also like to be able to incorporate his research into a profitable business or product.

Jaeson Williams is a senior Psychology and Sociology double major with a writing minor at Stony Brook University. On campus, he is a member of Cadence step team and the Student African American Brotherhood. Jaeson cherishes the friends and connections that he has made on campus because they have helped him through his worst times. He was formerly a residential assistant but lost his position shortly after his 21st birthday. To his surprise, his friends threw him a birthday party. When a noise complaint was called in, everyone who attended the party was written up and forced to resign from their RA positions. During a tense bureaucratic process, Mr. Wiliams did not have housing because he lost it when he lost his position. If it was not for the immense amounts of support, guidance and love that he received from his friends that year, he would not have been able to continue school. Because of incidents like this, Jaeson has learned to take everything in life in stride.

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“Life isn’t about what happens to you, but how you interpret it.”

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Jaeson advises anyone in college, but especially Black men, to get involved on campus because he would not know where he would be today without the people he has met along the way.

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He hopes to one day study psychobehavioral therapy and psuedocounseling considering that he already does a little bit of both for his friends.

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“I’m all about like getting touch with your emotions and figuring out the why you want to do something. That’s just been kind of my thing.”

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Also, Jaeson’s minor is not random. As a hobby, Jaeson began freelance writing.

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“I used to write stories and develop characters and scenarios and whatever and sell them off to people.”

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Since he was getting paid to write, he thought that he ought to learn how to write better and declared writing as his minor. He stopped writing recently because senior year got hard. Jaeson wants to start writing again after college and hopes to one day write a book of his own.

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“Not really sure what it’s going to be about yet. Kind of figuring that out slowly but you know, there’s a book in me somewhere and I’m going to get it out.”

Matthew Nation is a senior Information Systems major with a specialization in Financial Information Systems. He came to Stony Brook University because he was impressed with their Engineering Program and "felt a good air" about the school knowing that this was the place that he wanted "to be in the future." He came in through the school's Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program. Early in his Stony Brook career, the program gave him the opportunity to teach his own technology workshop to high school students on the weekends. Currently, Matthew is the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) senator for the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He also raps professionally, often at school functions.

Although he would like to find a job in his field, Matthew hopes to keep wearing the multiple hats that he has found during college.

“My goals with making music is to just really make music that people haven’t really heard of before. Like when they listen to my stuff they be like, ‘oh he’s completely different than anything that we’ve ever seen or heard and he’s being genuine to himself.’ With I guess the industry side, just trying to be financially stable… because you should always have that professional basis of your life because you never know where that can take you… Also, shameless plug, listen to my song ‘Drowning.’ It’s on SoundCloud. There is a link in my bio on Instagram, ‘Matthew.Nation.’”

You can also check him out on Twitter @MattNationMusic.