A psychology major and triple minor, senior Marquiale Davis is very involved both on and off campus. 

His minors include health education, American Sign Language and Africana studies. 

Davis has found a home at Kean University, after transferring from Farleigh Dickinson University (FDU). He spent the fall semester of his freshman year at FDU, then took the spring semester off before becoming a Cougar the following semester. 

Davis credits his smooth transition to Kean University to Dr. Norma Bowe. After meeting at a college fair, she took him to the campus and he fell in love with it. 

"I applied and got accepted the same day, and I was just like 'oh my God, this is meant to be,'" Davis said. 

Davis works on campus in the Office of Student Government and the Office of Residential Student Services. When he is not working, which is not often, he enjoys playing sports like basketball and football and embraces his passion for American Sign Language. 

"I love American Sign Language, which is why I'm minoring in it," Davis said. 

After finishing the program in a year, it has become a huge part of his life. He has a lot of friends who are Deaf and is involved in the Deaf community. Davis is also a member of the American Sign Language Club and the Deaf Jammers Club. 

Another one of his passions is community service. Community service is really important to Davis, as something that is kept near and dear to his heart. 

"I grew up needing people who did community service. So like toy drives, things like that, I always received things like that growing up in foster care," Davis said. 

He enjoys the type of community service that is very hands on and allows volunteers to get dirty while getting a job done. He participated in Alternative Spring Break, where his role was digging a hole with his assigned group. 

The other kind of community service he enjoys is where volunteers can go to schools to talk with and mentor students. Going to foster homes around the holidays, since the foster children do not have families to visit them, is another type of service that Davis is actively involved in. He would like to create his own community service project that incorporates this initiative. 

"I actually want to create a community service [project] here at Kean [University] where we go to a foster home and meet people because I'm from that background," Davis said. "You're just there like upset, sad and a little depressed when the [holiday] seasons come around, so I want to create a community service [project] where we can go out and talk to these kids, bring presents to these kids and kind of just support them and [let them] know that they are loved and cared for."

Davis is involved in the Campus Planning Committee, Pan-African Student Union (PASU) and the psychology club. He used to serve on the executive boards for all of the clubs he is involved in, but after becoming a member of the Student Organization (the full-time undergraduate student government) executive board, he could not simultaneously hold the positions of differing levels. 

For Student Organization, he is the funded groups vice president. His responsibility is to ensure that each funded group is up to date on its paperwork and other affairs. 

"I oversee 25 different funded groups," Davis said. "I frequently remind [funded groups] of deadlines they have to meet and different types of criteria they have to meet in order to stay funded."

Davis is also a member of the Retention and Tenure Committee. As part of the committee, he looks at applications from full-time, part-time and adjunct professors who either want to retain their current positions or are applying for tenure. After reviewing applications, the committee sits in a meeting and takes a vote to see if an applicant deserves or does not deserve a position.  

Davis takes pride in all of his roles, but his most memorable moment at Kean University was when he became a Resident Assistant (RA). While at FDU, his RA was not great, but he had the best RA when he transferred to Kean University. 

"She really motivated me to go on and become an RA," Davis said. 

He became friends with other RAs who were in Student Organization, and that led to him becoming involved in the organization as well. He described it as a small seed that blossomed into a beautiful thing. 

Davis feels that his experience and involvement at Kean University has thoroughly prepared him for the future. 

"As a student, we can be very entitled. And if it's not our way, it's the wrong way," Davis said. 

From his experience at Kean University, he takes away a valuable lesson: life is not always perfect, but he still strives to be great all of the time. 

After graduating from Kean University with his undergraduate degree, he is looking to apply to Kean University's doctorate degree program for clinical and school psychology. 

With this unique five-year program, students earn their masters degree, professional diploma and doctorate degree. With the combined program, Davis will not be limited as to which route in psychology he has to take since he will gain experience in both. 

Since he is not 100 percent sure of which career path he would like to go down, this program fits his needs perfectly.  

"Right now, I see myself working in a school setting as a school psychologist," Davis said. 

He considers being a school psychologist for high school or college students to be his ideal "day job." He would also like to mentor students who come from a foster care background or urban areas, and help guide them down the right path. 

Another career goal of his is to be the Dean of the College of Humanities at a university. 

Davis referred to himself as a "regular person," but with so much passion for what he wants to do and his excessive involvement, it is obvious that he can be described as far from average. 

He sees his success as the result of hard work. He encourages others not to get discouraged when times get hard. 

"When you think about it, you've survived 100 percent of your worst days," Davis said, "you'll get through this day too."

No matter what challenges one may be facing at this moment, looking back they will realize that it was not a big deal.  

"That's something that I really live my life by," Davis said. "Problems are going to come, challenges are going to come, but you got through everything else and you'll get through this."

With those inspiring words, Marquiale Davis has big plans for the future and is using his past experiences and obstacles to help make the experiences of others that much better.