When Blackmon came to Flagler as a sophomore, she said she was focused on getting settled in and meeting new friends. That’s when she found Flagler’s Phi Alpha Omega, a local sorority and women's community service organization.
“It was just very welcoming from the get-go, and it's been one of the best experiences that I've had here,” Blackmon said.
After a year of settling in, Blackmon stepped into a leadership role with Phi Alpha Omega and served as secretary during the 2021-2022 academic year. Coming out of the pandemic, the organization saw a large influx of members that year, which Blackmon said allowed her to grow relationships with a lot of new peers quickly.
She was able to bring her academic skills into this extracurricular when she revamped the organization’s website last year. Blackmon completed her degree in Computer Information Systems (CIS), the major she said initially drew her to Flagler.
“I transferred to Flagler because I saw they had the computer information systems major, which I was specifically looking for,” Blackmon said.
Blackmon said this decision was partially inspired by her mother, who also studied CIS in college. And when she entered the major at Flagler, Blackmon said she also knew she wanted to explore the world of cyber security, a concentration the program doesn’t explicitly offer.
“While my professors said, ‘we don't really have classes for you to do that,’ every time I talked to them, they were trying to gear my peers and I interested in cyber security where we wanted to go,” she said. “And the professors told us, ‘Hey, we might not be able to get it for you guys, but let's work on it for the people behind you.”
Blackmon’s persistence in seeking the resources she needed to develop in the field resulted in great progress within the program’s groundwork for a future cyber security concentration.
During her senior year, Blackmon worked with the CIS program’s two professors Professor Jeremy Wang, her academic mentor, and Professor Haiyan Huang to develop the resources future students interested in cyber security might need.
“It’s nice to know that not only did I leave an impact on my program, but I left an impact on the College as well,” Blackmon said.
She worked with them to outline any materials that could be useful ahead of certification tests, to relay the companies where she was exploring internship and job possibilities, and to lay the groundwork for courses that focus on topics like coding.
Professors Wang and Huang call Blackmon and her peers who brought their passion for this field to the table “steppingstones,” towards formalizing this concentration for future students.
Thanks to her academic preparation through the CIS program, the work she’s done for multiple organizations, and her Technology Services internship with Flagler- Blackmon was able to land her dream job.
“I’m signing on with Fidelity Information Services in Jacksonville,” Blackmon said. “They’re assigning me into a university program to be a security analyst. Essentially, I’ll be working in cyber security which has been my dream job since I came to this school. I actually get to do it now, so I’m super super excited.”
Not only did Flagler College serve as a launching pad for Blackmon to enter her dream role, but it was a community she came to love.
“I came from a school that I was not passionate about at all,” Blackmon said.
Since she found a passion for Flagler, Blackmon decided to become a Flagler College Ambassador and tour guide.
“Flagler College Ambassadors is something that I got involved with not expecting to fall in love with it the way I did,” Blackmon said. “It's one of my favorite jobs that I've ever had.”
Before becoming a Flagler Ambassador, Blackmon said she took the time to get to know the culture, the programs, and everything she loved about the College.
“It was just very clear to me that other prospective students would love this,” Blackmon said. “I had such a blast all three years that I was here, so why not share it with someone else so they can have the best four years or three years of their life.”
