A Focused Pursuit

When Nickoll Santos Garcia arrived on the UT campus as a first-gen high school graduate and college student, she felt overwhelmed. “Everything seemed so big and scary,” she recalls. “I felt like everything was in jeopardy of being taken away.”

Perhaps that’s why Nickoll embraced every opportunity available to her during her time on the Forty Acres: volunteer opportunities, internships and a study abroad program with Exploring UK Education, which helped her gain insight into different forms of education systems. To complement her bachelor’s degree in youth and community studies, Nickoll minored in critical disability studies, educational psychology and history, and earned a certificate in public policy.

A major turning point for Nickoll was the course “Individual Differences,” taught by Dr. Katie Tackett, director of education services for the College of Education. “That class just changed the way I thought about education and what I wanted to do professionally,” says Nickoll. “Getting thrown into the world of disability studies showed me I need to be challenged. This experience has helped me challenge myself to think deeply about things I had never thought of before.”

As Nickoll’s confidence increased, her focus and determination sharpened. Her long-term goal is to work with low-income and first-gen students while being inclusive of those with identities she doesn’t also hold. To reach that end — with the ongoing guidance, encouragement and support of Dr. Tackett — she applied and was accepted to the Master of Education program at Harvard University.

“Education is so much more than curriculum and instruction,” says Nickoll. “Learning that and engaging with that idea through my studies and experiences prepared me to create a strong, well-rounded application for Harvard’s master’s program. It helped me clearly state ‘I know what I want to do, and this is why I want to keep pursuing this for the rest of my life.’”

Nickoll took her next step toward her goals in fall 2025, knowing her Longhorn family is behind her all the way.