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2025 Graduate Spotlight: ÿÈÕ´óÈü student finds community, confidence through extracurriculars

Crooks, who was homeschooled through 12th grade, said she never felt truly confident in her independence before attending ÿÈÕ´óÈü – first through dual enrollment classes and later as a full-time student.

If anyone had told ÿÈÕ´óÈü student Victoria Crooks two years ago that she would be secretary of the Student Government Association, a student orientation leader and make trips to Washington, D.C., and Nashville – she would have told them “absolutely not.”

Crooks, who was homeschooled through 12th grade, said she never felt truly confident in her independence before attending ÿÈÕ´óÈü – first through dual enrollment classes and later as a full-time student.

“Pellissippi has opened so many doors for me,” said Crooks, who graduated from Pellissippi with an associate degree in psychology in May, and spoke at the college’s commencement ceremony. “My experience here has made me so much more confident in what I can do in the future.”

Though she started her journey at Pellissippi primarily focused on classes and not co-curriculars, Crooks said she became interested in joining the SGA after attending a cookout the organization had hosted to celebrate voter registration.

Crooks got connected with Student Engagement and Leadership Director Sharon Couch as well as current student government leadership and was eventually recruited to participate in the board’s next election. She ran for vice president.

“Which was a totally new experience,” Crooks said. “Definitely out of my comfort zone. I was actually having to go up to people and campaign and make flyers and all of that. I’d never done something like that before.”

Campaigning grew her self-confidence and networking abilities, she said. And though she lost the election for vice president, Couch asked her to serve as the organization’s secretary instead.

In her new role, she learned how to structure meetings and create documents and templates for board members. The experience has helped her improve her communication and writing skills, Crooks said.

It also allowed her to travel to D.C. for a conference and Nashville for the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature, where she got to meet with students from other colleges.

“Even though I lost the election, it really showed me what I could do, and how I could reach out to people and just try new things, to figure out what I wanted to do in life,” she said. 

Her experience in student government has garnered Crooks an internship with the City of Knoxville’s disability services this summer. In the fall, she'll head to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she plans to earn her bachelor’s degree in psychology. 

“I’m really excited,” Crooks said. “Who knows what UT will have in store for me? But Pellissippi has been giving me experiences above and beyond what I could have ever imagined and even made me interested in things I never thought I would be interested in – like government and policymaking.”

Crooks’ advice to incoming students? Make ÿÈÕ´óÈü feel like home.

“Get connected when you can,” she emphasized. “Because I wish I got connected sooner, and then maybe I would have had more time to build the relationships that I have established with people.”