This May, one student will have something new to add to his resume.Jeremy J. Becnel, who said he will miss Nicholls very much when he leaves, will graduate with two majors this spring.

Since he graduated from Thibodaux High School in 1997, Becnel has been pursuing a dual bachelor of science degree in computer science and mathematics.

He decided to stay close to home and attend Nicholls.

“At the time, it appeared as though it had one of the better computer

science departments in the state, and when I got out of high school that was my primary interest,” Becnel said of Nicholls.

“Actually, my interest has now changed towards mathematics.”

Becnel is in the process of applying to graduate schools.

“I’m waiting for offers for fellowships and assistantships, and then I’m going to decide on what school I’m going to go to, to pursue a Ph.D. in mathematics,” he said.

Although Becnel has been recruited by several schools, he said he is leaning towards Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, but is still considering the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

To date, Becnel has maintained a 4.0 cumulative grade point average, and lists this as one of his proudest accomplishments.

He is a perfectionist in his mathematics classes. He remembers the time he did not meet expectations when he made a 99 on his Calculus II test.

“I think I missed a negative sign. You know that negative times negative equals a positive. Sometimes, that rule, you just forget to use it,” he said.

As if not making a perfect paper did not horrify Becnel enough, the incident repeated itself again next the semester when he took Calculus III.

“I wrote `in a point’ instead of `at a point.’ I just got my notation mixed up. I was kind of disappointed, it brought down my average. Perfection is a thing everybody wants to attain, I guess, especially me,” he said.

Becnel has held many jobs since coming to Nicholls.

“I started off at the Financial Aid Office, and I worked there for a year, my first year of college, and it totally sucked. I hated working there. A lot of power struggles go on in that office,” he said.

In 1998, Becnel took a job with University Computer Services, a job he said he thoroughly enjoyed.

“I learned a lot about hardware and networking,” he said.

It seems as though attending a health club helped Becnel land the job.

“A guy named Aaron Carreras was working there previously, and we knew each other from Larousse’s [Training Complex.] He had seen me around as a computer science major and offered me the job, and I didn’t hesitate to take it.”

Carreras, a 1998 computer science Nicholls graduate, is employed by LSU as a computer analyst.

“I was about to graduate,” Carreras said, “and Computer Services was going to need a new tech.”

Carreras said he knew Becnel was a computer science major and approached him in the gym about the job.

“He was interested, so I introduced him to my supervisor (Perry Lawless), and he wound up getting the job,” Carreras said.

He said he picked Becnel out of the crowd because he knew he was a hard worker, intelligent and ambitious.

“In other words, I knew he wouldn’t make me look like a fool, since I was the one recommending him for my old job,” Carreras said.

Becnel spent the summer of 1999 in New Orleans, where he took a class at the University of New Orleans and worked as an intern with the Naval Technology Resource Center.

“I got to work with people who are currently in the industry, working on a major project,” he said.

The project involved personnel tracking for all military branches.

In the spring of 2000, Becnel went to work for Tom Bonvillain, director of instructional technology.

“We did programs for the Alumni Federation, the Marketing Department and other things,” Becnel said.

He left instructional technology last August to take a position off-campus with the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office as an application programmer and developer, a job he still holds.

Becnel’s love of mathematics spilled over into his love of sports. He played on an intramural softball team and chose a very original jersey number: ?.

The thing Becnel said he likes most about Nicholls is the interaction between the teachers and the students, especially in his two departments.

“We know each other by first names. They’re really kind. They’ll help you out with anything you need.”

Becnel said he had a lot of good instructors.

“Two of them that aren’t there anymore are Dr. Enrique Kortright and Dr. Lisa Kortright. They were very instrumental in bringing me up in computer science.

“Right now I’m working with Ronnie Fanguy. He’s been very good. On the math side, all of them have been great, but most of all, probably, Dr. Scott Beslin. He’s really helped me a lot along the way.”

Becnel is a member of the advisory board for the mathematics department.

“We get together with teachers, students and business people. We try to discuss what direction the department has to go into to appease all three,” he said.

“We want to keep high educational standards. We also want to put out a product that can do well in business and function well.

“At the same time,” he said, “for the department itself, we need to improve enrollment because, lately, there hasn’t been a high interest in the field of mathematics.”

Becnel said there is a problem in the secondary schools.

“A lot of students come out of high school without a good basis in mathematics. There’s not a lot of good math teachers out there.”

He said low salaries are a major cause of this problem.

This, he said, results in another problem: students’ approach to mathematics.

“They go in there and they memorize how to do a problem instead of understanding how to do a problem,” he said.

“I don’t know how it was in your high school, but in my high school you could get away with just memorizing things and make A’s and B’s. But when you get into college, even in subjects like history, where people think you just have to memorize facts, they want you to use these facts and come up with causes, effects, conclusions, contrasts and things like that.”

Although he likes several things about Nicholls, he said he feels the atmosphere is “a little too political.”

Becnel spoke of his high school classmate and fellow mathematics major, Clint Adams, also known as “T-nilc”.

“It’s hard to put T-nilc into words, you know,” Becnel said.

“He’s been there the whole way, since tenth grade at least. We played ball together, majored in math together, drink together.”

“He’s an interesting character. He brings me some amusement. We’re actually planning to go to Las Vegas after we graduate this semester.”

In addition to Adams, other friends of Becnel accompanied him to Peppers Pizzeria to watch Saints games last season.

“That became a tradition in the latter part of the season when the Saints were in the running for the playoffs for the division championship, and when they actually made the playoffs.

“The crew and I would go out to Peppers, have a few drinks, eat a few appetizers, mainly buffalo wings, which is one of our all-time favorites, and just have a good old time,” he said.

Becnel said he likes alternative music but has wide tastes.

“Basically, anything but boy bands and rap music I can listen to,” he said.

“I used to like Pearl Jam until I went to their concert; I was quite disappointed. The concert was horrible. You know Pearl Jam, of course they sing `Jeremy.’ It has to be a favorite of mine.

“I went to their concert, and it just totally sucked. Now, Godsmack is a band I really l
ike, because they have a very good show.”

Becnel reflected upon seeing the local band “Black Daze” perform at the Holiday Inn in Houma, about a year ago.

“That was an enjoyable evening,” he said.

“We had to wait three hours before the band came on. In the meantime we got kicked out of a bar, flirted with some 15-year-old girls, and that’s about it.”

Becnel said his experience at Nicholls has been a humbling one.

“When you come out of high school, you know, you’re a teenager, you’re kind of cocky. You get into college, and you find out how much you don’t know, which has been a good thing.

“Everybody needs a good humbling once in a while. It’s given me a lot of experience, both in industry and working with people.”

Becnel has advice for students hoping to be successful.

“Don’t get behind on your homework, because you’ll almost never catch up. Always do something you like, because if you do something you like, you’ll have no problem pursuing your dreams.”