SGA President Embodies Lifelong Learning

ECC SGA president Chynice Chapman holds two credentials from Edgecombe Community College and is studying toward a third.

Motivated by a growth mindset, Chynice Chapman holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees and five certificates from five different schools.

In several years, Edgecombe Community College’s student body president will have one more degree to add to her résumé. Chapman expects to earn a nursing degree by 2025.

“I’m a lifelong learner,” the 44-year-old Chapman says. “I truly enjoy learning and reading and growing to become my best self.”

Chapman was elected president of the ECC Student Government Association for the 2021-2022 academic year, her second foray into school leadership. In 1995, she was elected the first African American female SGA president at North Lenoir High School in La Grange.

In high school, she ran track, was a cheerleader, and worked hard enough on academics to earn a scholarship to Appalachian State University.

But her time in Boone lasted only a year. “I was homesick,” Chapman says.

Her grandmother raised her after her parents moved away from North Carolina, and Chapman wanted to stay.

After two semesters at App State, she transferred to North Carolina State University to be near family. She also chose her major because of family. Her younger sister had a speech disorder, and Chapman studied communication disorders in hopes of one day becoming a speech pathologist.

After two years at NC State, “I met someone, and life happens,” Chapman explains.

Then life happened again. By 2004, she was a single mother to Isaiah and Lydia, living in La Grange, and ready to return to school.

“I was working in customer service for a telecommunications company, but I wasn’t challenged. I said to myself, ‘This is not for me.’”

She moved to Knightdale, got a part-time job, and returned to NCSU in the communication disorders program. In 2006, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree and immediately began a master’s program as a part-time student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill while working full time.

Life happened again, and she moved to Maryland and began working for U.S. Veterans Affairs.

While in Maryland, Chapman continued her path in higher education, earning a master’s degree in science and management with a concentration in leadership from Catholic University of America.

But the draw to return to North Carolina was strong. In 2015, she landed a job at the National Institutes of Health and was transferred back to her home state. She lived in Goldsboro, drove to work in Durham, and worked remotely two days a week.

She also helped care for her grandmother. Once a month, Chapman returned to La Grange to treat her grandmother to a pedicure at a local spa.

Seeing an opportunity, she decided to study nail technology so she could save money and provide pedicures to her grandmother. In 2017, she enrolled at Edgecombe Community College and earned a Nail Technology certificate that year.

Chapman began working at a nail salon in Golden East Crossing mall in Rocky Mount and also enrolled in the Esthetics Technology program at Edgecombe Community College.

After earning that certificate in 2019, Chapman was able to add lashes and facials to her cosmetic arts repertoire and opened her own business. Elevation Aesthetics by Chynice is located inside Hair Trends in Rocky Mount.

“I honestly feel that nails and esthetics enable me to be an artist and help people elevate their beauty,” she explains.

With the ultimate goal of adding more services, Chapman set her sights on nursing school and is enrolled at ECC this spring as a part-time student completing prerequisites for the Nursing program.

And to make her life even more interesting, she began working late last year as purchasing manager for the City of Rocky Mount.

Compared to large universities, Chapman assures that her experiences at Edgecombe Community College have been equally as rewarding.

“It’s a great community college,” she says. “You definitely learn relevant skills and get a more personal touch there.

“When I took my state boards after completing the Nail Technology program, I was ready. I was confident, and I was well prepared. I would recommend ECC to anyone.”