Tartan Spotlight: Isaac Collins calls work as a Student Support Specialist refreshing and rewarding

When Isaac Collins graduated high school in 2012, he didn’t originally plan to go to college. 13 years later he now works full time at the Centerville campus as a Student Support Specialist.

Collins explained that he was hired to work at the Englewood campus (which closed in 2024) in 2013 as a student ambassador. After three years he was hired as a part-time staff member, and after another three years he applied for the full-time Student Support Specialist position at the Centerville campus, where he has worked ever since.

Collins said that it was his immediate friends and family that first brought him to Sinclair College.

**Sinclair’s Centerville campus.** ERIK LARSON

“My friends were already in the process of coming to Sinclair, and I kind of just tagged along with them. I did the placement test, and I tested better than what I thought, and so they were like, ‘No, you’re ready to start college,’” he said.

Collins said that it was ironic because after a few semesters he found out that his friends had dropped out, meaning the one person that didn’t originally plan on college was the only one that stuck with it. Collins clarified that they’re doing fine, they just found a different path then expected, and so did he.

“It is one of those things where it’s like destiny just kind of puts you in the places where you need to be at the time that you need to be there,” Collins said.

Collins said that a recent completed project that he and others at the Centerville campus are proud of is the Student Recreation Center, which includes cardio and strength training equipment, a foosball table, a PlayStation 4 and more. Collins said that many students haven’t utilized the Center yet because many don’t know about it, but the students that have used it love it.

Collins said that his job satisfaction really comes from the people he gets to work with.

“You can learn the job, you can always be trained on on how to do the job, whatever the work processes are, the procedures, all the protocols, you can always be trained on that. But what’s going to keep you motivated and what’s going to keep you coming back is really the people,” he said. “What gets you happy about the day is really the people, is what it comes down to.”

Collins also named the work culture and the unique environment of the Centerville campus as aspects he enjoys about his position.

“I really like that I do get to be the person who can help resolve whatever the issue is… especially when the person goes from being angry or confused, and now they’re happy.
ISAAC COLLINS

“I think [what] makes our campus a bit different [is that] we do have to collaborate not only with each other but with multiple different departments. We collaborate with the testing center, we collaborate with financial aid, we collaborate with Bursar, because we’re kind of a one-stop shop, so we have to be able to do all those operations in one area,” Collins said.

One challenge in Collins’ position is that dealing with people daily can be a bit draining for someone more introverted, though having years of experience does help. Collins also said that it can be challenging resolving various kinds of issues students can have, as it often requires wearing lots of different hats while also trying to form authentic connections with someone you’ve just met. But Collins said that helping students ultimately feels very rewarding.

“I really like that I do get to be the person who can help resolve whatever the issue is for [the person] that’s coming in…it’s worthwhile, man, especially when the person goes from being angry or confused, and now they’re happy because I explained to them what the issue was and why they were having that issue, how to resolve it, and then the steps on how to get that resolved, and so it’s always refreshing when you can kind of get that stuff taken care of for someone,” Collins said.

Erik Larson, reporter

Check out more from The Clarion: