2008 Woodie Awards
Counselor starts as intern, stays 16 years
Alex Boles
Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: TruLife
Joe Hamilton, assistant director of University Counseling Services, has learned to call Kirksville home.
Hamilton was born and raised in Osceola, Iowa, a small town of about 4,000 people. He said his childhood was typical - he played on the outskirts of town with his friends and did normal kid stuff.
"I definitely was not one of the country kids because we didn't live on a farm or anything like that," he said. "In the summertime, [I would be] outside playing with my friends and riding my bikes and building forts and stuff. We used to play on the railroad tracks all the time, which seems funny. I would never let my children play on the railroad tracks now."
Hamilton is the youngest of three children, and his parents expected him to be more mature when growing up, he said. He was seen as the shy, intelligent, artsy kid in school and even performed in a few plays, he said.
"I was definitely not an athlete," he said. "I was in band, and chorus and drama. That was definitely more of my emphasis, that kind of area. I was, you know, one of the smart kids."
Hamilton entered college with a major on the opposite end of the spectrum from where he is today.
"I don't know if it's what I wanted to be when I grew up, but when I first went to college, I majored in chemical engineering," Hamilton said. "In school, I was good at math and science and that sort of thing, and I always just did what was expected, in a way."
He said college was the first time he was able to really explore what he wanted to be instead of following a path that was chosen for him. After only one semester as a chemical engineering major, he knew that it was a mistake, he said. He then went into an undeclared major and took a handful of classes that eventually helped him decide to become a counselor, he said.
"My first semester of college was really awful," Hamilton said. "It was like I lost my identity in a lot of ways, and just so much [had] changed, and for the first time I wasn't the best student."
Hamilton was born and raised in Osceola, Iowa, a small town of about 4,000 people. He said his childhood was typical - he played on the outskirts of town with his friends and did normal kid stuff.
"I definitely was not one of the country kids because we didn't live on a farm or anything like that," he said. "In the summertime, [I would be] outside playing with my friends and riding my bikes and building forts and stuff. We used to play on the railroad tracks all the time, which seems funny. I would never let my children play on the railroad tracks now."
Hamilton is the youngest of three children, and his parents expected him to be more mature when growing up, he said. He was seen as the shy, intelligent, artsy kid in school and even performed in a few plays, he said.
"I was definitely not an athlete," he said. "I was in band, and chorus and drama. That was definitely more of my emphasis, that kind of area. I was, you know, one of the smart kids."
Hamilton entered college with a major on the opposite end of the spectrum from where he is today.
"I don't know if it's what I wanted to be when I grew up, but when I first went to college, I majored in chemical engineering," Hamilton said. "In school, I was good at math and science and that sort of thing, and I always just did what was expected, in a way."
He said college was the first time he was able to really explore what he wanted to be instead of following a path that was chosen for him. After only one semester as a chemical engineering major, he knew that it was a mistake, he said. He then went into an undeclared major and took a handful of classes that eventually helped him decide to become a counselor, he said.
"My first semester of college was really awful," Hamilton said. "It was like I lost my identity in a lot of ways, and just so much [had] changed, and for the first time I wasn't the best student."
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