Today’s post is the second in the Coffee Squawk series, featuring one member of our Thundering Chicken clutch …in an effort to understand: Who are we chickens? Who are we?

Try to understand men. If you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and almost always leads to love. ~John Steinbeck

Thundering Chicken: AJ (Andrew Jacob) Cooke, Social Work 2+2 WVU

Roost: Originally: Charles County, Maryland / Currently: Wheeling

Hatched How?: AJ was apprenticed with a plumber…but work started “drying up” when the recession hit…so he decided it was time to kick his “back-up” plan into gear. He moved to Wheeling last February for family reasons and became a chicken because it was “easy to get started” and “conveniently located.” He added, “Kathy Herrington and Joyce Britt really encouraged me to pursue Social Work. It’s a good program.” (Our faculty can crow!!!)

This Chicken is Determined to Cross the Road: AJ knows how to stay focused on his goals. Needing to buy his second car, he worked like a chicken-with-its-head-cut-off and scratched together every penny until he had those wheels. He also maintains a solid 4.0, works in WVNCC’s high-tech TEAL Lab, and actively participates in SCARSI & SGA…and AJ is one swingin’ chicken…he plays guitar and sings a mean karaoke. 

Met the “Big Bird”: At the age of 4, AJ was chosen out of more than 600 kids to play drums in the Sesame Street Band!!! (That is knock-me-down-with-a-feather awesome! I can’t speak for you, but this made me Oscar-the-Grouch green with envy…I still love that big, yellow fowl and his muppety pals.)

Advice for “chics”: Use every resource available to you!

Flying the Coop: “After my Bachelor’s, I’m planning to return to WVNCC to get my Master’s in WVU’s Social Work program.” Then, AJ says, it may be off to law school.

Worth “Thundering” About: People at WVNCC are nice…and… “you know, for the most part, know what they’re talking about.”