As appearing in source.colostate.edu | April 26, 2024 | By Ben Leonard
From Marine, to welder, to counselor: Outstanding Counseling and Career Development graduate uses degree to launch next stage of life
After an interesting career ranging from Marine to baker, to welder, with international travel and volunteer work sprinkled throughout, Nick Moon (’15, ’21) needed a career switch after his back started giving him trouble. According to him, his natural next step was counseling. Moon’s dedication to his craft and excellence both in the classroom and in practice have earned him distinction as an outstanding graduate of the Counseling and Career Development Program in the School of Education at Colorado State University.
“Throughout my life, I repeatedly found myself drawn to connect with people in their struggles. I believe this was due to having had my own counselors who helped me at critical periods throughout my life,” he said. “I saw it as something that was not just a natural leaning for me, but an opportunity to give back something that had been so transformative for me, and a way to be of service to others.”
Moon’s life journey
Originally from Australia, Moon’s family settled in Fort Collins when he was a young child. After high school, he decided to enlist in the Marines, where he was an assault amphibious vehicle crewman alongside some of his friends from high school. Moon served from 2006-2010, and was deployed in Fallujah, Iraq, from 2007-2008.
“When I returned home to catch up on life, I discovered Fort Collins had changed quite a bit. In an effort to drop some baggage I went backpacking around India, Thailand, and Nepal,” he said.
Nepal made an impact on Moon. He returned multiple times over the following years to work with a non-profit to bring critical supplies to villages and rebuild after the 7.6 magnitude earthquake in 2015, which left hundreds of thousands of Nepalese people homeless.
During the same time, Moon earned a B.S. in parks and protected areas management from CSU, hoping to be a forest ranger. “Life had other plans,” Moon said. “I ended up in the service industry and trades doing everything from bartending and baking to construction.”
Moon finally found his passion in welding. That took him to New Zealand where he worked for a fabrication company. After two years abroad, Moon returned to Fort Collins and worked for a local fabrication company.
“In 2020, unfortunately my back decided to give out on me,” he said. “I realized I needed to lean on some of my other skills, and so I returned to CSU to earn a B.S. in psychology. During that time, I discovered the CCD Program.”
Studying to be a counselor
Through his varied roles across his career, Moon is accustomed to being physically and mentally exhausted. But when he started the CCD Program, he faced a new challenge. “Coming into this program I experienced emotional exhaustion for the first time,” he said. He cites the support of his cohort, professors, friends, and family with helping him, “not just get through the program but thrive and excel.”
The internship was the most difficult – and rewarding – part of the program for Moon. “I had the opportunity to work with some incredible people and get to walk alongside them on their own journeys to healing.
“I learned I am in the right field, and this work is fulfilling and rewarding in more ways than I could have hoped. I feel fortunate to have experienced a broad cross-section of what this career has to offer and have been able to apply just about every tool and bit of knowledge we were given in the classroom.”
One of Moon’s favorite things about what he learned in the classroom is how everything is evidence-based. “It allows us to take things we know to be useful, thanks to the hard work of researchers, and apply them in our own unique ways depending on the needs of the client,” he said.
The CCD faculty’s dedication to their students “borders on superhuman,” Moon said. “No matter what the kind of support was, they served as a lighthouse for us. They worked hard to ensure we were getting what we needed and offered guidance and support during the toughest phases of the program.”
Next steps
When reflecting on his time in the CCD program, Moon says getting across the finish line is what he is most proud of. “It embodies the culmination of what I have experienced in my life, and acts as the staging ground for what comes next. The long hours at different jobs over the past 20 years, working hard in school, all while facing life on life’s terms, and ultimately earning this degree and beginning the next stage of my life. That makes me very proud.”
Moon will continue working at the private practice where he did his internship while working towards earning his counseling license and plans to stay involved with CSU and the CCD program going forward. “I will miss my cohort quite a bit, but I know they will be exceptional counselors,” he said.
The Department of Occupational Therapy is a part of CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.