Alumni Profiles
James Palmer
With the help of JCC’s student group, the Men of Merit, James Palmer’s future plans have become clear.
Palmer, a JCC alumnus and Jackson High 2003 graduate, has decided to pursue a career as a chiropractor and will transfer to the Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. He had been attending JCC for almost five years part-time and leaves just one credit shy of an associate degree, but once he figured out what he wanted to do, he decided now was the time to go for it.
A friend’s brother got him interested in the idea of becoming a chiropractor. “He was a Palmer graduate and had been working real hard to try to get me to come over,” he said. He had been working toward a degree in business, but wasn’t sure what he wanted to do in business. “I started to come around to the idea of becoming a chiropractor. I made a phone call to Palmer and went to visit the college, and the wheels have just been turning since.”
Palmer credits the Men of Merit group with showing examples of excellence in the speakers that visited the group. “They brought in black men from the community who had been to college and were doing something in my community. It motivated me to hear others who had already gone through what I’ve been going through,” he said. “It has helped me become well-rounded. I didn’t have a lot of community involvement before, but this sent me out to different schools to speak to children, and it helped me with that aspect as well.”
Palmer plans to pursue a degree in chiropractic, then work with another doctor to get some experience before eventually opening his own practice. He is grateful to the Men of Merit group for both making a difference in his life, and giving him the opportunity to try to make a difference for others.
“I think the Men of Merit is a great program, it’s doing a lot of good things for the young minority males in this community. There is a stigma in the Jackson community that education is not cool, especially for young black men. Some think being involved in the streets is more appealing than school. I tried to talk to young people about the importance of education.”
