Counselor joins RCC-Warsaw

Student Support Services Counselor C. Boone

A recent addition to the staff of the Student Support Services (SSS) Office at Rappahannock Community College’s Warsaw Campus is counselor Chimene Boone. Though she has ten years of experience working with high school, adult, and four-year college students, RCC is Boone’s first community college employer. “There is such a feeling of family,” she says. “I am very intrigued by RCC, and excited about what I will learn from the students.”

Boone holds the degrees of bachelor of arts in communications/media from the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz, and master of arts in women’s studies from SUNY at Stonybrook, and is currently enrolled in a doctoral program in leadership in higher education, from Capella University. She has worked with several of the federal TRIO programs (Student Support Services is one of these) as well as community-based non-profit organizations. “All of my work outside of higher education has been with assisting high school and adult students in achieving a college education,” she says. “I am a strong believer in the power of higher education in changing an individual’s life.”

“As an SSS counselor,” she continues, “I am here to assist students that qualify for the program to be successful at RCC.” In addition to academic advising that helps students to achieve their educational goals, Boone assists the SSS team with cultural and college field trips, college success workshops, transfer guidance, and tutoring.

“I believe my most rewarding experience is offering a student an opportunity to take advantage of higher education at times when they doubt their own success,” she says. “To witness the moment that a student’s eyes open wide to the possibilities of an education is the reason why I commit to doing what I do.”

Originally from New York City, Boone is the child of a single parent who, she is proud to state, attained a bachelor’s degree while raising her and her younger brother. She is herself a graduate of a TRIO program—“I have been very blessed to have had these opportunities and services,” she says—and affirms that without the program, earning her degrees would not have been possible. For the last five years, she has lived in Virginia, and has come to appreciate the Commonwealth’s unique character. “Although my heart will always remain in New York,” she says, “I can call Virginia my home.” She looks forward to becoming involved with this area’s graduate chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, of which she is a member.