Former Gamecock Jewel May Never Stops Learning
Jewel May won’t stop learning. When it comes to chasing her career dreams, the former South Carolina women’s basketball (2007-2011) student-athlete doesn’t mind putting in the work, and she is currently pursuing her third degree from the University and will earn a master’s in Human Resources in December.
“The whole idea of getting my master’s in human resources came from Jarett Gerald, who works with the men’s basketball office,” May said. “He ran track when I was here, so we had been friends forever. I was trying to figure out what I really wanted to do, and he told me about the master’s in H.R. program. It’s a big-time commitment.
“I sent an inquiry email to the program director, and within three weeks, I had scholarship money and a graduate assistantship. So, I said, ‘I’ve got to do this!'”
Having been a student-athlete, May’s time management skills helped get her through.
“There were 12- and 13-hour days, which are hard, but that wasn’t new to me,” May said. “As a student-athlete, you wake up and have practice or weights at five or six in the morning. You have class and then study halls in the evening. The time commitment can be unpleasant, but it was familiar. Having that mindset from being a student-athlete helped. There are a lot of perks and a lot of fun things about it, too.”
“The program here was more than just textbooks. They gave me the background education that I needed.”
– Jewel May
As a student-athlete, May double-majored in psychology and sociology and earned her degree in 2011. She finished the coursework for her educational specialist degree in counselor education in 2013, and she left South Carolina for a job at Texas A&M. She came back to Columbia a few years later and initially worked as an academic advisor at South Carolina before deciding on a new career path.
“That’s how I ended up in the H.R. program here,” May said. “I’ve been working as a graduate assistant in University Housing since July 2017. I’ll finish up in December in and move to Houston (Texas) to start my new job in January. I’ll be a human resources advisor for ExxonMobil.
“That was the main reason I went back to school; to get the formal education. I wanted to get that formal training for it, and our master’s program here is really great at it. They give you a ton of exposure to large companies. I wouldn’t have had the chance to work for a company like ExxonMobil if I just went into the field blindly. The program here was more than just textbooks. They gave me the background education that I needed about the business world that I hadn’t been exposed to.”
While she is getting out of higher education for now, May hasn’t ruled out coming back to the field in some capacity.
“You never know,” May said. “I’m brand new to H.R. It’s a vast field where you can do everything from recruiting, development, training, and compensation. My plan is to hop around and see what I like. Then I can see if I want to stay with a big corporation like ExxonMobil or try higher education for H.R. I’ll just get a feel for everything and see what fits.”
Now 29, going back to school was a little bit different than her first experience as an 18-year-old student-athlete coming out of high school.
“The easy part of it was the work ethic that I had from being a student-athlete,” May said. “This required a lot of work. The toughest part of the adjustment was just being in class with a lot of classmates who are 21 or 22 and may not be on their own yet or are still getting a lot of support from their parents. I had to quit my job and had ‘big girl’ bills, but I was back in school now with a ‘little girl’ job as a graduate assistant. The social aspect of it was harder because I was older, but the school part of it was fine because I knew I could do it since it was nothing new.”
Wherever her career takes her, May is proud that she will soon have three framed degrees hanging on her wall.
