Profile: John Hermsen
Since 2007, John Hermsen has helped ensure that students at Kasteel Well have a well-rounded and positive experience. As program coordinator in the Office of Student Affairs, he shares a range of duties with his four colleagues. They work in two shifts from 8:15 am to 11:15 pm every day during the semester. He helps run the orientation weekend at the beginning of each semester, which encompasses many mandatory meetings on topics including rules and regulations, travel, and federal work-study (FWS).
During the semester, Hermsen helps students with everything from solving roommate problems and scheduling doctors’ appointments to assisting with travel plans and planning evening activities such as open mics and film nights.
He and his colleagues also make sure that the students arrive to their FWS jobs on time. Jobs include working as a snack corner attendant, driving for Kasteel Well’s own taxi company, and helping with security and recycling. Hermsen and his colleagues are also in regular contact with other departments, such as facilities and academics, to discuss any student-related concerns.
One of Hermsen’s main responsibilities is to oversee civic engagement programs. He coordinates volunteer opportunities through which students contribute to the local community of Well. This entails holding informational meetings and creating promotional materials. Then, students apply for the volunteer positions, and he reads their applications and hires them. Currently, students can volunteer at a daycare, help in the stables of a horse-riding school, work with local high school students to improve their English, clean a neighborhood park, and design and edit news items for an arts and cultural organization.
Hermsen said he loves working for a school for the arts and communication, a place with so many interesting and diverse students. He said, “It is hard to imagine that in this conservative area in the Netherlands there is such a liberal community. I’m quite happy to be part of that.” Hermsen himself studied social pedagogy on an MBO-4 level at ROC Eindhoven (equivalent to some bachelor’s degrees in the U.S.). Prior to working at Emerson, he was a residential counselor at a homeless shelter and a socio-therapist at a psychiatric institution for prisoners.
A native of the Netherlands, Hermsen was born and raised in Venray. It is located in the Limburg province, which is a 15-minute drive from Kasteel Well. Currently, he lives in the small village of Oostrum, in the Venray municipality, with his wife, Elke, and their three boys, Tij (age 3) and twins Gib and Mo (ages 1 1/2). Next May, they will be a family of six!
Hermsen enjoys artistic and athletic pursuits outside of the office. He sings in a cover band that plays ’60s and ’70s music, and he also performs in a local “carnavals” band. He also loves to attend a variety of music festivals, especially EDM raves. He plays football “(the ‘real’ European football)” and golf. However, these hobbies are at a lull right now, as he explained, “My life at this point involves raising my kids and pretty much nothing else—and I love every minute of it.”
Nancy Howell (Communications and Marketing)