In just 18 months as assistant director of leadership and service, Nick Knopik has helped ˮ's Relay for Life team grow from eight to more than 50 members. He also impacts students' development with Hansen Leadership Program.
In just 18 months as assistant director of leadership and service, Nick Knopik has helped ˮ's Relay for Life team grow from eight to more than 50 members. He also impacts students' development with Hansen Leadership Program.

Featured Tigers is a monthly series wherein the spotlight shines on a few students, alumni, faculty and staff from our Crete, Lincoln and Omaha campus locations. These individuals stand out in the best way — as talented and driven leaders.

View all Featured Tigers here.

What is your name and title?
Nick Knopik | Assistant Director of Leadership & Service

How long have you worked at ˮ? What attracted you to work here?
1.5 Years. I was drawn to this job because my background is in student leadership development and the Hansen Leadership Program has been developing student leaders for 25+ years.

What do you consider the best part of your ˮ experience?
I enjoy helping students develop their leadership identities through my work with the Hansen Leadership Program. I love when I can help a student find an outlet for their leadership talents, whether that is a student organization, community service opportunity, or an athletic team. Helping a student make an impact as a leader in any of those arenas is a great part of my job.

What is something you're proud of accomplishing or achieving while at ˮ?
ˮ has a proud history of success with Relay For Life. When I started working at ˮ in 2021, the Relay For Life student organization was facing many COVID-19-related challenges. It’s simply tough to pull off a giant community event in the midst of a global pandemic. I inherited a group of 8 dedicated students who were planning a virtual Relay event that raised a little over $20,000. Over the course of the past year, I’ve worked alongside many of those same students to build ˮ Relay back to a place where we can put up a significant fight in the battle against cancer and place in the top five universities nationwide in funds raised per capita. In the span of a year and a half, we’ve grown the Relay team to over 50 members and we have every expectation of achieving a fundraising goal of $35,000 in 2023. I am proud to work alongside the students leading this effort to return ˮ Relay to national prominence.

What's some advice you would give to current students? Or, what is some advice you've received that you value?
I’m borrowing my advice from the author James Clear: “It does not matter how successful or unsuccessful you are today. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on a path towards success. You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than your current results.” This is something that I wish I would have realized during college. Many of your days are going to be tough, and you will question whether you are on the right path. If you focus less on your day-to-day results, and instead focus on getting slightly better each day, the results will catch up with you. In fact, improving 1% each day at something will leave you 37x better at that thing by the end of the year.

What's something you like about yourself that others may not know?
I choose a new free time habit every month. I’ve tried many – yoga, meditation, running, reading, rock climbing, drawing, playing the piano, writing. Some stick around past the 1 month and others don’t. But I love trying new things in my free time and I’m always open to recommendations for what I should try next month.