The smell of beef stew pervaded the kitchen of Nicole Cooper’s Oswego apartment. “I’ve almost finished cooking for the dinner,” she says hungrily, pointing her fingers to the giant pot of beef stew. “I spiced the soup with diced jalapeno to give it more flavor,” she adds, putting the cover on the pot to wait for the stew to be ready. “It’s going to be delicious — what do you think?”

I’m loving it. And the fiery taste of jalapeno soaking in the sepia squishy stew. What’s particularly awesome about Nicole Cooper’s four-room apartment is that her roommates almost never come back, so we can eat the whole giant pot of beef stew exclusively. The extra facilities of her apartment is that it has a gym and aerobics room in the basement, which allows her to workout after gorging herself on homemade food.

Everything about Nicole Cooper is, in truth, especially unusual. Except for her common first name. (“It’s completely common,” she admits cheerfully. “It’s still bothering me when there are multiple Nicoles in the same classroom.”) “My parents like to watch Moulin Rouge. I guess that’s the reason why they name me Nicole.” Nicole is currently a TESOL student in SUNY Oswego. The kind of student who don’t like to go to party and don’t like to join a sorority. Her passion is in teaching. Last summer, she joined Sheldon Institute assisting teachers and teaching children how to cook, how to draw, and how to tell stories.

“Becoming a student in SUNY Oswego is actually unexpected.” she claims, “I want to leave my comfort zone living outside of my hometown Maine.” When asked why she chose SUNY Oswego, she replied “Money was a crucial factor. I could go to University of Hawaii or UC Irvine, but they are too expensive. So, I decided to go to SUNY Oswego which also has high reputation in education department.” ●