{"id":14338,"date":"2023-04-13T11:40:53","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T15:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/?p=14338"},"modified":"2023-04-13T11:41:39","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T15:41:39","slug":"moving-onward-and-upward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/moving-onward-and-upward\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving onward and upward<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Todd Nock, a 2020 UMES graduate, takes the oath of office as he becomes the first Black mayor of Pocomoke City, Maryland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

When Todd Nock<\/strong> enrolled at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 2008, little did he know his experience would lead to him making history some 15 years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was here where the Pocomoke City, Md., native first learned the meaning of serving others, community involvement, and the importance of leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUMES was the first real place actually I actually served in different organizations,\u201d he said. \u201cPrior to that, I just went through high school, did my thing, did a little singing, and stuff like that.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Todd Nock (top row, right), a 2020 UMES graduate, stands with members of the Department of Business, Management, and Accounting following being sworn in as Pocomoke City, Maryland’s first Black mayor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201c(At UMES), I was on the business student advisory board, I was in the drama society, the gospel choir, I did Hawk Radio. All of those things showed me what leadership really is, and because of that, I\u2019m able to use those things in my current role.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That current role is now becoming the first Black mayor of Pocomoke City. Nock, who ran unopposed, was officially sworn in on April 11, at Pocomoke City Hall and will serve a four-year term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nock\u2019s ascension to the role of Pocomoke City\u2019s chief executive was the next step in a journey that started in 2015, when he became a member of the city\u2019s board of elections supervisors, followed by being elected to the Pocomoke City Council in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something Nock attributed to his success was his grass-roots work by canvassing Pocomoke residents about the issues concerning them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have this saying and I say it all the time and people don\u2019t know what it really means, but people always say \u201cKnock the vote,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what race I\u2019m running in, or what race we\u2019re running in, but we knock on everyone\u2019s door, we get everyone\u2019s input, we get everyone\u2019s opinion, and that\u2019s the same thing I even tried to do going into this office without an opponent. Knocking on the doors, meeting with citizens, and talking about their needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nock, who received his bachelor\u2019s degree in business administration in 2020, said it was during his time as a student in the Department of Business, Management, and Accounting that he also established long-lasting relationships in addition to his interest in politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving an awesome professor like Dr. Nicole Hollywood<\/strong> who really pushed me; and of course, Dr. Leesa Thomas-Banks<\/strong> always pushing us in our business law classes \u2026 they all opened up my eyes and I\u2019ve realized I made a great decision here to study business administration,\u201d Nock said. \u201cI have a family over at the business department even though I\u2019ve been gone for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nock, who described the experience of becoming mayor as \u201cmore than I ever expected,\u201d said the best piece of advice he can give to anyone aiming for a goal or challenge is not to compromise themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStay true to yourself and stay true to the people that you represent; remember where you came from,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you came from the hood, remember you came from the hood. If you came from the wrong side of the tracks, remember you came from the wrong side of the tracks. If you came from the right side of the tracks, remember that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNever forget the people whose shoulders you\u2019ve stood on to get where you are, because they\u2019re the same shoulders you\u2019ll have to lean on when you get weak. They are the same people who will continue to hold you up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Todd Nock enrolled at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 2008, little did he know his experience would lead to him making history some 15 years later. It was here where the Pocomoke City, Md., native first learned the meaning of serving others, community involvement, and the importance of leadership. \u201cUMES was the…Read more Moving onward and upward<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1559,"featured_media":14346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-14338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14338"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=14338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}