Within five minutes of conversing with him, David’s demeanor proved to be worthy of the title: most interesting man at SMCC.

David works as a cook at the SMCC Dining Hall, but he is much more than that. He is many things; an artist, a Reiki Master, a Taoist, a dad, a lifelong student, and a lifelong teacher. He considers himself a Lightworker; someone who lives to make the world a better and brighter place. “Helping people is what drives me and whatever I do,” he says. He’s spent much of his life serving others, caring for them, making them feel happy and at peace with the world and themselves. 

David grew up in a small town in Massachusetts. His mother was a nurse, and a chef. His father, a doctor, was the President of the Chevalier Wine Tasting Society for ten years. He has memories of coming home to eloquent feasts and desserts made by his mother for the wine society events his father would host. Therefore, at a young age he was exposed to complex palettes. Being one of six children that had huge appreciation for the food his mother cooked. She sparked a passion for cooking inside of him that continues to evolve to this day, decades later. Growing up,  David also got to see how both of his parents cared for their patients greatly, with his father being a rheumatologist, he helped people manage chronic musculoskeletal diseases. 

His parents’ love for their professions inspired him to pursue both culinary arts and nursing at many different schools. He has gone back to college four times, last attending USM which he recalls being the most fulfilling experience of his life. The best parts of college for him were the times in between classes, talking with other students. “Sharing energy with the student body, being part of the student body, is one of the greatest experiences anyone could have.” He continues to do this on his breaks in the Dining Hall with the SMCC students.

Wound care was his favorite part of his nursing career. Despite being met with intense and horrid conditions of the human body, he would never describe the experience like that. He would see a patient’s gaping wound, in the process of healing, and comment positively on it, telling the patient that they look great. “Positivity is an amazing strength when it comes to healing the body, boosting the way someone feels about themselves increases the rate of healing. Western medicine doesn’t see how much the mind and the body are connected.” He said.

David is a very spiritual soul, he practices Reiki, a Japanese technique meant to reduce stress and anxiety while promoting healing as well through the use of gentle touch. To David, It is a healing practice that encourages a lifestyle of balance and connection to the universe.

 “Like everything else,” David explains, “Reiki found me. I was doing it before I even knew what I was doing. What it does is help people find balance within themselves by aligning their energy centers in their body called chakras. Each one coordinates with a spiritual function, unbeknownst to those who created Reiki, before the existence of the science we know now, it also correlates with those same functions of the body. When performing Reiki on someone, you get the same effects, you feel centered and balanced afterwards compared to just doing it alone with yourself. An unconditional giving. Giving in return is a form of balance itself.” 

Reiki is very similar to Taoism, which is a Chinese philosophy that seeks balance in oneself as well as with the world around them. Growing up Catholic, David learned that Catholicism is all about humans, their actions, feelings, and relying on a divine being to guide them. But in finding Taoism, a person realizes the divinity within, and does not need to rely on a divine entity to create a moral compass or find their purpose in life. This had always aligned with David’s personal beliefs, he just finally found out the name to it years later.

David is a truly unique person with wisdom and care for everyone around him. He spends his life helping others, whether that be through positivity, healing, cooking, or just conversing and connectivity. His love for learning has brought him back to college many times, and this fall, he is planning to march down to the admissions office and apply here at SMCC. If you see him walking across campus, having lunch in the dining hall, or maybe sitting in one of your own classes, be sure to say hello to him, you might just learn something.