Faces of New Bedford #71 – Nicholas Walecka

Meet Nicholas Walecka, 34 year-old Freelance Journalist, Photographer, Teacher. Nick spent a short while at UMass Dartmouth after graduating from high school, majoring in Business.

Not sure that the field of study was for him, he dropped out and started working for his families’ trucking business. During that time Nick got to see the country, but still felt like that wasn’t what he wanted to spend the rest of his life doing.

He returned home and after receiving his associates degree, returned to UMass where he eventually found a passion for writing, realizing he always did better with papers than he had taking tests. Graduating with a degree in Creative Writing, he started writing for the Advocate, a weekly paper run by the Standard Times focused on Acushnet and Fairhaven. There he gained immense knowledge of journalism and confidence in his writing, which opened doors for him to work with news outlets such as the Wareham Week, Dartmouth Week, The New Bedford Guide, and the Standard Times.

After a few years of working between these publications, he craved another career change and began substitute teaching in the New Bedford Public system. Nicholas was excited to fill in for a teacher who was promoted from her position at Trinity Middle school, an alternative school for children in New Bedford. After a year of substituting in that position, he was hired on full-time and is excited to inspire this kids.

Aside from his career as a teacher, he works with the HOPE Collaborative, a program organized by the New Bedford Police Department and City, where he tutors inner city kids. He is so thankful to be able to be apart of the community in New Bedford because it was the same community that has been able to push him and encourage him in everything he does.

“New Bedford has such a welcoming and supporting community, especially in the downtown area. You don’t see businesses competing but helping each other out”

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Faces of New Bedford is a project by Colton Simmons. If you are interested in booking a shoot or getting prints from the series email all inquiries to colton@coltonsimmons.com

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