Feeling Optimistic In 2020

Optimism has been a rare commodity in 2020, but Jacqueline Gayle's eternal optimism has led her to a new career path which she is starting at Onondaga Community College. "This is a great college. The love and support I get from my professors and the school overall is wonderful."

Gayle is a native of Jamaica who came to the United States in 1998. She worked for a company in downtown Syracuse for 18 years until her job was outsourced. The cold reality of the profit driven corporate world left her unemployed and with carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands due to years of typing on the job. She chose to turn the negative into a positive. "I felt like it was a great opportunity for me to attend college. I like to take care of people so I decided to study something that would give me the chance to help others."

She chose the Human Services degree program because she wanted to help others, and started taking classes at OCC in the fall of 2019. The 50 year old mother of three felt the college community embrace her. Gayle found assistance with her carpal tunnel syndrome at OCC's Office of Accessibility Resources where Daneen Brooks was her go-to- person. "If I typed for a long time it would hurt. Daneen helped me a great deal. She was also someone I could talk to about anything that was going on in my life."

As if being outsourced with carpal tunnel syndrome wasn't enough, there were also the challenges caused by COVID-19 which shut down face-to-face classes in March. Gayle said it was no problem for her. "Once I learned Blackboard everything became easy. I was able to keep up with my work." Earlier this month she was rewarded for her outstanding course when she was inducted into the College's chapter of international honor society Phi Theta Kappa.

Gayle will complete work toward her degree in December 2021. She is attending OCC along with her 19 year old daughter who is the youngest of her three children.