nothin Class Of Strivers Wins Long-Sought Degrees | New Haven Independent

Class Of Strivers Wins Long-Sought Degrees

Lucy Gellman Photo

Chanel DuBois, 41, at Gateway graduation Thursday.

When Fereshteh Ganjavi came to New Haven as an Iranian refugee in September 2011, she thought that her college degree would come with her.

No dice, employers said as she began the long and tedious search for jobs. She’d have to start from square one.

That sounded familiar to 37-yearold Tiffany Marshall, who began courses at Gateway Community College right after she finished high school at the age of 17 but stopped when her son, Shammond, was born.

It sounded familiar to Sgt. Sandra Brooks, who came to Gateway to finish her degree through a statewide Go Back and Get Ahead” initiative … after she had been away for 27 long years, pursuing a career in law enforcement and raising a family.

And it was familiar to Kendra Brantley, who didn’t think that further schooling was for her, until employment as a physician assistant on the general medicine and HIV floor at Yale-New Haven Hospital pushed her to think about a career in nursing. 

Brooks, with friends Jeannette Negron and Gloria Newell-Lewis.

The advice sounded familiar to all four women — and they took the advice, and ran with it. They and 1,067 other students donned blue robes, hand-decorated mortarboards and white and yellow tassels Thursday for Gateway Community College’s 24th commencement, held just past 6 p.m. in Yale’s Woolsey Hall.

As they obtained their degrees, they completed the final chapter of remarkable stories of perseverance.

Another Chance to Succeed

Ganjavi and her husband.

At 28, Ganjavi has been a refugee twice over: First in Iran, where she lived after fleeing Afghanistan as a young child, and then in the U.S., where she was known by her Iranian status. When she learned that her degree meant little in New Haven, she said, she was initially disheartened. Then someone at the dentist’s office mentioned English as a Second Language (ESL) courses at Gateway. She enrolled that week, and was driven on by a goal: become a physician assistant. In late 2014 she graduated but did not have the chance to walk with her classmates, busy instead with a new course load in education and public health at Southern Connecticut State University. She was rectifying that Thursday, with her husband watching from inside the hall. 

The first month I came I love to go school, and start my life,” she said. I had a bachelor already, but because of political things — no degree. I came here and started all over again. It was awesome for me and I was so happy.”

Jayasinghe.

The promise of new employment had also inspired Sri Lankan immigrant Don Jayasinghe to start classes at Gateway after he arrived in the U.S. on an immigration visa in 2009. Graduating with a degree that will allow him to become a dietary technician, he said he feels like he has new, necessary tools for success.

I hope to get back to a better job,” he said. I didn’t waste any time when I got here. Right now, I’m looking forward to applying to better jobs. I’m going to see what’s going on and take up another course of study for my bachelors.” 

Human Motivation

Marshall before the ceremony.

As Tiffany Marshall, 37, prepared to line up with members of her general studies cohort, her son helped her zip her gown and adjust her mortarboard. It wasn’t exactly the graduation she’s envisioned 20 years ago, she said, but she didn’t want it any other way.

I started when I finished high school, but then I had to work. I had my son,” said Marshal, motioning to Shammond, a 16-year-old student at Co-Op High School. He motivated me to come back. That’s my motivation. I’ve been doing general studies but I want to continue criminal justice at Southern. I love it.”

Her registration for classes at Southern, she added, is June 8th.

Earning her degree in legal administrative assistance — and sporting a mortarboard that her kids had decorated — Chanel DuBois (pictured at the top of the story) was feeling that sentiment on Thursday evening too. In spring 2013, the 41-year old mom of four — 17, 11, 10, and 7 — started at Gateway to do something better for my life and better for my children,” she said. I wanted to teach my children that no matter what age you are, you can get an education —you can still go to school no matter what.” She hopes to find a job with an attorney to become their legal secretary.

School As Professional Springboard

Yazmin and Samantha Velasquez, Brantley, and Peters.

Beside a thicket of small trees behind Woolsey, Kendra Brantley was posing for pictures with friends Samantha and Yazmin Velasquez and Falisha Peters, the four of them cradling their embellished mortarboards before the ceremony. For them — Brantley is inspired to pursue her bachelor’s in nursing, Velasquez and Velasquez are the first college degree holders in their family, and Peters now wants to pursue pediatrics — Gateway had been the right professional springboard, at the right time. 

I’m a dental assistant right now, and I felt like that was kind of a dead end,” said Yazmin, 25. I wanted to do more and you couldn’t. I thought of nursing because there’s so many career paths, from seeing a patient to not ever having to work with a patient. I love people.”

We’re not competitive!” added Samantha with a big grin. We helped each other a lot.”

Greene.

Graduates like Marilyn Greene, a newly-minted medical administrative assistant, and dietetic technician Joe Rodgers, had gone back in hopes of getting better jobs after finishing degrees that they had stared years efore.

I always wanted to work for the medical field,” said Greene, I worked for Yale University in the clerical department, but I wanted something different. I started [classes] in 2007. I took a leave in 2010, and I came back in 2015 to finish up. I was working — 37.5 hours a week — while I was in school. I was determined to finish, and so I did. I’m going to retire from Yale in two years, and then I’ll probably work part time in the medical field.”

I need to support my family,” added Rodgers, 64, who worked as food service director at a private school until closed, and then found himself out of work. I started this in 2000, so it took me a long time. But I’m here.”

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