nothin She Has No Time To Fail | New Haven Independent

She Has No Time To Fail

Markeshia Ricks Photo

Jade Pearson found a way to juggle two part-time service jobs with college classes, and come out with a degree.

The 21-year-old’s bright smile has been helping early birds at Panera Bread on Chapel Street start their day off on a good foot for nearly two years, but what they don’t know is that her early shift also is the start of what usually is a long day for the recent Southern Connecticut State University graduate.

A typical day for Pearson (pictured above) starts with a 5:30 a.m. shift serving customers coffee, tea, bearclaws and bagels at Panera. She said it was hard at first because she had so much trouble finding reliable transportation at such an early hour — she couldn’t count on the bus—her mother, Sheryl, gets up with her and drives her to work to make sure she’s there on time.

The shift ends at 2 p.m. After working at Panera, Pearson takes about a two-hour break” to hustle home on Bassett Street, change clothes and then come back to Chapel Street to work an eight-hour shift at The Study as a banquet server.

At one point before her December graduation, she was juggling two part-time jobs and classes, and still managed to obtain her psychology degree.

What drives her?

I don’t really like to have a lot of free time,” she said. I like to keep busy. I also have so much I want to do, like travel.”

Pearson’s boss at Panera, Abbie Carter (at left in photo), said getting up early for work and then being nice to people at 6 a.m. — genuinely nice — is as hard as you might imagine.

But she’s fantastic,” she said. Most everybody [who works here] goes to school, but most don’t work two jobs too. That’s a lot. She does so much. Did she tell you she dances?”

Dance you say? Pearson has been dancing with a local dance troupe, Megahurtz, for about 13 years. She has also been a student of the Hamden Academy of Dance and Music; last April she got to dance at Carnival in St. Thomas.

Dance is my breath of fresh air,” she said. It’s the way I express emotions and how I deal with any feelings I might have about situations or problems I may be facing.”

Pearson’s remarkable work ethic” caught the eye of one regular customer, New Haven Police Chief Dean Esserman. Esserman starts many a morning at Panera Bread at a long butcher block table with coffee, an everything bagel with butter, a banana, and a stack of newspapers. He started doing that after his department and several other law enforcement agencies, responding to a reported threat of a mass shooting at Yale University and a possible gunman in he area, made the restaurant its command center for the day. (Read about that here.) The threat turned out to be false, but Esserman said the staff and management were so gracious that the department honored them with a plaque.

Esserman got to know Perason (who wasn’t present the day law enforcement took over the restaurant) and has been counting down the days for graduation,” Pearson said.

He’s also been paying attention to one of the few complaints that a woman who is on her feet almost from the time she wakes up in the morning until she goes to bed has. On Friday, Esserman (pictured) surprised Pearson with a graduation gift: a gift certificate to Massage Envy. He also promised to take her resume and do his best to help the future marriage and family therapist achieve her goals.

I’m honored and I appreciate this so much,” she said. It feels good to know that someone outside of your family sees and supports you.”

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