‘My experiences in college helped me realize that I enjoy being passionate about work. I respect that in other people, too.’

Roosevelt

“When I was graduating from Holy Trinity High School, I was trying to think practically, so I thought I wanted to be a computer engineer. I had been told that engineering was a field in which the world had many jobs. I had very good grades, so I never doubted my ability and capacity to learn. I had a lot of faith that this was what my job would be, and everything seemed to line up for my future.

“Initially, I went to Manhattan College, where I was given a mentor whose profession was in cybersecurity. He told me that after college he couldn’t get a job in computer engineering and found that he liked cybersecurity. He roped me in with that, so I decided to transfer to the University at Albany, where they have a cybersecurity program. Then I had an epiphany in the second semester of my sophomore year. I realized I wasn’t liking that anymore, either. My grades were slipping. My adviser sent me to the school therapy system to help me with my depressive state. This helped me see that I had a class in my first semester that I loved, and when I no longer had it, the crash happened. I had only taken acting because I needed an elective! My grades were great that semester. I decided to change to a theater major. I’ve been having a better experience ever since!

My new philosophy is that if you are passionate about something, you will succeed in it.

“I think I’m an empathetic person, and I have an ability to understand people, which is important in acting. Theater allows me to experience that on a larger scale while giving me the opportunity to evoke emotion. You need to understand many characters. I find it fun and I think I have a natural talent for it. I’ve learned that I also enjoy working in technical areas of theater. It’s making me a handier individual, and now I appreciate organization and collaboration.

“My experiences in college helped me realize that I enjoy being passionate about work. I respect that in other people, too. My new philosophy is that if you are passionate about something, you will succeed in it. You’re the only person who is going to be waking up doing what you have chosen to pursue. When you make these big changes in your life, everyone else will have their opinions. Regardless of what they say, the only person that is in control in that moment is you.”

Interviewed by Iris Wiener

‘Jamaica will always be my home, but now Long Island really feels like home.’

Roosevelt

“I’m originally from Port Antonio, a small town in Jamaica. At age 6, I started getting sick all the time. The doctors gave me a penicillin shot but didn’t test to see if I was allergic. It turned out I was. I ended up in the hospital and a wheelchair.

“I found myself constantly getting sick. No one knew why. Eventually I was diagnosed with rheumatic fever, and the virus went untreated for so long it damaged two heart valves.

“I had family in the U.S. who work in health care and spoke to management at North Shore University Hospital about a cardiac program with St. Jude’s. They managed to get me there to have the surgery.

“I was in the operating room the next day, got out of the hospital about a week after and ended up staying with family in Roosevelt during the healing process. I missed home, but I also found things I loved for the first time.

I saw snow for the first time, thinking it was rain, then said out loud, ‘What is that?’

“I really liked going to the mall. I tried a Tootsie Roll there, which I had never had before. It was amazing! They didn’t have that in Jamaica at the time. I remember going shopping, and I got this cool sweater, but couldn’t stop wondering, ‘What am I going to do with this when I get back to Jamaica?’

“I saw snow for the first time, thinking it was rain, then said out loud, ‘What is that?’ About 10 years after going home, I was contacted by the U.S. embassy, who said my papers went through to move back. It turns out my dad, who is a U.S. citizen, had filed papers for me when I was 17, and it took many years to go through. It was good timing. I was in my 20s, and at that point, I didn’t feel like Jamaica was working out.

“I moved back to Roosevelt again in 2016. I felt like it was a meant-to-be thing. I had options to live in NYC or Florida, but I wanted to come back here. I’ll be taking the citizenship test soon.

“I work across the street from the mall, which I still love. Whenever I get stressed, I think, ‘Let me just take a walk there.’ It reminds me of the first time I was here.

“When I first came here as a kid, I remember thinking, ‘I just want to go back home,’ but now when I say I want to go home, I just want to go to my bed here on Long Island.

“Jamaica will always be my home, but now Long Island really feels like home.”

Interviewed by Ian J. Stark