Jennifer Piscitelli came to St. Joseph’s College in 2009 with just $27 in her checking account. Broke, recently separated and temporarily without a place to live, she could not afford the registration fee.
“Life had been good — then, I got broadsided by a divorce. Without realizing what was happening, I found myself leaving my house and everything I knew with just a suitcase,” said Ms. Piscitelli, a project manager at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center. “Most people have their ‘Aha!’ moment. I had a very big ‘Oh no!’ moment.”
Ms. Piscitelli’s inspiration to return to school came in the form of a newspaper ad that pitched SJC Long Island’s Accelerated Weekend College program. Her saving grace came in the form of an admissions director who accepted a $10 down payment toward the College’s registration fee, with the promise that the Bohemia woman would pay the balance by the time classes began.
“Before I knew what was happening, (the admissions director) was registering me for Saturday classes and working out a payment plan,” Ms. Piscitelli said.
One session into her first class, Health Care Delivery Systems, Ms. Piscitelli, knew that St. Joseph’s is where she belonged, she said. Her hard work and dedication paid off and in 2014, Ms. Piscitelli earned a B.S. in Health Administration. In 2016, she secured an M.B.A. and an M.S. in Health Care Management, while earning a 4.0 GPA and graduating cum laude.
“Weekend College at SJC changed the entire direction of my life and career,” Ms. Piscitelli said. “I look back now and I really can’t believe how much SJC has done for me. The faculty and staff who pushed me to never give up, to think beyond the norm, to strive for dreams that seemed impossible; they were my angels.”
