MEET OUR GRADUATES: Jacqueline Carroll – “Adversity is Often Preparation for Greatness”

Jacqueline Carroll has spent almost half of her life in foster care. Her father battled with drugs and died in Kennedy Plaza when she was nine. Her mother died last year after years of drug use. This communication major has overcome incredible odds to graduate from Rhode Island College.

“I never thought I’d be a college student,” says Carroll. “Growing up, we didn’t know what college was. We were surrounded by people who felt lucky to graduate high school, who lived the same way their parents had lived – from assistance check to assistance check. I grew up in South Providence with my twin brother. When we could, we skipped school because we just didn’t want to go and nobody was at home to say, ‘School is good for you’ or to help you with your homework.”

“My brother and I are fraternal twins,” she says. “Growing up, he had a learning disability – a very strong stutter, and I was the only one who could interpret what he was saying. He speaks almost perfectly, now. But I spent a long duration of my life taking care of him, translating for him and protecting him.”

After being removed from the home at ages four and eight, Carroll and her brother were placed with a permanent foster family in Cumberland at age 11. It would be their last foster home, but the transition from one way of life to another wouldn’t be easy.

“For the first time in our lives, we had structure,” she says. “We were learning things like how to make our beds in the morning. I remember going out shopping with my foster mother and telling her, with tears in my eyes, that I just want to forget everything. I want to forget where I came from. And she said, ‘If you hadn’t had those experiences, you wouldn’t be who you are today.’ I owe a lot to this person who I now call my mother.”

Carroll began her freshman year at RIC in 2020, when the COVID pandemic hit and classes had moved online.

“I had a pretty rough start,” she says. “I have severe ADHD. Especially the attention part of the disorder. I was undiagnosed, unmedicated and completely unable to focus.”

Carroll needed the in-class interactions between student and teacher, which is hard to get over Zoom. She needed the structure of hearing a lecture in person, and she missed the in-class banter with classmates before class starts.

“These are the social cues and interactions I rely on,” she says

As a result, her GPA plummeted. At one point, Carroll was facing academic dismissal. Her academic advisor, Professor Giselle Auger, fought hard for her to stay here.

Along with finding a champion in Auger, the Office of Disabilities Services gave her permission to take extra time on tests, while the Counseling Center helped her with the emotional stresses of being a college student.

“At one point, I was going to the Counseling Center once a week,” she says. “It was a huge help. Finally, I was medicated and able to focus better. My counselor got me through a lot of the hardships in my life by giving me the space to talk about them.”

In her sophomore year, she became an ambassador for RIC’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions, which involves leading campus tours for prospective students and their families.

“Interacting with the other ambassadors was how I made friends,” she says. “We were also some of the first people to come back to campus after the pandemic. I felt more connected to the campus and I began to do better academically.”

In her final semester, Carroll was awarded the Hope Scholarship, which completely covered her tuition. However, it was the fact that the Hope Scholarship is based on merit that meant the most to her.

“I had gone from a 1.0 GPA in my freshman year to a 2.9 GPA in my senior year. On top of that, I’m graduating a semester early. So, getting this scholarship has been validating. I worked hard to get here.”

A few months before end of her last semester, she got the call that her mother had died. “I was doing pretty well before my mom passed. It brought back a lot,” she says. But Carroll refuses to give up the ground she has gained.

Author Andy Andrews once said, “Adversity is preparation for greatness.” If there’s one consistent thread that runs throughout Carroll’s life it’s the indefatigable drive to press on.

After graduating in December 2023, Carroll was hired as training coordinator for Leadership Rhode Island, where she is thriving.