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Bachelor of Arts Completion student Georgia Jackson
fulfills a lifelong dream to receive an undergraduate degree.
SPRING 2007
Georgia Jackson always wanted to get a college degree. But
a bad turn of events in her life prevented her from doing so -- until now. The 53-year-old native San Franciscan
will complete CIIS’s Bachelor of Arts Degree Completion (BAC)
program in August. Jackson says that she was drawn to the
spiritual and interpersonal environment of CIIS, noting: “Everyone is so connected here.”
Jackson considers herself a lifelong learner. She started taking
courses at San Francisco City College in 1974, but a long battle
with substance abuse interfered with her desire to graduate from
college. With her life back in order --she has been clean and sober
since 1994 -- she decided that it was finally time to get her
bachelor’s degree. In 1997, she returned to City College and
earned a Drug and Alcohol Certificate in 2003 and then an
associate’s degree in 2004.
Jackson explored several colleges before choosing CIIS upon the
advice of friend and CIIS alumna Briana Moore. Jackson was
particularly attracted to the BAC program, which is designed to
accommodate working adults, because it fit in perfectly with her
work schedule as an evaluator, researcher, and interviewer for
San Francisco’s Department of Public Health.
She was also supported in her decision by receiving much-needed
financial assistance from CIIS as the recipient of the Asia
Cummings Memorial Scholarship. This endowed scholarship
fund was established in 2005 by Pamela and David Smith in
memory of their daughter, Asia
Leah Cummings, who was
admitted to the BAC
program before her death
in 2004 at age 21. Jackson
currently evaluates two grant-funded programs for the Department
of Public Health: Women Integrated Services Health (WISH), which
helps female offenders with mental health issues; and the Standing
Against Global Exploitation (SAGE) Project, which assists victims
of commercial sexual exploitation. Her duties include conducting
intensive baseline, six-month and 12-month interviews with program
participants to gauge the effectiveness of the programs.
Jackson also
works as a relief counselor at Baker Places, a nonprofit organization
providing an array of community-based services to San Franciscans
with mental health, substance, and/or HIV/AIDS related issues.
According to Jackson, BAC’s “cohort learning” model, where
a group of students study and learn together throughout the
academic year, has improved her writing and listening skills and
given her a sense of connection to a community of kindred spirits.
These skills, along with her past personal struggles with addiction,
have helped her better relate to and serve her clients. “I know where the clients are coming from,” said Jackson, who
wants to eventually earn a master’s degree in rehabilitation
counseling. “Some of the people I see are the people I used to get
high with. They see me clean and say, ‘Georgia, if you can do it,
I can do it.’”
(Jackson has recently been admitted to SFSU's Master's Program in Rehabilitation and Counseling.)
Bachelor's
Completion Program
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Bachelor's
Completion Program