Rutgers at Brookdale Community College

Student Spotlight

Student & Essential Worker

When Jade Longo was 18, her mother received treatment for cancer at a nursing home. Now, Longo works at the same nursing home as a recreational therapist. Her role allows her to give back to the community, using the skills she has gained as a social work major at Rutgers–Brookdale. In an unprecedented situation, she has learned to adapt to the world of quarantine, dealing with deaths, social isolation, and new methods of treating residents.

The social worker who treated her mother left a lasting impression on Longo. She was interested in more than just a health checkup, and often stopped to ask, “How are you?” Throughout her time in college, Longo explored varied interests and majors including psychology and nursing. Longo was drawn to social work due to her own experience and memory, and the major was the “only thing that covered all of the bases” for her. After various college programs, she chose to attend the Rutgers–Brookdale program due to location and convenience.

At work, Longo gets to “apply things” that she learns in her Rutgers–Brookdale classes “every day.” While at the nursing home, she says that she is “learning things that I couldn’t learn from the textbook.” In turn, the school material seems “more important’ to her now that she is applying it to a real-world situation.

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