Jean Kennell Joseph

My name is Jean Kenell Joseph. I am a college student majoring in Nursing. I am currently a freshman at BMCC Located in Manhattan, and a newly accepted potential Nursing Student at Niagara County Community College at Sanborn, Upstate NY for the Fall start 2022. I am a certified Violinist teacher for beginners, HHA, and CNA. I am a Youth Advocate, working at Haitian Women For Haitian Refugees, a non-profit organization based in Brooklyn that is rooting for Haitian Immigrants. At HWHR, I do advocacy work and am responsible for a program called SIJS(Special Immigrant Juvenile Status), I basically connect our undocumented youth to legal services throughout Brooklyn so they can help them fix their status. Since I started this program, I have successfully helped nearly 20 young Haitian to get their Green card. I am a very compassionate person, who cares about others.

Over the course of years, I have learned to become more resilient, social, and easygoing. I have improved quite a lot and I am still working on that. I am a very welcome person, who wants to make others feel comfortable around me. I appreciate others’ hard work and give them credit for it. Over the pandemic, I have volunteered in nursing homes, did a lot of advocacy work, and also create time to help other young Haitian like me navigate the school system and other few important things like open a Bank account, get an ID NYC, give them adequate advice. One of the things that I am proud of is that I created a platform called the SIJS Committee that consists of regular meetings, One-on-One meetings, where I give everyone a chance to speak to me and help them individually.

You may be asking how was I able to do all that work besides school? Well, I am pretty good at time management, I am very disciplined and enthusiastic. I have learned how to create time to help others and be mindful of my priorities. I have been doing that for so long that right now I feel I have mastered that. I am proud of the work that I am doing because it reflects and empowers so many young Black man and women in the Haitian community that I feel like my work is rewarded in the most desirable way. I am happy for my work and for being placed in the DEAN LIST at BMCC and so far with a 3.8 GPA on a scale of 4. I am forever grateful for the very little and work hard for the most.