Bridge (Spring 2001) - SUNY Institute of Technology
Bridge (Spring 2001) - SUNY Institute of Technology
Bridge (Spring 2001) - SUNY Institute of Technology
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Alumni Spotlight<br />
The Road to Success<br />
Michelle Manning<br />
By Ellen Portnoy<br />
Most students grow up in<br />
one town, attend local schools<br />
for 18 years, move on to college<br />
and, with luck, find a job.<br />
Not Michelle Manning.<br />
She’s lived in six towns in<br />
three states. She’s attended six<br />
colleges, earning a bachelor’s in<br />
science degree in applied math<br />
from <strong>SUNY</strong>IT in 1999 – after<br />
working as a cashier, a portrait<br />
developer, a security guard and<br />
a nanny. “I took my time growing<br />
up,” Manning, 34, says.<br />
She also grew up on the<br />
move, living with various family<br />
members. Born in New<br />
Hartford, she moved to<br />
Gloversville as a preschooler. At<br />
12, she returned to Utica,<br />
briefly attending Kernan School<br />
before spending her junior high<br />
school years in Chaumont,<br />
New York. From 1985 to 1990,<br />
she lived with her father in<br />
Orange, California.<br />
Manning began her college<br />
odyssey in 1985, first at California<br />
State University at Fullerton.<br />
Experiencing classes <strong>of</strong><br />
200 to 300, she left after a year.<br />
“Teachers didn’t know who you<br />
were and didn’t want to,” she<br />
recalls. In 1986, she enrolled in<br />
Rancho Santiago Community<br />
College in Santa Anna. After<br />
considering physical therapy,<br />
she switched to criminal<br />
justice. After a semester, she<br />
realized she was unsuited for<br />
police work.“I take everything<br />
to heart,” she explains.<br />
In 1987, Manning returned<br />
to Utica to live with her<br />
mother. She had no game plan.<br />
“I didn’t know what I wanted<br />
to do, “she says. A series <strong>of</strong> jobs<br />
followed: cashier at Chicago<br />
Market, then Great American,<br />
for six months; student portrait<br />
developer at Fraternal Composite<br />
for over a year; plainclothes<br />
security guard at J.C.<br />
Penney for nine months.<br />
Restless, Manning read a<br />
newspaper advertisement for a<br />
nanny. After telephone interviews<br />
and photo exchanges,<br />
she was hired. “They took a risk<br />
and so did I,” she admits. In<br />
1989, Manning moved to<br />
Bernardsville, New Jersey, becoming<br />
a nanny for three girls,<br />
ages 6, 8 and 10. Her tasks:<br />
housekeeping, homework and<br />
shuttling children to ice hockey<br />
practice and games. She stayed<br />
for eight years.<br />
Although she remains close<br />
to the family, she recalls her<br />
nanny years with mixed feelings.<br />
“I had all the responsibilities<br />
<strong>of</strong> parenthood without the<br />
rights,” she says. Still, she attributes<br />
her driving confidence<br />
to years <strong>of</strong> chauffeuring the<br />
girls to games throughout the<br />
Northeast. “I can find my way<br />
anywhere,” she says. She also<br />
learned how to budget her time<br />
and do homework anywhere –<br />
even at hockey rinks.<br />
When the girls’ mother – a<br />
former emergency medical<br />
technician – encouraged her to<br />
explore that field, Manning attended<br />
St. Barnabas School in<br />
Roseland, New Jersey, for EMT<br />
training. Monday nights, she<br />
also took anatomy and physiology<br />
courses at nearby Raritan<br />
Valley Community College. As<br />
a volunteer EMT, she hung out<br />
in the local firehouse, responding<br />
to calls. One evening, she<br />
performed CPR for 45 minutes<br />
on an 85-year-old neighbor.<br />
2 The <strong>Bridge</strong>