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Choice Jennings got his start in the IT world by taking a computer graphics course in high school. He liked working with computers, and he knew what he wanted: to get a degree and a job in IT. “Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money. Computers were too expensive. I wanted to make it out of my neighborhood, get a degree, and be a good provider someday. There weren’t a lot of successful role models in my life, so high school gave me an important start.”
When he was 20, Choice and his mother moved to Massachusetts, where he enrolled in a computer engineering program at Springfield Technical Community College in Massachusetts. Computer engineering tapped Choice’s natural interest in computers, and also built on his high school math, science, and computer classes.
Financial aid brought the cost of tuition down, but Choice paid the rest. “I went to school full time and worked full time. Even though my job troubleshooting for a computer company was related to my degree, doing both was difficult. I went to school in the morning and worked in the afternoon and evening, sometimes going back and forth. Fortunately my class schedule was flexible, and my professors and my boss were supportive, but still, you have to be very patient and disciplined. You have to remember your goal. You might have to accept a lower-paying job while you’re in school, but it’s totally worth it.”
With his Associate’s degree in computer engineering, Choice is his own boss now. What started as a word-of-mouth, part-time job became his company, ChoiceTek, which provides networking and computer-support services for businesses and nonprofit organizations. Choice develops and maintains network systems for companies on a contract basis.
“Community college changed my life. I got my degree and learned everything I needed to know to run a business: the math, technical writing, how to write proposals to get funding for my business, even how to deal with different kinds of people. Community college showed me another life."