By KAYLA DEMICCO
Co-Executive Editor
Whether you know her from Sabor Latino, The Silhouettes, Late Knight, the Intercultural Council, Public Relations Student Society of America, the Communications Department ambassador program, Purely Positive Women of Purpose, a commuter assistant, a residential assistant, Student Association, or casually around campus, Jaysalee Salcedo is one student who has impacted The College of Saint Rose in many ways.
“I feel like we invest a lot of time and money at Saint Rose, there’s no reason not to be included. That’s how you get connected,” said Salcedo. “That’s how you get a unique experience.”
Salcedo has been very involved in student life and extracurricular ever since before she even arrived at Saint Rose. While growing up in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn, N.Y., she was always in the habit of keeping herself occupied with extracurricular activities. During all her four years in high school, she was a part of a variety of clubs and has continued that direction throughout her college career.
As Salcedo has had involvement in all those clubs, plus a few others she went to their meetings once or twice, she has definitely taken advantage of the resources the college has provided her with. Even though Saint Rose was miles away from her hometown, she was willing to open up to the new environment up in Albany and call the college her new home.
Upon seeing the existence of Sabor Latino, the Latin dance group on campus, on her orientation day, she knew she wanted to join and bring her ideas to the table.
Although this group was a huge part of her college life her first three years here and she has considered it her second family, Salcedo moved on from the club to join the Student Association e-board.
“I felt like as I have already been president of Sabor, there [wasn’t much more I could do],” said Salcedo. “It was my time and I did what I had to do and for someone else to step up and keep the legacy going.”
Originally, Salcedo applied for the position of Director of Communications with the Student Association. However, when no one applied for the position of President, she had to step up to be the interim president for over the summer. She entered the role of president in the fall 2020 semester as they were doing a hire for new roles.
“There was a lot I saw that I wanted to do with the school,” said Salcedo. “We lacked a lot of diversity and there was a lot I wanted to see. I thought, ‘Why not do it?’”
Over summer 2020, Salcedo felt nervous as there was a lot going on from within the school, the community, and in the world. As she was doing work for Student Association every day over the summer, she felt pressure as she did not know what decisions were going to be right or wrong. Luckily for her, she had the support and guidance of Cherèva McClellan, director of student life and Student Association’s advisor, the whole time.
“Working with Jaysalee over the summer as we all weathered a global pandemic and a racial reckoning, I saw how committed and dedicated she was in ensuring the well-being of her entire campus community. I saw first hand how these issues impacted her both personally, being a woman of color, and professionally, navigating how to be a voice for the student body that elected her into onto the board,” said McClellan in an email.
As President of Student Association for the 2020 to 2021 academic school year, she was able to show her support for the Black community through helping the students behind the @BlackatStrose Instagram account, changing the school’s food provider from Aramark to Sodexo, the establishment of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee on the Student Association level and much more. Despite her nerves, she saw everything as a learning opportunity.
“She thinks outside of the box! I’ve definitely seen new and creative ideas within Student Association because of her. I think a lot of us tend to stay with the ideas that we use every single year when it comes to school functions, and Jaysalee really works to engage people with different programming. Because of her, we have seen people come to school events that wouldn’t normally come out,” wrote Emily Cruz, senior Communications major and current Director of Academic Activities in an email.
Salcedo came into college as a communications major with a concentration in film and new media and stayed on that path throughout her time here. Her dad was heavily into movies as she was growing up and it is something she always had interest in. She revealed that she almost came in with a journalism concentration as she has always loved writing. Salcedo added the public relations concentration to her degree in her sophomore year when she realized she felt comfortable while in the Public Relations club.
With everything that Salcedo does on a daily basis, time management is an important factor so she can keep herself on track to balance her work and social life. She described it as a trial-and-error process as one tries to know themselves and what their capacities are. One thing that helps her a lot in the process, is to-do lists. As a student, she understands that some students tend to prioritize their clubs first but she advises that school work must come first.
“Sometimes you have to lose a little to decide what your priorities are,” said Salcedo.
She said having a good support system keeps her going as well and they keep her going. While she has her friends to always have her back, they also have been impacted positively by her presence in their life.
“I believe something unique about her is that she has such a positive outlook to life she inspires you to want to be able to do more and really push yourself to the fullest to meet whatever it is you want to do,” said Samantha Torres, a senior dual concentration major in Spanish and Social Work, as well as one of her roommates, in an email. “Jaysalee has become family to me, not just a friend. She has my back through it all and she is a very supportive friend through it all.”
Salcedo also mentioned her mom who has inspired her to keep her on the path of setting and achieving goals of all sorts.
“People come in seasons, but your experiences last a lifetime,” said Salcedo.
