{"id":14832,"date":"2019-10-23T11:59:55","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T17:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/?page_id=14832"},"modified":"2023-09-14T09:31:16","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T15:31:16","slug":"jackie-taylor","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/people-of-impact\/jackie-taylor\/","title":{"rendered":"Jackie Taylor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"by Laurie Laker \u201912<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEducation was always very, very important to me and my parents,\u201d says Jackie Taylor, former counselor at the Boettcher Health Center, home to the student health services, counseling center, and psychological services at Colorado College.<\/p>\n

Taylor, who is now retired, worked at Boettcher (now called the Student Health Center) for 19 years as a counselor, and was one of the first women of color to counsel CC students at the center. Her background in education set the tone for her approach to a career in counseling and social work \u2014 one that took her to a variety places across the U.S., winding up in Colorado Springs where she remains today.<\/p>\n

Growing up in rural South Carolina in the small town of Union, Taylor\u2019s teacher mother and her businessman father taught her the importance of education from an early age. Schooling at the time, though, was vastly different from what it is today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a totally segregated schooling environment from elementary school through high school, and because of that the expectations and opportunities were different for us,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWith segregation being what it was,\u201d she continues, \u201cthere weren\u2019t many careers that people of color could go into. The majority of my family were teachers. We had several social workers, including me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor\u2019s brothers took a different path as well.\u00a0 \u201cMy older brother, James Randolph Jeter, ran his own IT business before he passed away and my younger brother, Howard F. Jeter, was the U.S. ambassador to both Botswana and Nigeria,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

Taylor attended the historically black university North Carolina A&T State University, majoring in sociology and minoring in psychology. She returned to school to get her Master\u2019s in Social Work from the University of Denver in 1982.<\/p>\n

After graduating from college in 1967, Taylor moved to Tampa, Florida, with her husband, an Air Force officer, to work for Project Head Start. Project Head Start is a federal program that promotes the school readiness of young children from low-income families via agencies and groups in the local communities. Project Head Start \u201cruns in her family\u201d \u2014 her mother worked for the Bedford-Stuyvesant branch of Head Start in Brooklyn, New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy work in Tampa, Florida, was primarily with Spanish-speaking families and their children,\u201d she explains. \u201cThe Head Start work was challenging and rewarding, as the children had many difficulties in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are points in everyone\u2019s life where help is vital. For Taylor, the loss of her parents at a young age \u2014 she was 22 and 23 when they each died \u2014 is such a point.\u00a0 \u201cI can relate to a lot of students\u2019 grief and depression resulting from the loss of a parent, especially at such a young age,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

Taylor married Fred Taylor upon graduation from college, and moving for the Air Force became a part of my life. They spent time in New Hampshire and New Jersey before arriving in Colorado Springs. Along the way, they had two children, Fred Jr. and Teneshia.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMy first job in town was at the Pikes Peak Mental Health Center, working with residential adolescents \u2014 incredibly challenging work, particularly with that age group,\u201d she says.\u00a0 She worked for the Pikes Peak Mental Health Center for 25 years.<\/p>\n

Colorado College became a part her life around this time, too. Taylor was asked by Dr. Bill Dove \u201969<\/strong>, who worked at the Counseling Center, to apply for an opening. Dove, a clinical psychologist, is now director of the Colorado College Counseling Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I was fortunate to be chosen, particularly at the time when the staff was smaller than it is today. There were only two or three counselors at Boettcher, and none of us were full-time solely at CC.\u201d Taylor, for instance, worked with special-needs students in Harrison School District 2 in Colorado Springs four days a week, and was at CC on Tuesdays and in the evenings. She did this for 19 years, helping generations of students across the whole community.<\/p>\n

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Boettcher Center<\/p><\/div>\n

Arriving at CC when she did, Taylor experienced a college in transition. The college\u2019s first female president Kathryn Mohrman<\/a>, and Dr. Judith Reynolds \u201971<\/strong>, then medical director of Boettcher Health Center, \u00a0were instrumental in growing the resources for mental health, and discussions were opening up about the topic. Students were always at the heart of this work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I remember the most about the work was the support systems around campus,\u201d Taylor recalls. \u201cWe took a very collaborative approach to counseling, a team approach. There was always a sense of putting students first, and I found that to be really heartwarming about CC.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMike Edmonds, dean of students\/vice president for student life, and Rochelle Dickey-Mason \u201983<\/strong>, who during my employment was the director of minority student life, were invaluable support systems for me and all students.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere really was a sense of family around the college. Whether it be a campus safety officer or the dean of the college, everyone surrounded students who were having difficulties and tried to do their best to help,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

The stressors of a CC experience affected students in different ways, and that changed over time as generations encountered new challenges and developed new coping mechanisms, Taylor says.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents at CC all have very high expectations of themselves. Many of the students had issues fitting in, being successful in time management, or coping with stress. The Block Plan is wonderful, but it really isn\u2019t wonderful for everybody,\u201d\u00a0 Taylor says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnxiety and depression were common among students, and tensions between the haves and have nots grew as the student body changed, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The way students accessed Taylor and the other resources of the Boettcher Center varied. Sometimes it was a faculty referral, others came from the Dean\u2019s Office. Other times it could be a residential advisor, or a friend, who intervened and recommended counseling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone felt that a student was having difficulties, they\u2019d recommend counseling,\u201d Taylor related.<\/p>\n

Each of the counselors had, and continue to have, different areas of expertise. Some focused on anxiety and depression, others on time and stress management, others on eating disorders and substance use\/abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe important thing was to help students learn to navigate their environment successfully, to be away from home, to learn and grow in a community, and to achieve the goals that they\u2019d set,\u201d she says. \u201cWho the students saw and were counseled by, depended on a huge number of factors, but we all held those same goals of wanting them to grow as people and give back to others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over 19 years at the college, Taylor saw first-hand the successes and challenges of generations of students. She notes that, \u201cCollege is a big transition and it is normal for some to be uncomfortable with change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents of color have their own unique challenges, definitely, but the fact is that 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds all share a lot of the same issues,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cInternational students had some difficulty during my time at the college, as did Native American students at adapting to the college community. There wasn\u2019t the representative housing or community options for minority students yet, so that was difficult for them,\u201d she says. “Mike Edmonds, dean of students\/vice president for student life, and Rochelle Mason, who during my employment was the director of minority student life, were invaluable support systems for me and all the students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor retired from the college in 2007, and her life remains as active and engaged as ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very involved with my church, with local women\u2019s groups. I love to be outdoors, gardening, walking and hiking, taking yoga classes. Hopefully I\u2019ll be able to start some volunteer work soon with seniors and providing services for them.\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Taylor\u2019s family is the center of her life. She is very proud of her family and children. Her son is a retired Air Force full colonel, just like his dad. Her daughter, who lives in Nepal, is pursuing a Ph.D. in Education. She has three grandchildren.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In summary, she says “My experience at Colorado College was very rewarding and most memorable.\u00a0 I am proud to have been a part of this special institution.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Laurie Laker \u201912 \u201cEducation was always very, very important to me and my parents,\u201d says Jackie Taylor, former counselor at the Boettcher Health Center, home to the student health services, counseling center, and psychological services at Colorado College. Taylor, who is now retired, worked at Boettcher (now called the Student Health Center) for 19…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":769,"featured_media":0,"parent":13983,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width.php","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14832","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/769"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14832"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15461,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14832\/revisions\/15461"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}