The Passion to Change Lives

By Rebecca Daniels, Coordinator for Communications in the Office of Residence Life

Spending the summer in a minimum-security prison is not the average college student’s idea of a summer vacation, but for senior Mairead Kiernan, it is a step toward her ultimate goals.

Kiernan, a communication and rhetorical studies major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, is spending her summer teaching inmates of Camp Georgetown Correctional Facility in Georgetown, NY, and at the Center for Community Alternatives (CCA) in Syracuse, NY. She is working for a re-entry program that assists people recently released from prison. 

Kiernan, 21, originally from Homer, NY, believes these opportunities are steps toward achieving her ultimate goal of developing access to higher education for people in the justice system. Her interest in the justice system and how it relates to education has been with her from a very young age, with one parent being a lawyer, one a teacher, and a grandmother who taught a GED course at a local jail. Kiernan has seen the impact of what education can do and how it can change lives for individuals when they are released from jail.

“Ninety-seven percent of the people who are incarcerated will get back out eventually,” Kiernan said. “If they are going to be a part of the community, they should have the opportunity to be a contributing member of society.”

While her interest in education and criminal justice has been percolating from a very young age, Kiernan’s passion has been ignited by her coursework at Syracuse University. Kiernan credits a course on “Punishment and Inequality” for opening her eyes to the flaws in our country’s prison system. 

“I thought, ‘I can change this. This is what I want to do,’” Kiernan said.

Kiernan’s desire to help people was also further awakened when she became a resident advisor and then a mentor resident advisor. In this role, she not only assists new students in their transition to college life, but as a mentor resident advisor, she serves as a leader and resource to her peers. While she serves very different populations in this role, she enjoys the experience. 

“It’s all about working with people, and being an RA has helped me further develop the skills to work with others,” Kiernan explained.

Kiernan describes her first days at the Center for Community Alternatives as humbling.

“To a lot of them, I could be their child. They need to ask for help with things, even things we take for granted, such as turning on a computer; and that is not easy,” Kiernan said.  

Despite these challenges, Kiernan has a firm resolve to make a positive impact on the people she works with at both CCA and Camp Georgetown.

“It will be hard when or if someone that I work with does not succeed,” Kiernan said. “But, you can’t let that stop you. I truly believe people can change.  Rehabilitation is possible, but it doesn’t just happen.”