By Norman Watley
CCC Journalism Program
BLACKWOOD – Ms. Jacqueline Tenuto is the assistant to the dean of students at Camden County College. Running daily operations of student activities is just one part of her many duties. She also oversees 19 school clubs, including the school radio station WDBK, as well as the Campus Press. Tenuto also coordinates the alumni election and ballots. She also sits on the student discipline hearing broad.
Tenuto is a CCC graduate who studied business administration and marketing from 1980 to 1982. She later attended Rider College and obtained a B.A. in education. She went on to become a teacher. Here she found herself teaching students who were not thought of as college material. Tenuto believes that everybody should attend college no matter how old or how long it may take one to obtain a degree. She soon began to take ill-advised field trips to CCC with a few of her students. Her students met her at the college after school on their free time. “I would just meet them at CCC then start to introduce them to the people that I knew could help as well as encourage them,” Tenuto said.
By 1988 Tenuto’s selflessness did not go unnoticed. She was offered the job that would get her foot in the door of CCC. “My first job here was the student employment coordinator … I really loved that job,” she said. “I love the interaction with the students … I love being like a mentor to them.” In 2005 the person who offered her the job became the dean and offered her the job as his assistant.
She said she dislikes nothing about her job. “I only wish that I had more time in the day to create more actives for the students,” she said. “I will do this job until I am ready to retire. I am blessed to be able to come back and give back to a school I have loved since I was a student here.”
Tenuto said she would describe herself “as a person always willing to help.” As to what she would be if this were a perfect world, she said, “who I am now … the assistant to the dean of students at CCC.”