<\/a>People arriving by car at the Kissena Boulevard main campus gate are likely to be in for a pleasant surprise: an unexpectedly warm welcome from Campus Security Assistant Annette\u00a0Beckford. \u201cHello, Sunshine,\u201d she may say, greeting visitors with a warm smile or \u201cFollow the yellow brick road,\u201d a humorous sendoff after providing serious directions to parking lots or buildings.<\/p>\n\u201cI love being part of the QC body,\u201d says\u00a0Beckford, who has worked on campus since 2007, keeping traffic moving smoothly rain or shine, sometimes during double shifts. \u201cI believe a great attitude comes from something you\u2019re passionate about,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
And\u00a0Beckford\u00a0is clearly passionate about Queens College, projecting her enthusiasm and cheer to all she meets, including students. \u201cThe kids are amazing,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen they graduate, they come by to embrace me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born on the island of Jamaica,\u00a0Beckford\u00a0grew up in a small Creole community. Her father did road work for the local government and her mother was a fish vendor. \u201cI know every fish in the ocean,\u201d\u00a0Beckford\u00a0says, and to this day, she enjoys relaxing at home in Queens cooking Caribbean food, especially fish dishes.<\/p>\n
During high school, she received some nursing education, but after graduation she developed a business buying and selling women\u2019s clothing. \u201cI traveled to Panama, Venezuela, and Cura\u00e7ao to buy jeans, fancy dresses, and some household linens and then sold them at home in Jamaica,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
At the age of 27,\u00a0Beckford\u00a0immigrated to the U.S. under the sponsorship of her godmother. \u201cConnecticut was so different from what I was used to,\u201d\u00a0Beckford\u00a0recalls. When she took the Metro North railroad down to Grand Central, followed by a ride on the E train to visit a friend, her eyes were opened. \u201cThis Jamaica felt like paradise to me,\u201d she says. \u201cI told myself that Queens is where I\u2019m going to stay.\u201d And she has, putting down roots in the borough 20 years ago and becoming an American citizen.<\/p>\n
As someone who gravitates to helping others, it\u2019s not surprising that\u00a0Beckford\u2019s first work in the U.S. was in the health care field. But it takes a special kind of person to work with those who are dying\u2014people \u201cmoving on\u201d or \u201ctraveling\u201d to the next stage, as she puts it. \u201cI wasn\u2019t scared of this,\u201d says\u00a0Beckford, who notes that both her father and godfather died in her arms. For five years,\u00a0Beckford\u00a0served as a home health aide providing live-in hospice patient care. \u201cPeople tell you their history\u2014things they haven\u2019t said before. You tell them funny things that put a smile on their faces.\u201d<\/p>\n
How did she get into the security field? \u201cI noticed that Andrews International, a security company, had an office a few blocks from my home,\u201d she says, \u201cso I stopped in to get information. It\u2019s good to try different things.\u201d After training and testing,\u00a0Beckford\u00a0received her state certification as a security officer and was assigned to Queens College.<\/p>\n
\u201cLieutenant Deborah Huggins\u2014who was then a sergeant\u2014was so nice to me!\u201d\u00a0Beckford\u00a0remembers. Through her assignment relieving security officers who were taking their 30-minute breaks,\u00a0Beckford\u00a0received \u00a0a thorough orientation of the sprawling campus. \u201cI walked all over and really got to know the campus and lots of people that way,\u201d she says. Since 2012\u00a0Beckford\u00a0has been employed by CUNY and hopes one day to become a Peace Officer.<\/p>\n
A registered CPR responder,\u00a0Beckford\u00a0has never had to use this training or apprehend any lawbreakers on the quiet campus. \u201cPeace officers can call us for backup if needed, but that\u2019s never happened,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Beckford\u00a0was recognized for her outstanding job performance several years ago at the college\u2019s annual faculty and staff awards event. \u201cI was so happy and excited,\u201d\u00a0Beckford\u00a0says, vividly recalling the ceremony, which she calls her most memorable experience at QC.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m truly blessed and hope to stay here until I retire,\u201d she says with characteristic enthusiasm. \u201cBut that\u2019s a long way off!\u201d<\/p>\n
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Name: Annette BeckfordTitle: Campus Security AssistantDepartment: Public SafetyDegree(s): Old Harbour High School, Jamaica. Medical Assistant Certificate, Sanford-Brown InstituteContact Information: 718-997-5912 Email: Annette.beckford@qc.cuny.edu “People tell you their history\u2014things they haven\u2019t said before. You tell them funny things that put a smile on their faces.”- Annette Beckford Student Profiles Alumni Profiles Faculty Profiles Staff ProfilesGiving a Cheerful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"page_category":[],"wf_page_folders":[137],"class_list":["post-1083","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1083"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2051,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1083\/revisions\/2051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"page_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/page_category?post=1083"},{"taxonomy":"wf_page_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_page_folders?post=1083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}