When Renee Starowicz was a senior at Liverpool High School and considering where she might begin her higher education journey, she was a strong enough student to go to nearly any college or university. But life circumstances led her to conclude Onondaga Community College was the best place for her. “I was working. I had family responsibilities. Staying and going to OCC was the perfect step to build my own self-determination. The accessibility and the culture of the campus was the best for me at that point.”
Two decades later she’s more sure than ever she made the right decision. Starowicz has the initials “Ph.D.” after her name because of the doctoral degree she earned from the Joint Program in Special Education at the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco State University. She’s a social scientist researcher in the field of education at Stanford University. “I focus on disability studies in education and the cultural understandings and impacts on educational equity and access. We’re working to understand how we provide better supports for young people and adults and give them the opportunity for self-determination whether that be in education or in the community or with their families."
Family played a significant role in Starowicz’s decision to come to OCC in the fall of 2004. Her father was an actively drinking alcoholic whom she helped care for. Her experiences with him led her to consider a career in drug and alcohol rehabilitation. “I had grown up around watching him go in for treatment, supporting him, visiting him, and helping him survive and live. But coming to OCC helped me open up the parameters a little bit, see what other people were doing, and what were the breadth of options."
Starowicz loved everything about her OCC experience. She enjoyed how direct her professors were and the new concepts they introduced her to. She appreciated how many other Liverpool High School graduates were here, giving her an instant group of peers and students to share rides with. And she loved the campus atmosphere and how welcome it made her feel. "People did things like hold the door open for you and were kind to each other. I remember thinking 'this is a really good place to be right now.' The culture and the diversity of the campus and the accessibility to people from a lot of different backgrounds really appealed to me and made me feel like I could fit in."
Thanks to all of the AP credits she earned in high school, Starowicz needed just three semesters to complete her degree in December 2005. She would go on to earn her bachelor's degree in Psychology from Le Moyne College, then transfer to Syracuse University for her master's in Cultural Foundations of Education with a Certificate of Advanced Study in Disability Studies.
Starowicz completed her doctoral degree in 2020 and is considering future options. "I would love to do something that's a blend of teaching and research. I would enjoy a faculty position or a position with an institute that's really doing community engaged work, partnering with local communities to support access and communication for young people working with families and districts. It's the kind of work I was very involved with at Syracuse University."
Wherever her life's work takes her, Starowicz will always be grateful for the time she spent at Onondaga Community College and how it impacted her future. "Looking back I really cherish the whole experience. It was a place where I could fail and figure out how to keep going. I had serious pressures at home. It was impacting my schooling and how I could function. Everything happened to me in a place where everyone around me was also struggling with real life things. I didn't feel like I was alone in the complexity of it. I think the campus atmosphere was helpful for me to get up and find other resources and figure out what was the next best path for me."
