Onondaga Community College Alumna Dawn Penson '20 has a relentless desire to help others. She brought that passion to campus earlier this month when she organized and presented, "Living With Vision Loss," a resource fair aimed at providing independence and building community. "We have 35 organizations here to help connect everybody who is blind or has low vision with the tools and resources they need to live autonomous lives. This is our second year, and we plan on this getting bigger and better every year," she said.
Penson is Vice President of the Syracuse chapter of the National Federation of the Blind. She is also one of the most remarkable students in OCC history. Despite losing her sight more than a decade ago after being diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder, she came to OCC and earned membership in the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, was named an All-State student, earned the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence, and was the Student Trustee on the Board of Trustees. She also earned a 3.95 grade point average on the way to completing her Human Services degree. Three years later, she earned a bachelor's degree from Le Moyne College.
When Penson was a student at OCC, she interned in the College's Office of Accessibility Resources (OAR). She remembers how impactful Daneen Brooks, OCC's Accessibility Coordinator, was in her success. "Daneen wouldn't let me give up. At that time I was going back to school and taking my TASC exam (formerly known as the GED test) at the same time. Being a mom, I was so overwhelmed, and she would not let me give up. I would not have graduated without the help of Daneen and OAR."
The two have been friends ever since, providing each other with support and strength along the way. "Dawn helped me as I started having visual deficits," recalled Brooks. "It's humanity coming back and helping each other. It's one of the beauties of the things I've learned from Dawn, not only as her mentor when she was doing an internship, but as she's grown, I've watched her give back information and she's really truly helped me."
Giving back through events like Living Without Vision Loss is part of Penson's mission. "As we get older, most of us wind up with some sort of disability. We have a lot of seniors who don't have the help they need. I want to keep reaching for the stars because there's no end in sight. Whatever I can do to pay it forward will help the next person. I never want someone to struggle like I did."
