Zieon Duckett-'17

Zieon Duckett was born in the Bronx and his family is from Jamaica.  As a high school student, Zieon had no idea what he wanted to do for a career.  It wasn’t until the very end of his high school career that he became serious about school and his future.

Zieon began his studies at QCC originally majoring in Physical Therapy, then switching to Liberal Arts and finally settling into Photography.  Similar to many students, Zieon had a lot of interests, but wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do for a career.   After completing Anatomy & Physiology Zieon quickly realized Physical Therapy was not for him.

Zieon started working with a videographer, helping set up the lighting and equipment and it sparked his curiosity around photography.  Zieon decided to buy his first camera and he took it everywhere, his passion was ignited!   Zieon really enjoys portrait photography, as he states “When you capture someone when they are not posing you can get a real sense of who they are.”

Zieon recalls his initial semester on campus as being very difficult.  He was coming to class every day, but not connecting with other students or becoming part of the campus community.  Shortly after that he fell into a volunteer opportunity with Career Services that changed everything.  He first volunteered at a job fair and soon after that he was hooked.  He really enjoyed volunteering.   Helping other students and the faculty gave him a sense of belonging and helped him open up on campus.  He continued volunteering with Career Services and has helped out with other job fairs since then.  Career Services has been an integral part of Zieon’s success from helping him with his resume to placing him in a job, to introducing him to Virtual Job Shadow which he actually used to get a few interviews.

At the most recent job fair, when the employers were getting ready to leave, Zieon approached Forever 21 and started speaking with the hiring manager.  Being the outgoing, polite, personable student that Zeion is, he was hired on the spot!  Forever 21 had no trouble identifying that Zieon is hardworking, a go-getter and serious about his future.

Zieon is planning on graduating in the Spring of 2017 and will continue his studies in photojournalism.