News Archive
Student Spotlight: Janae Barnes Sets Sights on Hospitality Degree
By Elizabeth L. Brown
TAMPA (February 28, 2022) -- Janae Barnes has tried college before. Three times, in fact.
First at Hunter College in Manhattan. Right after high school. But her time at the urban commuter school was short-lived. After about a year, she decided the school wasn鈥檛 a good fit.
Barnes then switched to Brooklyn鈥檚 Kingsborough Community College where she earned a two-year degree in data processing. Shortly after graduation, Barnes enrolled at nearby Baruch College where she pursued a business management degree while working full-time as an executive assistant at the L鈥橭real cosmetics company.
鈥淚 earned a lot of credit, but I felt like I was never touching my major,鈥� she said of her time at Baruch, a public college in New York City. 鈥淚t just felt like it was going to take forever.鈥�
So, when she learned she was pregnant with her daughter 鈥� the news came as the semester was ending 鈥� she decided it was time to bow out of Baruch.
Now at age 45, Barnes has returned to college for the fourth, and hopefully, final time.
Her decades-long journey of getting a bachelor鈥檚 degree has landed the wife and mother at the USF Muma College of Business as a student in the hospitality and tourism management program on the Sarasota-Manatee campus.
It is her first venture back into the classroom since leaving Baruch College 14 years ago and she said she is determined not to leave USF without a degree.
And while she lives in Wesley Chapel with her husband and daughter, she has so far taken online courses and avoided the typical one-way 90-minute commute down Interstate 75 to the Sarasota-Manatee campus.
She鈥檚 eyeing a career in event planning and has enjoyed the few courses she takes each semester as a part-time hospitality and tourism management student.
鈥淚鈥檝e always liked event planning. I love the background stuff. I鈥檓 a logistics person and I just love everything that goes into it and seeing the outcome. Love that,鈥� she said. 鈥淓vent planning is what I love to do.鈥�
Like her old days at Baruch, she is taking classes while juggling a full-time job. Barnes works as a facilities specialist at Centene Corporation, a managed health care company located near Tampa International Airport.
She鈥檚 also doing double duty as a mom, shuttling around her 14-year-old high school freshman, in between work and classes.
鈥淢y daughter is a very busy bee. She鈥檚 doing dance. She鈥檚 doing orchestra. She has weightlifting after school, but a lot of times she doesn鈥檛 go because I don鈥檛 have anybody to take her,鈥� Barnes said. 鈥淲ith her doing all of those things, I have to adjust my schedule when I can.鈥�
Barnes does all this schedule-shifting and commuting all while making time to collaborate with her fellow hospitality classmates on Microsoft Teams. She says she sometimes stays up until 3 a.m. doing schoolwork, only to get up early to head to her job at Centene.
She says her classmates, most of whom are only a few years older than her daughter, have told her how much they admire her for finding a way to juggle schoolwork, a job, and raising a family.
But she doesn鈥檛 see it that way. She doesn鈥檛 want to use her full plate as a crutch.
鈥淭o me, it doesn鈥檛 seem like a lot, because I鈥檓 so used to it,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 making it work. I鈥檓 taking nothing for granted.鈥�
And when her schedule allows, she tries to volunteer at USF hospitality program events to get some industry experience, on top of her real-life experience. Her goal is to get her foot in the door in the event planning industry, either working for an event planning business or at a hotel that plans events.
鈥淚f you don鈥檛 put yourself out there, it鈥檚 not going to come to you,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou have to go for it. Sometimes something will end up in your lap, but you have to learn how to take that ball and run with it.鈥�
She says she knows her father would be proud of her decision to go back to school to carve a new career, after all these years. In 2018, she moved from New York to Wesley Chapel to be closer to her ailing father, who passed away in December 2020.
In January, the college began offering the hospitality and tourism management major on all three campuses, which opened more course offerings on the Tampa campus, thus making her commutes a little easier.
Ironically, her daughter was the main reason she left college 14 years ago. And now her daughter and showing her what it takes to get a college degree is one of the main reasons she鈥檚 committed to getting her degree.
鈥淚 want to show her it鈥檚 possible, to show her you could do it. I want that degree. I want that bachelor鈥檚 degree. Doing it 鈥� that鈥檚 what matters,鈥� she said. 鈥淥nce the degree is done, and I find that niche or that area of work I want and where I want to be, I think it鈥檒l be even better.鈥�