Dorsey Kendrick Readies The Next ​“Legends”

Young women inspired by the woman who remade Gateway Community College caught up with her before she bids New Haven farewell — and heard about how they too ​“can be anything [they] want to be.”

The encounter took place Tuesday afternoon in the office of Gateway President Dorsey Kendrick.

Nearly five years ago, an organization in which the young women participate, called The Perfect Blend, honored Kendrick as a ​“legendary woman.” At the time, Kendrick was so busy overseeing the college’s move into its downtown campus that she couldn’t make the banquet induction ceremony.

Dorsey was inducted anyway and stands among the other 11 legendary women honored that year. On Tuesday afternoon, the decade-old organization — which is known for connecting girls with professional women in the community — brought the honor to Kendrick, who is retiring this month from the college, after running it for nearly two decades and expanding it into the jewel of the state community college system.

Kendrick’s retirement date is set for June 30. She said her second act will be as an executive coach. But she won’t be doing that in New Haven. She’s headed back to the Midwest, specifically the Milwaukee area where she started her education career.

“I think that when you get you should give back and I’ve gathered a plethora of experiences over the last 18 years and so new presidents coming on the scene who will be confronted with some of the challenges that I’ve gone through, I hope to be able to assist in some small way of helping them to not have to take all of the steps that I had to take to achieve certain projects and make certain decisions that I had to go through,” she said. ​“I guess teachable moments is what I would like to be able to impart to others.”

Girls who participate in The Perfect Blend program told Kendrick they’ve continued to admire her from afar and they’ve benefited from her contributions and her example.

Jeanette Sykes, the founder of The Perfect Blend, said that the girls wrote Dorsey a letter about four months ago, and Dorsey in return invited them to her office suite.

They presented Dorsey with flowers and poems. They included their own adapted version of a poem originally written by Atlanta-based author and playwright Pearl Cleage called ​“We Speak Your Names,” which was presented during Oprah Winfrey’s Legends Weekend in 2005. Winfrey’s Legends event inspired the founding of The Perfect Blend in 2007.

Fifteen-year-old Meya McClain, 15, who is in her first year with The Perfect Blend, called it inspiring and empowering to know that a black woman has been at the helm of Gateway Community College for two decades. She presented Kendrick flowers Tuesday on behalf of the girls in the program.

“I just love everything you do to bring more help to the learning environments for the people in this community and more opportunities for young minds to expand and become successful citizens in this world,” she said. ​“Thank you, Dr. Kendrick. I applaud you for your dedication and the opportunities that you open up for students in this community.”

Gateway Community College has soared under Kendrick’s leadership. She boosted enrollment by 100 percent in her first eight years, leading all of Connecticut’s 12 community colleges in enrollment. Gateway consolidated two campuses into a new $198 million, 3.7‑acre central location in downtown New Haven in 2012 on her watch.

She also was instrumental in adapting the college’s class schedule, which allowed mid-career people to take night courses and retrain for jobs in the new economy. She boosted health care and continuing education programs. And she has been a force in New Haven civic efforts.

Aaron Joyner, 14, who will participate in The Perfect Blend starting next year, presented Kendrick with the overdue legendary woman award from 2012. Joyner called Kendrick a ​“great asset to this community, a powerful leader and a person that girls like me can look up to every day.”

“You have opened many doors for young girls, especially young black girls in many different areas in the community,” Joyner added. ​“We can look upon you and be confident that we will be just as or more successful in our own lives. You have broken almost every stereotype and reached outstanding heights showing us that we are our own person, we can lead our own path and we will make our own future.”

Kendrick said she was touched by the outpouring from the girls and was particularly taken by what Joyner said about stereotypes, pointing out that the ones often placed on women aren’t always positive.

“Growing up I always thought that math and science were just for guys,” she said. ​“There’s a stereotype that we don’t do math and science as well. The stereotype that we can’t be as successful. When you’ve seen most important jobs or important places you always see a man with a suit on and so sometimes we feel like we can’t achieve that.

“And as women today, you can be anything you want to be.”

Kendrick said as a child she was drawn to reading and improving her vocabulary, and was often called a nerd. She didn’t allow that to stop her. She encouraged the girls to not let their circumstances or what others say stop them either.

“It was because that was what I wanted to do,” she said. ​“You see my parents were not well educated. We didn’t come from a family of a lot. And so I wanted more. When you talk about ​‘I’ve got to have designer shoes, I’ve got to live in the best neighborhood’ — no you don’t. I didn’t have any of that.

“But that was my motivation, my inspiration as it should be yours. It doesn’t matter where you start. It’s where you end up that counts ladies.”