August 9, 2019 | Jaxx Artz
I met Jacqueline Gibson as a freshman at Ursuline Academy, where she was a year ahead of me. In the large cafeteria students passed on their way to and from classes, she stood alone at a fold-up table trying to recruit members for her club, Sewing for Others. I wasn’t into sewing, but as a first-year student I knew I needed to join clubs to help me meet people.
Jacqueline waved me towards her and immediately jumped into why she started the club a year earlier, when she was a freshman at Ursuline. She noticed there wasn’t a club that allowed students who enjoyed sewing to come together, and she knew it would be the perfect opportunity to have students create warm clothes for needy families. Though I walked away from her table without putting down my signature, we bonded over our shared name, so that for the three years we shared a school I could keep up with Jacqueline’s accomplishments and be happy for her.
It’s been four years since I last spoke to Jacqueline, at her graduation from Ursuline in 2015, but that’s what Facebook is for. I’ve liked her photos, been impressed when she announced she’d scored an internship at Microsoft, and when a classmate told me about the work she’s done to make technology more equitable, I wanted to reach out.
My first question made her laugh. “I loved Sewing for Others! And I kept up with my crafting,” she said.
Jacqueline left Ursuline to attend the University of Texas at Austin, where she joined service organizations like Delta Sigma Theta and continued making hats for people in need. At UT, Jacqueline’s philanthropic spirit flourished, but I couldn’t help but wonder how computer science fit into her passion for service?
It all started at Ursuline, a school she didn’t expect to love.
“I didn’t like that it was an all-girls school, but when I went to the open house, I just knew that I wanted to be part of Ursuline. It seemed magical,” she said.
As she sought to embody the Ursuline motto of Serviam (I will serve), Jacqueline realized that, surprisingly, she could apply service to technology.
“I took Mr. Poellot’s web development class and found myself drawn to the curriculum. We created websites for our community, and it showed me how something as simple as writing a few lines of code can make an impact.” After attending UT’s computer science camp First Bytes, she knew technology was the perfect fit.
When she started college, though, Jacqueline found that black students were sprinkled throughout the computer science department without any unification.
“I felt alone. It would’ve been great to have a mentor or friends with a similar background for support,” she said.
Inspired by Ursuline to be a change-maker instead of someone who accepts what’s been dealt to her, Jacqueline created UT’s Association of Black Computer Scientists to offer students mentorship and support. Since then, she’s seen the community grow.
“There is a larger class of black students,” she said. “When they come in, they have built-in mentors. We’ve also seen a higher number of black students get internships.”
With degrees in computer science and African and African Diaspora studies, Jacqueline uses an interdisciplinary perspective to create equity in society through technology.
Looking to the future, she applied to Microsoft’s internship program her freshman year. “Their mission is to empower every person and organization to achieve more and create technology for good.” The work she did for Microsoft was so inspiring that Jacqueline knew she wanted to commit to their mission for her career.
After graduating from UT in May, Jacqueline returned to Microsoft as a full-time employee on the Accessible Development team and is working on a tool to scan webpages to ensure they are accessible to people with low vision.
It’s familiar work on familiar ground, but Jacqueline can’t help but feel nervous. “It will be weird to be far away from my family, but if something doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.”
This article originally appeared in the August 2019 print edition of Preston Hollow People. A shorter version of it can be found on the People Newspapers website.
JAXX ARTZ 