"I always had this story inside of me that I wanted to write about. I eased it in to many of my courses, and all my teachers responded to the story. They put up with my faults, and helped me become a writer. They let me know that I could do it."

When Stamford native Jennifer Cipri graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in May, she couldn’t quite believe she was in cap and gown, receiving the diploma from one of the region’s top liberal-arts colleges. It hadn’t been that long ago that Cipri, whose father died when she was 2, had dropped out of Norwalk Community College to be with her dying mother.

“After my mother passed away, I wasn’t thinking of going back to college,” says Cipri, 28, of Stamford, an acquisitions clerk at the Stamford Public Library. “I just started writing about her. Then I showed my writing to an old high school teacher, and she gave it to a guidance counselor who contacted Sarah Lawrence.”

Soon thereafter, Cipri received a call from the College’s Center for Continuing Education, asking her to consider the program, which addresses the needs of adult learners who want to obtain an undergraduate degree. Cipri applied and was accepted in 2003.

She graduated in May, and her first novel—a 120,000-word manuscript called Remo—is in the hands of a literary agent who plans to circulate it among New York publishing houses. It’s a loosely autobiographical coming-of-age novel about an Italian street tough named Remo who pursues his passion to become an artist, and his daughter, who never got to know him before he died when she was very young. The daughter then embarks on the quest to write his life’s story. It’s set in a predominantly black and Italian neighborhood, quite similar to the one she grew up in on Stamford’s West Side.

“I always had this story inside of me that I wanted to write about," says Cipri. "I eased it in to many of my courses, and all my teachers responded to the story. They put up with my faults, and helped me become a writer. They let me know that I could do it.”

Among her advisors was Shirley Kaplan, who is on Sarah Lawrence’s theatre faculty.

“Jennifer is an original writer with original stories to tell,” says Kaplan. “For Jennifer, it was a question of getting the courage to complete the work she had started. She really did use Sarah Lawrence is the best possible way.”

Getting to Sarah Lawrence, however, was not easy for Cipri. While in high school in Stamford, Cipri says she suffered from severe depression and anxiety. She ended up graduating from an alternative high school in the city. After scoring poorly on the SAT exams, she enrolled in Norwalk Community College while also working at a local grocery store.

“In high school, I was having problems with being able to focus and I wasn’t sure where college was going to take me,” says Cipri. “All I knew was that I loved writing and learning.”

Cipri wasn’t certain she could cut it at Sarah Lawrence, but was intrigued by the school’s small classes and personalized instruction. She took a couple of noncredit courses, and then decided to enter the CCE program.

“It was hard in many ways,” says Cipri. “I didn’t have the educational background that many of the others had. I wasn’t up to par with my vocabulary and I hadn’t read a lot of literature. But I felt that the people I met there were warm and encouraging. And they made me believe I could do it.”

Cipri thrived in Sarah Lawrence’s seminar and conference system, in which students take seminar classes with no more than 15 students, then meet biweekly for a half-hour to an hour with the professor to work on an independent project related to the subject that’s of particular interest to the student.

“The conference is a true blessing,” says Cipri. “You get to explore who you are in a setting where you are one-on-one with someone who wants to know what your ideas are. That’s rare in life, to have someone genuinely interested, who wants to explore your take on the world.”

After completing four courses in adults-only CCE courses, the adult learners may then participate in regular undergraduate classes. While Cipri was somewhat older than the students in those classes, she felt at home with them.

“They were real open and real friendly,” says Cipri. “I loved the way they dressed and interacted. I’d punch out of work at the Stamford library, drive to school, and there was my little haven. The students were a big part of it.”

A month after receiving her bachelor’s degree, Cipri said she’s ready for the next stage in her life, but she’s not sure what that will be. She’s still working at the library. And she’s contemplating a new writing project while her novel makes the rounds among Manhattan’s publishers.

“I wasn’t exactly going for the degree at Sarah Lawrence, I was going for the experience,” she says. “I feel like I’ve been enriched, and whatever comes in life, I’ll always have that. I know I’m always going to write, even if it’s just letters or a journal. It’s definitely who I am.”

She left Sarah Lawrence a changed woman.

“I know myself better as a person and I’m more aware of injustice in the world,” she says. “I’m more aware of that part of me that wants to make changes in the world. I’m not sure how I’m going to do it, but I have faith that I will make a difference.”