The Student Government Association office is in the Peconic Building on Suffolk County Community College’s Eastern campus. Paige Driscoll, the treasurer, is a 19-year-old business administration major from Medford who spends much of her time there. She often spends time with her fellow members and shows off her silly side by posting dances on TikTok.
“I feel like dance helped me be open and more expressive,” Driscoll said.
Driscoll is a “really nice person” who is “hard-working, never afraid to speak her mind, and always up for a challenge,” said fellow SGA member Aydin Buyurucu. “Paige is always challenging your opinions. She’s always trying to push things forward.”
“She’s someone that I look up to,” said Alexandra Mione, 19. “She’s definitely brought me joy. On days that I’m not feeling well or not myself, she kind of gives me a pep talk, like ‘you got this, you can do this.” she said.
“Paige is very bubbly, friendly, outgoing,” said SGA President Rachel Crawford, 20, of Speonk. “She’s a really good friend. She’s always there for me.”
While Driscoll is always there for her friends, she has faced hardships, including dealing with a flood that destroyed her house, losing her grandmother, and dealing with mental health challenges.
Driscoll said she had an easy childhood until fifth grade.
“That’s kind of when I had to grow up because we lost my house in a flood right before Christmas,” she said. As a result, she lived in a hotel room for six months with her parents and younger brother. Her uncle stayed with them for the holiday season.
Driscoll said staying in the hotel room was fun initially, but she subconsciously wanted to go home. Still, she kept on top of her school projects, and her mother ensured she had necessities like clothes. “But it was just one of those things where I wanted to go home. It was hard.”
Driscoll had to balance helping her parents get the flooded house back together and participating in clubs while still studying. “It was really hard to do projects,” Driscoll said.
On top of her responsibilities, there was also some family drama, making Driscoll want to scream and cry. “But at the end of the day, I’m glad I had my family. Because that’s kind of all we had.”
Driscoll says that her biggest struggle during that time was when she would try to go to school to distract herself from everything, just to get taken out of class to talk to a nurse or principal about what she was going through. “You’re like, ‘Great, we’re back at it again.’”
Driscoll is close with her younger brother, Frank. “I felt like it was my obligation to take care of him, even though our parents were there 24/7.” She helped him with his homework and entertained him when they were in the hotel.
“My mom has always told me that when she leaves this world, we’ll only have each other,” she said. With that mindset, she feels that she and her brother must stick together, as that is what her mother wants.
The following summer, Driscoll’s grandmother died. “When I was in middle school, I felt like I had to mature faster than everybody else,” she said. She was still grieving the loss of her grandmother, who was her best friend.
“During middle school, I got introduced to mental health issues,” Driscoll said. “I had friends who wanted to harm themselves and take their lives. So, I was introduced to that at a very young age.”
“It made me hurt that my friends were going through something, and I couldn’t be there 24/7,” Driscoll said. “I was scared that one day I’ll text them and that one time they don’t answer, they’re gone,” she said.
Driscoll also had friends who came out to her at a young age. She said that she was growing faster than she thought she was supposed to and that everything was on top of each other.
The issues helped Driscoll and her friends communicate better. “They’ve come a long way, and now they’re better, thank God.”
Driscoll is looking forward to graduating from Suffolk in Spring 2025. She wants to be a flight attendant so she can travel.
Driscoll’s father and grandfather would tell her that “life is rough, but it’s worth living for.”
“I can’t live in fear. I have to go out and experience the world. I need to travel,” Driscoll said. “I need to do things for me. I need to go out and experience it.”
