Jacqueline Schertz became the first Deaf person to be named one of Rochester’s “40 Under 40” award winners by the Rochester Business Journal in December in the Journal’s fifth year of presenting this award which honors professionals under 40 years old for service to both their employers and the community at large. Schertz, a 1983 graduate of RIT’s social work program and 1997 graduate of RIT’s masters degree program in Career and Human Resource Development, is a counselor in RIT’s Substance and Alcohol Intervention Services for the Deaf. She was instrumental in establishing a halfway house accessible to recovering deaf people. In addition to her work at RIT, Schertz is a member of the Deaf Community Support Services Advisory Board, DePaul Embrey Road House Community Advisory Board, and co-chairperson of the Deaf Sober House Committee.
She is a member of the Hillside Children’s Center Advisory Board for Services to Deaf Children and Families, RIT’s Social Work Advisory Board, a board member of the United Way of Greater Rochester, and a member of the Task Force on Deaf and Hard of Hearing Needs of Monroe County Office of Mental Health.
