Jason Geronimo

Jason Geronimo, a captain on the Sage basketball team, is known for his toughness fighting for rebounds. So the reason he gives for loving Sage comes as something of a surprise.

He appreciates the quiet intimacy of the place. “I’m very much a chill person,” he says. “I’m happy to be hanging out in my room with friends.”

Jason was recruited to Sage to play basketball. When he arrived freshman year, he’d never set foot before on the Sage campus. 

Really, he didn’t know much about the college. Sage had sounded okay to him, among other reasons, because it didn’t seem far from Canada, a place he’d always wanted to visit. And it wasn’t far from New York City, where he had family.

But on his very first day, in the first couple of hours actually, Jason settled into a group of friends. They’ve remained close ever since.

This all happened at first-year orientation, Jason remembers. He was sitting by himself. A fellow student struck up a conversation. A girl overheard them talking and asked if she could also be their friend. They soon added more friends to the group, and that group has remained tight to this day.

“That’s the way it is here,” Jason says. “It’s just a very friendly school. These friends I’ve made, hopefully they’ll be friends for the rest of my life.”

Born in the Dominican Republic, Jason spent part of his youth living with his family in Africa, before coming to the United States to live in Washington, D.C., and then Florida.

The world travel stemmed from Jason’s stepfather’s work for USAID, the world’s premier international development agency. 

But they moved to Florida, where Jason attended high school, because Jason’s mother prefers warmer weather. 

Jason says he might easily have ended up at the nearby University of Central Florida except he knew he didn’t want to be at a college where he’d feel like a number.

“Here at Sage,” he says. “I’m in a community where everybody cares about one another. You have conversations everywhere, including in class. It’s easy to make connections.”

Jason majors in Business Administration. His goal is to one day own his own consulting company. He feels like his course of studies has been a nice mix of classes that fully challenge him and others where he’s learning at his own comfortable pace. He’s been able to build a strong academic record.

The basketball has also been just the right balance for him. “The competition is strong,” he says. “There are a lot of guys who could have gone to any division they wanted.” But he feels like he hasn’t had to sacrifice his commitment to performing well in the classroom.

So, what did he think of Canada? 

Jason hasn’t made it up there yet. He’s been quite happy right where he is.