GARDNER — Despite bouts of homelessness, the coronavirus pandemic and partial blindness, Paige Landry persevered, graduating from Mount Wachusett Community College with a human services technician certificate.

Landry, 27, graduated from The Mount in May with distinction. She was awarded with The Newman Civic Fellowship, which is given to students who are committed to the community, and named one of Massachusetts’ “29 Who Shine.” The 29 Who Shine commencement award is a program of the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. It began in 2011 as a means to recognize one excellent student with the potential to be a civic leader from each of the Commonwealth’s 29 public colleges. 

Landry has been working in human services for years. She kicked off her career at Arbor Associates as a relief staffer, has worked in conjugate care houses for kids disqualified from foster homes and has also worked with those who have acquired traumatic brain injuries.

This field of work is personal for Landry, as she has a rare genetic condition called retinitis pigmentosa. This disorder causes a gradual breakdown of the cells in the retina, which makes it difficult to see at night and seriously impedes peripheral vision. It can eventually lead to legal blindness, usually for people in their early 40s. However, Landry became legally blind at the age of 24. 

“It’s progressive, so eventually I will end up blind,” said Landry. Adding, “It varies from person to person, but for me, I have no night vision, my peripheral vision is gone completely in one eye, and then I have maybe 5 to 7% in my right eye. My central vision is 20/125 right now.”

A self-proclaimed “nomad” throughout her life, Landry has moved 32 times and survived bouts of homelessness. 

“I would just say that I was a nomad because I would always move about so much. I hate moving,” said Landry. 

After graduating from Maynard High School in 2013, Landry lived out of her car, largely sleeping in the Walmart parking lots in Gardner and Acton. She would shower at the YMCA in Waltham. She eventually moved in with her mother in Dracut.

In 2018, while working at The Arc of Opportunity in Fitchburg, she met her fiancé, Timothy Glover. The couple shared an apartment in Gardner for two years, the longest she’s ever lived anywhere, until the roof caved in. Landry ended up homeless again, eventually moving in with Glover’s parents despite fears around the coronavirus. In December, Landry was infected with COVID-19.

“I was diagnosed [on] December 8,” Landry said. “I ended up in the ER at the end of December because I had trouble breathing. It caused me to be extremely exhausted and sleep 12 to 16 hours a day. Plus, it caused bronchitis and scared my lungs a bit.”

Nevertheless, Landry’s current living situation is quite different. She just bought a five-bedroom colonial home in Springfield with her fiancé. The extra bedrooms are for the children she plans on fostering. 

“I want to foster kids, so I got a house with a lot of bedrooms, so each foster kid can have their own bedroom,” said Landry. “I want to foster siblings so they don’t get separated.”

Landry chose Springfield because of the public transportation options, which include a lot of bus stops. Landry eventually aspires to get hehr bachelor’s degree in rehabilitation counseling at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her eventual goal is to work as a counselor at the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind.