Scholar Q and A: Ayshea Khan '11

Laurie Ward, 4/14/2009  ·  0 comments

Erika Spaet (a class of 2009 journalism major from Budd Lake, New Jersey) sat down with Ayshea Khan (a class of 2011 cinema & photography major from Decatur, Georgia) to find out how the Park Scholar Program has shaped her community service experience at Ithaca College.

ERIKA: Describe your Park Scholar peers and the community you share with them.

AYSHEA: Park Scholars have a passion for not only communication but also community service and using their communications skills to create change—in the immediate community of Ithaca and with a ripple effect of change throughout the entire country and world. Years from now it will be the people in the Park Scholar Program that I remember the most.

ERIKA: What has been your most valuable and memorable service experience at Ithaca College?

AYSHEA: I would say definitely this past Alternative Spring Break trip to Washington, D.C. for which I was the trip coordinator. Our group of six students stayed at the Community for Creative Nonviolence, the largest homeless shelter in the nation. In addition to serving food there and socializing with the residents that live there, we also volunteered with Parks and People who were in the process of revitalizing Marvin Gaye Park. We also volunteered with the Emmaus Services for the Aging, which provides services for the poor elderly in the D.C. area.

I think not only did all of us in our group develop a mindfulness and appreciation for what we have, but I also know I learned a lot about myself. I know now that I want to go toward a career path where I’m helping the less fortunate or working in urban areas. I think another really valuable thing was the people we met while we were in D.C. and learning that everyone really does have a story to tell.

ERIKA: Tell me about some of the community service organizations you’re involved with.

AYSHEA: I was a trip coordinator for Alternative Spring Break to Washington, D.C. this year. I also have participated in the Park Scholar Longview Literary Circle for the past two years. I volunteer at Cornell Cinema, was a Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival intern last year, and I’m on the Water for Sudan committee as part of STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur).

ERIKA: How has the Park Scholar Program shaped or influenced your service experiences?

AYSHEA: The Park Scholar Program has always been very inspiring in the sense that everyone in the program is always heavily involved in community service and has provided a great network and support group. If I’m interested in getting involved in something, they can point me in the right direction. A lot of the Park Scholars are leaders or coordinators in their own groups, so the program is a great source of community service in general. I’ve had a lot of support in being able to get involved in things I want to get involved in.

ERIKA: Describe for me the Park Scholar Program’s role in your everyday life.

AYSHEA: It definitely helps going through all the craziness and stress of being a Park student and a film major knowing that you’re walking around with an enormous amount of support. I know I can always count on the Park Scholar community, especially the students, if I’m stressing or need someone to talk to or need help on a film project. They understand what I’m going through as a Park student, and that’s really comforting.

ERIKA: What have you been able to do with the scholarship that you wouldn’t have been able to do without it?

AYSHEA: I wouldn’t have been involved with Alternative Spring Break if it wasn’t for the Park Scholar Program; I wouldn’t have been able to afford to go my freshman year. I went to D.C. that year using the grant money from the Park Scholar Program. If I hadn’t gone to D.C. the first time I wouldn’t have been inspired to be a trip coordinator this year.

If I wasn’t in the program, I would have been involved in community service but I don’t think I would have been as heavily connected with the community service on campus. I wouldn’t have met all the people that have put me in touch with those organizations.

ERIKA: What has been your favorite experience in the Park School so far?

AYSHEA: I really loved being on assistant camera on a thesis film set second semester of my freshman year. It was a really small crew, but I learned so much as a filmmaker just by being on that set. I learned exponentially more than I did in the classes I was taking at the time.

ERIKA: How do you envision using your background in cinema and photography to continue doing community service in your future career?

AYSHEAa: When I first came to the Park School I was a strong proponent for using fiction films to create an impact or send a message. Now I’ve become interested in documentary. I like that there’s a real human component that’s not staged. It’s very real. I think if I can communicate the connection I have with the people I’m working with or interviewing to the audience, then that can spark change.

ERIKA: You’re about to finish your sophomore year as a Park Scholar. What do you hope to get out of the next two years?

AYSHEA: I see myself becoming more defined as who I want to be when I graduate from college and building upon the experiences that I’ve already had these past two years. I want to become more involved in my community here in Ithaca as well as my community back home.