Meet Our Students

MAJOR: Occupational Therapy
INVOLVEMENT: Leadership Scholar, Senior Class (Marketing Director), Sister 2 Sister (President), Occupational Therapy Students of Color Club (Cofounder)

Aysia sought out Ithaca College’s Leadership Scholar Program for its promise of personal growth. She saw an opportunity to challenge herself while preparing for a career rooted in caring for others. Last year, Aysia won a Campus Life Award, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the IC community.

“I came out of high school shy and not very outgoing,” she says. “What drew me to Ithaca and the Leadership Scholar Program was realizing that it could push me and hold me accountable for being engaged in a safe way. I could take it at my own pace.”

The Leadership Scholar Program's reflective portfolio process has been especially meaningful. “It gives us a very intentional way to commemorate all that we’ve done,” she says. Looking back on her journey and hearing the stories of fellow scholars has helped her recognize her own evolution.

Now a senior, Aysia channels the lessons she learned through the Leadership Scholar Program into every corner of campus life. As a BOLD Scholar, student leadership consultant, organization president, cofounder, and student advocate, she helps others discover the same sense of belonging and purpose that transformed her own college experience. After graduation, she hopes to bring that commitment to helping people into a career in occupational therapy focused on mental health and substance use treatment.