玛雅·鲍尔斯(玛雅人的权力s) 25岁:EC是值得骄傲的家庭传统

When 玛雅人的权力s ’25 first came to the 埃尔迈拉大学 campus as a student, 她已经很清楚接下来会发生什么, from the dynamics of the close-knit community to the caring faculty.

那是因为玛雅，一个 人类服务 major from Worcester, New York, is the third person in her family to attend 埃尔迈拉大学. And she looks forward to the day not too far in the future when she will be the third person in her family to graduate as a Soaring Eagle.

她的父亲, Timothy Powers ' 79, paved the way when he became the first college graduate of his family, which propelled him into a long career in business. Maya said it was the independence her father gained on campus – many miles away from his then-home in Oneonta, New York – that helped him figure out his career path.

“He was always proud to go to Elmira, proud to have graduated from Elmira,” Maya added.

More than three decades later, Maya’s sister Leita Powers ‘14 graduated from EC with a degree in 生物学. 尽管她对科学领域充满热情, Leita pivoted into a career in law – inspired by her coursework in the Women’s Studies (now 妇女与性别研究) program and a passion for making a difference in the world.

“尤其是蕾塔，她非常投入. 她非常喜欢. 她再也没有回来过夏天，”玛雅说. “... 蕾塔和我很相似. Knowing she had a great time here, I knew I would have a great time here as well.”

在开始她在EC的旅程之前, Maya remembers the advice her sister gave her – get involved and put yourself out there. 正是这些建议指引着玛雅一路走来, as she performs community service through Circle K, 通过F.I.G.H.T. 想要争取包容性的女权主义者, 性别, 人类, 和透明度)俱乐部, and serves the community through an internship at Pathways in Corning.

“I’ve met some great people and they are some of the best professors ever,玛雅谈到了她到目前为止在EC校园的时光. “I love the small classes, especially coming from a small town. Being in that small, tight-knit community is something that was important to me.”

To help better focus her studies on her career aspirations as a 人类服务 major, Maya was able to customize an independent study course with Dr. Alexa Yesukevich, 妇女与性别研究 Coordinator. It focuses specifically on the impacts of violence against women, 包括家庭暴力和性侵犯案件.

从她与Dr. 凯利史密斯, 人类服务助理教授, Maya’s been able to gain a real perspective into the hard work and struggles that come with a career in human services, especially with her goal of working with victims of domestic and sexual abuse.

在电子商务, Maya said the faculty care – not only about what students do in the classroom, 还有他们毕业后的成功.

“I know that with some of my friends that ended up at bigger schools, they say that their professors don’t even know their names and their professors don’t even know anything about them, and I feel that’s totally not the experience I’ve had here,玛雅说. “I’ll have a teacher one semester and they’ll still remember my name.”

Through her internship experience and education at Elmira, Powers is confident that her transition to a career in human services will be a smooth one. 但在那一天到来之前, she is thoroughly enjoying the experience of being at EC and sharing that with her family.

“大学是如此独特的经历. I’ll never get to be in clubs like this again or do classes like this again.”