Graduate Profile: Jamisia Young
posted on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 in
College News
Jamisia Young wants to be a positive role model for her daughters, but that hasn’t always been easy. Bogged down by the physical and emotional toll of past trauma, including a severe car accident, at times she felt anxious, scared, and weak. She had to make a change.
“I couldn’t just continue to let life pass me by,” Jamisia said. “I knew I needed to go back to school to pursue my education.”
The positive people in her life helped her reignite a high school passion for sociology. Enrolling in the Liberal Arts Transfer program at Hawkeye, she could focus her classes on social work and psychology. It’s a path she plans to continue at UNI this fall.
“My ultimate goal is to become a school psychologist,” she said. “I also want to write a few books.”
While at Hawkeye, Jamisia worked part-time while maintaining her role as a community organizer. There were moments when she felt overwhelmed, but faculty like Lisa Muñoz and Chatara Mabry stepped in with encouragement.
“Hawkeye has the most amazing people as faculty,” she said. “Each of them had a different way of helping me.”
This spring, she was selected for the Iowa N.E.W. Leadership program, which empowers women and encourages underrepresented groups to participate in public leadership. She is also one of 20 students to receive the Roy J. Carver Scholarship at UNI. As she prepares to graduate, she hopes her journey sets a strong example for her children.
“When they complete high school I’m going to encourage them to go to a community college,” she said. “It’s less expensive and it’s a community here. It’s more than an institution.”
Tags
- Graduation
- Liberal Arts Transfer