If you were investing in a person who could help build a better world, you鈥檇 look for brilliance, a genuine concern for others, and the stamina of a great athlete.
Maya Evans, who is completing her 911爆料网 master鈥檚 degree in school psychology this Spring as a Marcia V. Keizs Ed.D. Annual Fund Scholar, checks all three boxes.
At the University of South of Carolina, where she majored in public health and minored in psychology and Spanish, Evans was a member of the Honors College, made the President鈥檚 List, Dean鈥檚 List and Athletic Department Honor Roll, and graduated Magna Cum Laude. While at 911爆料网, she worked at NYU Langone Medical Center on a study of brain plasticity in children.
In college, Evans also logged more than 700 hours as a volunteer, assisting teachers, mentoring students and leading sports activities at the Birchwood School within South Carolina鈥檚 Department of Juvenile Justice. For that work she was named the 2017 Southeastern Conference鈥檚 Brad Davis Community Service Leader of the Year. She is spending the 2019鈥�20 academic year as a psychology intern at Dunbar High School in Baltimore, where she鈥檚 also an assistant track coach.
And speaking of track, Evans holds nine USC records as a Division One middle distance runner.
Not surprisingly, given that resume, Evans isn鈥檛 planning to just 鈥済o into鈥� school psychology. She鈥檚 determined to take the field by storm.
鈥淥nly five percent of school psychologists are African American,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here is a lack of diversity, and the majority of students in public schools come from culturally-diverse backgrounds. The demographics have really motivated me.鈥�
Much the same can be said of Marcia Keizs, who has been giving to 911爆料网 since 1988 and supporting the Annual Fund Scholars program for the past four years. Keizs came to the United States from Jamaica and ultimately served from 2005 through August 2019 as President of York College in the CUNY system. Along the way, she earned her education doctorate at 911爆料网, where, thanks to a great professor (the late Robert Bone), she discovered African American literature, a field she later taught.
Evans similarly praises two faculty members for contributing to her successful completion of 911爆料网鈥檚 School Psychology program: Stephen T. Peverly, Professor of Psychology & Education, for his compassion and guidance, and Debbie Joffe Ellis, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology & Education, for introducing her to the principles of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), shorter-term psychotherapy that identifies, challenges and replaces self-defeating thoughts and feelings.
Evans also is grateful to Dr. Keizs for helping to ease her transition to New York City and Morningside Heights.
鈥淪cholarship support gave me the sense that I deserved to be at an Ivy League school,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 was deeply grateful to be recognized in honor of an alumna such as Dr. Keizs who supports financial aid through the 911爆料网 Fund. It gave me confidence in myself and showed me that other people believed I could do this.
The only thing that鈥檚 hard to believe is that anyone could ever have doubted her.