of 2020 | cehs

Senior Spotlights - Class of 2020 | CEHS 1

Senior Spotlights - Classof 2020 | CEHS

07/06/2020

LillyJean Bautista - School of TeacherEducation and Leadership

Lilly Jean Bautista arrived at Utah State University fromher homeland of Saipan, Marianas Islands in 2016. Anindigenous Chamorro, Lilly Jean comes from a culturallydiverse background and speaks English, Chamorro, andTagalog, and has recently been learning American SignLanguage. She is the first person in her family to attendcollege.

On October 25, 2018, a category 5 typhoon called Yutadevastated the Northern Marianas and destroyed LillyJean’s home island entirely. Despite worrying about herfamily and friends during this time, Lilly Jean decidedto continue to pursue her lifelong goal of becoming anelementary school teacher and stayed at USU. Thatsemester, she was able to maintain a 4.0 while balancing17 credits and working in the USU Registrar’s Office andreceived the School of Teacher Education & Leadership’sOctober 2018 Student of the Month award.

Despite the challenges she has faced, Lilly Jean maintainsher professional goal of becoming a teacher. She isgrateful to her island for helping her become who she istoday and is eager to continue to learn and grow as shefulfills her role as an educator.

KatherineZukor - Deparment of Nursing

Katherine Zukor holds a BA in Biology and Math, a PhD inNeuroscience, and now a BS in Nursing. After college, sheserved in the Air Force, spending time in Alaska managingcargo missions. Near the end of her tour in Alaska, shewas in a hiking accident that nearly left her paralyzed.The care and support she received from her health careteam was life-changing, and Katherine decided to pursue acareer in healthcare.

After her Air Force commitment, Katherine exploredmany different clinical fields: she was certified as anEMT, volunteered in an emergency room and a local firedepartment, worked as a patient care technician at ahospital, and then as a neuropsychometrist. At this time,she decided to pursue a PhD focusing on spinal cord andnerve injury research.

Ultimately, Katherine decided that what she wanted mostwas a direct connection with patients, so she chose tobecome a nursing student. Kat has much to offer herfuture patients with her life experience, compassion, anddesire to help others regain health.


Alexa Black- Department of Psychology

Alexa Black graduated this spring with a Bachelor'sDegree in Psychology. As a first-generation collegestudent, Alexa faced additional challenges as she beganher higher education; she also struggled to feel at homeas one of only two minorities in her house. After months ofhard work and encouragement from her parents, however,she began to find her place at USU.

In fall 2018, as part of a research methods course taughtby Dr. Kathryn Sperry, Alexa wrote a research paperexploring the relationship between gratitude and whitefragility. Despite this being a controversial and little-studiedtopic, with Dr. Sperry’s encouragement, Alexa’s researchbloomed into an extensive project that defined muchof her academic career. Because of her hard work anddedication, Alexa was invited to present at a prestigiouspsychology conference in April.

Though the current health crisis prevented Alexa frompresenting her research, she is excited to pursue it aftergraduation. She hopes to work in academia to helpstudents discover a love of learning just as she has.

MaKadyHansen - Kinesiology and HealthScience

MaKady Hansen grew up in a small town called Inkom,Idaho. She knew she wanted to go to Utah State when shewas a junior in high school, and it was the only school sheapplied to her senior year. MaKady started college with thegoal of becoming a registered dietitian, but the summerafter her freshman year she decided to change her majorto human movement science with an emphasis in physicaleducation and coaching.

MaKady loves health and wellness and wants to share thatpassion with everyone. The relationships she has gainedwhile pursuing her degrees have been life-changing forher, and she is grateful for all of the opportunities she’shad and the knowledge she’s gained. Though she is sad tosee this chapter close, she’s ready for what's in store.

MaKady is a certified Yoga instructor and coaches cheer.She will be starting her career as a teacher at RidgelineHigh School in the fall.


JessicaScalf - Communicative Disordersand Deaf Education

A self-proclaimed “language nerd,” Jessica Scalfcompleted her first Bachelor’s degree with a double majorof Linguistics & French through Western WashingtonUniversity. After several years, Jessica decided to goback to school to find a more fulfilling career path. Thoughshe originally thought that the field of speech pathologywouldn’t be a good fit for her, upon returning to schoolJessica learned that the profession was much broaderthan she’d previously realized.

Jessica’s love of language came from her own experienceof overcoming shyness, anxiety, and panic disorderthrough writing. She felt that her life changed incredibly asshe found her voice, and she is excited to help others findtheirs.

Despite a myriad of personal trials during spring semester,Jessica will be graduating with a strong GPA. Herresilience and strength of character will continue to serveher well as she moves on to represent her department andprogram through her service.

of 2020 | cehs

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