Year: Junior
Major: Speech Pathology and Audiology with an Education minor
Hometown: San Diego, CA
Vice President of Guiding Eyes for the Blind at Ithaca College
Her Campus Ithaca College: What is Guiding Eyes for the Blind?
Melissa Potter: Guiding Eyes for the Blind is a nonprofit organization that provides guide dogs to people with vision loss. Guiding Eyes for the Blind at Ithaca College is a group of students who lovingly care for and train Labrador Retriever puppies to become successful guide dogs through Guiding Eyes for the Blind, as well as educate the IC campus community (and greater public) about the impact a guide dog has, and how to properly interact with active, working dogs.
HCIC: How did you get involved with the organization?
MP: Freshman year, a wonderful TA in my 100 level psych course sat next to me in class. One day she mentioned the club to me and I was totally hooked! I obviously love dogs, but I love being involved in something that makes a real difference in someone’s life even more.
HCIC: How does one get involved?
MP: The first step to becoming involved with GEB is emailing us and letting us know you want to receive our emails: geb.ithacacollege@gmail.com! We’ll let you know about events where you can come meet our pups, monthly club meetings, dog toy making events, and Monday night puppy classes where sitters, raisers, and general club members alike learn about different ways of handling our unique dogs! After that it really depends on the level of involvement you want to have within the club. If you just want to hear about our upcoming events, that’s all you need to do! But if you’re looking to become a certified handler (the only ones who can work with our puppies) or even get a puppy of your own to raise, then attendance is key! We offer certification classes every semester but to be eligible to be a part of the class, you need to be towards the top of our point system (attendance-points are given for everything you go to!)
HCIC: What is your role in Guiding Eyes for the Blind?
MP: I am the Vice President for this 2016-17 school year. I think my most important role is being available to all members of the club for questions, help, and just general support. I also attend puppy classes, executive board meetings, run our org-sync, and help everyone else out! I am a sitter as well, so that means I’ve gone through all the same training as raisers (the people who our pups live with and spend most of their time with) but instead of having one of my own, I get the opportunity to work with a few different dogs for around 8 hours a week. I feel lucky to be a part of this organization every day and it’s exciting to get to share it with more people.
HCIC: What is your favorite thing to do in Ithaca?
MP: I love going to see as much live music as I have time for. Sometimes that’s going to a concert in Whalen, the latest Ithaca Underground concert (IU is a non-profit that brings some of the coolest music to Ithaca- check out their Facebook), or one of my friends’ bands.
HCIC: If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
MP: Bean, rice, and cheese burritos plus lots of salsa. Fight me.
HCIC: Will there be an opportunity for the campus community to meet the dogs this year?
MP: We have a really exciting event happening on Monday October 31st…. HALLOWEEN! From 6-8pm in Emerson Suites is our Halloween Puppy Meet and Greet: you can come see the puppies dressed up in costumes (and participate in the change wars by putting some change in your favorite pup’s jar), buy some spooky treats, get your picture taken with a dog, and come meet me! ;)