Name: Alyssa Reilly
Major: Communication Sciences and Disorders
Graduation Year: 2018 Masters in May of 2019
Hometown: Cumberland, Rhode Island
Her Campus: So, you’re from Rhode Island, that’s pretty far from NEPA, why Marywood?
Alyssa Reilly: Because I decided that I wanted to study speech pathology. Marywood has a really good program where you’re accepted as a freshman into a 5 year masters program and the rest fell into place from there!
HC: What do you want to do with your life, after college?
AR: (scared face) Well, immediately when I graduate SLPs (Speech Language Pathologists) are required to complete what is called a “fellowship year” and I would like to move home to do that because I have a very close family. Other than that I don’t like to make very specific plans because you never know. I like to focus more on day to day. I don’t know what setting I’m going to be working in or if I’m going to be married or starting a family but I am hoping after I graduate to not follow a routine but make sure that I live in the present. I want to focus on things such as, do I smile enough? Do I appreciate the people around me? Do I let them know that I appreciate them?
HC: Okay, now, what would you do if you could do anything without limits?
AR: Recently, I went to a conference called Seek in San Antonio, TX. It is run by an organization called FOCUS which stands for, Fellowship of Catholic University Students. They give young adults right out of college the opportunity to work as missionaries and they are assigned a college campus with a focus group somewhere in the US and they work for that school for however long they choose. That is something I would consider if I had no limits.
HC: What are you involved in on campus?
AR: I’ve been a part of the speech and hearing club for the past two years and currently I am going through the process of starting a club called Romance Revolution. Aside from that I do volunteering such as Big friends/ Little Friends, Neighborworks, and the fall break service trip.
HC: Starting a club! That is so cool! Tell me more about Romance Revolution.
AR: It is a chapter of an organization called the Love and Fidelity Network which is based out of Princeton University. Its core values are sexual integrity, marriage, and family. My purpose for starting a chapter at Marywood is to start some sort of discussion against the “hookup culture”, because what has become such a norm, I believe, is something people are unhappy about but no one is willing to start a conversation about it. We will start advertising in the next couple weeks.
HC: Now, more hard hitting questions, Dunkin or Starbucks?
AR: Neither. (chuckling) Over the summer I found out I have gall stones and I can’t handle much without being nauseous
HC: What has been your favorite experience in college?
AR: For me personally, I think it is amazing how much I have grown and changed in just three years. Recently, I was asked, how was your HS experience. I said it was good but when I look back at high school I think comfort and college has been all about getting oout of my comfort zone and through that I have grown a lot and still have a lot of growing to do which is exciting!
HC: Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your freshman self?
AR: All I really would do is kind of sit back and cheer myself on a little bit. I think everything happens for a reason and I am okay with the mistakes I’ve made. The only fault was not having enough confidence in myself and my decisions. So, what I would do differently is just give myself a little cheer.
HC: Where is your favorite place to eat on campus?
AR: (laughing) Nowhere, I have gall stones.
HC: Last, but certainly not least, what is something most people don’t know about you?
AR: I’d ike to rearrange that question to “why don’t people know you” and that is because I spent last semester studying abroad in London, England.
HC: Well, now that you’ve told me you studied abroad we cant end there! Tell me more about that!
AR: If anyone knows me, they know that studying abroad in London has been a dream of mine since I can remember, and I pretend I’m British because I love Kate Middleton and Prince Willian. SO I went and studied abroad for a semester completely on my own. A girl from the smallest state in America in a huge city! Once my dream became a reality, it had its ups and downs, but it was completely worth it. I met amazing people and by the end I didn’t want to leave the city.