Stories from the Class of 2021

Monday, May 17, 2021

tags: Academics

These graduates have made their mark on RU. Now they make their mark on the world.

Hyoyoung Wells

At age 40, Hyoyoung Wells said she feels like she’s starting over.

It wasn’t easy. Coming to America from South Korea at age 20, Wells raised her two children, but otherwise felt she had little purpose or drive. She didn’t speak English, either, furthering a feeling of isolation.

That changed the moment she got her green card. Like literally. That very moment.

“It came in the mail, and I went straight to the community college,” she said.

College, to Wells, represented a chance at a fresh start. But that doesn’t mean it was easy — the language barrier presented an additional obstacle.

“When I first came to college, I didn’t know how to write. I didn’t know how to put the answers,” she said.

That meant all of her college courses were de facto English language courses. It also meant she had to work hard herself and rely on her faculty and fellow students to help her when she was stuck.

Wells attended the Metropolitan Community College Blue River campus until her first husband passed away. Eventually, she returned to college, enrolling at �鶹�ƽ⴫ý and finding a perfect fit with a physics of medicine degree after being introduced to the subject.

“I didn’t know how to spell physics,” she said. “But I just fell in love.”

Along the way were lots of emails to faculty, late night study sessions, and trips to the Aylward-Dunn Learning Center — including posting herself outside the center to drop in on supplemental instructors in-between sessions for extra help. She said she was afraid at different points that she was annoying those around her, but if so, it never showed. Not only did faculty respond to every question and the tutors happily help her on assignments, but they also cheered her victories, even celebrating with her as she achieved a major milestone — becoming a U.S. citizen in 2019.

In 2019, Wells applied for and earned a spot in the STAHR scholar program, shadowing for a summer in the emergency medicine department at Truman Medical Center. It was an eye-opening experience, and one that would point toward her next journey — medical school. In the fall, Wells said she will start a one-year master’s degree program at Kansas City University, a step she hopes will pave her way to a career in medicine.

Coming from where she had been, she said, she could never have imagined she would be in this position. Wells said she’s grateful for everyone who cheered her on, and said she hopes her story can be an example to others.

“Before I started college, I didn’t know anything. I thought my life was just done. I had no dream,” she said. “School taught me I can have a dream. America taught me you can have a dream.”

Evalynn Lomax

Evalynn Lomax has a controversial take.

“I loved organic chemistry,” she said.

That’s right. Lomax said she enjoyed the famously difficult course, even when it challenged her. And some of that comes down to this biochemistry major’s ability in the subject. But she said her instructor for the class, Yu Liu, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry, was also a huge help.

“He is such a great teacher,” she said. “He makes everything so organized — not just the material, but logically how the class and the ideas progressed.”

Lomax said that same approach — making difficult material easier to understand — is something she’s tried to keep in mind as a supplemental instructor at the Aylward-Dunn Learning Center.

“I think that’s tapped into some of my strengths, and it’s been fun to be able to use my talent in science to help other people,” she said.

Through being an SI, Lomax said she’s formed relationships with some of the students she sees most often. This Raytown, Missouri, native said that speaks to one of the things she’ll miss about �鶹�ƽ⴫ý.

“I’ll definitely miss the sense of closeness,” she said. “You really get to know a lot of the other students and there’s this camaraderie between students and faculty.”

At �鶹�ƽ⴫ý, Lomax was also involved in the Black Student Union, serving this year as president. It’s been a particularly challenging four years for many students and people of color, particularly as the past year has seen a wider reckoning with the legacy of racism in this country. As a leader in the organization, Lomax said she felt it was important to speak out strongly against police violence and oppression, but also provide other ways to ways to connect and empower the Black community both on and off campus, such as through a program featuring Black alumni speakers. She said the experience taught her a lot about being an effective leader.

“It’s a learning process,” she said. “This is the first time that I have been in a leadership position while experiencing something of this magnitude.”

After graduation, Lomax will head to Cleveland, Ohio, for a summer internship at University Hospitals, part of the Bluford Health Care Leadership program, then focus on applying to medical school.

Holly Sullivan

Holly Sullivan made a decision during her sophomore year in high school that would affect her life in huge ways.

That school year would eventually see her wheelchair-bound, the result of a birth defect in her right leg. Feeling apart from her own high school experience and facing a lifetime of chronic pain, Sullivan chose to amputate her right leg.

At the time, Sullivan said she was at peace with the decision, having endured years of pain and limited mobility. But she said she was not ready for what would come after.

“I feel like I was so prepared,” she said. “But you can never be prepared to wake up without a leg.”

Getting back to her life would mean a long recovery — first from the pain, then the adjustments to everyday activities that stem from amputation. In addition to her mother, she had a team of professionals behind her — her surgeon, her physical therapist, and her prosthetist. It was with the last of those that Sullivan said she formed a unique bond, and one that would in some ways influence her to pursue a biomedical physics major at �鶹�ƽ⴫ý with a focus on prosthetics and orthotics. Unlike other care professionals, she said, prosthetists generally stay with their patients as they grow and their needs evolve.

“I met her the day of my surgery and she will be my prosthetist for the rest of my life,” she said.

The idea of building that type of bond with other amputees — plus an episode of Grey’s Anatomy and the advice of a fellow student — would have her change her major from biochemistry.

“It was just realizing that I could have a profound impact on my patients,” she said.

Sullivan might have missed a year in high school because of her recovery, but she’s since made up for that time, becoming a consummate leader on campus and even running a long distance race alongside her prosthetist. And in August, she will begin a master’s program in prosthetics and orthotics at Northwestern University, one of a handful of such programs in the country.

Sara Davis

The Master of Science in education STEAM cohort program was not Sara Davis’ introduction to the STEAM curriculum. But it’s been instrumental in helping her grow that interest.

Davis has been teaching upper elementary math and science for nearly 20 years, most recently at David Brewer Elementary School in Leavenworth, Kansas. Davis said she had thought about a master’s degree for years as she moved around with her military husband, but she said the idea of focusing on curriculum development didn’t exactly appeal to her — she wanted to be in the classroom, sharing her passion for the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. A few years after settling in Leavenworth following her husband’s retirement, she heard about the M.Ed. STEAM cohort at �鶹�ƽ⴫ý. It clicked.

“When this came up, I thought it was perfect,” she said.

A few years ago, she volunteered to start a STEM afterschool program at David Brewer, not knowing how many students would be interested in staying after school to learn more about math and science. That first group was smaller. But every year, it grew.

“The second year, I had 39 sign up for it,” Davis said. “And then I had 47 the next year.”

With that growth in interest came an opportunity to turn the afterschool program a fully-integrated part of the kindergarten-through-fourth-grade education at the school.

“The desire is there, and these are the jobs of the future,” she said. “It’s all about challenging the students — I throw the problem out there and ask, ‘This is the problem guys — how do we fix it?’”

Though she had previous experience in the subject area, Davis said the STEAM cohort program at �鶹�ƽ⴫ý gave her a chance to refine some of the ideas and activities that she’s already been doing in the classroom. Along with that new confidence in the classroom, Davis will also bring a $4,000 grant from Northrup-Grumman into the next school year, which she will use to build a hydroponic garden in the school to teach students about ecosystems and food production in space.

Anthony Gurera

One phone call made all the difference in Anthony Gurera’s college experience.

It was his sophomore year, and Gurera, a �鶹�ƽ⴫ý High School graduate, had his sights set on law school after earning his undergraduate degree. But a classmate from his freshman year had referred him to Northwestern Mutual for a summer internship at the financial services company. It was unexpected, and outside of what he was studying. But he took a chance and found himself thriving in that environment.

“I did really well those first few months, and I kind of decided that I wanted to do this full time,” he said.

In a position that involves mostly meeting with and presenting to clients, Gurera said he found he had both strengths and passion. It led not only to success in his internship, but also a new major in finance and economic markets.

“The more finance classes I took, the more I was drawn to it,” he said.

Balancing his responsibilities at his internship, as a student and in his social life has meant a fair amount of organization. But Gurera said he’s been helped by not only faculty, but two important figures in his life — his father and his late mother. His mother, who passed away while he was in high school, served as the sort of social example that brought him out of his shell.

“She was definitely the outgoing one in the family,” he said. “She was always the one who was teaching us to go out there, and go take that risk. That was a big influence.”

His father, a business owner himself, taught Gurera the value of hard work.

“I always knew from him that if you want to succeed in life, you’re going to have to work,” he said. “You’re going to have to work hard to build it.”

Both perspectives have come in handy, and both paid off with the offer of a full-time position with Northwestern Mutual upon his graduation.

Jim Burns

The Jesuit education, traditionally, takes very seriously the idea of a well-rounded individual. Jesuit education, meet Jim Burns.

Three majors, each one in a different college within the University. Student-athlete. Social activities. Burns said he didn’t exactly plan it this way, but he wouldn’t change a thing.

Burns readily admits to his own indecisiveness — he didn’t know whether he even wanted to come to �鶹�ƽ⴫ý, despite a multigenerational family connection that includes his mother, Janet, who is an alumna; his father, Gary Burns, who is the director of athletics and head coach of the baseball team; and his twin brother, Jack, who was planning to attend and play on the Hawks baseball team.

“I actually took a long time deciding where I wanted to go to school,” he said.

Even after coming here, Burns said he didn’t declare any major until his sophomore year. But in philosophy, political science, and physics of medicine, he found something he loved. And Burns said they might have more in common than meets the eye, especially as he prepares for his next step, law school.

“I think that philosophy and physics and science in general are similar in some ways,” he said. “That deep quest for knowledge exists. They both always make us ask the fundamental questions about the world around us.”

But Burns’ chosen courseload is just one interesting aspect of his college experience — he’s also a pitcher on the Hawks baseball team, where he plays alongside his twin brother and under his father. The opportunity to continue what has been a lifelong family relationship centered around the American pastime has been special, he said. Along the with the relationships he’s formed with peers, Burns said there’s no longer any doubt in his mind that he made the right choice.

“In the back of my mind, I think I always knew this was home,” he said. “I don’t know if there’s a specific point where it clicked, but at some point I realized the bonds I’m forming now are really special.”