Mayela Calabria Harris '87
Major: Psychology
Profession: Social Worker, Hospice of Wake County, North Carolina

Mayela Harris fondly remembers the close-knit feeling that both St. Lawrence and Canton provided. “One of my psychology professors and I used to go jogging together, and I would even go to his home for dinners,” she says as she recalls how open and supportive each of her professors were.

St. Lawrence also provided the groundwork to become a social worker. Counseling families and patients through the end-of-life experience, “I know that I have the potential to make a difference every time I go to work,” she says. Her ability to speak Spanish has helped with that language community in her area (she also speaks Italian). Last year, she created a fundraiser, “Memory Laps”; she swam over three miles, each lap in memory of someone who had died. She raised over $5,000 for the Hospice of Wake County. “I did it on my birthday; I did it to celebrate life,” she explains.

A member of the swim team, the Outing Club and Kappa Delta Sigma sorority, she won a contest to speak at her Commencement. She was also an admissions tour guide.

“I loved Canton and the campus was great,” Harris recalls. “Classes were small, allowing students to get more individual attention,” says the honors graduate. “St. Lawrence provided me with both the academic and social skills that I needed to succeed.”

--Megan Bernier ’07