Yelisa Leiva is a junior at Appalachian State studying English. She was originally from New York but decided to attend Gaston College for a semester in North Carolina. The moment she visited Appalachian State, she fell in love with the nature of Boone and loved how different it was from her home town.
Currently, Yelisa volunteers at Oasis as an office assistant, the women's center on campus, and is the president of the UNISEF club. The UNISEF club works to raise awareness about children’s rights at a national and global level. She loves how easy it is to get involved on Appalachian State’s campus because of all the clubs offered to students. In addition to her on-campus involvement, Yelisa is working on a Sexual and Domestic Violence March to raise awareness about domestic violence and its effects on women and children.
“The idea is to create an expansive dialogue on how domestic violence affects both women and children, including health effects,” said Yelisa when asked about the march. “We will be having speakers to share the statistics, effects, and how to prevent domestic violence, followed by a spoken-work portion for students. This way, students have the opportunity to share their own stories.”
The event will take place on October 8th from 6 PM to 9 PM, and will start on Sanford Mall. The march will go from Sanford Mall to King Street with a performance by One Accord at a stopping point. Food and refreshments will follow and contact tables will be present with resources and educational materials. Appalachian State is lucky to have transfer students with passions like Yelisa!
