By Branden Matassa ’22, staff writer
As the spring semester comes to an end, seniors are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Lisa Orlando is one of those seniors. One of the reasons why Orlando chose LVC was to get a fresh start. Originally from Long Island, New York, she knew that LVC would be a place to give her that, and more.
“Coming here where nobody knows me really allowed me to come out of my shell and branch out,” Orlando, a physical therapy major, said. “Not only that, but I’ve met some amazing people and have made what will be lifelong friends.”
When it comes to taking advantage of LVC’s opportunities, Orlando went above and beyond. Throughout her four years at LVC, she’s been a teacher’s assistant (TA), resident assistant (RA), 5050 peer helper, peer tutor, mosaic mentor, writing mentor and held leadership positions in LatinX. Orlando also participated in intramural sports like volleyball, where she was the captain of her team.
As a physical therapy major, Orlando talked about how rigorous the journey has been.
“From the beginning you’re being tested through the weed-out classes of biology and chemistry to see if we can handle it,” Orlando said. “However, you can’t just get to grad school by passing level one.”
For the 2021 academic year, Orlando took a big leap by making her transition to the first semester of graduate school, which included an anatomy course and a cadaver lab.
Although, she wasn’t alone in this process.
“Fortunately, I had a great support system throughout the anatomy course and cadaver lab despite it being online,” Orlando said. “The TAs were very helpful and were able to guide me through the transition to grad school and teach me how to study for the course.”
Her friends had a similar impact.
“I found my core group of friends to be extremely supportive,” Orlando said. “We push each other to not only be better students but better people and a lot of my success is contributed from them.”
Aside from classes required for a physical therapy major, Orlando learned to enjoy many Constellation courses that focused on her interests.
“I am a huge movie buff, so taking a horror film focused FYE and integrative course was an amazing opportunity,” Orlando said.
She found these classes so appealing because the professors encouraged openness to ideas and created a judgement-free atmosphere. Being surrounded by classmates with similar interests also improved the environment.
After graduation, Orlando will be returning to LVC for two more years to earn her doctorate degree.