{"id":16790,"date":"2026-05-04T11:28:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T11:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/?p=16790"},"modified":"2026-07-14T19:42:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T19:42:25","slug":"gwen-sears-impact-on-lvc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/2026\/05\/04\/gwen-sears-impact-on-lvc\/","title":{"rendered":"Gwen Sears\u2019 impact on LVC\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By Lauren Murray \u201927, staff writer <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there\u2019s one sentence that describes Gwen Sears, it\u2019s that she\u2019s well-connected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sears, a fourth-year speech-language pathology (SLP) major, has been a part of many organizations and clubs on campus, all while leaving a lasting impact on the students around her.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sears has been a Resident Assistant since her sophomore year, a Valley Ambassador, a member of the Field Hockey Club, an active member of\u00a0the\u00a0National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association\u00a0(NSSLHA), and a member of both the\u00a0American Sign Language (ASL)\u00a0Club and\u00a0the\u00a0Spanish Club.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the spring of her sophomore year, Sears studied abroad in Valencia, Spain. There, she was able to use her Spanish minor and fully embrace the culture.\u00a0In the fall of 2025, Sears was crowned the Homecoming Queen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHomecoming weekend 2025 was my favorite memory overall. I had so many laughs with the other seniors on court and got to connect with so many other students.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past fall, Sears also started her\u00a0grad\u00a0school journey and is set to receive her master\u2019s in SLP in the spring of 2027. She worked with individuals from the community by providing them with SLP services. Sears says that the professors at LVC have had a strong impact on her.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDr. Smith has the biggest impact on me,\u201d Sears said. \u201cShe pushed me past the point I had set in my mind as my peak. I have never worked harder than I did in her classes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it wasn\u2019t always easy. Sears says the friendships she\u2019s made are what changed her.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI struggled when I got here, but with patience, I was able to form special bonds with many people who have changed me for the better. I\u2019ve truly made lifelong relationships here that I hope never to end. There are people here I would consider family, and I would not have expected that as a freshman.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for Gwen\u2019s upcoming fifth year in the SLP Program, she will attend classes one day a week and complete clinicals throughout the year.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sears has left\u00a0her mark both on campus and in the community.\u00a0Her advice to incoming students is to lean into the discomfort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStarting a new chapter of life is bound to be filled with moments of discomfort, but that uncomfortable feeling is where you grow as a person.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lauren Murray \u201927, staff writer  If there\u2019s one sentence that describes Gwen Sears, it\u2019s that she\u2019s well-connected.  Sears, a fourth-year speech-language pathology (SLP) major, has been a part of many organizations and clubs on campus, all while leaving a lasting impact on […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-campus-news","8":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16790"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16837,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16790\/revisions\/16837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}