Wednesday, April 15, 2015 // The Statement 
 
11B

W

ith a quiet voice and kind 
smile, LSA junior Olivia Rath’s 
greatest accomplishments are 

unknown to her, but her dedication to the 
University community shines through in 
everything she does.

“I saw something on Pinterest the other 

day,” Rath said in an interview. “It’s prob-
ably stupid but it really resonated with me. 
It said you don’t climb a mountain for the 
world to see you, you climb a mountain so 
you can see the world.”

Raised in Farmington Hills, Mich., Rath 

is an Organization Studies and Program 
in the Environment double major with a 
minor in Spanish.

Among Rath’s involvement includes 

Dance Marathon, where she is the rising 
planning director, Graham Sustainabil-
ity Scholars, and an Organization Studies 
Club. She works in two research labs and 
coordinated a Culture Shift event.

Her highest priority on campus is Dance 

Marathon, which Rath has participated in 
for three years. She said the aspect that 
appealed to her the most was the campus 
unity she felt.

“I fell in love with it after my first year,” 

Rath said. “It really unites the three parts 
of campus — the academic campus, the 
hospital, and the athletics, because we get 
our venue from them.”

One of Rath’s other major accomplish-

ments from this year is serving as a Cul-
ture Shift Coordinator. Culture Shift is an 
event created to be a platform for student 
leaders to engage with each other on cam-
pus. This year, the issue the event high-
lighted was sexual assault prevention.

“It provides students with a common 

academic ground on an issue and a space 
for students to have a productive space to 
have a dialogue about those issues,” Rath 
explained. “We also work to include stu-
dents who wouldn’t otherwise be given 
a seat at the table for these kinds of dia-
logues.”

Rath said, as someone who primarily 

works behind the scenes for many of her 
organizations, a Student of the Year award 
has served as validation that her hard 

work is paying off.

“It definitely shows that I’ve accom-

plished something,” Rath said. “I don’t feel 
like what I’ve done is a lot because I see it 
as a part of the campus experience.”

LSA senior Marissa Alaniz, who worked 

as Rath’s director in DMUM, said Rath 
was an essential part of the DMUM lead-
ership team.

Alaniz said Rath’s professionalism and 

grace helped her easily find the balance 
between delegating tasks and serving as a 
leader. She added that Rath’s kindness and 
patience made their work relationship a 
supportive and friendly one as well.

“The behind-the-scenes nature of her 

work often leads it to go unnoticed, but 
Olivia has helped DMUM greatly in the 
short-term and long-term,” Alaniz said. 
“Her committee succeeded in working 
with local businesses to acquire item dona-
tions for our silent auction at our Gala and 
food donations for our Dance Marathon, 
and she has laid the groundwork for her 
position in the long-term in continuing to 
elevate our partners’ support for DMUM.”

Alaniz added she is confident that Rath’s 

passion and drive will benefit her greatly 
in future endeavors.

Rath added that her experience at the 

University has shaped the level of involve-
ment with campus organizations she has 
taken part in.

“I’m the kind of person who goes to all 

of the free lectures I can,” Rath said. “All of 
the opportunities I’ve been blessed with — 
I can’t imagine not using those opportuni-
ties, because it comes with the university 
experience.”

Looking forward, Rath said she hopes to 

work in sustainability development and is 
open to any workplace where an organiza-
tion would intersect with the natural envi-
ronment.

“I don’t ever want to leave this place,” 

Rath said. “I hope I’ll be able to find com-
munities that are as productive and help-
ful as the ones I’ve found here.”

LSA junior Sammie Lyons recalls a 

quote by E.B. White for daily inspiration: 
“I get up every morning determined to 
both change the world and have one hell of 
a good time. Sometimes this makes plan-
ning my day difficult.”

Lyons’ pursuit to make the people 

around her happier and better off are 
exemplified through her involvement 
on campus. Along with being a diversity 
peer educator at Mary Markley Hall, she 
is the development chair of Dance Mara-
thon, actively involved in MRun, and the 
president of Campus Cursive — a student 
organization that sends love letters to 
individuals in effort to empower and uplift 
them. She also works as the undergraduate 
chair for the student campaign committee 
in the Office of University Development.

For Lyons, she understood that her 

limited time at the University would be 
shaped not in a classroom, but through the 
work she did with her peers and commu-
nity.

“Most of the learning you’re going to 

get from this education is going to be 
your work on campus,” Lyons said. “It’s 
not going to be you looking at a computer 
screen writing a paper, or reading a text-
book. It’s going to be about the events you 
put on for your organization, it’s going to 
be learning how to communicate with 
other people and understand how to empa-
thize with other people.”

Specifically, Lyons finds her motivation 

through community service and philan-
thropic work.

For most of her time on campus, her 

primary involvement has been working 
with Dance Marathon. DMUM is a large 
student-run organization on campus that 
helps raise money and awareness for pedi-
atric rehabilitation therapy at local hospi-
tals. Furthermore, Lyons has been part of 
Alpha Phi Omega, the professional frater-
nity devoted to community service, par-
ticipated in an alternative spring break at 
an HIV/AIDS resource center in New York 
and helped found Campus Cursive.

Lyons says her involvement in the com-

munity and serving others is what gives 
her motivation in life. She describes her-
self as someone “made for others.”

“Who we are as people is defined by the 

relationships that we’ve had,” Lyons said.

One of her motivations for helping 

the University community came after 
the death of her grandfather, who she 
described as a supporter of her work and 
a prominent person in her life. She said he, 
along with thirty-three other family mem-
bers, attended the University and made 
her feel at home here.

Currently, Lyons spends a lot of her 

time working as a diversity peer educator 
in Markley. In her position, she advises a 
multicultural council for freshmen and 
addresses instances of bias. She mentors 
over 1,000 freshmen and helps create a 
welcoming, respectful community for stu-
dents of all identities.

Though this follows her theme of striv-

ing to help communicate with others and 
empower them, she says it has also chal-
lenged her the most in her time on campus.

Specifically, Lyons noted an instance 

where she made a comment to a peer that 
she did not mean harm by, yet caused unin-
tentional pain to this peer. She said the 
instance help challenge her own precon-
ceived thoughts, and taught her how great 
the impact she can have on others is.

“It helped me see that the language I 

use is so powerful,” Lyons said.

When she isn’t working, Lyons says she 

enjoys rock climbing, playing the piano, 
and running.

After graduating, Lyons will continue to 

help make a difference in the community 
by joining the Peace Corps and then head-
ing to medical school. She said the best 
thing students on campus and in the com-
munity could do is to leave their comfort 
zones, and learn to love all other people 
without an agenda.

“Meet people to meet people, don’t meet 

them with an agenda,” Lyons said. “Be 
willing to change the blueprint that you 
might have set for yourself.”

By Carly Noah, Daily Staff Reporter

By Allana Akhtar, Daily Staff Reporter

AMANDA ALLEN/DAILY

ZACH MOORE/DAILY

