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Class of 2010
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
Peabody College
Major: Child Development and Special Education
Jessica's community service work focuses on helping people with special needs. In addition, Jessica performs and teaches music, and serves as a facilitator for religious youth organizations. In high school, Jessica was active in the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization, a social, religious, and community service youth organization in which she served as Regional President, responsible for all of the chapters in northern Ohio. As founder and first president of the club called Project Support at her high school, Jessica worked to include students with special needs in all aspects of high school life. Through the efforts of Project Support, special education students attended school events, including football games and dances, and were able to enjoy ordinary activities with other teens, like shopping and going out to dinner. While in high school, Jessica utilized her musical talents as the music director and classroom aide for a religious school program for children with special needs, and was an enthusiastic volunteer in a recreational and educational group known as "Yachad" that connects young adults with special needs with typically developing peers. Jessica also led monthly services and song sessions with her youth group at a nursing home in her hometown, Cleveland, Ohio.
At Vanderbilt, Jessica serves as the President of Best Buddies, an organization that pairs college students in one-to-one friendships with adults with intellectual disabilities, and she enjoys spending time with her "best buddy," Christy. Jessica is also a volunteer/song leader at the Easter Seals Child Development Center and at the Vanderbilt Hillel, where she regularly helps lead religious services and serves on the Freshman Board. As a Peabody Scholar, Jessica also participates in research being conducted at the Hobbs Laboratory at Peabody College on infants at risk for developmental delays.
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