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Graduating summa cum laude in May from the Woods College of Advancing Studies — and overcoming many challenges along the way in pursuit of higher education — Anissa Lane has earned bragging rights.
But impressive academic achievement aside, she says her work through BC’s Volunteer and Service Learning Center is her number one accomplishment.
“This year has been a blessing to me,” Lane said.
Following the excitement of Commencement, Lane recently received accolades for her apprenticeship with the Beautiful Girls program (at Boston’s Washington Irving Middle School, via the Citizen Schools organization), which provides mentoring to foster self-esteem and reinforce the importance of education. She was presented with both the Local Chapter Award and, from the White House, The President’s Volunteer Service Award.
To reach her ambitious goals, she has effectively balanced her work, school and home life. As a single mother, she heads a household of three generations that also includes her son and daughter, her daughter’s fiancé, and her young granddaughter.
“The words that I live by are Ad astra per aspera – ‘To the stars through adversity,’” says Lane, who adds that WCAS students “embody work-life balance.”
Despite inherent challenges at home, especially with the adults all pursuing education while also working, “we all supported each other. I felt like I needed to set the tone and be a role model, especially when the going got tough.”
Putting her children’s education first, she had waited to pursue her degree until after her son finished private school and began college. Despite financial challenges, she sought a full course load at WCAS — and with the help of the school’s namesake and longtime dean James A. Woods, SJ, now retired — received aid enabling her to enroll and study communication.
“It has been a distinct honor and an absolute pleasure to know Fr. Woods. He is the gem of Boston College and I am forever in his debt,” she said.
Lane initially balanced classes while working in management 50-plus hours weekly at Genzyme Genetics. When she was laid off in 2012, she focused on academics and engaged in volunteer work.
One of her professors and mentors, Communication Professor Emeritus Dorman Picklesimer Jr., called Lane the top student in his 2012 Interpersonal Communications class, and said that success was mirrored in all her courses.
“She is a natural leader who possesses admirable communicative talent — both oral and written,” he wrote in a letter of recommendation for her graduate study. “The honors she received, including being inducted into Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit Honor Society, are due to her dedication to learning.”
He went on to describe Lane as “one of the brightest, most positive and perceptive persons I have ever known. She has a deep desire to build on the foundation she has attained at Boston College and now desires to improve her knowledge by enrolling in a course of study at the highest level.”
This fall, the native Bostonian — who has lived for more than two decades in Chestnut Hill and Newton — will go on to pursue graduate work in communication studies at Suffolk University.
As Lane embraces the next chapter in her studies, she remains dedicated to serving and inspiring others. Through Citizen Schools, she will mentor a new volunteer and assist in rewriting the curriculum for future “Beautiful Girls” apprenticeships.
Of BC’s academic resources, and her WCAS experience, she says, “What resonated in my heart and was often repeated to me by many of my professors was: ‘Please stay in touch. I want to know how your story ends.’ I have received nothing but love and support from my professors.
“I went into every class expecting the best from them and in turn I offered them, the very best of me.”