{"id":3722,"date":"2024-04-22T15:16:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T15:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/?p=3722"},"modified":"2024-05-03T15:17:19","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T15:17:19","slug":"lester-follows-call-to-serve-from-cairo-to-siu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/?p=3722","title":{"rendered":"Lester follows call to serve from Cairo to SIU"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Malia
Malia Lester, Alexander County<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Jeff Wilson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Malia Lester wants to help people the way scholarships donors have helped her.<\/p>\n

While attending high school in Cairo, Illinois, Malia\u2019s life was changed forever by tragedy. After getting her bachelor\u2019s degree in sociology from Eastern Illinois University, she\u2019s now pursuing master\u2019s degree in social work from SIU.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy high school boyfriend committed suicide, and that led to questions about why it happened,\u201d she said. \u201cHe needed someone to talk to, and I knew I wanted to make sure others had someone they can trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lester received the C.L. Pete & Margaret Odum Memorial Scholarship, and the timing was particularly meaningful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m living at home right now to save money. My dad passed away in 2021, and he had been contributing to my education,\u201d she said. \u201cThe scholarship took a lot of financial stress off me. It felt like a sign. It felt like someone was looking out for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lester is an intern at Johnson, Alexander, Massac, Pulaski (JAMP) Special Education Services, which also has a bit of special meaning to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was in high school, there was a junior high student who wouldn\u2019t calm down until she talked to me,\u201d she said. \u201cShe was a JAMP student. I\u2019m going to miss my first set of kids when my internship ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

She and her fianc\u00e9 plan to move to Charleston after graduation, and that\u2019s where she hopes to begin a long career helping people in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t care where I end up as long as I\u2019m doing something I love,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The support she received from SIU and its donors is something that will stick with her well beyond her time as a student.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome that alumni donate,\u201d she said. \u201cIt took so much financial stress off my shoulders. As a first-generation student, I was figuring it out on my own.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jeff Wilson Malia Lester wants to help people the way scholarships donors have helped her. While attending high school in Cairo, Illinois, Malia\u2019s life was changed forever by tragedy. After getting her bachelor\u2019s degree in sociology from Eastern Illinois University, she\u2019s now pursuing master\u2019s degree in social work from SIU. \u201cMy high school boyfriend … Continue reading Lester follows call to serve from Cairo to SIU<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3722"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3724,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722\/revisions\/3724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}