Meet Marissa Stockstad

Name:  Marissa Stockstad

Hometown: Asheville, North Carolina

Major: Psychology with a concentration in Human Services, minors in Medical Humanities and Communication Sciences and Disorders.

Year: Junior

Relationship Status: Single

Q: What are you involved in on campus?

A: I have been on two ASEs ( Alternative Service  Experiences) and I lead one program this spring break to Bithlo, Florida.  I am a Health Professions Office Ambassador and serve as a peer advisor through them.  I am a Plemmons Leadership Fellow, a Diversity Scholar, and also a member of Alpha Epsilon Delta, which is a pre-health honors society. 

I am currently on my second year as the co-showcase coordinator for Momentum Dance Club.  I have danced in ensembles like the First Year Showcase, Momentum, Fall Appalachian Dance Ensemble, Spring Appalachian Dance Ensemble, and North Carolina Dance Festival.  Freshman year I didn’t really know where to go, but getting involved in dance helped me find that community that felt like a family.

Q: What did you and your group do on your ASE program?

A: On our program, we went to work with Bithlo, Florida which is an impoverished community that can’t really afford to be a city or a town.  They’re trying to rebuild the community and get it back on its feet by doing things like GED tutoring, opening up a coffee shop in the neighborhood, starting a charter school, and building gardens for the community to supply the school with fresh produce.  Basically they’re trying to rebuild the community in a better way than waiting for gentrification. 

We did a little bit of everything.  Some people would go to the school, some would paint, some would garden.  It was cool to have everyone do these different things and then have the group come back at the end of the day and talk about what we did.  We also did a lot with the kids.  The organization we worked with, United Global Outreach, really stressed making meaningful connections and having intentional conversations. 

Q: What was it like planning your own ASE?

A: Planning ours was interesting because it wasn’t the standard ASE where you pick a site and plan everything.   It was a collaborative ASE and [we] worked with three other schools and also with the University of Central Florida who planned our food and housing.  It was nice because we could focus more on our group rather than being fixated on where we were going to stay and where we were going to go during the day. A lot of our actual budget got to go to getting supplies the organization we worked with needed like tools, paint brushes, and water. 

Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

A: By then I will hopefully be done with my masters in Speech and Language Pathology and be completing my final internship. I know I definitely want to do Speech Language Pathology. A lot of it is working with young kids and mostly kids with disabilities, but I don’t know what specific focus I want to have yet.  I don’t know if I want to do early intervention with kids zero to three or work with feeding and swallowing because it’s more medical.   

Q: What is the most important quality you look for in a significant other?

A: Mainly passion.  Passion towards whatever they find compelling.  Whether it be their beliefs or their ability to stand up for issues they care about. 

Q: What are some of your favorite experiences you’ve had at Appalachian?

A: Some of my favorites were on my study abroad through the Honors college when I went to India last summer for four weeks.  I worked in two different women’s health clinics and got to learn a little bit more about medicine and I got to see things there that I’m not able to see here.  After that I got to travel around Europe and I went to Copenhagen, Berlin, Munich and Paris. 

Q: What’s the best advice you ever got?

A: My sister always said the best advice she ever got, and the best advice she ever gave me was just to breathe.  No matter what happens, always remember to take a step back and breathe. 

Q: What is one thing you can’t live without?

A: My cat, Tabby.  She’s my baby. Is that weird?