Tier Gibbons on Giving Back

Tier Gibbons is a New York native who came to Lasell to study communications with a focus in public relations and sports communication. Over the past three years here he’s become a big name on campus. Not only because of his open-minded attitude and smile, but because of his desire to give back and get pushed outside of his comfort zone. 

His journey with community service started early on. He attended a private boarding school on a scholarship and was required to do work with The Boys and Girls club. He also interned in high school at a daycare for children whose parents couldn’t afford usual daycare tuition. Through those experiences he got hooked on helping. 

As a sophomore he attended Alternative Spring Break, a trip that changed his outlook on Lasell college. Before he the trip, he admits he stuck to his comfort zone, doing what was familiar to him, but after a trip of forming friendships and memories, Tier began to branch out even further. ASB pushed him to apply for the Uganda Shoulder-to-Shoulder trip, and that in turn pushed him to apply to study abroad in Australia. 

Uganda opened his eyes. It showed him the power of education: of learning from someone from a completely different culture and living situation, and vice versa. He spoke of his time in Africa like it was yesterday, the memories still clearly fresh in his mind. He spoke of Australia with a similar passion. The study abroad experience helped him realize “people all over the world have something in common with you”. 

When speaking of the recent decision on the Uganda Shoulder-to-Shoulder trip, Tier spoke of the children he met there. Of how excited they were to see their own faces looking back at them from a camera or phone screen, and to meet people from the other side of their world. It is the one thing he wishes to change about Lasell. To once again give students the opportunity to travel, but to also learn from the people and children of Uganda. So that someone else can experience the life changing effect that he had.

People like Gibbons bring life to the campus. They make Lasell a better place to be with their pay it forward philosophy. He emphasized that being a part of this campus has ‘opened [him] up’ in the best way. He went from being sheltered, not knowing anyone and wanting to transfer as a freshman to one of the most friendly, known faces on campus. Over the course of the interview it was one quote from Tier that really stuck with me. His philosophy on people and the world. “People are different but we’re all human beings we all put our socks on the same, we all do something the same.” 

If the world took in a little Tier Gibbons philosophy, imagine how much better the world would be.