Connecticut College senior Alison Joyce is one of the most multifaceted individuals on campus. She is a psychology and sociology double major, with a love for dogs, improv, the television show Big Mouth and her mother’s homemade black bean enchiladas. However, much of Joyce’s life is centered around her involvement with extracurricular activities on campus. She states that “I love my academics and I have been so lucky with all my professors, but my experience at Conn has been very much my extracurriculars.” Joyce isn’t only a member of a handful of clubs and organizations on campus, she holds a leadership position in almost every club that she is involved in.
Joyce is one of the presidents of N2O (Conn’s short form improv group), she is the independent living coordinator for the Winch houses, the Chair of Honor Council making her a member of the Student Government Association Executive Board, a Senior Admission Fellow and a director of the Women’s Empowerment Initiative.
Joyce felt prompted to get very involved in extracurriculars at Conn after she found herself bored in her dorm room watching Friends during her first couple weeks at college and began to realize that this wasn’t the life that she wanted for herself during her college years. Joyce claims, “I went into the activity fair freshman year, and just signed up for as many things as possible.” N2O was one of the first clubs Joyce joined. Although she was hesitant at first to give it a go, the mentorship that she received from the upperclassmen in the club was unparalleled. She has also been a part of the Honor Council since freshman year, and as with N2O, was initially nervous to ascend into a leadership role with the Honor Council. Joyce claims that this is “because [she] didn’t want to paint [herself] as some moral queen,” but soon got over this and found the members of SGA to be some of the “hardest working people on campus, and the students who really fight for other students’ rights and the well-being of campus.” As Conn’s shared governance relies on a genuine effort to have student representation, Joyce believes that honor council “is an incredible opportunity for students to have a platform and bring attention to the issues and concerns of other students.” Joyce states that through her position on honor council she has persistently tried to “be an advocate for her peers, which has been a very gratifying experience.”
Another fundamental position that Joyce has held for the past three years is as a member of the Residential Education and Living (REAL) staff. Joyce states that “being a sophomore and having freshman trust you with their problems and emotions is a surreal experience at first.”
But out of all that Joyce is involved in at the college, she believes that her work with the Women’s Empowerment Initiative (WEI) has been her biggest contribution to the Connecticut College community. Joyce says that as a director of WEI “[she has] been so honored to serve as the point person for women and non-binary folks for the pieces I have directed.” She goes on saying that “it is so incredible to have these beautiful pieces of work that took people such courage to write, come to life in the final performance.”
Although Joyce’s four years at Conn have been full of many wonderful experiences, and she has loved being surrounded by some of the “absolute best, passionate, compassionate, caring and hardworking people,” she has had to overcome a number of challenges. During her sophomore year, Joyce struggled with her mental health. She realized that during this time in her life, she wasn’t prioritizing her health, well-being and happiness. She learned that she really needed to take control of her life, and is now even working on a TedX talk about mental health (for Conn’s TedX club).
Furthermore, during her first year at Conn, Joyce’s friend was killed in a drunk driving accident–news that was beyond devastating and heartbreaking. However, whenever Joyce feels disheartened about life or college, she remembers the amount of support she and others received during this unbearable time and knows that genuine kindness exists on this campus. “Whenever I have struggled, or have had problems, my friends and peers have always gone the extra mile to make me a functioning, thriving person.”
With graduation right around the corner, Joyce has begun the job searching process and is currently interviewing for a lot of different jobs ranging from sales to psychology to tech related jobs. She hopes to live in New York or Boston next year and ultimately wants to go to grad school after working for a few years.
Joyce is genuinely excited to travel around and meet new people and has the goal of making people laugh along the way. However, she knows that she will be far from of the people who she loves the most, which is making her savor the time she has left living and constantly being around all her friends at college even more.
Joyce states that it has been an “honor to meet so many amazing people here at Conn, and learn about their different passions, and what they are fighting for in life, I have truly been so lucky”–and the Connecticut College community has truly been so lucky to have Joyce. •
