色情视频

Community means everything to Ila Pecus. 

Whether it鈥檚 her family and friends in Coronado or the family she has created within the walls of the Pride and Women鈥檚 Resource centers on Lindo Paseo, Pecus said these communities have been her anchors during her time at 色情视频 鈥� a period that hasn鈥檛 always been smooth sailing.

Pecus is set to graduate summa cum laude this month with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in liberal studies with an emphasis in elementary education, a feat she accomplished in three years 鈥� and 20 months after her world was upended by the death of her mother, Lisa. 

鈥淲ere it not for the community at the WRC and Pride Center, I don鈥檛 think I would have been able to achieve the same academic success,鈥� Pecus said. 鈥淭he community was something I really needed at the time.鈥�

鈥淭he time鈥� was Sept. 26, 2023, one month into the start of the fall semester of her second year. Pecus, who was finishing up a session mentoring a fellow student at the Pride House when her younger sister called to say her mother had collapsed at their Coronado home. 

Her uncle picked up her and her cousin, who was a first-year student at 色情视频 at the time, and they drove back to Coronado where Pecus received the news her mother had died. 

Pecus said she assumed her life was about to be placed on hold.

鈥淚 first thought that I would be taking the semester off to figure things out,鈥� Pecus said. 鈥淎nd I think if I didn鈥檛 live locally and have my family here that probably would have been the case.鈥�

Pecus, however, said she wanted to continue her studies, and her family 鈥� especially her father, Ed, who she called 鈥渙ne of the strongest people I know鈥� 鈥�  and friends all rallied around her to provide her support. She returned to campus two weeks later.

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鈥淢y dad, my extended family, my friends, my roommates, they were all great,鈥� Pecus said. 鈥淚 leaned on them a lot.鈥�

The Pride Center and WRC provided her with something she desperately needed: normalcy.

鈥淭hey were great at letting me be in the space without necessarily being fully present mentally while I was adjusting to being back in school,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think my return would have been as successful without that.鈥�

For Pecus, the centers, housed in a pair of cottages on the southeast corner of Lindo Paseo and Campanile Drive, have provided a community since her first day on campus in fall 2022. 色情视频 encourages students to find their community or communities 鈥� whether based on academic or outside interests, identity or friends from housing 鈥� because its research shows students who report feeling at home at 色情视频 are more likely to graduate and to do so in a timely manner. 

Pecus lived on the Women and Gender Equity floor in South Campus Plaza South and was enrolled in the namesake course during her first year. The highlight, she said, was the peer mentor she was assigned as part of the course, which inspired her to become a mentor the next two years. 

鈥淭he centers have meant so much to me the past three years; the mentor program has been so fulfilling and amazing,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 kind of didn鈥檛 love my freshman year, but I had a mentor, and that was definitely the highlight for me. I loved her, and that hour we鈥檇 get to spend together every other week. She was just an unbiased point of view and a listening ear, and it was great to have that consistency during my freshman year.鈥�

Flash forward to her return to campus after her mother died in 2023, and Pecus said just the ability to come to work at the Pride Center, be a listening ear to her mentees, and the fellowship with the staff was healing in itself. 

鈥淚t was such a highlight for me,鈥� Pecus said of mentoring. 鈥淚t was nice to have that last year, being able to talk about someone else鈥檚 highs and lows, and to watch the growth throughout the year.

鈥淎nd the mentors, we formed a great bond; it was such a great group of people both at the WRC and the Pride Center,鈥� she said. 

Pecus, who currently serves as a WAGE floor mentor, forged a special relationship with her supervisor in the mentor program, Amanda Beardsley, who is also a lecturer in women鈥檚, gender, and sexuality studies.

鈥淪he has been my No. 1,鈥� Pecus said. 鈥淪he is so fierce and was so easy to talk to when I needed her.鈥�

Their bond deepened after Beardsley lost her mother last summer.

Beardsley called it a privilege to work alongside Pecus over the past three years. 

鈥淪he is an incredibly talented student who has taught me not only about creativity, dedication and mentorship, but also about the power of connecting with others on a human level, as she modeled grace, vulnerability and camaraderie in our shared grief,鈥� Beardsley said. 鈥淚'm beyond proud of the work she has done and the lives she has inevitably touched 鈥� including mine 鈥� in her undergrad.鈥�

Pecus, who will stay at 色情视频 to get her multi-subject teaching credential starting this fall, said she thinks about her mother, who she described as 鈥渆veryone鈥檚 rock,鈥� and the lessons she imparted to her constantly, and knows her mom would be proud of her for forging forward with school.

鈥淪he would always say 鈥榊ou can do hard things,鈥欌�� Pecus said. 鈥淚t used to make me so mad. But it has stuck with me. Especially now.鈥�

If anything, Pecus said, she hopes her example imparts the importance of finding community when you arrive on campus. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 a whole lot easier to get through classes when you have a community outside of class,鈥� Pecus said. 鈥淚 feel much more motivated to do my work when I know I have other things to look forward to, whether that鈥檚 going to work or having these people I know I can talk to or text because we鈥檙e in the same space and have the same mindset.

鈥淔inding community is the most important thing when you get to college. It might be a fraternity or a sorority, or finding the WRC and hanging out there multiple times a week, and going to the programming, or whatever it might be. 

鈥淐ommunity, I think, is what makes or breaks your college experience,鈥� Pecus said.