Song On Repeat: “Everybody Loves Me, Baby” by Don McLean.
Hobbies: I play roller derby recreationally, so I skate plenty. I’m a big reader and like writing. When I can, I try to paint something. I like painting florals and playing around with water colors.
Favorite Quote: “Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.” – Charlotte Brontë
What does a college degree mean to you?: To me, it’s an accomplishment that no one can take away. It’s something very personal that you are working on to better yourself regardless of what field you go into. Education is yours forever.
Making Literacy Personal
If you search for Gigi’s Playhouse, a nonprofit that provides services to individuals with down syndrome, you’ll see that it’s closed on weekends.
Behind the scenes every Sunday morning, Chayse can be found unlocking the front door and waving her arms around to activate the motion sensor lights.
As a literacy tutor, she volunteers her time helping a 23-year-old student who lost the motivation to continue building her reading and writing skills earlier this year.
During their third session, Chayse’s student walked in drained and with no book in hand. At this moment, Chayse looked back to their first encounter and remembered something that would define their dynamic: her student absolutely adores the former NBA star, Jeremy Lin.
Chayse suggested they read an article about Lin and her student lit up. Ever since, the duo has been building their own timeline of the basketball player’s career.
To many, Lin is just an athlete but to Chayse’s student, he’s the inspiration behind her literacy development.
“Since we’re the only ones in the building, the lights go out and we have to run around to turn them back on. Then, we sit back down and continue working,” explains Chayse. “She got really engaged with the balance of reading something she’s interested in but also moving her body. It’s gotten to the point where she’s talking to me about what we just read, what she’s writing down and what we need to look into. We’re working on that comprehension, which was my ultimate goal so it just feels really rewarding.”
Navigating the College Journey
Growing up as a first-generation student in a single-parent household, Chayse’s journey with College Possible began during her sophomore year at Gresham High School when her mom nudged her to apply after spotting a flyer.
College Possible was instrumental to discovering scholarships like the Renaissance Scholarship, understanding financial aid and visiting college campuses, which helped her family navigate the college process, shares Chayse.
“I didn’t realize how resourceful College Possible and AVID were until I spoke to my friends outside of the programs,” says Chayse. “I found myself, as a first-generation student, feeling more prepared than my peers and helping my friends whose parents went to college.”
Today, Chayse is a third-year student at the Portland State University Honor’s College majoring in speech and hearing sciences with a minor in Spanish.
Outside of the classroom, Chayse has cultivated a meaningful community on campus while working as a peer writing tutor, student ambassador, Honors College ambassador and a front desk assistant.
Personalizing the Reading Experience
Chayse’s commitment to help make literacy accessible for adults is inspired by her brother, Cole, who has dyslexia. Chayse has fond memories of connecting with Cole’s speech therapist after his appointments and feeling intrigued by everything he was reading and writing about.
In middle school, Chayse’s passion for language and literature flourished, but her natural instinct to share it with her brother presented an obstacle she’s working to dismantle today.
“He can’t interact with literature the way I can and I found that really unfair. He has a lot of interests like Star Wars and reptiles, so I would find these books I knew he would really like, but it’s just not worth it to him. There has to be a way where it can be interactive for him,” explains Chayse.
Cole’s journey in speech therapy eventually came to a halt when he got bored of it. Throughout her time in college, Chayse realized that much of the curriculum used in literacy programs for adults is geared toward younger audiences and may often lead to a lack of engagement in adults, says Chayse.
But, she is a firm believer that there are ways to keep speech therapy intriguing and accessible for adults. What’s her solution? Personalizing the reading experience.
“Being a literacy tutor is a volunteer position, but I’m up at ungodly hours looking for material that my student will find interesting that isn’t super elementary and has vocabulary she can still learn. It’s readable but not insanely boring,” says Chayse. “Articles on Jeremy Lin and basketball keep her wanting to read material. I’m really interested in looking at how we can balance material that is engaging for adults who don’t have strong literacy levels.”
Breaking Out of a Shell
“Communication in general is really powerful and it’s really significant, regardless of the language. Learning different languages can give you that new perspective,” says Chayse.
Chayse’s love for language and connection led her all the way to Spain last summer where she earned enough credits to finish her Spanish minor early. Hanging out at the beach after class, living with a host family and jumping into a new culture helped Chayse step out of her shell.
“During my freshman year I was very scared to do anything. I didn’t sign up for extracurriculars and was quiet in my classes. But, you can’t really be shy in a country that isn’t in your native language. It really helped me realize that my fears are not that deep,” says Chayse.
With five jobs, a volunteer opportunity and an upcoming internship, one would think that Chayse would like to take a breather this season, but her hunger to learn is insatiable.
This summer, Chayse is thrilled to take a neurology of speech and hearing class, which will give her deeper insight into her senior thesis that will revolve around how to best support literacy development in adults.
Dreams in Motion
When Chayse thinks about the impact that she hopes to make in her field, her heart traces back to when she was five years old watching her brother navigate the challenges of dyslexia with his speech therapist.
“When one child is having a hard time in the family, the whole family is involved. His speech therapist was so involved with us and put a lot into us. That was really important, especially for my mom, who was trying to balance so much,” says Chayse. “And I’d like to continue that. I want people to know that I find their time significant and their struggles worth supporting.”
While Chayse is still two years away from walking across the graduation stage, she’s already the professional she hopes to become.
