Graduating with a Sense of Purpose

Alicia Bennett ’24 came to Pace as an English Literature major. Her first year, she took Introduction to the Criminal Justice System as an elective and shortly thereafter added a criminal justice minor.

Now she’s graduating as a double major in both English Literature and Criminal Justice, and has dedicated much of her four years at Pace to community service and research about persons who are incarcerated and their experiences in the prison system—so much so that she’ll be honored with the NYC Campus 2024 Community Service Award at this year’s Commencement.

Kimberly Collica-Cox, PhD, has gotten to know Alicia well over her four years, but she recognized potential in her from the start. “I noticed Alicia's good nature and kind heart immediately. She is funny and has a great energy that others seem to love. She has a passion for helping others and will sacrifice her time to do so joyfully.” Collica-Cox spent enough time with Alicia to see this firsthand. Alicia not only took criminal justice classes, but also served as Collica-Cox’s teaching and research assistant and helped with her ‘pet’ projects, ‘Puppies on the Block’ ,‘Parenting, Prison, and Pups’, and the Inside-Out College course where students learned alongside adult learners in Westchester jail.

"I never thought of service as being something inherently 'important' to me, only as something necessary to do.”

Alicia has poured herself into these programs and especially the work she did with the Westchester jail. Most students in this program study at the Pleasantville Campus, but the commute from New York City didn’t stop Alicia—she would wake up at five in the morning to make it to her 9:00 a.m. class. And her advocacy stretched well beyond class. She worked alongside Collica-Cox to conduct research interviews to evaluate a jail-based trauma sensitive yoga program, co-presented this research at the National American Society of Criminology Conference, and served as a co-author on two peer-reviewed journal papers about the benefits of jail-based programming.

This was all while maintaining a 3.8 GPA in her dual major and staying involved across various clubs.

Alicia's commitment to service goes beyond obligation; she sees it as doing what must be done. In her words, "I never thought of service as being something inherently 'important' to me, only as something necessary to do.” Working with individuals who are incarcerated helped her articulate this even further. “The men and women I'm helping are often the ones most ignored or written off by society, which seems incredibly unfair… If they are willing and given the chance to change, to redefine their lives, then helping them do that isn't only a service, but a necessity to society and oneself.”

Take the risk. Take the class that you're afraid to take, the one that requires a little more effort on your part, because it could be the difference between graduating with a diploma and graduating with a sense of purpose.

This service-mentality is exemplified in her response to finding out she is being honored at commencement as a Community Service Award Winner. “It wasn't something I had expected nor had hoped to receive by the end of my time here at Pace, but knowing that I'm being acknowledged for my time at the Westchester Jail is amazing,” Alicia says. “What's more amazing, though, is knowing that these programs will get more recognition through Commencement and through this award. That's what I'm most excited about.”

After graduation, Alicia will be continuing her education here at Pace in the MS in Publishing program. She hopes to continue her advocacy and work with Westchester Department of Correction and use her degree to expand literacy in prisons. Collica-Cox is confident in her student’s future, saying, “I cannot imagine having a better student and as she continues to grow professionally after graduation, I know I will have a lifelong friend.”

And as to her advice for current students? “Take the risk,” she says. “Take the class that you're afraid to take, the one that requires a little more effort on your part, because it could be the difference between graduating with a diploma and graduating with a sense of purpose.”