If you were investing in a person who could help build a better world, you’d look for brilliance, a genuine concern for others, and the stamina of a great athlete.

Maya Evans, who is completing her TC master’s degree in school psychology this Spring as a Marcia V. Keizs Ed.D. Annual Fund Scholar, checks all three boxes.

At the University of South of Carolina, where she majored in public health and minored in psychology and Spanish, Evans was a member of the Honors College, made the President’s List, Dean’s List and Athletic Department Honor Roll, and graduated Magna Cum Laude. While at TC, she worked at NYU Langone Medical Center on a study of brain plasticity in children.

Only five percent of school psychologists are African American. There is a lack of diversity and the majority of students in public schools come from culturally-diverse backgrounds. The demographics have really motivated me.

—Maya Evans

In college, Evans also logged more than 700 hours as a volunteer, assisting teachers, mentoring students and leading sports activities at the Birchwood School within South Carolina’s Department of Juvenile Justice. For that work she was named the 2017 Southeastern Conference’s Brad Davis Community Service Leader of the Year. She is spending the 2019–20 academic year as a psychology intern at Dunbar High School in Baltimore, where she’s also an assistant track coach.

And speaking of track, Evans holds nine USC records as a Division One middle distance runner.

Not surprisingly, given that resume, Evans isn’t planning to just “go into” school psychology. She’s determined to take the field by storm.

“Only five percent of school psychologists are African American,” she says. “There is a lack of diversity and the majority of students in public schools come from culturally-diverse backgrounds. The demographics have really motivated me.” 

Much the same can be said of Marcia Keizs, who has been giving to TC since 1988 and supporting the Annual Fund Scholars program for the past four years. Keizs came to the United States from Jamaica and ultimately served from 2005 through August 2019 as President of York College in the CUNY system. Along the way, she earned her education doctorate at TC, where, thanks to a great professor (the late Robert Bone), she discovered African American literature, a field she later taught.

Scholarship support gave me the sense that I deserved to be at an Ivy League school. I was deeply grateful to be recognized in honor of an alumna such as Dr. Keizs who supports financial aid through the TC Fund. It gave me confidence in myself and showed me that other people believed I could do this.

—Maya Evans

Evans similarly praises two faculty members for contributing to her successful completion of TC’s School Psychology program: Stephen T. Peverly, Professor of Psychology & Education, for his compassion and guidance, and Debbie Joffe Ellis, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology & Education, for introducing her to the principles of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), shorter-term psychotherapy that identifies, challenges and replaces self-defeating thoughts and feelings.

Evans also is grateful to Dr. Keizs for helping to ease her transition to New York City and Morningside Heights.

“Scholarship support gave me the sense that I deserved to be at an Ivy League school,” she says. “I was deeply grateful to be recognized in honor of an alumna such as Dr. Keizs who supports financial aid through the TC Fund. It gave me confidence in myself and showed me that other people believed I could do this.”

The only thing that’s hard to believe is that anyone could ever have doubted her.