Lezai Favors, a senior majoring in sociology, is projected to receive her BA in May 2022, then continue for an additional year in the Scholar Teacher Education Program (STEP) for her MA in Childhood Education.
She is also a very active member of the Adelphi community. She’s a sister of Swing Phi Swing Social Fellowship Inc., serving as the current president of the Ndada Amuka Kwa Pindua chapter; event coordinator of Females of Culture United for Success (FOCUS); and a member of the National Residence Hall Honorary, Gamma Beta Phi, Omicron Delta Kappa, and the National Society for Leadership and Success.
Favors said she joined Swing Phi Swing Social Fellowship Inc. “because of what the organization stood for and how they valued daring to be different and focused more on the quality of candidates rather than quantity. Interactions with sisters on campus, prior to pledging, were genuine and it was those genuine interactions and witnessing their community impact that finalized my decision of pledging.”
Swing Phi Swing Social Fellowship was founded on April 4, 1969, and is committed to effecting social change and enriching the quality of the communities the organization serves. The vision of the fellowship is to promote academic excellence, community involvement and civic cultural consciousness. Swing Phi Swing chartered the Ndada Amuka Kwa Pindua Chapter at Adelphi University on November 13, 2005.
Favors is passionate about helping to eradicate education inequality and effect social change. Her goal is “to become an elementary school teacher and provide my students with an enriching educational experience to inspire them to dream big and to give back to the community. As a teacher, I hope to help my students reach their full potential and to become self-aware.”
A Shift to Virtual Campus Life
Favors transferred to Adelphi in the pre-pandemic spring of 2019, which was the second semester of her first year of college. Since she was new to Adelphi’s campus, she did not take full advantage of what the University had to offer.
She decided to become more involved on campus in Spring 2020 and made the most of the experience, even though activities and classes were held virtually. To start, she applied to be a resident assistant as well as an Orientation leader. After that, she continued to join a variety of campus clubs and organizations as well as to hold multiple campus jobs.
She had never taken an online course until that semester, but she had no trouble adjusting to attending classes virtually. “Most of my professors were understanding and provided my peers and me with resources to make the transition easier and edited our courses so that they would not be as stressful,” she said. “Learning virtually is very different than in-person learning, but I did not find it to be hard. As a multitasker, I found it convenient for me because I could work on assignments during class or clean my room while listening to a lecture. Plus, having classes online made it easier for me to work before class, run back to my room and then log on, rather than having to travel around campus. As a sociology major, most of my classes are lectures or discussion based, and presentations were always provided to review after class. Some classes were harder than others, but the majority of my professors understood what we as students were going through, and it was their understanding that helped to make classes still enriching and meaningful.”
She found the most difficult part of being a student during the pandemic to be finding a balance between her schooling and her personal life. “With classes being accessible on my laptop and my phone, it was harder to separate myself from the ‘classroom’ because it was always with me or around me,” she said.
Getting Back to Campus
Now that she is back on campus full time, aside from wearing masks indoors and filling out the daily COVID screening on AU2Go, the biggest challenge she is experiencing is that students, including herself, “want to get involved in everything because they missed that campus experience. Overall, campus is pretty active with a lot of people choosing to take advantage of study spaces, spend time with friends in the UC and participate in events being held on campus.”