When Sarah Louise Boland’s name was called at Cater Lawn, she realized she hadn’t thought of a route to get up the steps with the rest of the finalists. Her broken foot and scooter were not ready for stairs.
Boland, senior in entrepreneurship, said the entire night was a laugh, and she was eventually carried up the stairs to enjoy the announcement.
“Through this experience, I have seen the mindset of people that have to work with physical disabilities on campus,” Boland said. “I will be partnering with the Office of Accommodations and Accessibility as well as the counseling center to make sure everyone has a healthy mind and body.”
Boland is promoting virtual counseling for students who cannot access or attend the in-person sessions at the Med Clinic. She is also working with the jAUnt program to hopefully extend the golf cart transportation hours.
Boland hopes the extension of hours will help bring students back to campus for studying and dinner. Her goal is to make the Auburn Family accessible to all students.
Along with her two partnerships, Boland is working with the Auburn Wheelchair Basketball Team, and they plan to participate during the campaign on the concourse. The students in the E.A.G.L.E.S. program, Auburn’s education curriculum for students with mental disabilities, will be joining Boland’s campaign on Tuesday.
“We are really excited,” Boland said. "It has been great to get the community together."
The community and its reach were the reasons she ended up at Auburn. Boland remembers being told how fantastic Auburn is by every high school student she met at her yearly church conference. She knew Auburn was the school for her.
Finally, she went to visit Auburn for herself. She found herself sitting with family around Centennial Garden when she smelled a familiar scent.
“The trees gave off a familiar scent to the tree where I park my car under at home does,” Boland said. “When the wind blew, my family looked around and said, ‘Wow, it kind of smells like home.’”
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