Aiyana Egins recognizes the impact of community involvement.
As the coordinator of Experience UGA, Egins spends plenty of time showing the importance of this work to undergraduate students. Each year, the program partners with schools, colleges and units across the university on educational field trips for students in every grade level in the Clarke County School District, allowing them to visit locations across UGA’s campus.
Egins has done nonprofit work for most of her life. Coming from a family of nonprofit workers, she saw the impact of the industry at a young age. However, her own experiences in the field instilled in her the drive to continue the work.
“I would say it came from my family, seeing them being inside of these fields,” Egins said. “But after getting to go out there and do community service with nonprofits, I knew this was a pathway that I wanted to be in.”
Egins earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Wesleyan College. During that time, she assisted in managing and planning volunteer programs as an intern for Cool Girls Inc., an organization that offers after-school life skills programs to middle school and high school girls. Upon graduation, she knew she wanted to stay in the nonprofit sector.
“I found Experience UGA here in the Office of Service-Learning,” Egins said. “Seeing that they reached students K-12 and worked with undergraduate students at the university really stuck with me.”
Now, almost four years into the position, she finds that every day brings something new. Each field trip takes Clarke County students to a different location at UGA. One day, Egins may take a group to visit a gallery in the Special Collections Libraries. The next day may be spent exploring creativity in the Fine Arts Theatre.
“When I first got here, I was mind blown by how many different things are presented and offered on this campus,” Egins said. “I love being able to share that with prospective students.”
Experience UGA program coordinator Aiyana Egins uses a two-way radio to communicate with her student ambassadors as they greet school buses from Clarke Central High School entering the Tate Student Center parking lot during a recent Experience UGA field trip. (Photo by Dorothy Kozlowski/UGA)
Egins is responsible for training ambassadors, a team of undergraduate and graduate students across the university volunteering for the program through the facilitation of different field trips.
Beginning in the spring semester, a new cohort will host the first set of field trips for the year. Students gain experiential learning credit over the course of two semesters as they develop leadership skills and interact with the local community.
“We want our ambassadors to engage with the community and learn more about the root causes that make this partnership so valuable,” Egins said.
She also works to ensure that the ambassadors understand the importance of transferable skills. No matter what major the students study or what industry they hope to enter after graduation, their time at Experience UGA is useful in professional development. Students leave the ambassador program with skills in leadership, public speaking and planning.
While also serving as the coordinator for Experience UGA, Egins is pursuing a master’s degree in music therapy, finding ways to incorporate her music education with her work.
“Knowing how to connect with others through music is something we’re taught on a regular basis within my music therapy program,” she said. “We come up with a set of goals to help improve the quality of life in patients and clients, and my music education helps to fulfill these goals.”
When Egins finds a moment away from her coursework and Experience UGA, she likes to spend time watching movies, especially musicals such as “Wicked.” She also maintains an organization that she founded in 2017, You Go Girl Enterprises. The organization is dedicated to instilling confidence in young women through seminars, social media and events.
Through all of her work, Egins stresses the importance of getting involved with community service.
“Even if you don’t find that place here at Experience UGA, there are so many opportunities around campus that allow you to get involved,” she said. “You can be a leader within community service, and you can create change through that leadership. You can also be a part of a team that is pushing to make a difference.”
