Southeastern senior awarded minority leadership scholarship
Tuesday, September 20, 2016 
by: Rene Abadie
NATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP – Southeastern Louisiana University Communication Sciences and Disorders senior Maya Gauthier of Hahnville works with seven-year-old Zachary Musso of Hammond in the CSD clinical lab. Gauthier was awarded one of 40 Minority Student Leadership Program scholarships by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
HAMMOND – For the second consecutive year, a Southeastern Louisiana University student
in Communication Sciences and Disorders has been awarded a national leadership scholarship
by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
Senior Maya Gauthier of Hahnville will receive one of 40 Minority Student Leadership
Program (MSLP) scholarships in the nation. The award allows her to participate in
leadership training at the 2016 ASHA convention in Philadelphia Nov. 15-20. As an
MSLP participant, she will take part in leadership-focused educational programs and
activities to help build and enhance leadership skills and gain an understanding of
how the association works.
To be considered for the award, Gauthier had to submit a letter of recommendation
and prepare an essay describing the qualities of an individual who demonstrates leadership,
the skills she wants to develop, and how participation in the program will enhance
her leadership skills.
“Maya may be the most extraordinary undergraduate I have taught in the 23 years
I’ve been at Southeastern,” said Roxanne Wright Stoehr, instructor and clinical supervisor
for the communication sciences and disorders program. “She is always prepared for
class and demonstrates an uncanny ability to understand complex and abstract material
and to reflect on subjects at an unusually high level for an undergraduate. In addition
to her scholastic ability, she is a mindful and caring person.”
After studying about autism, a spectrum of disorders characterized by difficulties
in social interaction, and verbal and nonverbal communication, during her sophomore
year Gauthier organized a fundraiser, collecting about $2,000 for local families of
children with autism.
This is just one example of Gauthier’s character, according to Stoehr.
Gauthier, who last year earned the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders’
Charles W. Campbell Award for the outstanding junior in the program, plans to graduate
in spring 2017, and to continue graduate studies at Southeastern in CSD.
