Jacquelyn Buryj is a senior combined Special/Elementary Education major with Early Childhood and English as a Second Language endorsements and a Peace and Justice Studies minor at Lewis. She joined the Office of Community Engaged Learning in the spring of 2021 as a CELF for the Disability Resource Center’s (DRC) Community Connections Program, which the DRC offers in collaboration with Joliet Junior College.
Outside of being a CELF, Jacquelyn enjoys spending her free time by keeping busy, between working as a Lewis University Admissions Ambassador and an Instructional Aide at St. Michael School in Orland Park. Additionally, she is involved on campus as the Kappa Delta Pi (Alpha Kappa Beta) Chapter President, Co-President of LU Catholic Educators, and a student leader for the Lasallian Justice Coalition.
When it comes to being a CELF, Jacquelyn has enjoyed the relationships fostered, both with community partners, Lewis faculty and fellow CELFs. Through reflection and peace circles, she has found that stories have power, and where one is going depends on how they choose to grow from where they have come from. Service and advocacy are core values of hers, and this role with the DRC/JJC has allowed her to take her passion for special education and share it with other student leaders. Jacquelyn brings a lot of energy to the CELF Team and we’ll be sad to see her leave at the end of the semester, when she jumps into student teaching for the spring semester!