Madison Wakefield grew up watching her mother work with individuals with disabilities, planting a seed of purpose early on. When she arrived at PennWest Edinboro’s famously disability-friendly campus, she knew she wanted to help. Yet, when graduate students spoke to her class about the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA), she was intimidated. "I was terrified," Madison admitted. "I thought, ‘I can’t believe I’ll be doing that someday.’"

With a gentle push from her professor, Madison attended her first meeting, and the fear quickly melted away. "They were so supportive," she recalls. That supportive community became her foundation, empowering her to become a leader. Now a junior speech-language pathology major, she serves as a congress representative for NSSLHA and is mentoring students with disabilities on campus. For her, leadership is about inclusion. “In my major, we have students with disabilities who chose this field because of their own experiences,” she said. “As a leader, I want them to know I’m here to support them.”

Her mission is to show new students that speech therapy is a vast field. "A lot of people think it's just helping kids with their letters," she said. "But it’s so much more... you can work in a hospital, you can work in an autism unit, like anything you want to do." Managing her commitments requires dedication. “I’m a huge planner person,” she said. “Clubs and jobs aren’t just extras—they’re important breaks that make the academic experience more valuable.”

Madison’s journey, which she hopes will include a master’s and a doctorate, is a powerful example of PennWest's nurturing environment. It's a place where a strong peer community transforms a student’s apprehension into the confidence to lead and inspire.