Senior Leya Elias wins SAA’s J.E. Wallace Sterling Award

The Stanford Alumni Association has selected senior Leya Elias to receive the J.E. Wallace Sterling Award, which is given to an undergraduate in recognition of service and contributions to the campus community.

Leya Elias (Image credit: Courtesy Stanford Alumni Association)

Named for Stanford’s president from 1949 to 1968, the J.E. Wallace Sterling Award recognizes a graduating senior whose undergraduate leadership and volunteer activities have made the largest impact on the Stanford community. Faculty and staff nominate students for this award.

Elias is majoring in psychology with a minor in African & African American studies. According to her nominators, Elias is a visionary student with the ability to turn thoughts and ideas into concrete actions that better the lives of those she seeks to uplift.

She is the co-founder of the Black Gender Marginalized Collective, a community of Black women and non-binary people addressing the needs of students who are Black and also hold a gender identity that experiences marginalization in our society.

She also is the health and wellness coordinator at the Women’s Community Center, where she has focused on the needs of marginalized communities, specifically in terms of access to physical, mental and spiritual resources.

Elias serves as a resident assistant and has been recognized as a Truman Scholar, Ernest Houston Johnson Scholar and Ujamaa Scholar. Among her other activities, she has served on the ASSU Undergraduate Senate, Stanford Ethiopian and Eritrean Student Association, Stanford Black Pre-Law Society, Institute for Diversity in the Arts and Cardinal Service.