Board welcomes student trustee for 2021-22

Sophia Parshall, who grew up in Naples, will join the Board of Trustees as a new student trustee.

The Finger Lakes Community College Board of Trustees has welcomed a new student trustee, Sophia Parshall, who grew up in Naples and is now studying nursing.

Sophia “Sophie” Parshall

Parshall, who was homeschooled, began attending FLCC as a high school junior through the Early College Scholars program. Early College Scholars provides a 50 percent tuition discount to youth who have not yet graduated from high school and want to get ahead on college credits. Parshall took advantage of the program to begin pre-requisite courses for nursing.

“I decided to study nursing because I have a passion for helping people and have wanted to be a nurse since I was 7 years old. My mom is a nurse and graduated from FLCC when I was about 5 or 6,” she said.

Parshall is interested in specializing in women’s health. Her current plan is to transfer after graduation in 2023 to the University of Rochester, which has a program enabling registered nurses with an associate degree to get a bachelor’s in 16 months. After that, she may enroll in the nurse midwifery program at Frontier University in Kentucky.

“When I was little, I remember begging my mom to let me do a pretend ultrasound on her belly when she was pregnant with one of my siblings,” she added. “Women’s health has always fascinated me, especially finding ways to make women’s health care more accessible for everyone.”

Parshall will serve on the 10-member Board of Trustees through the 2021-22 academic year and have full voting rights as a trustee. She works on campus as a science tutor, admissions tour guide, and staff for the COVID-19 pooled surveillance testing program.

“I have been taking classes at FLCC since I was 15,” she said. “I love this school and it has become sort of like my home as I spend so much time here.”