My MSU Collectives

Heather Alysia McNeil

Morgan State University

CICS 495 Capstone

Professor Laquetta M. Bryant

Fall 2025

Insights of Growth Through Focus, Community, Identity and Calling

Insight Through Focus in Work and Internships

My professional journey has been one of contrasts and deep personal growth. As an elite fitness spa janitor, I navigated environments were privilege and eccentricity often overshadowed humanity. In stark comparison, as a BlackRock Ultra Wealth Management Banker’s Assistant, taunted for my refusal to assimilate into high-fashion culture due to monetary constraints and my ethnicity.

Both roles challenged my sense of self, education, and resilience—leading me to doubt myself, even as I chose to walk away from one and publicly dismissed from the other. These experiences, though difficult, became lessons in endurance, humility, and clarity of purpose.

Family and Identity

My upbringing in a military family shaped me in profound ways. As a surviving twin, raised on bases where my father, uncles, and grandparents served worldwide, the military spirit became both an anchor and an affliction. I inherited a love of travel, flight, and water—spiritual gifts born out of that life. Yet I also saw the hidden costs: infidelity, instability, and divorces as a trend. This duality shaped my resilience and my hunger for meaning beyond perspectives, appearances, and conveniences.

Community Service and Volunteering

Serving in soup kitchens, food banks, and community outreach programs has given me more than I could ever fathom. These experiences instilled humility, gratitude, and tolerance. No matter who came forward—whether burdened with entitlement, hardship, or despair—I met them with respect, dignity, and the understanding that, in a blink of an eye, “it could be me.” I shined to spark those I met who were happening to be on tough times to walk away served and with a glimmer of hope. For me, I had shifted into a space of peace and a mentality to keep moving forward.

Organizational Leadership Calling

At the national headquarters of a well-known women’s society, I saw the complexity of leadership and the hidden fragility behind polished reputations. Gossip, competitiveness, and backstabbing forced me to examine whether these were truly the spaces where I wanted to grow and belong. As a campus ambassador, I wrestled heavily with being wellness and resources while simultaneously questioning the authenticity, efficacy, of such institutions. These challenges expanded my perspective on leadership, integrity, and community representation. And my self awareness with reflection.

Ministry and Calling

My most definitive moment came outside of any formal role. Seven years ago, after final exams, a classmate and I met a young woman in acute mental crisis on a train. She was harming herself and a potential endangerment to others. Though no one intervened, we did—engaging her with words, touch, and care, before pulling the emergency cord and working with responders. Drawing on three years of psychology study, I realized that my calling is not abstract. It is immediate, human, and urgent. That moment gave me confidence and accountability: I am on the right path, and I am more than capable of serving as a future healer in my community.