Samantha Leyland: The Adelphi Family

by Kurt Gottschalk

“When I visited Adelphi I just loved the campus and I loved the school.”

“I couldn’t have gone through what I went through without their help,” Valerie Leyland said. “They made the whole experience easy and smooth.”

Samantha Leyland is part of a legacy at Adelphi University. While her mother had to forego college to enter the workforce, Leyland’s older sister, Nicole, and cousin, Matthew Messina, both attended the school, her sister studying art education and her cousin accounting.

Having her family enrolled made the decision easy.

“I didn’t want to go away but I knew I wanted to go into nursing,” Samantha said. “When I visited Adelphi I just loved the campus and I loved the school.”

When she was younger she wanted to be a teacher but seeing how much harder it is to get a job—and having always liked science—steered her toward Adelphi’s College of Nursing and Public Health. Time spent with her grandmother during a prolonged hospital stay also made her think nursing might be the path for her.

“I never felt uncomfortable there and I always really liked helping people,” she said.

She now hopes to finish her degree and find work in “the rush” of a hospital emergency room.

“You’re busy and you’re going to see more interesting things,” she said.

But while Samantha is looking toward an exciting and rewarding future, it wasn’t always such a sure bet. Her mother, Valerie Leyland, a hairdresser in Floral Park, New York, wasn’t sure how she was going to see a second child through school. That’s when Adelphi’s Office of Student Financial Services stepped in to assist.

“I couldn’t have gone through what I went through without their help,” Valerie Leyland said. “They made the whole experience easy and smooth.”

Now, Valerie is happy to be seeing a second daughter through college.

“We’re close to home,” Valerie said. “It’s a beautiful school, beautiful campus.”