The recent Elon graduate is moving closer to her goal of becoming a physical therapist, learning more about the healthcare industry while giving back to the Alamance County community in the Elon Year of Service Fellows program.
Aniya Scott ’25 describes this as a “gap year,” but for many recent Elon University graduates, it would be anything but a break. Scott wants to become a physical therapist and, through the Year of Service Fellows program, she is getting closer to that goal.
The Year of Service Fellows Program, offered through the university’s Student Professional Development Center, provides recent graduates with the opportunity to work at local organizations, improving health, education, and economic development in the Alamance County community. Scott is partnered with Alamance Regional Medical Center.
“Even though I’m not currently working on the clinical side, gaining experience with the hospital’s backend operations has been incredibly valuable,” Scott said. “Understanding how operations work helps me anticipate what patients may go through to access care in the future.”
At Alamance Regional Medical Center, Scott supports project management for internal initiatives, assists with philanthropy projects, and improves campus signage.
“Being on the operational side of things has really opened my eyes to those little nuances that may present barriers to care along the way,” Scott said.
Scott earned an undergraduate degree in biology and says that while the degree doesn’t directly translate to the work she’s doing in the fellows program, elements of her Elon experience helped prepare her for the community-focused nature of the program. As an Honors Fellow and Lumen Scholar, Scott completed community-health-focused research on PFAS contamination and how to educate residents in Pittsboro, North Carolina about the issue.
“Residents may not be able to change how they access water or the presence of PFAS in their water, but we can help identify and educate them on day‑to‑day practices that can reduce their exposure,” Scott said of her research.
She was also a Statistics Learning Assistant, an Office Assistant and CAT Mentor for the Center for Access and Success, served in administrative roles through Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, and was president of the National Council of Negro Women.
“Through my experiences, I’ve learned that much of community work involves engaging with underrepresented populations, and as a minority myself, I’m able to contribute an additional and meaningful perspective to those conversations,” Scott said. “I’ve been able to connect my experience at Elon to where I am now in the fellowship, and this fellowship really allows us to get outside of that Elon bubble and explore different issues that are really affecting Alamance County residents. Not only explore them, but be a part of the change.”
As Scott gears up for physical therapy school, the fellowship program is offering a new perspective on the scope of the healthcare industry.
“Before this fellowship, most of my experience in healthcare was on the clinical side. This fellowship opened my eyes to how administrative decisions and operational processes directly impact frontline care,” she said.
This story is part of a series of features on the 2025-26 Year of Service Fellows, highlighting the work they are doing in the Alamance County community.