Leila Collins’ world changed once she had the chance to explore it.
By Torie Robinette
Leila Collins had never seen snow before she moved to Atlanta in 2014. She grew up in tiny Edison, Ga., near the Florida border, which boasts a population of 1,531 and one stoplight.
Fast-forward to the final semester of her senior year, and she’s snapped selfies at the Duomo di Milano in Italy and studied business and law in Hungary, Austria and Greece. She’s eaten kangaroo in Frankfurt and jellyfish in Budapest, fallen in love and become an old pro at showing prospective students around the Georgia State campus. She’s even made snow angels.
Leila Collins
Collins recalls her move to Atlanta, where bumper-to-bumper traffic replaced the rows of peanut fields emblematic of Edison. “It was culture shock in the best way,” she said.
But some things haven’t changed. Her passion for gerontology, which led her to Georgia State, has only deepened. Collins discovered that interest in high school when her grandmother, Mama Nette, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. She didn’t hesitate in assuming the role of primary caretaker. The gesture couldn’t compare to what Mama Nette had given her: direction, discipline and the drive to go beyond her comfort zone.
Her elementary school years were narrated by nights spent protesting homework, until Mama Nette, who was also a teacher at her school, stepped in. “She taught me how to study, focus and not procrastinate,” Collins said. And it worked. Collins graduated high school with the highest honor on which to hang her cap: valedictorian.
Mama Nette sparked in her a kind of wanderlust that couldn’t confine her to Edison. It’s what inspired her to study abroad three separate times across eight different countries during her summers at Georgia State.
Collins witnessed firsthand the toll Alzheimer’s took on Mama Nette’s independence and on her family. She resolved to pursue a career in which she’d expand the resources available to ailing elderly patients, elevate their quality of life and eliminate abuse. The finish line? Owning a large-scale continuing care retirement center that, as she explained, “builds on the beauty of enhancing the lives of older adults as they age and helps them maintain a sense of connectivity and self-worth with the world around them.”
Optimizing her opportunities at Georgia State, she’s made enormous strides toward that end. This spring, for her third gerontology-based internship, Collins will work in the nearby Lenbrook retirement community. She’ll build on what she learned at SimpleC – a company that develops software to help people with dementia and Alzheimer’s navigate daily life – and in the Aging and Health Services Department at the Atlanta Regional Commission.
With a full plate beyond her coursework, Collins still makes time to soak up college life. She’s a die-hard Georgia State football fan who lives for the Georgia State-Georgia Southern battle each fall. She’s a member of The 1913 Society (student ambassadors who represent Georgia State at special functions) and a campus tour guide for the Honors College. She was also on the Homecoming Royal Court.
Now, as she wraps up the final classes in her major, she’s also preparing to add more red pushpins to her map of the world. This summer, she’ll continue her gerontology and aging studies in Beijing, attending night classes at Renmin University of China. She’ll pair breathtaking perspectives of the Great Wall of China with Chinese society’s unique perspectives on aging.
Collins’ endearing Southern drawl is a constant reminder of her South Georgia roots and the road that led her to Atlanta. But Georgia State is where she found herself.
“Coming here was truly the best thing I could have done for myself,” she said. "Atlanta opened my eyes to opportunity, convenience and diversity. Like John A. Shedd said, 'A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are made for.'"
Photos by Steven Thackston