Leadership lived: UIS Tennis player “steps out of her shell” to help people in need and support international students

Tennis player Mae Flight, a global studies major, says the University of Illinois Springfield has taught her to be more outgoing and seek out leadership roles where she can make a difference.

“I’m a serious introvert, so since coming to UIS I have stepped out of that shell and I’ve put myself in a lot of leadership roles and just put myself out there to get myself comfortable with meeting new people and speaking in public,” she said.

At UIS, Flight is co-president of the Habitat for Humanity Club where she spends time helping with building projects in the Springfield community.

“I like being involved with Habitat because for me it’s a way to give back to the community, she said. “I am a very hands on person. I like to meet the people that we’re building this house for because they’re so grateful and it’s that feeling when they have smiles on their face.”

Flight also helps newly arriving international students feel at home at the University of Illinois Springfield as an International Student Ambassador and by working in the Office of International Student Services.

“We are here as liaisons in a way between domestic students and the international students,” she said. “I’m super invested in other cultures. I love learning languages.”

Flight decided to come to UIS because she was recruited to play on the UIS women’s tennis team. She started playing the game when she was only 10-years-old.

“I think tennis and even being a student-athlete in general has helped me since being in high school because it helped me become organized with my life and knowing that I did have something else besides school,” she said.

Following graduation from UIS, the Charleston, Illinois native would like to teach English as a second language to elementary school students.