THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608090204
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Phillis Speidell
LENGTH: 83 lines
The job of student ambassador calls for someone outgoing, friendly and able to chat with just about anyone. Three out of three makes a good match, the folks at Tidewater Community College's Portsmouth campus thought when they offered the scholarship position to Lisa Meyers.
As a student ambassador, her responsibilities range from fielding questions at the campus information booth to talking to high school students about the college.
Meyers, a Western Branch wife and mother, applied for the post hoping that the scholarship would allow her to finish the college education she started years ago at Longwood College. A liberal arts major with a straight A average at TCC, Meyers is aiming toward a career in Christian counseling.
If her face looks familiar, it may be because she has worked for the last 13 years as a hair stylist in the Churchland area. Her inter-personal communications were finely honed on the job as her customers opened up to her, often discussing whatever was troubling them.
``It was like being an unofficial counselor.''
Name: Lisa Meyers
Neighborhood: Silverwood in Western Branch
Birthplace: Arvonia, Va. (30 miles south of Charlottesville).
Birthdate: Jan. 13, 1961
Occupation: Student
What job other than your own would you like? I have a desire to finish school because I want to be a Christian counselor. . . whether it be a church, or spiritual retreat or a private group of counselors.
Marital status: Married for 13 years to Stephen.
Children: 10-year-old daughter, Erin; 6-year-old son, Cole.
Fondest childhood memory: My daddy farming the ``low grounds'' behind our farm. He would pole our flatboat across the James River to the low grounds. While he worked, my mother would let my brother and me swim.
First concert: Washington, D.C., 1973. I was supposed to see Tom Jones in Washington, D.C., in 1973. He canceled out and I had to go see Neil Sedaka instead. And I still want to see Tom Jones.
What song or book title best describes your life? ``The Long and Winding Road''
If you won the lottery, what's the very first thing you would buy? I don't play the lottery, but if my husband won, I would give 10% to the church; buy a farm with a white house, green shutters, and a large porch near my mother's place; send my husband to graduate school; buy Erin a horse and Cole a cat, and give a pile of it to Sister Nancy Healy for her spiritual retreat center, The Well.
If you could trade places for just one day with anyone in the world, who would it be and why? Sister Nancy Healy (at The Well), just because it's peaceful, it's calm, it's beautiful. You don't have to argue with a husband or children. But only for one day, because I want them back the next day.
Biggest accomplishment: Changing careers and going back to school at age 34. Being A Christian. Being Erin's and Cole's mom. Housebreaking ``Lance,'' our dog.
Most embarrassing moment: Once, while playing in the surf at Corolla, a wave knocked my entire top off. And, last year at the pool, my daughter informed me that I had a hole about the size of a softball in the rear-end of my suit. I'm dangerous in swimwear.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? My attitude toward appearance. I'm kind of wrapped up in my own appearance, if I feel too heavy or too out of shape . . . and other people. . . how they look, it affects me and I wish it didn't.
Perfect way to spend the day: In nature - either in the country or at the beach or in the mountains.
I can't resist: Any kind of ice cream - the real deal, not that fake, lo-cal stuff.
Favorite Portsmouth restaurant: Cafe Europa.
Favorite Portsmouth hangout: I love to go to the Commodore Theatre with my husband.
Biggest problem facing Portsmouth: Probably non-acceptance. If we were more accepting, we wouldn't have the prejudice and the hate and the problems that we have. That's a worldwide thing.
If you had three wishes for Portsmouth, what would they be?
That everyone would become closer to God.
That people would become more accepting of one another.
And that there would not be so much anger and violence.
Other than its small-town atmosphere, what do you like about Portsmouth? They welcome strangers. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Lisa Meyers by CNB