Volunteer Profile: Anastacia Teper

Anastacia Teper Enlarge in a new window

Currently pursuing a BA in Psychology at Brooklyn College with a minor in Children’s Studies

Project at the Alliance: Anastacia worked on research and documenting the links between self-esteem and violence prevention in youth. Anastacia also developed a survey for afterschool youth workers asking them about any self-esteem programs they have in their programs, how common sexual violence is among the youth they serve and what they think will prevent sexual violence from occurring.

“While working on the questionnaire, I was given numerous articles on self-esteem, focusing on self-esteem in the larger society or concerning specific minority groups or gender groups. I also consulted with Debi Fry, Research Director, about the findings and ideas developed from these readings regarding self-esteem and its’ relationship to sexual violence. The work was interesting, producing interesting findings and ideas.”

What did you want to volunteer at the Alliance? “I volunteered at the Alliance because even the name itself—NYC Alliance Against Sexual Assault—gave me inspiration and strength to go and look into a new and ‘foreign land’ that the Alliance represented to me. The name of the Alliance sounded strong; and I like it. I also wanted to see if I could be of any use since I was only an interning student, if I could do what was asked of me, so I thought that just going into a new environment would be challenging and exciting, which it definitely was.”

What did you gain from your experience interning at the Alliance? “From the experience at the Alliance I gained hope in the future progress, hope in being able to help the victims of sexual violence and stop violence from continuing in the future. I also saw how people at the Alliance worked, what they did or had to do to make certain things happen, such as informing the public about the extent of violence and ways to prevent it or collaborating with other institutions or professionals from various fields, such as the police or forensic investigators to help them work on cases.”

What do you hope to pursue in the future? “In the future I would also like to do something real, just like the Alliance is doing, something that could be applied to the real life circumstances, not from books or theory but day-to-day interactions with people. I want to help people get healthier, both spiritually and physically; focusing especially on adolescents and younger children so than they could lead happier and more productive lives.”