Like Mother, Like Daughter:
Pair Both Earning Degrees at La Salle University

How many college students would like to bump into their mothers at the student union, computer lab, or library? Not many, but Anna Alesiani encouraged her mother to do just that.

The mother, Anne, who lives in Havertown, and her daughter, Anna, are both seniors at La Salle University. Anne began her education at La Salle in 1976 but took time off to have her children. She always hoped to go back to school, so when her daughter Anna began looking at colleges and decided on La Salle, Anne saw a good opportunity to finish her education.

“It was Anna who convinced me to go back to school at La Salle” Anne said.

The mother and daughter are both full-time day students who commute from their home in Havertown. Anna is an English major, while her mother is studying Elementary and Special Education.

“We see each other on campus in the student union, computer lab, and library and neither Anna nor myself would want it any differently,” said Anne.

Anna's only request of her mother, upon returning to campus, was that the two not register for the same classes. Anna also offered her mother educational advice: “I told her to stop doing her homework a week in advance, and I was thrilled when she finally stopped,” said Anna, who appreciated a more relaxed approach to school.

The pair also interacted through campus activities. Anna is editor of The Grimore, La Salle’s student literary magazine. She published a poem her mother wrote about her in the Spring 2005 issue of the magazine.

They are also involved with independent research projects:

While participating in a practicum at Simmons Elementary School in Horsham, mother Anne Alesiani began a research project with Education Professor Sharon Schoen about a teaching strategy for special needs students. Anne Alesiani is continuing her work with Schoen at the Widener Memorial School (for students with physical disabilities) this semester. She and Schoen hope that a paper on their research project will be selected for publication next year.

Daughter, Anna Alesiani is a writing track major and one of her closest friends, Carekee Fung, suggested a project that examined how Eastern literature affected Fung and how Western literature influenced Anna. Both are reading novels by Eastern and Western writers and writing fiction and will examine how reading the novels influenced their writing. Their project is being overseen by Professor Judith Musser of the English Department.

by: Michelle Bauer