Daisey Sanchez

Daisey Sanchez, who is graduating May 19 from the SF State University, is the winner of the university’s 2012 Outstanding Student Leader Award.

Sanchez, 21, is a first generation college student from the Mission District.

Studying communicative disorders at SF State, she has combined her classwork with hundreds of hours of community service, helping marginalized communities including Spanish speakers and children with disabilities.

On campus, she served as a clinic aide at a conversation club for young adults and as president of a student organization for those in the communicative disorders field.

In the community, she has worked as an aide to a child with autism at the Janet Pomeroy Center and volunteered for the San Francisco Unified School District, the Hearing and Speech Center of Northern California and a nonprofit called Support for Families of Children with Disabilities.

She has been accepted to the University of Arizona to study for a doctorate in audiology, preparing her for a clinical role working with people with hearing problems.