Lanie Landavere
Lanie Landavere
Chronic health issues suffered from childhood not only pointed the way to career interests, but also helped strengthen the virtue of fortitude for scholarship winner, Lanie Landavere. Chronic health problems often trigger anxiety in the people who suffer with them. “My anxiety was expressed physically from an early age. My dentist diagnosed that I was biting my cheeks to cope with anxiety. He helped me overcome this behavior and that changed my life.” From this experience at the age of 12 Lanie has been focused on becoming a Dental Hygienist so she can help others improve their mental health through dental awareness and having a beautiful smile. She is currently working on her Human Anatomy and Physiology and Microbiology courses at NOVA and will be entering the Dental Hygiene program at Hagerstown Community College once her prerequisites are complete. In the meantime, she is working as a dental assistant at Cardinal Park Family Dentistry in Leesburg.
Chronic health issues meant missing school until COVID ended in-person learning. Her homeschooling started, and motivated by the experience of an older brother, Lanie “buckled down” and started taking Dual Enrollment classes through Liberty University’s Online Academy. This past spring Lanie not only graduated from “traditional” high school but received her Associates Degree from Liberty University’s program as well. In addition to her coursework, Lanie participated in Liberty University’s Honor Society and BETA Club where she earned the Student of the Year for her community service work in 2023.
Although school “shut down” during COVID, Lanie’s church did not. She was already engaged in a wide variety of ministries before the pandemic. This gave her the opportunity to not only be with people, but to serve them as well. Her family would regularly go to the Frederick Rescue Mission to provide support to the men who participate in their programs. Working alongside her parents in the organization’s kitchen, Lanie got to know men who were separated from their families because of addiction to drugs, alcohol, or both. “When you serve regularly you get to witness their physical and emotional healing and the joy they have when they can connect with God and their families again.”
Lanie’s parents have inspired her to earn her own money and make her own way financially. Watching them build an insurance agency from the bottom up over the years has taught her the lesson of hard work. In addition to simultaneously earning a high school diploma and an Associate’s Degree, Lanie has worked a forty hour a week plus schedule of retail and restaurant jobs. “Work is teaching me the value of getting along with a wide variety of people. Arriving early and staying on task are some of the ways I make sure I bring value to my jobs.”
With these accomplishments on her resume, it is easy to think that Lanie is a very serious young woman. Balancing all these demands in addition to chronic health issues also developed Lanie’s wonderful sense of humor.
When her mother questioned how many “life skills” she had mastered through her studies and work experience, Lanie sat down and made an amazing list of all the “other things” she knows how to do! Few of our readers can match her list which includes skills as “Making a Bed with Flat Sheets, Changing a Flat Tire, Unclogging a Toilet and Balancing a Checkbook!” With this resume and this list, we are sure that nothing will stop Lanie from accomplishing her future goals! Congratulations Lanie! You make us Lucketts Proud!
