Evelyn Ealey (she/her) is a senior student from Charlotte, North Carolina pursuing a double major in (BFA) Dance Performance & Choreography and (BA) Strategic Communications at Elon University. While at Elon, she has developed her artistic voice through undergraduate research, performance and choreography. Her experiences have helped create her unique artistic identity that she hopes to use to uplift those in her community and encourage diverse voices to be heard. Her work seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences of Black identifying students pursuing collegiate dance degrees and uncover the mental health impacts they face in navigating the complex dynamics of their environment. In her last semester of her undergraduate journey, Evelyn is excited to serve as the Academic Publishing Intern for the Journal of Dance Education (JoDE) and to present her research, Rhythms of Resilience, at the 2026 North Carolina Dance Education Organization Conference (NCDEO).