Van Woensel loves school, tattoos, pup

By Mallory Stiles
Editor in Chief

If you are a student who has ever had trouble registering for classes, it is likely that you have had the pleasure of meeting LCC full-time Enrollment Specialist Elice Van Woensel.

The 26-year-old Van Woensel said she couldn’t be happier to be a part of the LCC team.

“I love it; it’s great,” Van Woensel said. “I get to help students with things like getting enrolled in college, getting their classes sorted out and overcoming any barriers they might be facing.

“My dream job is to be a success coach or adviser here. It makes me feel good to be able to help people reach their goals and get in school.”

Van Woensel spends more time than most at LCC because after her eight-hour shift, she has to get to class. This summer she is taking Math 119 and Introduction to Fitness for a total of five credits.

She said the fitness class forces her to stay active, but the Math 119 is a part of her program which she just recently enrolled in while changing her major to World Languages.

Van Woensel chose to study Spanish. She said she has always loved languages, but feels short-changed by her past experiences trying to learn them. However she has high hopes for what LCC can do for her.

“I am really excited to get a degree that will help me communicate with people,” Van Woensel said. “That was a failure of my K-12 education system. I took Spanish, I took French, I took Latin and I can’t speak any of them, even conversationally.”

Van Woensel said she loves school because it has always come naturally to her and she likes to learn new things. She called her path less than traditional but said it always led back to the classroom.

To show for it, she already has a bachelor’s degree in general university studies with concentrations in early childhood development, creative writing and behavioral science, and also an MBA with a concentration in value driven organizations.

“It basically means I changed my major a bunch of times,” she said. “I have done a little bit of everything; I just kind of changed my direction a lot and as a result, have done a lot of random things.”

Van Woensel said she likes to think of her sense of style a statement and would describe her vibe as either a “magical fairy princess-elf-woodland creature” or “Abbie from NCIS,” with absolutely no in between.

She grew up in Cincinnati, which is where she first discovered her love for giving back to the community by helping her aunt who served on many city boards, sacrificing countless hours of her young life just to lend a hand.

“They did a lot of emergency food and clothing for people in need,” Van Woensel said. “We gave out Christmas gifts to families, school uniforms and supplies to kids. I used to volunteer every summer. I really loved it.

“I also used to volunteer in another summer program for kids with learning disabilities to help them learn skills that would help them succeed during the school year.”

As an adult, she still found a way to organize her own donations by starting a side-business where she helps people clean out their closets in exchange for the rights to the leftovers, which she then donates or sells.

Though it would seem Van Woensel would have no time left in between her full-time job, classes and side gig, somehow she still fits in time for important people, including her long-time best friend and cousin, Claire Taylor.

“We are basically unofficial sisters,” Taylor said. “We have always been close. There are pictures of us in the same bathtub together as babies. We shared all the holidays together, every birthday together, shared every toy.

“She was a big sister for me and was a role model growing up, I thought she was so cool. She was always down for anything.”

Van Woensel is an only child and may have been a wild one. Currently, however, she prefers to spend most days curled up with a terrible romance novel or cuddling her puppy, Princess Cinnabun.

For fun, she and her partner still hit the occasional Comic Con for the cool art and cosplay, thrift shops for the next trinket to complete their home décor, or hunt for fresh lavender to bring home.

Van Woensel really likes tattoos too, and is planning her 24th addition because, to her, there’s nothing better than exploring yourself through art.

Her advice for the world is the same thing she tells herself every day.

Just do whatever makes you happy,” Van Woensel said. “There will be someone who thinks it’s really cool. Even if it’s something that people think of as traditionally cringey, just do it and own it.

“Confidence is most important.”