Alum Named YWCA Lancaster Women of Achievement Honoree

Millersville University alumna Lakeesha M. Bair-Myers '99, who currently serves as a school social worker at Reynolds Middle School in the School District of Lancaster, has been named a YWCA Lancaster 2026 Women of Achievement honoree.

The Women of Achievement awards, which raise support for the YWCA's Kepler Hall Residence Program, honor changemakers who are building a more just, equitable Lancaster. Honorees will be recognized at an Oct. 29 event.

Bair-Myers provides clinical services, crisis intervention, case management and social-emotional support at Reynolds Middle School, where she created the Care Closet to provide food, clothing, hygiene and household essentials to students and families. She also leads the school's Secret Angels Program, which mobilizes community support to provide holiday gifts for more than 150 students each year.

Bair-Myers earned a Master of Social Work degree from Temple University, with a clinical emphasis on children and families, and a bachelor's degree in sociology with a criminal justice concentration from Millersville University. Prior to entering clinical social work, she spent nearly a decade in the juvenile justice system as a senior community-based and institutional probation officer.

Social Work Field Instructor of the Year at Millersville University in 2023 and a Distinguished McCaskey Alumni in 2026, Bair-Myers serves on several community and health-focused boards, including the Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health Equity Community Advisory Board and the Abramson Cancer Center Community Advisory Board at the University of Pennsylvania. She also serves as representative secretary of the Lancaster Education Association and ethnic minority representative to the Pennsylvania State Education Association's board.