Meet Volunteer J.D. Leza

John-David Leza, known to most simply as J.D., has created tremendous impact in his UW community. A 1995 graduate in psychology and English, this motivated Husky is ready to help take on the world.

J.D. grew up in Seattle and Marion, Ind. After high school, he attended Purdue University but decided to complete his studies in Seattle. When he moved back to the West Coast, he worked in restaurants for five years until he felt he was ready to dedicate himself to college. In the meantime, he attended night classes at Seattle Central Community College for three quarters before getting into the UW Pipeline program.

J.D. started at the UW in 1990 and engaged in many campus activities, including the Curriculum Transformation Project led by Drs. Johnnella Butler and Betty Schmitz. At the same time, some of J.D.'s friends and mentors were creating the UWAA Multicultural Alumni Partnership (MAP). Sharing a similar vision for the endowed scholarship fund, J.D. was invited to become a board member, officer and chair of the 2010 Bridging the Gap scholarship fundraising breakfast planning committee. Last year, J.D., MAP and its UW Coalition Partners hosted nearly 400 campus and community leaders and raised more than $10,000 for merit scholarships during Homecoming Week.

J.D. has dedicated himself to youth development and community service for nearly 20 years. He started in youth development after volunteering at the Children’s Hospital therapy pool, where he taught swimming to children who had been traumatized by injury and/or illness. He also supervised the water aerobics workouts of two middle school boys with muscular dystrophy. The two boys were wheelchair bound but were able to exercise their muscles and experience personal mobility in the water. This experience reinforced for J.D. what was truly important in life. So while attending the UW and continuing his volunteerism, he started working with teenagers and young children in Seattle Parks’ before- and after-school and summer recreation and academic support programs.

Today J.D. manages the National Crime Victimization Survey at the U.S. Census Bureau’s Seattle Regional Office on behalf of the Department of Justice. He supervises a team of 60 field staff in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Northern California. Most important, he has two beautiful middle-school-aged daughters, Sedona and Sierra, and he enjoys camping in the Olympic and Cascade Mountains and riding motorcycles.

"Confidence is key. Have faith in yourself in others," J.D. advises. On behalf of the UWAA, we commend J.D.’s hard work and accomplishments and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.