Each year, NC Campus Compact recognizes a group of outstanding student servant-leaders with our Community Impact Award. Each campus may select one student to receive the award. This year, 23 students were named by their campus as Community Impact Award recipients, joining more than 250 college students recognized by the network since the award was first presented in 2006. Seventeen of those students were recognized during an awards ceremony at the CSNAP Student Conference.
Congratulations to all these outstanding students!
Appalachian State University
Victoria Redmon
Victoria Redmon stands out for her work with ASU’s Alternative Service Experience (ASE) program, where she has served as a peer leader, executive board member, and now as chairperson. In this role, she oversees some 35 break programs engaging over 400 students, faculty, and staff, training leaders and raising funds. With her upbeat personality and focus on community-driven service, Victoria has motivated many trip participants to become ASE peer leaders themselves. She’s deepened her own learning as a Break Away Citizenship School Summer Site Leader, and she’s also dedicated herself to the local community, serving for three years as a Girls on the Run Coach. Read more about Victoria.
Central Piedmont Community College
Tida Bayo
Tida is deeply involved in the life of the CPCC community as a member of Rotaract, Phi Theta Kappa, the African Student Association, and the executive board of the Student Government Association. Perhaps most important is her role with CPCC’s Central campus emergency food pantry. Selected last spring as a student coordinator for the pantry’s first semester, Tida was the only student coordinator to be re-hired this fall. A skilled organizer, she manages pantry inventory, coordinates deliveries with pantry suppliers, and provides referrals to students who need more support.
Duke University
Snehan Sharma
Snehan has dedicated himself to working with and for vulnerable people in the Durham community. Shortly after coming to Duke, he got involved with the Kenan Refugee Project, first as a tutor and mentor of refugee youth in Durham through the MASTERY program, then as a Kenan Summer Fellow, then as a member of the Citizenship Lab project to support youth civic participation. With the Community Empowerment Fund (CEF), he advocated for affordable and accessible housing in Durham, including organizing the city’s first Mayor’s Landlord Roundtable during a summer with DukeEngage-Durham.
READ MORE: Duke University senior honored for community service
East Carolina University
Sylveonna Holmes
Since the moment Sylveonna Holmes arrived at ECU, she has committed herself to leadership and service. She has been part of many programs, including LeaderShape, alternative break experiences, and national days of service. A junior majoring in communications and leadership studies, Sylveonna supports fellow students as a Peer Career Leader and as an ECU Leads Mentor, where she works with first-year students to develop their competencies for social change leadership. As a coordinator for the Pirate PALS youth club, she supports youth in Pitt County by recruiting and training college students to lead local tutoring, reading buddy, and mentoring activities.
Elon University
Amy Mullan
At Elon, Amy Mullan has made addressing hunger a key goal of her service and scholarship. As the Student Director of Elon’s Campus Kitchen Project, Amy guides 15 student leaders working to fight hunger through direct service and advocacy. Last year, her team collected nearly 7,000 pounds of food and prepared over 9,000 meals for Alamance County residents. She previously served as one of the first Farm and Garden Coordinators for the project, helping to quadruple the farm’s yield. With a faculty mentor, Amy has worked for two years on a hunger-related research project, “Newcomers and Nursing: Infant-feeding beliefs and practices of resettled refugee and asylum seekers in North Carolina.”
READ MORE: Elon senior Amy Mullan honored with Community Impact Award
Fayetteville State University
Alicia Williams
Alicia has been a leader in community and campus service during her time at FSU. As a certified peer health educator, wellness ambassador, orientation leader, and member of the national Pan-Hellenic Council, Alicia has worked for the physical and emotional health of her peers. As volunteer coordinator for the university’s Campus Kitchen Project and a co-chairperson for the 2018 Fayetteville-Cumberland County CROP Hunger Walk, she has fought hunger and improved nutrition in the community. Last semester, Alicia won a grant from Youth Service America to boost a food backpack program at a local elementary school.
Guilford College
Isabel Gutierrez
Isabel is an active campus leader who has made a difference at Guilford and in Greensboro. For children in the community, she’s been a STEM teaching assistant in a local middle school and an ESOL teacher at the Oakwood Community Center. For the past two years, Isabel has organized the college’s Festival de Niños, a fun, on-campus celebration for kids involved in community tutoring and mentorship programs. For her peers at Guilford, she promotes service-learning as the Project Community coordinator, serves on the Bonner Advisory Board and Student Government, and is a member of Hispanos Unidos de Guilford.
High Point University
Danasia Eubanks
Danasia is an incredible student leader who manages to be both efficient and caring. As the YWCA’s Justice Coordinator, she has worked with the City of High Point’s Human Relations commission, Library, Museum, and other community organizations to host “Front Porch” conversations on race and justice issues. As a Bonner Leader Intern, she focuses on program and partnership development, networking with the seven partners sites and with different parts of the HPU administration. She is passionate about social justice and is working to organize a series of campus dialogues across difference.
NC State University
Tin Phan
Through his service, Tin demonstrates a commitment to partnership and a caring for children at home and around the world. In his hometown of Charlotte, he co-created the Savio Football Club, a soccer club for refugee children, by partnering with his parent’s refugee community and a local missionary organization. When he founded NCSU’s chapter of Operation Smile — an international organization providing repair surgeries for children with cleft palate — he grew membership by reaching out to his Goodnight Scholars and Honors communities. As the co-chair of the LEGO Brick Build event, Tin built a strong partnership with the Raleigh Boys & Girls Clubs.
North Carolina A&T State University
Tylik McMillan
Tylik is an activist and campus leader. As a National Youth Leader for the National Action Network, he works to advance the modern civil rights agenda. As chair of the Black Caucus for the College Democrats of North Carolina, he represents concerns of African American students. As the director of outreach for the Brunswick County (Virginia) Democratic Committee, he worked to increase voting among millenials. At NC A&T, Tylik also serves as Attorney General of the Student Government Association and head of the Judicial Committee, as well as a resident assistant.
North Carolina Central University
Neils Barringer
Neils exemplifies the power of connecting academic learning and service. A foods and nutrition major with a concentration in dietetics, Neils focuses her service on food-related projects and agencies. As the volunteer manager of NC Central’s campus food pantry, Neils coordinates student volunteers, raises resources from community partners and alumni, and promotes a project that serves over 100 individuals each month. She’s organized hunger-related lectures and documentary screenings as the secretary of the Student Nutrition Association, and she’s also volunteered with the Interfaith Food Shuttle as a Cooking Matters event host.
Pfeiffer University
Mandee Schaub
Mandee grows food for the body and the spirit at Pfeiffer University. As Pfeiffer’s community garden coordinator, she’s worked to engage external groups so Pfeiffer students can volunteer alongside community members during garden workdays. As a Worship Team leader, Mandee coordinates chapel services and associated activities. Finally, in leading the Angel Tree project, she directs a team of students who collect and distribute holiday gifts and plan a holiday party for 80 local children.
Queens University of Charlotte
Isabel Perez
During the 2016 election, Isabel was instrumental helping Queens be named a “Voter Friendly Campus,” ensuring her peers were registered to vote and walking them to the polls. Isabel also serves as the Vice President of the Call to Action Club, where she partners with other clubs and with faculty and staff on various social action issues on campus and in the community. Isabel has also served as a pen pal and afterschool tutor with local Sedgefield Elementary.
UNC Asheville
Kayla Taylor
Kayla is an advocate for students at UNCA and beyond. Her on-campus service includes representing peers as an SGA senator and working as an RA for a social justice-focused living-learning community called L.E.A.D. As the director of community engagement for the Student Organization Council, Kayla serves as a liaison between local agencies and student groups to facilitate service and partnerships. As an Ignite NC Fellow, she has worked to raise awareness of DACA and advocated for sanctuary for undocumented students.
UNC Charlotte
Neariah Mandisa-Drummond
As a member of UNCC’s first class of Bonner Leaders, Neariah has made a commitment to community engagement. As an intern with Friendship Trays, a local “meals-on-wheels” program, Neariah helps with all aspects of the work, including food prep and delivery. She has completed the Certified Leader program with UNCC’s Center for Leadership Development, and she serves as the student representative on UNCC’s Civic Action Planning Group. Recently, Neariah worked with a team of students to organize an event that brought Charlotte law enforcement to campus for a trust-building dialogue with students.
UNC Greensboro
Tiaira Moragne
During her four years at UNCG, Tiaira has held leadership positions with several student organizations like UNCG’s NAACP Chapter, the Neo Black Society, Sisters with a Vision, and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority; and with university departments including Intercultural Engagement, Leadership and Service-Learning, and the Dean of Students Office. Among the numerous community and campus initiatives she has supported is the Raise ‘Em Up Mentoring program, which connects more than 80 UNCG students with local middle schoolers. She also helped coordinate three Civil Rights Pilgrimages over the past three alternative fall breaks.
UNC Pembroke
Harrison Pegram
Harrison is an emerging leader at UNC Pembroke who engages his peers in voting and service. Working with a team of students in 2016, Harrison created the non-partisan UNCP Votes! project, which registered 200 students, garnered 600 voting pledges, and held 11 voter engagement events. As an intern with the Town of Pembroke, he developed a marketing packet to attract new business. As a student leader in the office for community and civic engagement, Harrison has expanded UNCP’s number of community partnerships, managed the online UNCP Serve volunteer system, and led an alternative fall break trip.
UNC Wilmington
Jocabed Aragon
Jocabed’s service supports Hispanic and Latinx communities on and off-campus. As a work study students at UNCW’s Centro Hispano, Jocabed helps her peers connect with resources and opportunities. As a mentor with Centro Hispano’s MI CASA project and with the Embajadores program, she supports local Latinx high schoolers and promotes college access. She seeks to build bridges across race and culture in her work with the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and in her art. A film studies major, Jocabed documents Centro Hispano programs and recently had a film featured in the 2017 WilmFilm Chick Flick Film Festival. Last summer, she completed an internship with a social justice institute in Oakland, California.
READ MORE: UNCW Student Wins North Carolina Campus Compact Community Impact Award
UNC-Chapel Hill
Jessica Mencia
Jessica stands out among engaged Carolina students as a strong voice for the rights of immigrants and victims of domestic violence. She also displays an impressive commitment to connecting her public policy studies and her community service. As a mentor with the NC Scholars’ Latinx Initiative, Jessica serves local youth. As co-chair for Students United for Immigrant Equality, Jessica directed an inter-organizational call to UNC administration in support of undocumented students. In her work with the Compass Center for Women and Families, she established relationships with local cosmetologists to equip them with resources to support clients experiencing domestic violence.
Wake Forest University
Jenny Mai
During her time at Wake Forest University, Jenny has demonstrated a commitment to partnering for social justice, particularly in the realms of gender, sexuality, and race. As the Director of the annual Branches Social Justice Retreat, Jenny has built coalitions with various identity centers on campus, such as the Intercultural, LGBTQ, and Women’s Centers. In the community, she served as an intern at a local soup kitchen and homeless shelter, Samaritan Ministries, and managed a project that cultivated relationships between millennials, religious communities, and the agency. She has also led alternative breaks and edits a student publication focusing on social justice.
Wayne Community College
Aziah Morales
Since she enrolled at Wayne Community College after graduating early from high school, Aziah has made the most of her experience as a student leader and volunteer. She has worked with dozens of community agencies and campus groups. First as the Student Government Association’s special populations chair and now as SGA president, Aziah has made community service a priority, organizing hurricane relief efforts, donation drives for local non-profits, and events, including a campus lunch and learn for Rare Disease Day.
READ MORE: Morales Presented Community Impact Award
Western Carolina University
Fiona Buchanan
Fiona has been a major force in Western Carolina’s focus on student voting and civic engagement. As an Andrew Goodman Foundation Ambassador and a team leader for the Student Democracy Coalition, she has helped institutionalize non-partisan voter engagement efforts even as she works to engage her peers. Prior to joining the coalition, she worked on several political campaigns and with local party organizations. She has also served as president of the Anthropology Club and as a Social Media Ambassador for the university. Read more about Fiona.
Winston-Salem State University
Jeri Craddock
Jeri provides key leadership in helping students address “real world” issues on and off-campus. She champions increased student access and utilization of mental health resources and advocates for WSSU student engagement with middle and high school students. Recently she supported a research project to implement a WSSU Counseling Center app. She also worked as an intern for the Initiative for Just and Sustainable Communities (IJSC), leading activities with community partners to address educational equity and criminal justice practices. For these efforts, Jeri was recognized as the Southeastern Region Miss Phi Beta Sigma.
View more photos. Photo credit: Kenny Brock.