Mott Community College: MCC Student Katherine Mellinger Honored As Newman Civic Fellow 

Press release from Mott Community College:

Dawn Hibbard

Mar 10th, 2022

Mott Community College student Katherine Mellinger, of Swartz Creek, has been named a Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact, a Boston-based non-profit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education. Mellinger is one of 173 students from 38 states and Mexico who will be in the 2022-2023 cohort.

The Newman Civic Fellowship is a yearlong program for students from Campus Compact member institutions. The students selected for the fellowship are leaders on their campuses who demonstrate a commitment to finding solutions for challenges facing communities locally, nationally, and internationally.

Millenger is scheduled to graduate from MCC in 2023 with an Associate’s Degree in Social Work. She has put her education to work in the field helping fellow students with food, clothing and housing insecurity through the Lenore Croudy Family Life Center at MCC. She is a Peer Mentor in the Connect2Complete program and serves as the student representative for the College in building institutional capacity for meeting students’ basic needs to reach their academic goals.

“Katherine has taken a lead role in the efforts of the College to provide equity and inclusion for supporting both academic and personal needs of the student body,” said MCC President, Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffea.

Mellinger’s passion for her work is evident in the energy she puts into helping students navigate academia and coaching them one on one toward completion of their academic goals.

“Through this journey, I want to be a part of broader, equitable systemic change to help people get the help they need when they need it,” said Melligner.

The Newman Civic Fellowship, named for Campus Compact co-founder Frank Newman, is a one-year experience emphasizing personal, professional, and civic growth for students who have demonstrated a capacity for leadership and an investment in solving public problems.

Through the fellowship, Campus Compact provides a variety of learning and networking opportunities, including a national conference of Newman Civic Fellows in partnership with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. The fellowship also provides fellows with access to apply for exclusive scholarship and post-graduate opportunities.

“We are proud to name such an outstanding and diverse group of students Newman Civic Fellows,” said Campus Compact President Bobbie Laur. “Their passion and resolve to take action on the wide range of issues challenging our neighborhoods and communities is inspiring and deeply needed. We cannot wait to engage with them through this transformative experience.”

The Newman Civic Fellowship is supported by the KPMG Foundation and Newman’s Own Foundation. Learn more at compact.org/newman-civic-fellowship.

Campus Compact is a national coalition of colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education. Campus Compact supports institutions in fulfilling their public purposes by deepening their ability to improve community life and to educate students for civic and social responsibility. As the largest national higher education association dedicated solely to campus-based civic engagement, we provide professional development to administrators and faculty to enable them to engage effectively, facilitate national partnerships connecting campuses with key issues in their local communities, build pilot programs to test and refine promising models in engaged teaching and scholarship, celebrate and cultivate student civic leadership, and convene higher education institutions and partners beyond higher education to share knowledge and develop collective capacity. Visit www.compact.org

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This press release was produced by Mott Community College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.