Student honored for community service work
Isabel Thottam ’13 has been named a 2012 Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact for her campus leadership and commitment to community service. President Lee Pelton presented her with the award at the Emerson Recognition and Achievement Awards Sunday night.
Campus Compact is a national coalition of nearly 1,200 college and university presidents—representing more than 6 million students—who are committed to improving community life and to educating students for civic and social responsibility. Member college and university presidents chose 162 college student leaders for the fellowship this year.
Thottam has been consistently dedicated to serving her community. She has been a resident assistant at Emerson for two years as well as a leader and participant in Emerson’s Alternative Spring Break program, helping with disaster recovery, ecological restoration, and sustainable agriculture issues. She also volunteers at Samaritans, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention, and ran the 2012 Boston Marathon to raise funds for the organization. Thottam also founded Hold on Another Day, a nonprofit whose mission is to help teens, kids, and adults suffering from depression and lack of self-worth by connecting through music.
“Dr. Frank Newman, a founder of Campus Compact, had a tremendous impact on American education and its role in the development of citizens who are eager and prepared to make a difference,” said Campus Compact President Maureen Curley. “He dedicated his life to creating systemic change through education reform and this new group of Newman Civic Fellows would have inspired him. They are reflections and affirmations of his life’s work.”
As a Newman Civic Fellow, Thottam will join a network of Fellows around the country. By sharing ideas and tools through online networking, the Fellows will leverage an even greater capacity for service and change, and will continue to set examples for their classmates and others.
Categories
