Presidents’ Leadership Awards

We can’t control everything that goes on around us, but we can learn from what we observe and what we experience, and with talent and resolve, we can channel those lessons constructively to shape our community by educating and influencing others. This is true for Martin Toe (Granite State College ’21), who has drawn upon the experiences from his birth in the Ivory Coast, and his exodus to the United States, and his formative years in New Hampshire to construct a life of civic engagement and purpose that benefits those around him.

The transition from the Ivory Coast to Concord, New Hampshire was not without challenges, but through this engagement with the local Boys and Girls club, and supportive staff, Martin gained confidence, developed friendships, and found ways to nurture his talents as a student, as an artist, and as an athlete. By the time he was in middle school, as teachers and classmates recognized both his talent and his people skills, Martin also realized that he had a platform to influence others in a positive way, built on a strong educational foundation, but always with a vision to help others.

With interests that span music, spoken word, and community activism, Martin was inspired to pursue a pathway that integrated each of these passions into one, while earning his degree. Putting his passion into practice, Martin recorded his own music, using his talent to spread messages of hope, courage, and strength. His self-release EP received international critical acclaim. Martin was also inspired to write a book about his journey as a refugee in efforts to help others overcome obstacles and achieve their goals. Within the community, Martin pursued internship opportunities that would give him professional experience and put what he’s learning in his business degree program into practice while affecting positive change.

Most recently, Martin served as the Grassroots Organizer Intern for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) where he organized “Know Your Rights” training, a Civics Academy, and a delegation of young adults that traveled to Washington, D.C. to advocate with our congressional delegation for immigrant rights. While interning at AFSC, Martin seized the opportunity to take on a leadership role by co-founding Change for Concord with a fellow organizer. Change for Concord is a diverse group of young adults who are working together to improve the quality of life for people in the Concord area and make it a more inclusive and accessible community. As Martin explains, “Oftentimes, we don’t value the strength of diversity in our community and therefore it is minimized. Subsequently, people are taught that their voices don’t matter. We want to address this by taking action to show marginalized groups that their voices matter.”

Martin credits AFSC for giving him the tools to lead. Ultimately, it was Martin’s leadership within Change for Concord that garnered the attention of Stay Work Play’s Rising Stars Award as the Civic Leader of the Year. In a ceremony held on October 15, Martin shared: “It takes every one of us to make New Hampshire a more vibrant and inclusive place. We all have our part.”

With a focus on issues that impact young people and are critical in achieving a more inclusive community—raising the minimum wage, affordable housing, immigration reform, restorative justice—Martin is committed to amplifying this work through his music, art, community activism, and ultimately his career. For Martin’s efforts to strengthen our community and the world around him, Granite State College is proud to have him recognized as the recipient of the 2021 President’s Leadership Award by Campus Compact New Hampshire.

Kylie is an inspiring young woman who is committed to creating equitable student environments at NEC through her participation in the President's Commission for Equity, The Diversity Planning Committee, and as a Resident Assistant. Kylie speaks and acts with purpose and thought. In her role on the President's Commission for Equity she is a fearless voice and leader who is remarkably poised in addressing Administration, Faculty, and Staff. She has helped others understand more about where inequities lie, and in how to be a partner in creating equitable and safe learning environments. In developing a zine to be shared with students each week, Kylie has created a space for students to contribute their thoughts and opinions each week to develop awareness around topics of race, diversity, and inclusivity. Kylie Cropper plays an integral role in making significant change at New England College and beyond.

``Health Science major Carina Dillon '21 embodies commitment to service and strengthening community. As a leader within the Franklin Pierce University Office of Community Service, Carina spearheaded the Launch Point afterschool program for area youth in Jaffrey, NH. In her role as manager of the program, she proved effective in consistently recruiting energetic volunteers who provided direct support to enrich the educational experience for participating students. Building on her commitment to youth and community, Carina was pivotal in supporting the Head Start program, our Boynton Buddies mentoring opportunity, and the Telephone Tales literary initiative.

On campus, Carina has been involved with the Spirit Leaders, Alternative Spring Break, Student Conduct Board and has been an active member of the Student Affairs Leader Mentoring Committee as well as Alpha Chi and Psi Chi Honors Societies.

In addition to her dedication to the Community Service Office, Carina's leadership with Students of Faith and the University's Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has helped further sustained dialogue and initiatives to create a more just and equitable campus community. Carina is committed to empathic listening and continually strives for consistency in action. She also represents the interests of her classmates serving as a student representative for the University's Commencement Committee. She is deeply respected by her peers and community partners. We are grateful for her service to the University and the many organizations throughout the community.

SINC (Social Impact Nonprofit Consulting) is Dartmouth's first (undergraduate) social impact mission-driven consulting group. In a few years' time, SINC has already had a tremendous impact in the Dartmouth community and across the Upper Valley one as well. SINC consultants are regularly tackling such varied and transformative project such as developing a curriculum for a comprehensive training on systemic poverty for staff at LISTEN, providing a cost-benefit analysis of the work that COVER Home Repair does to keep existing safely habitable compared to building new affordable housing from scratch, expanding upon a digital platform to support residents in promoting climate resilience and combating climate change locally for the Upper Valley Adaptation Workgroup (UVAW), and developing community education materials for childhood lead screenings and other prevention work related to lead poisoning and exposure in young children for the Public Health Council of the Upper Valley. While the projects that SINC has taken have been very positively received from community partners, the targeted infrastructure within the student group is equally impressive. SINC has built an intentional (and incredibly effective!) promotional plan that has seen exponential increases in student applicants every term. They have a best-practices informed orientation process for new members, ongoing professional development, and a clear system of leadership and succession that is so vital to the longevity of this student group over time. In short, SINC manages to address community needs in the social sector--environmental conservation, poverty, educational access, racial/gender inequities, etc.-while also ensuring that ever student who participates in SINC learns about and reflects on the broader systems of social justice and disparities that give rise to these issues in the first place. This combined trifecta of sustained impact, professionalism, and student learning allow the Social Impact Nonprofit Consulting team to powerfully deliver on their intended mission to ``to establish a space on campus in which students can gain hands-on experience at the intersection of strategy and social impact``.

Alyssa Griffin is a sophomore at Plymouth State University, where she is studying meteorology with a minor in math. She serves as food pantry manager and current President for the Student Support Foundation (SSF), a student-led organization that provides emergency financial grants, manages an on-campus food pantry, and provides other services at no cost to PSU students. Alyssa stepped into the role of President just this semester, when the SSF's previous President was unable to return for the spring 2021 semester. A passionate volunteer, she dedicated her free time and skills over the summer of 2020 to review multiple SSF grant applications. Additionally, Alyssa is a writing consultant for Lamson Library and is active in student government, serving as the Class of 2023's elected Treasurer. She took part in a video presented at the January 2021 USNH Board of Trustees meeting, describing her experience needing to quarantine last semester and how the COVID-19 response teams communicated effectively with her to ensure her needs were met. More recently, Alyssa was accepted by the admissions office to become a tour guide. She is looking forward to giving tours in the near future so she can tell prospective students about the school that she cares about so deeply.

``President's Leadership Award Nomination- Gianni Castagna, AS Networking 2020, AS Information Technology 2021

In class Gianni is an active and skilled participant. He shares pertinent examples, raises thoughtful questions, and encourages and supports others. In addition, he works collaboratively with classmates on a variety of in-class activities and helps others while maintaining excellent grades. Through a variety of assignments, Gianni demonstrated excellent written and verbal communication skills and presented high quality work. Gianni has expressed interest in starting up the RVCC Tech Solutions student technical support club as well.

Gianni is dedicated to his studies at River Valley Community College. He demonstrates his organizational skills and his motivation to succeed. Gianni's status as an adult learner is impressive and he is a respectful individual who is kind to everyone.

Gianni has been outstanding in his service to the RVCC college community by working as a work study student, assisting with the monitoring of the entrance during this time of COVID. Gianni has an eye for detail, offering and receiving advice on how to make the check in process quicker and simpler for students, making sure that there are always supplies available for students when entering the building, and greeting each student warmly while inquiring about ````if they completed the online form````. Gianni has also stopped several unauthorized persons from entering the building, mostly from the COVID vaccine clinic, and politely redirects them to the appropriate area. Gianni always looks professional when on-duty with the RVCC campus safety department, and his work with the department is outstanding and vital to the campus safety mission.

``The MCPHS - Manchester chapter of NSNA has remained an active participant in it's parent organization's long-standing mission and vision, in spite of the current pandemic. During the 2020-2021 academic year, with the assistance of Faculty Adviser Katherine (Katie) Adams DNP, RN, CSCS, the group has organized a virtual food drive competition among the multiple Manchester campus disciplines, facilitated ````Stop the Bleed```` trainings, hosted an ````Ethics in Healthcare```` panel discussion and cosponsored a panel session on aging and mental health, ran a fundraiser to benefit the city's local homeless services organization, Families in Transition, and spearheaded a letter writing campaign for the local elderly population. In addition to these events NSNA coordinated and ran multiple career sessions for nursing students, provided inter-cohort peer mentoring & support, and volunteered for the COVID Alliance Senior Support Team as liaisons between long term care facilities and the statewide nonprofit. NSNA has met challenges with resolve and positivity throughout the challenging times created by the year-long COVID-19 pandemic, understanding the urgency of assisting our vulnerable populations in this time of crisis. The group's response to the barriers and changes put in place due to the pandemic was and is, ````What can we do to help?````

``Eleni Plemmenou is a senior Undergraduate student of Hellenic American University, majoring in Psychology with a minor in General Business. Eleni is also involved in Classical Studies, with a keen interest in Ancient History, History of Art, Ancient Greek, and Latin. She holds several language and ESP certifications from the University of Greenwich including ESP in Law, Management, and Tourism. In 2019, she was the recipient of the Student's Best Leadership Award.

At Hellenic American University, Eleni is the President of the Marketing Club and the co-President of the Art Club, while also running the Titan Chronicles newsletter in the Editors Team. In 2019, she launched the Business Talks series, creating a powerful mentoring network between HAUniv students and successful businesspeople. In 2020, she achieved strengthening the social connection between the Athens and Nashua campuses through impactful club events, and in 2021, she was part of introducing the ````Boroume```` organization to HAUniv and the Politis Civic Engagement Program. Eleni's passion in life is optimizing community welfare and individual wellbeing by raising awareness on issues such as chronic illness, dementia, and societal phenomena such as graffiti writing, economic migration, juvenile delinquent rehabilitation, and political radicalization in education. Her current academic and professional focus is on geriatric health, the prevention of dementia, and public health for the elderly.

Alexus is widely known on campus for her community involvement and enthusiastic spirit. This year she created opportunity out of challenge and sought ways to raise morale and improve the mental health and the safety of our students and the wider campus through her service. She created educational materials including a video to increase testing participation and efficacy. She created ``sunshine kits`` for students in isolation and also implemented Wellness Wednesday activities to increase morale amongst the student body. Alexus mobilized her fellow student leaders and club members to further these efforts. Through her service and spirit, Alexus has played a key role in our in-person experience. She is well deserving of the Presidents' Leadership Award.

``These go-getters spent the final days of 2020 and the early days of 2021 finalizing their PTK College Project and putting it into motion. The Alpha Upsilon Omicron Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa at NHTI took a unique approach to their Honors in Action project. They wanted to consider what is happening in the United States and around the world in terms of resistance and rebellion. They considered further, what they could, or should, expect of themselves, what they could expect of their fellow club members, and what they could expect of the country and world around them if they just went along with the status quo.
What if they pushed beyond their unconscious bias? What would our College clubs look like, in three years or in ten years, if we simply accepted that the social structure within our student clubs was as good as it could be? PTK developed a survey in which the results would help clubs assess their student diversity and to create a list of ideas that would move towards greater inclusivity. The team of NHTI PTK students, who worked on this project, could only be more diverse if the project team had more members. The diverse viewpoints have been invaluable.

``The MCC Presidents' Leadership Award Recipient, Stephanie Torres Roig is a bright, incredibly dedicated student who is always eager to help her peers. Working at the IT Help Desk, Stephanie greets each student with a huge welcoming smile, and reassurance as she works through their IT issue with patience, clearly explaining each step. She problem-solves issue after issue, building her own knowledge by seeking out the answers, and always following up with each student. This help extended far beyond her scheduled work study hours.
Stephanie's tireless efforts were particularly impactful during the Covid crisis with people feeling lost and unsupported, and so many students confused about technology and using Canvas. Zooming and screen sharing again and again, asking all the right questions of the staff when she got stuck, Stephanie was always learning and problem solving, and seemed to have unending patience.
Even though she was juggling with her own coursework, and helping her children with remote learning, she gives her all, all the time. As her advisor Ed Cauthorn, put it, ````I have not met a student more worthy of this kind of recognition in my years of teaching. Most excellent.````

Chad Boxall is a true leader amongst his peers at White Mountains Community College. During his time at WMCC, Chad has played a key role in WMCC's partnership with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) through a Suicide Prevention Grant. Chad has completed the In Our Voice speaker training with NAMI, a community education presentation given by trained individuals with mental health conditions that educate the public on recovery in mental illness. This program enriches participants' understanding of how people with serious disorders cope with their symptoms, recover, and lead productive lives with hope, meaning, and dignity. Chad has organized and presented in five of these panels since completing his training in December 2020. In addition, Chad served on a student panel for the CCSNH Winter Convening and spoke on the topic of diversity and his experience at WMCC, serves as the Vice President for WMCC's Student Senate, is working to become a licensed foster parent, and recently obtained full-time employment in his field. Chad is graduating with his Associates of Science in Human Services in May and he hopes to transfer to Plymouth State University in the fall to complete his Bachelor of Social Work. Chad leads by example and is a true champion in the field.

``Emily Coderre's passion for community engagement and social justice has been an integral part of her undergraduate experience. Ever since Emily arrived on the Saint Anselm College campus in the fall of 2017, she has shown a deep commitment to her community. As a freshman, she taught in the Access Academy program with the Meelia Center for Community Engagement, where she worked alongside Manchester high school students from backgrounds typically underrepresented in higher education. Emily taught classes such as Storytelling and Youth Activism, which allowed students to receive high school credit and gain access to a college campus. Emily's ability to meet each student where they are at, and journey with them in their work, has made her a stand-out leader on our campus.

As a junior, Emily played a key role in the development of the Remote Tutoring Collaborative, an initiative in which the Meelia Center and the Manchester School District have partnered to establish a virtual tutoring program in which Saint Anselm College students provide academic, social, and emotional support to K-12 students. This initiative began in response to students being sent home at the start pandemic. Emily was a leader that immediately stepped in to help meet the needs of the community by tutoring individual students as well as working to develop the collaborative program to be what it is today, now reaching over 200 students. Emily's compassion, social justice and equity lens, and ability to inspire her community to action has been an integral part of creating such a successful and large-scale program.

Emily's community engagement extends beyond her role with the Meelia Center. She is a co-president of the Social Justice Club on campus, has participated in dialogue facilitator within the Anselmian Network for Racial Justice, and has volunteered with numerous Manchester community organizations, including Big Brother Big Sister, St. Joseph's Residential Home, 21st Century Afterschool Program, Kids Cafe Literacy Program, and Waypoint New Hampshire. Emily has always shown a strong commitment to civic engagement, and has mobilized her peers in this work. Emily's ability to inspire those around her to take action in addressing issues of injustice and inequity has been instrumental in the community engagement work of our campus.

UNH Manchester would like to nominate Melissa Mullen and Jamila Peguero for the President's Leadership Award. Their civic engagement has focused on social justice and cultural awareness by organizing and hosting a Visibility Week for the UNH Manchester campus community. When they saw a need on campus to bring awareness to, and information about, underrepresented identities that are part of the UNH Manchester community, they did not hesitate. Ms. Mullen and Ms. Peguero organized Visibility Week virtual events and social media informational campaigns as part of their Student Leadership Academy capstone project. Visibility week consisted of events including panel discussions that explored racial and cultural identities, a faculty panel representing women in STEM, a documentary movie viewing and discussion regarding individuals of exceptionality, disability and neurodiversity, and a panel presentation explaining the importance of using personal pronouns followed by a student and staff panel discussing personal experiences with LGBTQIA+ identities.

They have created a workshop series titled ``Coffee and Culture`` where they select topics focused on identity to facilitate discussions with their peers in collaboration with other student organizations on campus. These events are some of our most attended on campus! They start each workshop with introducing names, pronouns, and a warm up prompt, before opening the discussion and holding the role of neutral facilitators.

In addition to this club, Rachel and Meriah work in the Office of Student Engagement on campus to create events for their peers. Both serve as peer mentors, orientation leaders, and are always willing to volunteer to help others. They will both be greatly missed as they graduate this spring!

Taryn Duncan has dedicated her time at UNH to equity and inclusion. She started her college career with UNH CONNECT, and later became a student leader of the program, helping incoming multicultural students build community. She has worked in both The Beauregard Center and the Women's & Gender Studies offices, helping plan educational programming and events that help our campus become more inclusive and welcoming towards people from underrepresented communities. She is a trained Safe Zones facilitator, playing a critical role in educating the community on combating bias related to homophobia, transphobia, heterosexism, cissexism and helping folks become better aspiring allies. Taryn has been an integral member of the QT - a student organization for queer and trans students of color. She has also been involved with NALA, a support group for women of color, and the Black Student Union. After attending the Martin Luther King Jr Summit (now known as the Audre Lorde Summit) in 2017, Taryn was chosen to be a student coordinator to help run the Summit, through which she helps plan the two and a half day social justice development institute that allows students to build identity competencies and to expand their understanding of community activism. During the summer of 2018 Taryn participated in a Social Innovation Internship through the Changemaker Collaborative. She worked as the Diversity Equity Inclusion intern at Koya Leadership Partners, which is a leading executive search and strategic advising firm. At Koya, Taryn created a Virtual library that helps educate the team on diversity related language, concepts, and internalized bias in the workplace. She also ran a diversity workshop where she was able to teach the whole company how to use the Virtual library that she created. During January of 2018, Taryn joined the Treat Fellows, a team of students who are trained to facilitate conversations on campus around community, diversity, and difference. Some of the topics include cultural appropriation, free speech, and community building. Taryn has also worked as a Teaching Assistant in Women's and Gender Studies, helping pass along her knowledge to the next generation of Wildcats.

Throughout the pandemic, the sisters of Delta Xi Phi have found a way to give to their community whether it is for students of the Keene State, the Cheshire County community, or any person they know they could lend that extra helping hand to. In summer 2020, Delta Xi Phi raised over $1,100 for the Black Lives Matter movement in the matter of three days. During the 2020-2021 academic year DXP sisters have raised nearly $1,000 for the local cold shelter, 100 Nights. In addition they've made a series of visits to deliver clothes, food and PPE to the shelter. The sisters of DXP find different ways they can use their voices for good - in different lights, and have not let the pandemic quiet their passion.