PROVIDENCE, RI — Campus Compact has selected two college students to receive the 2008 Frank Newman Leadership Award, which honors outstanding civic leadership: Scott Meltzer of Centre College and Heather Stump of Mount Union College. Both students have taken leadership roles in serving their communities while excelling academically. The two will be presented with the award at the Education Commission of the States’ National Forum on Education Policy on June 30, 2008, in Austin, Texas.

Scott Meltzer is a sophomore at Centre College, a liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky. In his short time at the college, he has already received recognition for advancing service-learning and civic education, including educating his fellow students on the significance of their role in local and national politics. Meltzer’s passion for civic and community engagement is expressed in both the volume and the comprehensiveness of his service. At the national level, he advocates in support of civic engagement through workshops and presentations as well as by organizing voter registration drives. He has worked within his home state of Tennessee to set up Teen Courts and as a member of the Tennessee Youth Court Program Advisory Board for the Tennessee Legal Community Foundation, a division of the Tennessee Bar Association. He also contributes to his local community, both by volunteering in an after-school program for elementary and middle school children with mental health issues and by serving as a Big Brother.

According to John A. Roush, president of Centre College, “Scott has had a positive impact on his peers, and has been recognized for his outstanding commitment, idealism, and dedication. His is an outstanding example of positive change.”

Heather Stump is a sophomore at Mount Union College, a faith-based liberal arts college in Alliance, Ohio. Stump has had an auspicious beginning to a lifetime of service, offering in a year more service than many of us do in a lifetime. During 2007, she completed more than 600 volunteer hours. She is not only an active participant in the philanthropic activities of the four campus organizations in which she is a member, she has also founded two new programs to benefit her college and her community — all the while maintaining a GPA of 3.5. The service Stump describes as the closest to her heart is Project Inspire, a program she created and leads in partnership with a local neighborhood center. Stump has worked closely with this community organization and the Alliance Neighborhood Center (ANC) to create after-school programs where at-risk students can be engaged in and inspired by learning. The success of Project Inspire and growth in the ANC after-school program have increased community awareness and respect for ANC and spurred growth in volunteerism at Mount Union College. Stump’s dedication to the sustainability of campus and community organizations is further demonstrated by her work with the Midwest Campus Compact Citizen-Scholar Fellows Program and her efforts in recruiting fellow students, training volunteers, and writing successful grant proposals.

Mount Union president Richard F. Giese notes that Stump, believing that “kids needed to become excited about learning in order to truly succeed in school,” actively sought to find solutions for at-risk pupils. When she discovered that after-school programming in the ANC was jeopardized by a funding crisis, she asked if she could design and implement an after-school program in their building. “They agreed,” says Giese, “and Project Inspire was born.”

Each of the winning students will receive $5,000 for school-related expenses or to support their civic work. They will also receive mentoring from their respective college presidents in fulfilling their scholastic, public service, and civic leadership potential during their college years.

Campus Compact and the Newman family established the Frank Newman Leadership award in honor of Campus Compact co-founder Frank Newman, a scholar who exemplified a life of public service and educational leadership. The award is designed to support and recognize students with financial need who have demonstrated civic leadership through service and scholastic achievement.

More information about the Frank Newman Leadership Award is available at /awards/newman.

Campus Compact

Campus Compact is a coalition of more than 1,100 college and university presidents — representing some 6 million students — who are committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education. As the only national association dedicated to this mission, Campus Compact is a leader in building civic engagement into campus and academic life. For more information, visit http://compact.org.

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