Antonio Campbell
University of Nebraska OmahaAntonio Campbell is a leader in service. Although his service began as a requirement for class in middle school it is now who he is, a matter of faith and personal belief. Antonio is a sophomore in the Mathematics Data Science Program and he has aspirations to use the power of numbers to change the world. Although he is motivated to directly serve a variety of communities, including underserved populations of elderly and families of those with intellectual disabilities, he is driven most to serve homeless populations. Antonio has taken every opportunity he has been given to advocate for organizations serving homeless populations, often using required classroom presentations to make a case for service to his fellow students, of course, using data. Through soft skills developed by his service he brings the heart to serve others. From his analytical mind he brings a talent to tell a story through numbers. Antonio has the long term goal of creating a foundation that will support non-profit organizations by creating evaluation and analysis metrics to build and sustain organizations combating root sources of homelessness so that they can continue their work serving the underserved in the neighborhoods with the highest rates of poverty.
Personal Statement
Community involvement has always been a value stressed to me from an early age by my family, faith, and educational institutions. I do not view my involvement as service work, but rather, I recognize it as a humane obligation to reach out to those who are less privileged than myself. Beginning in middle school, I started volunteering for my church community, but as my commitment to service strengthened, my outreach to several communities in the Omaha area has grown. Of these communities, the largest portion of my involvement has been focused on the homeless. For the last five years I have dedicated my time and talents to serve homeless residents of the Stephen Center Emergency Shelter. My goal is to support the homeless actualize a level of self-sustainability and defeat chronic poverty in their lives. Through my contribution of cooking and serving meals, I support the shelter achieve its daily mission. As I study mathematics at UNO, I will gain the skills necessary to pinpoint causes of homeless statistically, and use that information to take steps toward eliminating homelessness on a macro-level.