Cottey Student Named 2018 Newman Civic Fellow

Cottey College student Jemimah Nasara is one of 268 students named as a 2018 Newman Civic Fellow. Newman Civic Fellows are chosen by Campus Compact, a Boston-based non-profit organization. Nasara will participate in a one-year experience emphasizing personal, professional, and civic growth.

Nasara, a native of Nigeria is double majoring in business administration-management and organizational leadership. Pursing her desire to affect change for women and children through interfaith service, Nasara is an active volunteer leader on and off campus. Her service has included collection and distribution of donated clothing and toiletries to local women and children. Each Friday, she visits elderly women in a local senior care facility and volunteers to provide activities on the weekend through the campus Cross-Generational Sharing program. During summer and winter breaks, Nasara has provided leadership for interfaith community programs in Kansas, Nebraska and Kentucky working with underprivileged children in small, rural communities. To celebrate International Day of the Girl, she served as a mentor to middle and high school-aged girls during an intensive day-long workshop on empowering young women and inspiring them to pursue leadership skills and assume leadership positions. As a volunteer with a local domestic abuse shelter for women and children, she creates change by improving the lives of others and educating the community about social issues that face women and children in abusive situations.

“I became involved with issues of poverty and inequality after watching my mom assist an elderly couple,” said Nasara. “As a social worker, she inspired me to think about individuals who were struggling with issues of poverty and homelessness and to help them any little way I could. I am involved in interfaith-based service activities on campus. These activities allow me to grow as a leader while working collaboratively with others on interfaith and diversity programs. My goal is to work alongside others to create the change that society needs; it all begins with one person who is willing to make a change. My overarching goal is to later work with underprivileged women and children in my home country, Nigeria.”

The Newman Civic Fellowship is supported by the KPMG Foundation and Newman’s Own Foundation. 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 exclusive scholarship and post-graduate opportunities.