Students earn Community Health Hero Student Award

On April 28, Maine Campus Compact celebrated its 20th Annual Awards Ceremony virtually to recognize outstanding work in public service and civic engagement by Maine faculty, students, and community and corporate partners. During these unprecedented times, our award recipients’ positive impacts on campuses and in communities throughout the state reinforce the importance of the public purposes of higher education.

Given the extraordinary times we find ourselves, in 2021, Maine Campus Compact (MCC) presented a special award, the Community Health Hero Student Award, to recognize three undergraduate college students for their exemplary civic engagement directly related to the public health crisis as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic. These students are inspiring and engaging leaders addressing pressing community health needs during these challenging times. Saint Joseph’s College students earned two of these awards.

2021 Award Recipients: Caitlyn Demers and Kaleigh Walsh.

Caitlyn Demers is a junior double majoring in Psychology and Criminal Justice. In addition to taking classes, she has multiple jobs on campus, including working as a Lab Assistant with the healthcare team in the Health and Wellness Center. Caitlyn has gone above and beyond to help the Health and Wellness Center become organized for all of the new COVID-19 related policies and procedures. In the summer of 2020 when Johns Hopkins University began its COVID-19 Contract Tracer certification  program, Caitlyn was one of the first students to sign up. Caitlyn has helped with organizing multiple spreadsheets, creating lab forms, and has become a member of the Health Center lab processing COVID tests this semester.

Kaleigh Walsh is a student-athlete at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, where she is enrolled in a four year Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (BSN) program and is a member of the Women’s Basketball team. She currently works as a Certified Nursing Assistant amongst a remarkable healthcare team in the Saint Joseph’s College Health and Wellness Center where they tackle COVID-19 challenges. Kaleigh has helped with the administration of the COVID-19 testing process. She has also administered COVID tests to students, staff, and faculty and also works in the lab to process the tests. Kaleigh’s efforts have contributed to a safe and healthy campus community at Saint Joseph’s.

Other Awards:
Grant Stewart ’21 double-majoring in criminal justice and psychology, earned the PILLARS Student Award. PILLARS Honorable Mention Student Award recognizes students who are actively engaged on their campuses and in their communities.

Kathryn Huntress ’22 social work, honored as Newman Civic Fellow. The fellowship is given to leaders on their campuses who demonstrate a commitment to finding solutions for challenges facing communities locally, nationally, and internationally.

Congratulations Caitlyn, Kaleigh, Grant, and Kathryn! Well done.

Established in 1994, Maine Campus Compact is a coalition of 17 member campuses whose purpose is to catalyze and lead a movement to reinvigorate the public purposes and civic mission of higher education. We seek to transform our campuses in ways that develop better informed, active citizen problem-solvers, stronger communities, and a more just democratic society. We believe that our campuses must be vital agents and architects of a flourishing democracy.