Campus News

Great Falls College student honored as Newman Civic Fellow

Charlie Engum is also a writing, chemistry and music tutor in Great Falls College’s Academic Success Center.

GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Campus Compact, a Boston-based nonprofit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education, has announced the 290 students who will make up the organization's 2020-2021 cohort of Newman Civic Fellows. The 2020 cohort — the largest group of Newman Civic Fellows to date — includes Charmaine "Charlie" Engum, a student at Great Falls College MSU.

The Newman Civic Fellowship is a yearlong program for students from Campus Compact member institutions. The students selected for the fellowship are leaders on their campuses who demonstrate a commitment to finding solutions for challenges facing communities locally, nationally, and internationally.

"Charlie is committed to helping others find their inner strength to be successful," said Dr. Susan Wolff, dean of Great Falls College, in her nominating letter. "Learning to manage and find strength in her weaknesses, she has risen above and conquered the fears and stigmas which once held her back. As she became more involved with campus activities, she came to know other students with the similar life experiences and mentored them to also become more involved in what is happening in their community."

Engum, a second-year general studies student who plans to go into nursing, leads Service Saturdays, organizes campus blood drives, collaborates to provide Thanksgiving meals to low-income students and volunteers for the campus food pantry weekly.

"It's really neat," Engum said about the award. "A lot of the things I do on campus, I just do for students or myself because it makes me feel good help, not to be recognized, but it's pretty cool."

She is also a writing, chemistry and music tutor in Great Falls College's Academic Success Center.

Engum, 33, has spent most of her life in Great Falls but the Blackfeet woman also has lived in Browning, Cut Bank and Helena.

The fellowship is named for the late Frank Newman, one of Campus Compact's founders, who was a tireless advocate for civic engagement in higher education. In the spirit of Dr. Newman's leadership, Campus Compact member presidents and chancellors may nominate one student from their institution for the fellowship.

Through the fellowship, Campus Compact provides the students with a variety of learning and networking opportunities that emphasize personal, professional, and civic growth. Each year, Fellows are invited to a national, in-person conference of Newman Civic Fellows and participate in numerous virtual training and networking opportunities. The fellowship also provides fellows with pathways to apply for exclusive scholarship and post-graduate opportunities.

"We are proud to recognize each of these extraordinary student leaders and thrilled to have the opportunity to engage with them," said Campus Compact President Andrew Seligsohn. "The stories of this year's Newman Civic Fellows make clear that they are committed to finding solutions to pressing problems in their communities and beyond. That is what Campus Compact is about, and it's what our country and our world desperately need."

The Newman Civic Fellowship is supported by the KPMG Foundation and Newman's Own Foundation. Learn more at compact.org/newman-civic-fellowship.

Campus Compact is a national coalition of colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education. Campus Compact supports institutions in fulfilling their public purposes by deepening their ability to improve community life and to educate students for civic and social responsibility. As the largest national higher education association dedicated solely to campus-based civic engagement, we provide professional development to administrators and faculty to enable them to engage effectively, facilitate national partnerships connecting campuses with key issues in their local communities, build pilot programs to test and refine promising models in engaged teaching and scholarship, celebrate and cultivate student civic leadership, and convene higher education institutions and partners beyond higher education to share knowledge and develop collective capacity. Visit www.compact.org.

Contact:

Molly Leiper, Communications Manager
mleiper@compact.org

Scott Thompson, director of communications and marketing Great Falls College MSU, 406-771-4314.
scott.thompson@gfcmsu.edu