Community Engagement Recognition Night (CERN)

Faculty or Staff:

Excellence in Community- Engaged Teaching:

This award honors a CC educator (faculty or staff) who has integrated teaching and learning with community-based work in meaningful, impactful ways. (From 2014 to 2022, this award was named: Exemplary Achievement in Community Engaged Teaching) 

2025-2026 Recipients: Marketa Raevsy and Mike Siddoway

"Marketa has collaborated with District 11 to offer concurrent enrollment Early Childhood Education classes to both CC students and Palmer High School students...The courses she teaches allow students to become certified assistant early childhood educators...Marketa has navigated the challenges of piloting a new program with grace, patience and extraordinary dedication because she believes so deeply in the importance and lasting impact of high-quality early education." "Her commitment to building impactful community partnerships reflects her belief in experiential learning and student success...Students not only learn about early childhood education in the classroom but also actively contribute to it in practice — working alongside educators, building relationships, and participating in the daily life of ECE environments." 

“Mike has been teaching in the LACF (Liberal Arts in Correction Facilities) Program...almost from the start. This program allows young offenders (aged 19-25) the opportunity to take free college courses that will transfer to any public college in the state. These courses are taught at the YOS (Youth Offender System) in Pueblo… Mike's most recent course, College Algebra, [was his] fourth LACF course, which ties him for the most courses taught in the program by CC faculty...His willingness and enthusiasm for doing this on such a challenging schedule is a sign of how committed he is to this program. I would like to see Mike's work in this program and commitment towards addressing inequities in higher education honored."  

2024-2025 Recipient: Dr. Scott Ingram

CC Archaeologist and Associate Professor Scott Ingram’s incorporation of community-engaged teaching and impactful community partnerships has few if any parallels at the college. The array of courses in which students execute applied field research is almost mindboggling. From identifying artifacts in the Manitou Experimental Forest in “Historical Archaeology,” to conducting cultural resource surveys in “Field Archaeology,” students learn responsible practices (e.g. mapping and photographing but not collecting), and come to know how their contributions are part of larger, coordinated efforts. Ingram partners with Chico Basin Ranch in “Doing Archaeology” to document historic homesteads and other material traces of past human action on the landscape, while in the courses “Trees, Climate, and People” and “Collapse and Sustainability of Past Societies” he teaches students to use dendroarchaeology (tree-ring dating) to understand cycles of drought in the Southwest and beyond. Currently, Ingram prepares course projects to be based at Philmont Scout Camp, on 140,000 acres in the Sangre de Cristo mountains of northern New Mexico (and where he met his wife, Holly, and has “trained” their own children, Eric CC ’23 and Josie CC ’25). Training students receive on Professor Ingram’s courses lead into capstones that also serve community interests and return to local libraries and archives. With all the moving parts these projects entail, Scott’s approach to teaching remains so squarely student-centered is remarkable. Student feedback like “Scott Ingram is one of the best professor's I've ever had, full stop. He is enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and always interested in helping students in any way possible both inside and outside of the classroom,” and “Scott is a great professor and an even better person. He cares greatly about the success and learning of his students, not just in archaeology, but life as well” are representative. Students clearly believe it when Scott underlines that he is invested in their futures and take him up on it: current students and alumni alike can be found in lengthy, in-depth consultations in his office, block after block.    

2023-2024 Recipients: Dr. Krista Fish and Dr. Sarah Hautzinger

“For many years Professor Sarah Hautzinger has brought her anthropology students to the Colorado College Baca Campus and we have found the experience incredibly valuable to our community. She enthusiastically and generously engages her students with our elder leaders by actively participating in roundtables hosted by the Crestone Spiritual Alliance. Together we have addressed topics of pressing matters of importance such as transfer of water rights in Colorado between river basins, wildlife and wilderness preservation, and natural spiritual qualities associated with wildlands in the San Luis Valley.”

“As a biological anthropologist with a focus in primate ecology and evolution, Dr. Fish brings students into the communicating, striving, meaning-making worlds of our non-human kin. In this moment of climate and sustainability crises, many attribute our tendencies toward anthropocentric thought as enabling our predicament; Fish's hands-on community-based work offers students powerful intervention to this mindset. She does this through multiple field-based courses. Fish has made important contributions to our anti-racist and decolonial work on campus. As chair of the Anthropology Department, Fish has led concerted work to deepen our anti-racist and equity-based commitments for every student, in every course taught."

2022-2023 Recipient: Dr. Tina Valtierra

"I took a course with Tina in the education department that directly related teaching to social justice. Our work engaged community organizations such as Project Voyce as we developed curriculum and lesson plans that would allow students to engage in community issues, they are passionate about. Through this process, we learned how to guide rather than lead students, allowing their voice to be the main driving force behind the curriculum and resulting projects. These projects would be carried out in the community and have a real-world impact. Through this class, I learned how I could become more engaged in my communities, and help others do the same, through education.”

2021-2022 Recipient: Dr. Charlotte Gabrielsen

"I've been inspired by Charlotte's ability to give students a real-life sense of what applied, collaborative, and multi-stakeholder conservation initiatives look like in practice, and her thoughtful commitment to meaningfully leverage CC's institutional resources and engaged students in support of conservation efforts. I believe that Charlotte's courses offer students a sense of agency-helping them to identify real-life opportunities to engage with pressing environmental challenges in meaningful and actionable ways.” 

2020-2021 Recipient: Kat Miller-Stevens

"In Stevens’ non-profit courses, she partners with local organizations to give them free group consulting work from her students. This simultaneously supports nonprofits in the community, while giving students a meaningful way to engage with EDs, staff, and the nonprofit world. Taking this class helped me better understand my own interest in supporting nonprofits, and provides meaningful and accessible ways for students to begin working with them. Her leadership with the Public Interest Fellowship Program demonstrates and scales this work of hers as well." - Ryan O'Meara '21

 For prior year awardees, please email cce@coloradocollege.edu

Excellence in Community-Engaged Research

This award honors a CC researcher (faculty or staff) who have applied the knowledge of their discipline and their own expertise to the public good through community-engaged research. (From 2018-2022 this award was named Exemplary Achievement in Community-Engaged Research)

2025-2026 No recipient this year because two were given for Engaged Teaching

2024-2025 Recipient: Charlotte Gabrielson

“Charlotte has assisted Palmer Land Conservancy for several years in yearly research projects with her landscape ecology course. Based on our needs, Charlotte has worked with staff to develop deliverable studies to our organization. Most recently, Charlotte and her class delivered a 68 page report on carbon sequestration methods, markets, and the interaction with conserved lands in Colorado. This report has been extremely helpful as Palmer Land Conservancy navigates this novel market and applies those markets and processes to our conservation work. In addition to her great research work, Charlotte is constantly attending Palmer events on campus, sharing the word about our PIFP fellowship, and supporting Palmer in areas such as grant support letters.”  

2023-2024 Recipient: No award given this year

2022-2023 Recipient: Dr. Srdja Popovic

"His recent work, (co-authored with Sophia MClennan), is Pranksters vs. Autocrats: Why Dilemma Actions Advance Nonviolent Activism (Cornell University Press, 2020), breaks new ground by providing statistical and ethnographic support for the incorporation of "dilemma actions" in civic nonviolence resistance and activist campaigns. Popovic and MClennan provide the first nonconclusive evidence that dilemma actions are more likely catch opponents off guard, provoke often counterproductive responses, while building activist morale and opportunities. The book won the The Lawrence and Lynne Brown Democracy Medal, presented by the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State which recognizes outstanding individuals, groups, and organizations that produce innovations to further democracy in the United States or around the world."

2021-2022 Recipient: Dr. Chantal Figueroa

“Professor Figueroa is an inspiring example of what can be done by connecting research and community engagement and advocacy for Mental Health in different communities.
She has done an extensive PhotoVoice project with Women in Guatemala addressing mental health in working-class neighborhoods. She has taken this ethnographic research method to the classroom teaching her students the impact of Photovoice in the communities. Adding to this, she created the mental health strategy for the Ednovate charter school network in California, basing her work on participatory assessment with the social workers of the 6 schools involved. She also led the evaluation of the 26th anniversary of the Austral Institute of Mental Health in Neuquen, Argentina, which included the training of all employees on the topics of sexuality and gender.”

2020-2021 Recipient: Rushaan Kumar

"[Dr. Kumar] is deserving of this award for excellence in community-engaged teaching for 2020 because he successfully conceptualized and inaugurated the Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ Oral History Project through one of his classes in the Fall. This archive of the lives of long-term queer residents of Colorado Springs will be housed at the CC library and available to the public. Dr. Kumar's project design and mentorship of students has already resulted in several interviews conducted by students and will be continued through his futures classes." - Chantal Figueroa, Assistant Professor, Education

"For Dr. Kumar’s Block 2 course he led his students in the development of a Colorado Springs-focused LGBTQ oral history project. This involved learning oral history methods as well as interviewing several local, long-time community members (mostly outside of CC). His work got students talking to veterans, current drag queens, organizers, and more and opened their eyes to the long history of activism and community building, and struggle that characterizes this city. Students found this project inspiring on many levels: getting to work with the community, getting to better understand the methods and impact that oral histories have in revising the archive that we usually study, and reflecting on how over the last several decades language and notions of “LGBTQ” “community” have both changed. Having only lived in the city a few years himself, this was an important project for his own development and for the continued project to form a sense of place here. He intends to include these narratives in the local library, available to the public, as well as the CC library as a resource for future research. And, with the long list of references he has enough future interviewees to continue this project for many years to come." - Naomi Wood, Associate Professor, Spanish and Portuguese

Staff or Faculty:

Excellence in Community Engagement

This award honors a CC staff of faculty member who collaborates with communities beyond the campus, modeling to students an ethic of community engagement. Preference given to those who engage other CC stakeholders, especially students, in that community work. (From 2017 to 2022 this award was called the Community-Engaged Staff Award)

2025-2026 Recipient: Naomi Wood

“Naomi has done an exemplary job of bringing the arts into the community through the Mobile Arts Truck...Naomi has been intentional to give students agency over the planning and implementation of community-based programming, and consistently includes stakeholders within that planning...Mobile Arts supported a Black History Month event at Inside Out Youth Services where young people worked together to create zines about queer black voices through history. This is an example of taking the ideas of community and intentionally designing meaningful programming aligned with purpose. It is clear that Naomi embodies community engagement through her work with Mobile Arts, and empowers students to think more creatively about how we do this work collectively." 

2024-2025 Recipient: AliciaRose Martinez

“AliciaRose has done excellent work in promoting Colorado College locally through the Stroud Scholars Program. It has been amazing to see the students (Stroudies) grow as they matriculate through the program and, for some, end up at Colorado College. For CC students and employees, the program is a rich opportunity to engage with local high school students and strengthen the ties between Colorado College and Colorado Springs.  AliciaRose expands educational opportunity for local youth, serves as an ambassador of the college, and creates pathways for CC stakeholders to carry forward a commitment to college access.” 

2023-2024 Recipient: No award given this year

2022-2023 Recipient: Jennifer Wakeen

"Over the last two academic years, Jennifer has coordinated nearly 300 education-based placements in the local community for education department courses that require practicums, internships, or student teaching. During this time, Jennifer has cultivated numerous local partnerships, built mutually beneficial partnerships, and ensured that CC students and our local community partners learn from one another in powerful, inclusive, and respectful ways. She has collaborated with the CCE, office of field study, education department faculty, and local educators to ensure our impact in the local community is robust and meaningful.”

2022-2023 Recipient: Dr. Nancy Rios

“I had the pleasure of working with Nancy on community engaged projects over this past academic year in conjunction with CC Mobile Arts. Nancy’s gift lies in her ability to curate multi-disciplinary immersive arts events that highlight the power of art as resistance and bring Colorado Springs artists into conversation with the CC community. Along the way, she assists educators in implementing anti-racist and community-responsive pedagogical practices unique to their specific classes, while also creating spaces for us to envision possibilities for what might be. Nancy’s thoughtful and compassionate approach helped to inspire trust, and enabled spaces for students and community artists to collaboratively share their creative gifts and take risks.”

2021-2022 Recipient: Niki Sosa Gallegos

"Niki goes above and beyond in her role as the Community Partnerships Coordinator for the CCE. She has an innate ability to create new relationships with community partners and to continue to cultivate relationships with existing partners in a way that is personable, intentional, and thoughtful. In building and maintaining relationships, she is mindful of not only bringing partners into the work of the CCE as co-educators, but also going out and committing her own time to be a part of the work that our community partners do as well. Niki's support and encouragement of students to connect with the Colorado Springs community is both helpful and inspiring.” 

2020-2021 Recipients: Amy Hill and Antonio Soto

"Amy and Antonio have been a champion of promoting on-campus engagement and support. Examples of such work include time spent championing CC Votes and bringing staff and faculty together to strategize ways to support students, creating unique programs like a gift-card giveaway that supports local Black-owned businesses, monitoring on-campus in-person events where students can engage with each other, and more." - Sophia Pray '19, Civic Leadership Paraprofessional, Collaborative for Community Engagement

"On behalf of the Butler Center, we wanted to unanimously nominate Amy Hill and Antonio Soto for their heroic efforts in creating community this past year. Both have worked tirelessly throughout the summer constantly shifting plans and meeting the ever-changing needs of our students in a way that we believe, many outside of student life often do not fully comprehend.

"While many of us were doing what we could from home, the constant shifts in who was coming to campus, whether NSO was in person and the rolling quarantines meant 18+ hours in person-days for Amy and Antonio coordinating simultaneous in-person and remote orientation for over 600 students in August and then the rest of the students in Block 2. This meant collaborating with Res life, health services, dining, academics, campus safety, and more on everything from getting students fed, to testing to access to campus buildings for classes when folks did not get tested or complete the move-in checklist. Many of the folks in student life, Amy and Antonio especially, are responsible for the very lowest two levels of Maslow’s hierarchy; food, shelter, security, and a sense of belonging – all of which must be met in order for any learning to take place. We often take these things for granted and in turn often overlook the work that goes into providing these for our students. I would say this year Amy and Antonio have turned this into an art – not just making sure students were fed and kept busy but providing meaningful engagement and social justice-centered awareness and inclusion. From orientation to the election, to the January 6th insurrection and timely/inclusive free Friday giveaways, we can’t say enough how much the entire Butler Center appreciates having them as collaborators and colleagues." - Butler Center Staff

"This dynamic duo has been working incredibly hard throughout this year in Campus Activities to keep students engaged with one another and with the broader Colorado Springs community - even during a pandemic. Both Amy and Antonio are always supporting the capacity of the CCE by collaborating on BreakOut opportunities, supporting CCE staff and interns in adapting to COVID guidelines, and bringing together various campus offices. More broadly, Amy and Antonio also work to plan programming that involves local partners and businesses, fostering a spirit of community engagement at CC." - Maddi Schink '23

"Amy worked diligently to ensure that students had access to resources during the 2020 presidential election and shared the resources of the Campus Activities Office to support the work of CC Votes. Amy has also consistently supported the work of Breakout to make sure that students could still engage in community work during the pandemic. I am so grateful for all the support that Amy provides to the CCE!" - Elena Martinez-Vivot '21

Community:

Outstanding Community Partner Award

This award honors a community organization, association, or member who partners with CC in ways that meaningfully engage and develop members of our campus community.

2025-2026 Recipient: Palmer Land Conservancy

"Palmer Land Conservancy exemplifies what it means to be an outstanding community partner through its sustained, meaningful, and deeply engaged collaboration with students, faculty, and regional stakeholders. 

Beyond the classroom, Palmer’s commitment to community engagement is both broad and impactful. They have partnered with the Bonner Fellows Program, hosted experiential learning opportunities, including a Priddy Experience, they have hosted field days at Mesa Valley Wildlife Preserve, creating immersive outdoor classrooms for students, and have collaborated with CC’s BreakOut program to facilitate educational and service trips to local working ranches.  

Through all of these efforts, Palmer Land Conservancy demonstrates an exceptional commitment to education, collaboration, and community impact. Their work not only advances conservation in our region but also cultivates the next generation of environmental leaders.” 

2024-2025 Recipient: Juelz Ramirez, Daily Dose 719

“Juelz Ramirez's strong entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to community impact have led her to make Daily Dose 719 and the brand-new Stompin' Groundz coffee shop which opened in July 2024 in Southeast Colorado Springs, great places for community members to thrive. 

 Juelz started Daily Dose 719 with the intent of telling community-centered stories of the residents of Southeast Colorado Springs and beyond, using social media, podcasts, and vlogs, as a means to tell these stories. She has made my internship experience very special over the duration of my Bonner Fellowship and supported many other interns develop skills to tell stories of their communities.” 

2023-2024 Recipient: Citizens Project

“Since its founding in 1992, Citizens Project has been a valuable community partner to Colorado College. From the very beginning, Citizens Project has worked closely with members of Colorado College's queer student body to protect the rights and civil liberties of LGBTQIA+ Coloradans. In my time with Citizens Project I've been fortunate to see this tradition continue on and expand to promote equity, inclusion, and justice for all; I've also had the opportunity to see the difference that CC students make regarding the civic engagement and equity work that Citizens Project does within the community. Citizens Project would not be in the same place without the dedication, commitment, and lived-experience that students volunteers, interns, and Bonner Fellows bring to the table, and the organization is proud to impart practical and professional skills as well as real-world experience to the future leaders of our city, state, and country.”

2022-2023 Recipient: Food to Power

"Seeing the impact FTP has on the community and shows up has been one of the most rewarding parts of the job. They collaborate with many other non-profits in the springs such as flying pig farm, concrete couch and more. They offer their space to facilitate meetings for others in the community and try to make programs and uses as accessible. Just this past weekend they hosted a skill share, their no-cost grocery program, and working on the bike shed with concrete couch. They grilled food and offered community members, after getting their groceries, to sit and participate in workshops or simply just share a meal. They really see you as a person and care for you. I have had an amazing experience with the organization. I have learned so much and look forward to continuing to be a part of it.”

2021-2022 Recipient: Doug Rouse of the Marian House- Catholic Charities of Central Colo.

“Doug has been an exceptional partner in engaging with Colorado College and our students. He is always eager to connect with our students to build empathy and understanding, and share opportunities to support our neighbors experiencing houselessness. Doug has been flexible to engage our students around the Block Plan and is always open to our students coming in with innovative ideas on how to meet community needs and increase impact.  He is a great collaborator and always mindful of what is best for those needing the support of Catholic Charities and Marian House.”

2020-2021 Recipient: Inside/Out Youth Services

"At the moment, I do not know any local organization that has such a high ratio of CC students, alumni, or once-affiliated folks. Their work often collaborates with the CC community to provide training related to sexual health and safety, working to build allyship with people that are often not involved with LGBTQ+ support and advocacy. During my time as a PIFP fellow, I felt that I could do meaningful work while supported as a queer person—in ways that were honestly lacking for me in CC’s programming." - Ryan O'Meara '21

Students:

For student award information from 2021 and prior, please email cce@coloradocollege.edu

Advocacy and Activism Award

This award honors a student who has championed a social or environmental issue through advocacy, awareness-raising, and/or activism.

2025-2026 Recipient: Noah Furuseth

“Noah has worked with Concrete Couch as a Bonner Fellow for the past year. He's deeply passionate and well-spoken about environmental issues, both seen in work with Concrete Couch, his involvement in CC clubs, and class work. He has brought passion to Concrete Couch and the work needed to restore our land (planting more native plants and trees, creating a map of our plants, and leading practices to help plants retain water). He has done this both by educating our staff and educating volunteers who participate in our programs. Noah also invited his class to our park to learn about how we talk about climate before their trip to COP30. I attended their talk on COP3O and was impressed by Noah's ability to consider environmental issues on a hyper-local and global scale. Noah's advocacy and activism is seen throughout all that he does.” 

2024-2025 Recipient: Tori Hodkin

“Tori joined Food to Power for the Summer 2024 Internship and was remarkable from the interview onward. Tori thrived in our advocacy department and after the internship has continued to help champion Food to Power's mission. Tori has been promoting awareness around food insecurity and continues to volunteer with Food to Power as her schedule permits. She is passionate and compassionate.” 

2023-2024 Recipient: No award given this year

2022-2023 Recipient: Lizbeth Lucero Chavez

“Lizbeth has worked tirelessly for the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) both on and off campus, raising awareness and working to decrease the stigma of mental illness, for all of her years at Colorado College. Lizbeth has participated in the "In Our Own Voice" program where she and others talk to community groups, campus groups, and high schoolers about what mental illness really is (not the stereotypes) and how to get help if they ever need it. She is a role model as she speaks with great clarity and in a down to earth way. Lizbeth has also worked for NAMI as a Youth Programs Outreach Specialist. Lizbeth, as a psychology major and bilingual Spanish minor, has 'put her money where her mouth is,' and worked to change the community in which she lives, one person or group at a time. She is a hopeful beacon for decreasing the stigma of mental illness in our lifetime.”

2022-2023 Recipient: Finn Mott

“In 2022, Finn was awarded a Student Seed Innovation Grant, funded by Creativity & Innovation at CC, to explore and understand the discrepancy in LGBTQIA2S+ treatment in Europe vs. the U.S. Finn believes the best way to instigate change is through artistic movements that foster sensitivity, bravery, and compassion. To that end, Finn’s time in Europe yielded a collection of poems that dissect, analyze, and break apart why treatment differences exist. His work communicates the underrepresented voice of LGBTQIA2S+ persons in a compassionate and relatable light. His advocacy for LGBTQIA2S+ voices will soon inspire a wider audience as his collection has been accepted for publication by the Lethe Press, one of the largest LGBTQ presses in the U.S. His collection is scheduled to publish in March 2024."

CBO Capacity-Builder Award

This award honors a student who has deeply committed to a community-based organization, meaningfully investing their skills and knowledge to advancing the mission of the organization. Nominations for this award will be solicited from Community Partners.

2025-2026 Recipient: Deli Reyes

“I have had the privilege of working alongside Deli for the past year and a half in her role as our Peak Education Intern, and I can say with confidence that she is among the most dedicated, thoughtful, and capable young professionals I have encountered. 

As our Peak Ed Intern, Deli has been a vital member of our team. She helps organize events for families, supports fundraising efforts that directly fund Scholar programming, and assists with data tracking. She also staffs the front desk at our new College & Career Center, where she serves as a welcoming first point of contact for guests and visitors. Deli has taken on a meaningful mentorship role with younger Scholars, offering guidance, encouragement, and the kind of relatable support that only someone who has walked the same path can provide. 

Deli does not simply support this mission, she embodies it. She has meaningfully invested her skills and knowledge into advancing our organization’s capacity to serve scholars, and in doing so, she strengthens the very community that shaped her. Deli is the definition of a Community Organization Capacity Builder.”

2024-2025 Recipients: Grace Lipson & Dessa Monat

"Grace began working with Colorado Legal Services through a mini-internship in Spring 2024. During that brief time, Grace showed thoughtfulness and a careful approach to her work. Grace’s commitment to work and her careful, thoughtful approach have earned her trust with our staff and we have come to rely on her reliability. Grace’s ability to pick-up new tasks and her approach to problem solving are highly sought after skills and we are lucky to have her working with us.” 

"Dessa began working with Colorado Legal Services through a mini-internship in Spring 2024. During that brief time, Dessa showed initiative and dedication to her work. When she began working with CLS in Fall 2024, she committed herself to learning the ins and outs of our organization, our policies and procedures, and developing the skills she needs to support our work. As she became more comfortable with the work, she began taking on more tasks independently. Without needing to be told, Dessa will come into the office, figure out what needs to be done that day, and get it done. When she sees a need that isn't being addressed, she will either help or ask for training so that she can help next time. Dessa is thoughtful in how she offers support and recognizes where she can provide relief and build our organization's capacity.”  

2023-2024 Recipients: Tyler Yung

“Tyler was Palmer Land Conservancy's PIFP fellow during the summer of 2023. During his tenure with Palmer, Tyler performed outstanding work with our stewardship team. His monitoring reports showed a level of detail that would be expected of a conservation professional with several years' experience and his research greatly assisted me in creating an additional suite of resources for our landowners. After completing his fellowship, Tyler volunteered to work with us in order to complete required volunteer hours per his program. Through this volunteering, Tyler has organized community clean up events on conserved public properties, performed GIS projects for various Palmer teams, and joined our events team on multiple occasions. Tyler has also worked with Charlotte Gabrielsen's landscape ecology course in a case study of Pueblo County and contributed vital data within that project for both CC and Palmer.
Overall, Tyler is passionate about conservation, and he has contributed immensely to ongoing community efforts in the Pikes Peak Region and southern Colorado through his community engaged volunteerism and public interest work. After graduating from Colorado College, Tyler will continue his commitment to community-engaged conservation work, as he has also been hired to serve as the Conservation Easement Coordinator at Whatcom Land Trust in Bellingham, WA.”
 

2022-2023 Recipient: Peniel Owusu-Ansah

“Peniel has been my rock since my recent start to Educating Children of Color. Peniel has taken charge of the Educating Children of Color Leadership Academy. This means she makes sure programming happens for over two hundred youth in our community and she also coordinates with two mentors and one community liaison for more than 10 cohorts of students spread around numerous schools in Colorado Springs. When I first started Peniel was kind, and helpful, and did not make assumptions that I knew what I was doing as an executive director. Peniel also serves on the Educating Children of Color Board of Directors all while studying for her L Sat. I couldn't believe or be more appreciative of her giving of her time to make Leadership Academy run. Peniel has also started recruiting college student mentors for next school year and has also started working on the process of helping to create affinity groups within the schools. Peniel puts a tremendous amount of time and effort into the success of ECOC. I am confident that Colorado Springs is a far better place having Peniel in it.”

2021-2022 Recipient: Caleb Richards

"Caleb has "adopted" our (Concrete Couch) FAB LAB program. Every Wednesday he joins our group of 15-25 kids and adults to build things, recycling junk and used materials into great projects and filling the experience with learning at every step. The students appreciate Caleb and respond to him.

Caleb has attended approximately 25 FAB LAB classes! Additionally, he comes frequently to our Saturday "Grab Bag" sessions at the community park Concrete Coyote. He has been a super and steady presence at these programs, and is the first ill call when we have large groups (20 plus) who have signed up. Caleb has an interest in teaching in his future, so he has some vested interest in exploring teaching with us, but the consistency and support he has bestowed upon our program is unique in 30 years of engagement with CC students! Caleb certainly has earned our highest praises.”

Community Collaborator Award

This award honors a student who has engaged in meaningful relationship-building between communities on and off the campus, and in so doing best exemplifies commitment to communities of the Pikes Peak Region.

2025-2026 Recipient: Emma Jones

“Emma has played an important role in connecting the Colorado College Athletic Department with TESSA, a local nonprofit serving survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Emma’s involvement with TESSA began in 2024, and since then she has served multiple volunteer roles ranging from archiving projects in the Development department to volunteering at our Halloween Trunk or Treat event and assisting with client scheduling for our annual Holiday Shoppe event. She also asked to spearhead a donation drive for TESSA clients of her own volition." 

2024-2025 Recipient: Ana Martin

“For two years, Ana has led the Neuroscience Elementary School Outreach Program, a student-run group that visits District 11 elementary schools to teach children about the human brain. Before Ana's leadership, the outreach program visited maybe 5-6 classrooms per year. Ana grew the program immensely; she standardized lesson plans, obtained a grant to purchase high-quality instructional materials, and recruited regular teams of students. She also created and implemented an online form by which D11 teachers can schedule an outreach visit. Ana is the driving force of the Outreach program, scheduling regular meetings and keeping students engaged and involved. Hundreds of children in Colorado Springs have benefitted from the educational programming of the Outreach program.” 

2023-2024 Recipient: Denise Geronimo & Naomi Henry

 “Denise’s record of community engagement demonstrates a strong and meaningful commitment to public service.  Denise was a part of the Bonner Fellowship at CC, a four-year paid civic leadership fellowship that combines multi-year internships with local nonprofits with learning and reflection in community with peers.  Alongside her work as a fellow, Denise worked for the Collaborative for Community Engagement office for two years in the role of Issue Organizer for the Criminal Justice Coalition, interned for a local organization named Black and Pink, helped re-launch Justice (now Injustice) Watch, and sustained the Prison Abolition Project through the pandemic. She has wholeheartedly engaged in meaningful relationship-building between communities on and off the campus.”  

“Naomi has been instrumental in bringing CC Mobile Arts, and their energy and practice, into the Concrete Couch domain. She has been an active volunteer with the Concrete Couch Jam Band, and has volunteered at Tuesday Trails, FAB LAB, and other CC programs. Naomi has brought other CC students into the "Couch" fold. Naomi has helped us design and implement major events at Concrete Coyote Community Park. She is also the cheif designer and energy behind an upcoming Saturday event at Concrete Coyote Community Park (April 6: "Creative Expression of Home and Community"). Given her energy, creativity, follow through, and communication and outreach mojo, were super looking forward to the collaboration and know it will be a success!” 

2022-2023 Recipient: Jessa Granata

“As a Lead Mentor for the Stroud Scholars Program, Jessa has proven herself to be an exceptional mentor to scholars, as her empathy, advocacy, and commitment to supporting students has set the tone for what a Stroud Mentor should be. Jessa always creates a supportive and safe space for students to express themselves and their interests, while expertly finding ways to connect students to create meaningful friendships and communities. She also has a knack for leveraging her knowledge of CC to find creative ways to advocate for her students and their needs. Jessa has been actively engaged in the development of the Stroud Scholars Program since it launched in 2019. She was one of the first mentors we hired. The commitment she has made to the program and its students is remarkable and sets herself apart from others, as she has done the work to develop relationships with students, staff, faculty, and community members, which is a rare feat and deserving of acknowledgment.”  

2021-2022 Recipient: Daya Stanley

The Pikes Peak Children’s Museum opened in the Southeast in April, 2022 and Daya immediately began forming a relationship with the Executive Director, Nohea March, and has sustained work there throughout the past year.

She is attentive to the mission of that organization, to its reliance on donations and volunteer labor and has made it a priority to ensure that CC Mobile Arts prioritized that partnership through monthly visits, contributions of artists, and hands-on work herself.”

Campus Organizer

This award honors a student who mobilizes diverse campus stakeholders toward addressing a community-based need and/or promoting an engaged campus culture.

2025-2026 Recipient: Yumna Ali

Yumna serves as the President of the Women in Business club, a group that is now a structured organization with over 134 members under her leadership.  “In addition to her formal leadership titles, Yumna serves on the President's Council, where she advises the President and Cabinet on strategic initiatives and campus climate analysis. This role requires a high degree of trust and the ability to represent the student body's concerns to senior leadership with professional poise. What truly sets Yumna apart is her "pro-active" approach to engagement.  Whether she is building AI-powered grant dashboards for the Zayo Group to identify multimillion-dollar opportunities or volunteering with the Al-Mahdi Youth Association to organize over 50 community service events for underrepresented youth, she is constantly looking for ways to bridge gaps. Her academic excellence and her status as a Boettcher Scholar and David Preston Award winner further underscore her dedication to excellence in every facet of her CC experience. She is a leader who leads by example, inspiring her peers to engage more deeply with both the campus and the broader world.“  

2024-2025 Recipient: Landon Hartman

"I was introduced to Landon last semester (fall 2024) when he was organizing an independent study through Political Science involving ten CC students (myself and Landon included) campaigning full time for three weeks during the lead up to the Nov 5th 2024 election. In addition to organizing PSc 231: Political Campaigning, Landon has been very involved with Sunrise Club and recently organized an event where a local official came to campus to talk about environmental issues, policy solutions and discuss students concerns. Landon is also involved with Allies of Unhoused Youth and is a Bonner Fellow.”

2023-2024 Recipient: Niklas Nilsson

“Niklas has been the lead student organizer for the Colorado College Athletic Department since last Spring. He has taken the helm of coordinating various Men's and Women's teams volunteering throughout the 2023 -2024 academic year. Niklas organized an average of two 2-hr volunteer sessions per month, with an average of 8 students at each event. While initially developing his own streamlined sign-up system for Athletic Department teams, he easily transitioned to our new Volunteer Opportunity platform, enabling students to register and sign our Confidentiality Agreement online prior to the event.
Under Niklas' supervision, the athletes generously donated their valuable time and eagerly assisted with any task we assigned.”

2022-2023 Recipient: Kylie Orf

“Kylie is the Student Director of BreakOut, an invaluable organization that helps get students involved with their community off campus , connecting people to causes they care about. She has promoted an engaged campus culture by increasing advertising for BreakOut, which has served as a connection between many students and the Collaborative for Community Engagement. She has prioritized student inclusivity and community to get students involved and keep community engagement a pleasant and fun experience. This year, her goals were to strengthen the sense of community within BreakOut, emphasize inclusion and getting new students more involved in community engagement."  

2020-2021 Recipient: Angelina Chen

"[Angelina] pulled together an extraordinary senior thesis, based upon her summer internship with an NGO for rural-to-urban migrant children – 'floating children,' as they are called – in Shenzhen, China. She focuses on a play the children themselves write and perform as themselves, and argues that this is simultaneously an awakening to their structural marginality (policy makes it very difficult to earn places in good public schools outside of parents’ home districts), but also happens in a context where they are deeply cared for and empowered to find their voices as citizens claiming educational rights.

"This, coupled with her leadership of SOIL (the student group focused on development, but also, in my view, a “cover” that allows them to engage repressive Chinese state politics in a way that flies under the radar), as well as her long-time engagement as a Bonner scholar (fellow?), make her a strong contender for recognition, in my view." - Sarah Hautzinger, Professor, Anthropology

Outstanding Student Initiative Award

This award honors an excellent student-led collaboration that exemplifies and inspires thoughtful community engagement to other students. This could be a student-led organization, event, project, campaign, or partnership.

2025-2026: Allies of Unhoused Youth

"Allies of Unhoused Youth (AoUY or Allies) strives to support housing justice initiatives, particularly those benefiting youth, contributing to the advancement of human rights in Colorado Springs.  Over the last semester alone, Allies has engaged in dozens of initiatives - a feat made possible by the student leadership being developed within the club. Allies has prepared and packaged hundreds of meals for donation to The Place Youth Services for homeless and unhoused youth. Thanks to the exponential community engagement of underclassmen, Allies now serves as a member of the Pikes Peak Continuum of Care, by doing so they have joined a network of and routinely connect and collaborate with many local organizations addressing the housing crisis in Colorado Springs. Additionally, Allies contributed to the Colorado Springs Point-in-Time Count, which surveys members of the unhoused population to gather data and support the expansion of housing services. Allies has also supported events and actions of organizations such as the Colorado Springs Homeless Union, the Colorado Springs Tenants Union, and The Place Youth Services. They have organized accessible dissemination of information regarding the housing crisis not just on campus, but throughout Colorado Springs.  

Allies has collaborated with HopeCOS, the only low-barrier shelter that serves as a warming shelter during deadly conditions in Colorado Springs, providing donations and volunteers. Perhaps most importantly, Allies is a constant force on this campus, developing student leaders and inspiring community engagement and action. The strength of Allies clearly comes from the leadership of its student members, and its potential for further impact is astronomical."

2024-2025 Recipient: Early Scholars Tutoring

“Early Scholars Tutoring and its members form a remarkable organization dedicated to uplifting and supporting the students of Bristol Elementary School. The club's leadership is deeply committed to putting students first, consistently seeking ways to enhance their impact. The club leaders maintain regular and meaningful communication with Bristol's teachers and principal to ensure their efforts align with the student's needs. As a community-engaged initiative, the organization stands out as a shining example of how Colorado College students are actively investing in the broader Colorado Springs community. Their dedication to local youth reflects a genuine desire to foster connection, equity, and academic success beyond the college campus.” 

2023-2024 Recipient: CC Reinvestment Coalition

“CC's Reinvestment Coalition members have worked tirelessly (and successfully!) this year to move the Board and our campus community toward divestment away from fossil fuels and toward successful climate-conscious investments. Their bold engagement with the Board of Trustees, the Office of the President, and the wider campus community have been consistent and impressive across this entire year (and in previous years); moreover the CC Reinvestment Coalition has done something that no other Divestment/Reinvestment group has yet done in the multiple decades such work has been ongoing: this school year, based on research from this coalition, the Board moved to divest from direct holdings from fossil fuels and committed to investigating more divestment/reinvestment directions in the future.  I wholeheartedly nominate them for this award, as I believe their advocacy was transformative and could be a model for student engagement for years to come.” 

2022-2023 Recipient: CC Science Outreach

“Student Organization, CC Science Outreach, with its 20 or so members, offers weekly hands-on science activities at three D11 after school enrichment clubs.  The schools, Adams, Midland and Trailblazer, have roughly 1120 students from grades kindergarten to fifth grade, that the club organizes the science activities, including supplies and learning the lessons.  The club work with groups of students on Fridays since December 2022.  The highlight of the group is the consistency they are offering to the students for the once a month activity as well as the  ethnic and gender diversity of the club.  Having college students act as role models is an added bonus and the reason why this club has made an impact of our students.” 

2021-2022 Recipient: Aprender Mediante Amistad (AMA)

"AMA is an amazing student organization that has really responded to the challenges of the pandemic as well as continuing to ensure their work is relevant and impactful for students. AMA has responded to recent D11 board member rhetoric by helping promote a rally that has the possibility of creating beneficial change in the local community while also uplifting the voices and struggles of students.”

Public Problem-Solver

This award is presented to a student who is a change-maker in social and/or environmental realms, working to produce solutions to real-world social, civic, or environmental challenges of our world.

2025-2026 Recipient: Marynn Krull

"As Educating Children of Color’s Summer Leadership Academy Program Assistant, Marynn designed and implemented an annual and ongoing Summer Leadership Academy program in Colorado Springs School District 11 and Harrison School District 2. Her work encompassed organizing a budget, recruiting college mentors and volunteer speakers, and creating curriculum and a program schedule. 

In addition to leading program planning, she managed social media and newsletter communications, spearheaded ECOC’s Give Pikes Peak fundraising campaign, and contributed to the organization’s annual strategic planning session. She also worked with a group to establish a separate committee on ECOC’s board to create a sustainable funding system. She is a Colorado Springs Native and CC rockstar!”

2024-2025 Recipient: Kaviya Chidambaram

“Kaviya’s passion lies in empowering underrepresented voices and supporting equitable access to critical resources. On campus, Kaviya co-chairs the Bridge program, which works to support first-year underrepresented students and improve retention rates at a predominantly white institution. They also collaborate with the admissions team to reduce barriers to higher education for underinvested communities as an outreach and access intern. Climate justice and youth civic engagement is a cornerstone of Kaviya’s work. They mobilize students as tomorrow’s green leaders through the Sunrise movement. Kaviya is deeply committed to an environmentally just future that confronts the enduring impacts of Western imperialism.” 

“Beyond campus, Kaviya helps refugees transition to life in Colorado through the Bonner Fellowship by providing information on employment opportunities, childcare systems, and healthcare benefits. She is devoted to uplifting the voices of minority communities and advocating for more equitable and inclusive collaboration and leadership practices.” 

2023-2024 Recipient: EmRhys Jenkins

“EmRhys has been a pivotal force in advocating for and addressing the needs of unhoused youth in our community. Their commitment to service and social justice is exemplified through their multifaceted efforts, which have made a significant impact on our community. As a keynote speaker for The PLACE's annual fundraiser, Off The Street Breakfast, Emrhys captivated an audience of over 800 people, shedding light on the challenges faced by unhoused youth and rallying support for initiatives aimed at addressing their needs while sharing their lived experience.
Emrhys's leadership extends beyond public speaking engagements. They are the founder of the on-campus club Allies of Unhoused Youth, which tirelessly works to raise awareness and advocate for the rights of unhoused individuals. Through this club, Emrhys has engaged stakeholders on campus and in the community, driving meaningful dialogue and action towards positive change. Allies of Unhoused Youth also provide a monthly home-cooked meal on site for our youth shelter residents.
In addition to their advocacy work, Emrhys actively participates in weekly Homeless Union meetings, amplifying the voices of youth experiencing homelessness and advocating for their rights. Their involvement in local policy discussions, including speaking at city council meetings, demonstrates their dedication to creating tangible solutions to address the housing crisis, specifically on the importance of The PLACE's groundbreaking 50 unit youth housing project, The Launch Pad located about 1 mile from Colorado College."

2022-2023 Recipient: Luke Ortiz-Grabe

"Luke originally began working with Community Health Partnership as we kicked off our LGBTQIA2+ Health Equity Initiative. He joined us after a summer internship at One Colorado, and immediately helped connect our two organizations. This allowed us to get a significant jump-start in our LGBTQ+ Community Needs Assessment, which Luke worked to develop, test, and launch. The assessment closed on March 15th, and we had over 400 responses, thanks to his work. After the tragedy at Club Q on Nov. 19, 2022, Luke jumped right in as our organization pivoted to support survivors. His adaptability, drive, and willingness to jump in and problem solve has been invaluable to our team, and we are glad that he still has years left at CC!” 

2021-2022 Recipient: Mazlyn Freier

During the summer program in 2021, Mazlyn conducted strategic research tied directly to Grassroots Leadership’s campaign to shut down the Hutto Detention Center given the center’s well documented, pervasive issues of sexual abuse, family separation, retaliation, medical neglect, inadequate food, and labor abuses.  Throughout the research process, Mazlyn demonstrated outstanding ability to effectively conduct outreach work with local government officials, small business and community organizational representatives, and organizers affiliated with the Shut Down Hutto campaign. She presented information clearly and translated complex ideas into accessible information for a wide range of participants. Throughout this project, Mazlyn worked effectively in group contexts revealing her ability to be an effective listener and appropriately assume leadership when required by assisting her team members as they needed.”  

2020-2021 Recipient: Anna Sofia Vera

"Anna is an involved, passionate student who has tapped into her creative agency this year while developing a tutoring program at Mitchell High School, one of the CCE's High Impact Partners, in close collaboration with the Vice-Principal and other school staff.

"As a Bonner Fellow and former club member of North ESL Tutors-- a student organization that worked with middle schoolers who were navigating classroom learning while also learning English as their second (or third) language-- Anna has a clear track record of engagement within the realm of education, however, this year's remote learning operations have caused unique challenges within this realm. Tutoring relies on a foundation of relationship-building to enhance student comprehension of class learning material, which has been significantly harder to achieve over Zoom, according to Anna and other students who have been pursuing this option to support K-12 youth in Colorado Springs. Anna has fostered conversations about these challenges with multiple on-campus and off-campus stakeholders, bringing together the CCE, the Education Department, and Stroud Scholars program, as well as staff members at Mitchell, to explore ways to build up tutor capacity and training for online efforts and troubleshoot in-classroom challenges. Developing a tutoring program in the face of COVID-19 has been no easy feat, though a worthwhile and commendable endeavor for Anna to have pursued and continue building on as more in-person options resume.

"The CCE recognizes Anna's work this year in generating on-campus action around tutor preparedness (like the launch of a new "Working with Youth" Canvas page which will be used to share tutoring and mentorship resources) and supporting Mitchell High School as a tutor and program leader throughout this chaotic year." - Sophia Pray '19, Civic Leadership Program Coordinator, Collaborative for Community Engagement

Anabel and Jerry McHugh Director's Award

Established in 1996, The Anabel and Jerry McHugh Director's Award is presented to a graduating senior who has built the capacity of and advocated for the CCE.

2025-2026 Recipient: Grace Nguyen

“As the Student Director of the Bonner Fellowship with the Collaborative for Community Engagement, Grace has shown a deep commitment to the work and mission of our office and the growth of the Bonner Fellowship program. Through her four years as a CC student and Bonner Fellow, Grace has been a key leader in the CCE and has championed our work across campus. Grace began the Bonner Fellowship in her freshman year and immediately sought out the opportunity to step into leadership within the fellowship, serving as our First Year Representative and giving voice to the needs and concerns of her cohort. Following that she continued deepening her leadership on our Bonner Leadership Team (BLT) as our Bonner Family and Care Lead, supporting the community building and wellness of our program, to finally stepping in to lead the fellowship as its Student Director where, in the midst of a CCE staff member’s leave, she worked hard to keep the program running smoothly. Throughout all her roles in the CCE, Grace has demonstrated a rare combination of empathy, initiative, and strategic thinking. She exemplifies service leadership to her core, consistently seeing the needs of her peers and community and working to address them. It is not always easy to be a peer leader; however, Grace has taken on the role with a strong sense of self awareness, humility, and respect.” 

2024-2025 Recipient: Mackenzie Wagner

"As a senior intern with the Collaborative for Community Engagement, Mackenzie has demonstrated deep commitment to building community, advancing our mission, and strengthening the Bonner Fellowship. Mackenzie has been instrumental in cultivating a strong, connected culture within the Bonner program. She has been intentional about building relationships across cohorts—holding one-on-one meetings with first-year Bonners to support their transition into the program and designing programming that fosters connection to one another and to the broader mission of Bonner and the CCE. Through her leadership, the Bonner Fellowship has become not only more cohesive but more purpose-driven. Mackenzie is also a visible and passionate advocate for the CCE across campus. Whether she’s tabling at events, speaking to peers, or representing us in other leadership spaces, she consistently uplifts the work of our office and highlights the impact of community-engaged learning. Her authenticity and enthusiasm have helped increase awareness and support for our work. She truly is a champion of the CCE. Mackenzie has been involved with the CCE for her entire four years at Colorado College, and each year she has stepped further into leadership—eager to take on more responsibility and contribute to the growth of our programs. Her dedication, initiative, and heart for this work make her an exceptional candidate for this award."

2023-2024 Recipient: Jaxon Hoskinson

“Jaxon has committed his time at CC to building meaningful relationships both on and off campus. He worked as the Gender and Sexuality Issue Organizer for the CCE in 2022 and 2023. As an Issue Organizer Jaxon brought together student leaders, CC staff, and community partners engaged in gender and sexuality work to collaborate with one another. Through his outreach and coordination, a collaboration between The Butler Center, the Wellness Resource Center and community educators was forged to facilitate a Good Sex workshop series. During his time as an Issue Organizer, Jaxon also joined Inside Out Youth Services’ (IOYS) work in building access, equity, and power with LGBTQIA2+ youth as a member of their Safe at Schools Coalition. This connection has helped deepen CC’s relationship with IOYS and expanding opportunities for students to engage in meaningful community work. This past year Jaxon continued with the CCE Intern Team as one of three Student Directors of Communications. In this role Jaxon helped to expand the reach of our office on campus and elevate community engagement at CC. He will continue his path of creating a more just and equitable world through the Public Interest Fellowship Program working with IOYS this next year.”

2022-2023 Recipient: Gillian Lasher

“Gillian strives to lead a life of service, rooted in partnerships with communities and capacity-building work. Through her time at CC she has completed over 1200 hours of engagement. As a Junior she worked to create a documentary series with Food to Power through which she became only more determined to pursue a career in community-based development and non-profit work, to magnify voices and needs of those experiencing inequities. Gillian has been a strong advocate of the work of the CCE office through her intern roles and as a member of the CEL program. Gillian is collaborative, has strong communication skills and performs her work in a professional manner. She has helped build capacity for the CCE by providing constructive feedback and new ideas to help improve student programs, community partnerships and the advisory board.” 

2021-2022 Recipient: Sophie Cardin

"Sophie has done amazing work building up the CCE over her years here at CC. She helped bring me into the CCE's orbit, raised awareness and outreach on campus through all her work with CCSGA and her various clubs, and deserves to be recognized for her tireless efforts.”

"For the two years I have known Sophie, she has gone above and beyond for the CCE. As a student director for the CCE Co-op, she consistently makes herself available to support other student projects and events. She is not only an amazing asset to the CCE faculty and students but also an amazing friend who is willing to show up and help out. Sophie has poured so much time and energy into this school, and there is no doubt in my mind that she deserves this award.” 

2020-2021 Recipient: Martrice Ellis

"Martrice worked with a local school as a first-year student in the pilot program for the Bonner Fellowship, one of five students who paved the way for this program at Colorado College, and the only one who has remained consistently active up until her now senior year. The Bonner Fellowship began without any formal infrastructure aside from a new staff team at the CCE and an incoming group of students who would begin working in the community and learning and reflecting together along the way. Martrice has been working tirelessly for the Bonner Fellowship since the summer of 2020 to try and ensure that the program is supportive in the ways she would have wanted as a first-year, a commendable commitment made transformational through her problem-solving capabilities. On top of this, Martrice challenged herself to show up authentically in many different areas of work beyond the campus, growing into a well-loved and respected community member in Colorado Springs, and a role model for younger students in the Bonner program, a signature program of the CCE.

"Martrice has found her power in other areas of work, including The Collaborative Clay Club that she co-founded, which allows local LBTQIA+ youth to utilize the Bemis School of Art facilities and learn how to express themselves through art; the Llamapalooza and LoCCal music festival planning committees she serves on; the Safe@CC collective which she currently leads, geared towards shifting the culture of policing at Colorado College and beyond; and last but not least, as a speaker on several Black Lives Matter panels and an advocate of a new non-profit advocating for social justice called the Chinook Community Center. While diverse in nature, Martrice brings an equity lens to all of the various types of work she does; she has been intentionally building on her public speaking, advocacy, networking, and collaboration skills to deepen her values-oriented work with the community. Martrice worked with a local school as a first-year student in the pilot program for the Bonner Fellowship, one of five students who paved the way for this program at Colorado College, and the only one who has remained consistently active up until her senior year. The Bonner Fellowship began without any formal infrastructure aside from a new staff team at the CCE and an incoming group of students who would begin working in the community and learning and reflecting together along the way. Martrice has been working tirelessly for the Bonner Fellowship since the summer of 2020 to try and ensure that the program is supportive in the ways she would have wanted as a first-year, a commendable commitment made transformational through her problem-solving capabilities. On top of this, Martrice challenged herself to show up authentically in many different areas of work beyond the campus, growing into a well-loved and respected community member in Colorado Springs, and a role model for younger students in the Bonner program, a signature program of the CCE.

"An anecdote that demonstrates her dedication to engagement relates to Martrice’s work in the community around the Black Lives Matter movement. Martrice began attending protests in the Colorado Springs area around the issues of police brutality in our own community, and through that process, became known by local organizers as a budding activist herself. Martrice was invited to speak at a community panel in Acacia Park, the youngest of all panelists, and bravely shared her own story and recommendations for what allies can do to better support people of color in this fight for justice for all. Afterward, members of the community and other panelists came up to her to affirm her words, and she began networking, getting more plugged in to this growing community of organizers. She was invited to another panel shortly after and has since taken up more work with the Chinook Community Center. By showing up, and practicing vulnerability by stepping into the spotlight, Martrice is paving her way as an outspoken advocate in the Colorado Springs community, a path that only few CC students are able to make time for and value. This story affirms Martrice’s dedication to building bridges between CC and off-campus communities, which is representative of the work the CCE seeks to support." - Sophia Pray '19, Civic Leadership Program Coordinator, Collaborative for Community Engagement