(Posted April 17, 2017)

Kaitlyn Roth, a junior from Elk Grove Village, Ill.
Kaitlyn Roth, a junior from Elk Grove Village, Ill.

            HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Campus Compact, a Boston-based nonprofit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education, has named 273 students nationwide who will make up the organization’s 2017 cohort of Newman Civic Fellows, including Kaitlyn Roth, a junior at Juniata College studying biology and communication advocacy, from Elk Grove Village, Ill.

 

            Roth, the daughter of Kathleen and Gerhard Roth, also of Elk Grove Village, will use the fellowship for the 2017-2018 academic year to continue her activism and community involvement on campus. She is a 2014 graduate of Elk Grove High School.

            She will experience a variety of learning and networking opportunities throughout the year, 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.

            Each fellow must choose a mentor. Roth has chosen Fred Mason, a Juniata College trustee and a retired executive with Caterpillar Inc. and a strategy consultant in the Boston area.

"The communication department has supported any endeavor that I've ever taken on. I attribute most of my success to faculty helping me on a very long journey to figuring out who I am and what kind of career I want to have."

Kaitlyn Roth, junior

            Roth was nominated for the fellowship by the faculty of Juniata’s Department of Communication. During her career at Juniata, Roth started a student chapter of Stand Up for Racial Justice, and served as liaison between the student chapter and the community chapter. She also served as a NextGen Climate Fellow, where she registered voters and encouraged them to support political candidates who support climate-related issues.

            She also is active on campus in student clubs, serving as president of the Unitarian Universalist Union. She also is a member of the Juniata Environmental Coalition, the Better Together board, and Student Senate.

            “The communication department has supported any endeavor that I’ve ever taken on,” she says. “I attribute most of my success to faculty helping me on a very long journey to figuring out who I am and what kind of career I want to have.”

The cultivation of community-committed leaders has never been more crucial,” said Campus Compact president Andrew Seligsohn. “We rebuilt the Newman Civic Fellowship experience because our country needs more people who know how to bring communities together for positive change. We are thrilled to welcome this group of 273 exemplary students as the first cohort to participate in this new model.”

Campus Compact is a nonprofit coalition of more than 1000 colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education. As the only national association dedicated to this mission, Campus Compact is a leader in building community engagement into campus and academic life.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.