UW-Superior student receives Campus Compact fellowship
University of Wisconsin-Superior’s Jessica Smith is one of 212 students to be named to Campus Compact’s 2021 cohort of Newman Civic Fellows.
“I cried when I found out,” said Smith, who is majoring in legal studies with a minor in First Nations studies. “I was really emotional about it because I never would have thought that in my senior year at UWS I would be representing as a Newman Civic Fellow. It really took me off guard when I was selected, and to read the chancellor’s statement really made me proud.”
The Newman Civic Fellowship is a year-long 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.
“Jessica is an outstanding representative for our institution,” said Jenice Meyer, community engagement and strategic partnerships senior officer, and director of the Link Center. “She has been applying her passion and the knowledge gained from her education to address issues that plague Indigenous communities on a local and national level. Her work to address missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit people is vital and makes her so deserving of this national recognition.”
Campus Compact is a national coalition of colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education. This award will be officially presented to Smith during the Yellowjacket Student Excellence Awards virtual event in May.
“This recognition means so much to me because as a Two-Spirit Native American survivor of human trafficking, we are all too often not recognized,” said Smith, from Cloquet, Minnesota. “For me, it is helping to remove the invisibility of Native Americans in these systems. The University of Wisconsin-Superior feels proud that their Newman Civic Fellow wears a Two-Spirit ribbon skirt, I know that, and that makes me feel proud to be a part of a university that truly values diversity.”