Alverno College Student Celestina Hertz Honored as Newman Civic Fellow

Campus Compact, a national coalition of colleges and universities working to advance the public purposes of higher education, has named 154 student civic leaders who will make up the organization’s 2023-2024 cohort of Newman Civic Fellows. Celestina Hertz, a student at Alverno College, will join students from 38 states, Washington, D.C., and Mexico to form the cohort. This is the seventh consecutive year that an Alverno student has been named a Newman Civic Fellow; Katherine Watson was selected for the 2017 cohort, Alejandra Gonzalez was chosen for the 2018 cohort, Donna Lewis-Taylor was part of the 2019 cohort, Cassandra Abarca was selected for the 2020 cohort, Vania Jurkiewicz was chosen for the 2021 cohort, and Litze Estrada was chosen for the 2022 cohort.

Hertz, a social work major who plans to graduate in 2024, has a passion for civic engagement. She was recently named the representative of the Milwaukee-area university chapters for Youth Empowered in the Struggle (Y.E.S.) under the non-profit Voces De La Frontera, an organization dedicated to civil rights and workers’ rights in the Milwaukee community. As part of Y.E.S., Hertz engages in efforts to raise awareness, participation and advocacy for immigrant rights. She is also a Democracy Fellow for the Campus Vote Project, planning events focused on non-partisan voting education and registration on the Alverno campus. Hertz has an interest in the juvenile correction system, school social work, foster care and adoption with a focus on how macro-level policy impacts the individual. She is also part of the Thea Bowman Institute for Excellence and Leadership, a cohort-model, full-tuition scholarship program for Black undergraduates who have a strong desire to serve as leaders.

“Celestina turns her compassion for humanity into real action with potential for lasting impact on social justice,” said Joseph Foy, PhD, interim president of Alverno College. “She is truly a standout leader and someone I feel privileged to get to know and work with.”

The Newman Civic Fellowship recognizes students who stand out for their commitment to creating positive change in communities locally and around the world. 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, fellows are nominated by Campus Compact member presidents and chancellors, who are invited to select one outstanding student from their campus each year.

Through the fellowship, Campus Compact will provide these students with a year of learning and networking opportunities that emphasize personal, professional and civic growth. Each year, fellows participate in numerous virtual training and networking opportunities to help provide them with the skills and connections they need to create large-scale positive change. The cornerstone of the fellowship is the Annual Convening of Fellows, which offers intensive in-person skill building and networking over the course of two days. The fellowship also provides fellows with pathways to apply for exclusive scholarship and post-graduate opportunities.

“We are honored to recognize such an outstanding group of community-committed students,” said Campus Compact President Bobbie Laur. “One of the best parts of the Newman Civic Fellowships is the richness of students’ perspectives, experiences and backgrounds—and how these varied stories all led to their passionate engagement with the social, political and environmental issues impacting our world. These students will be the catalysts for change on many levels, and we are privileged to help empower them to create that change.”

Learn more at compact.org/newman-civic-fellowship. You can read more about each of the student leaders selected for this year’s cohort at compact.org/current-programs/newman-civic-fellowship/newman-civic-fellows.

About Campus Compact

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.