Campus Compact has selected Barry student leader Martina Muñoz Chalan as a Newman Civic Fellow. She is one of 290 “community-committed students” – and one of only 10 from Florida – receiving national recognition by being awarded the one-year fellowship.
A junior majoring in finance and international business, Muñoz Chalan has assisted the Atelye Thevenet Artisan Cooperative in northwestern Haiti, managing its business and accounting processes.
In nominating her for recognition as a Newman Civic Fellow, President Mike Allen noted that, since 2018, Muñoz Chalan has supported the co-op, through which “impoverished women learn vital skills so they can put food on the table, send their children to school, and even build modest homes for their families.”
Her sales promotion and personal selling have generated over $2,000, which has been reinvested in the co-op.
“This amount is significant in a region of the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country, where the average monthly wage is less than $100,” Allen said.
A Barry Service Corps Fellow with the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI), Muñoz Chalan has also facilitated the involvement of her peers in projects supporting farm workers and has pressed for human rights reforms in industrial agriculture.
Muñoz Chalan will receive Barry’s Community Impact Award during the Community Engagement Awards Ceremony hosted by the CCSI on March 25. The university president nominated her for Campus Compact’s Newman Civic Fellowship on the recommendation of the CCSI.
“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,” according to a Campus Compact announcement.
Campus Compact is a Boston-based nonprofit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education. The fellowship is named for the late Frank Newman, one of Campus Compact’s founders, described as “a tireless advocate for civic engagement in higher education.”
“We are proud to recognize each of these extraordinary student leaders and thrilled to have the opportunity to engage with them,” said Dr. Andrew Seligsohn, president of Campus Compact. “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 … our country and our world desperately need.”
The Newman Civic Fellows, including Muñoz Chalan, are profiled at the Campus Compact website.