Maryville College’s Amiana Grady honored as 2022 Newman Civic Fellow
Amiana Grady ’24, a sophomore Health and Wellness Promotion major at Maryville College, has been named a Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact for the 2022-2023 academic year.
The Newman Civic Fellowship recognizes students committed to finding solutions for challenges that communities face locally, nationally and internationally. Campus Compact is a Boston-based nonprofit coalition of colleges and universities that work to advance the public purposes of higher education. Grady will join students from 38 states, Mexico and Washington, D.C., to form a cohort of 173 student leaders designated as Newman Civic Fellows.
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 provides Fellows 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 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.
Having grown up in Knoxville, Tennessee, Grady is a Bonner Scholar who volunteers with the mentoring program Emerald Youth Foundation, an organization that played a pivotal role in her own development as a child. During Summer Break, she returned to the Foundation to serve as part of its Americorps Tutoring team in order to help students sharpen their math and reading skills, as well as face some of the same challenges she did.
In his nomination letter, Maryville College President Dr. Bryan F. Coker also noted her service to the Boys and Girls Club of Blount County and the Blount Memorial Wellness Center.
“Whether in an academic setting, where she leads her peers to deeper questions about the social implications of course materials, or through her Bonner Scholarship service, Amiana includes those who are left out, works diligently until the task is done, organizes events with an eye toward detail, and takes responsibility for helping each of her communities grow in strength and justice,” Coker wrote.
In her personal statement, included on her Newman Civic Fellows profile page, Grady describes how the poverty and violence that surrounded her during childhood was tempered by a supportive and protective group of young women put together by her grandmother who encouraged her to seek ways to make a difference.
“My passion is to give children the life they deserve regardless of social status, so they can have the guidance to become whatever they desire,” she said.