Stockton Springs grad, and University of Maine student Bailey West is among six Maine college students honored in 2021 for their civic engagement.

On April 28, Maine Campus Compact celebrated its 20th Annual Awards Ceremony virtually to recognize outstanding work in public service and civic engagement by Maine faculty, students, and community and corporate partners.

“During these unprecedented times, our award recipients' positive impacts on campuses and in communities throughout the state reinforce the importance of the public purposes of higher education,” said MCC, in a news release.  

The Heart and Soul Student Award recognizes six undergraduate students who are actively involved in transforming their campuses and communities into environments of civic engagement. These students have developed positive community and campus change, and have worked to institutionalize their community projects. They have implemented innovative approaches to social, educational, environmental, health, economic and legal issues facing their communities and demonstrated leadership through their successful involvement of others on campus and in the community

West is currently a senior biochemistry student in the Honors College at the University of Maine. She is conducting her honors thesis research in toxicology and is involved on campus as a teaching assistant, tutor, study abroad ambassador, and Honors College Ambassador.

West has captained an Honors College team for the Eastern Maine Walk to End Alzheimer's for the past three years in memory of her grandfather. She has also partnered with a fellow Honors Ambassador to launch the It's Personal campaign, which entails a campus-wide competition to collect much-needed personal-care products for the Black Bear Exchange campus food pantry.

In the fall, she will pursue her PhD in Pathobiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

2021 Heart and Soul Student Award Recipients:

• Emma Block – Bates College
• Lutie Brown – Colby College
• Dominique DiSpirito –  University of Maine
• Ines Ngoga – University of Maine Presque Isle
• Bailey West – University of Maine
• Sydney Wolf – University of New England

Established in 1994, Maine Campus Compact is a coalition of 17 member campuses whose purpose is to catalyze and lead a movement to reinvigorate the public purposes and civic mission of higher education. We seek to transform our campuses in ways that develop better informed, active citizen problem-solvers, stronger communities, and a more just democratic society. We believe that our campuses must be vital agents and architects of a flourishing democracy.