June 07, 2021
Newman Civic Fellow Michaela Campbell ’22 embraces ‘beloved community’ quest
Upon graduating from PC, Campbell will start working as a program manager for the Ambassador Leadership Journey at Project 351, a nonprofit youth leadership organization in Boston, Massachusetts.
By Charlotte Smith ’20, ’21G
In recognition of her commitment to addressing issues of social justice at Providence College and in the community at large, Michaela Campbell ’22 has been selected as a 2021-22 Newman Civic Fellow.
The Newman Civic Fellowship is a year-long program recognizing community-committed students who have invested time and energy toward finding solutions to social justice issues facing communities throughout the country. The students selected for the fellowship are leaders on their campuses with a demonstrated passion for improving community life and educating students on civic and social responsibility.
A public and community service studies major from Holliston, Mass., Campbell personifies the fellowship’s qualities as president of the campus student organization Society Organized Against Racism, known as SOAR; as a member of the Dialogue, Inclusion, and Democracy Lab; and as an orientation leader for first-year students.
For the last two years, Campbell has worked with Sophia Academy in Providence, a middle school for girls from low-income families that provides an education grounded in social justice. She facilitated an eighth-grade seminar on social justice-based community organizing and guided students and families through the high school application process.
Campbell built relationships with students and was rewarded with a view into the lives of young women who aspire to lead change in Providence and beyond. She learned about the systemic issues they face simply in pursuing an education. The contrast between these challenges and the ones she faces as a student at a private university less than 10 miles away was eye-opening, she said.
“Based on conversations I had with students and faculty members, I learned that some of the challenges these students face include food insecurity, responsibility to look after younger siblings, and the trauma inflicted by microaggressions and overt violence against BIPOC in their neighborhoods, on the news, and across social media,” Campbell said. “As a college student with experience in social justice community organizing, I ultimately served as a source of empowerment for students in recognizing and claiming their power as young agents of change in a world that so often does not recognize or celebrate that.”
Campbell said serving as SOAR president has been a highlight of her PC experience. She sought to spark conversations on campus about ways to increase student empathy and awareness so they might reach beyond PC to work in nonprofit organizations and school settings. Campbell has held meetings on how to facilitate this sometimes-difficult dialogue and on how to implement actions necessary to create change.
“As president of SOAR, I have enjoyed exploring different leadership circles and spaces around PC to facilitate conversations, and to figure out how to enact change to maximize the effect on this beloved PC community,” she said, referring to the “beloved community” named by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “While talking about these issues is important to me, conversations are not effective unless we take action to combat issues.”
Her work at Sophia Academy and with SOAR has allowed Campbell to recognize the means necessary to confront and dismantle the fundamental causes of injustice, such as racism and discrimination, through less tangible solutions — reflection, education, reparation, dialogue, and policy change.
She is hopeful that she will be able to enact meaningful social change through her experiences with the Newman Civic Fellowship.
“I am most looking forward to connecting with peers across the country whose values align with mine,” Campbell said. “Doing social justice work can be overwhelming, but I am grateful to have the opportunity to connect with other young change-agents across the country, to foster resilience together, and to figure out how we can keep this momentum going beyond our college careers and into the workforce.”
Campbell’s mentor will be Dr. Nicholas V. Longo ’96, professor of public and community service studies and of global studies. He will serve as a resource of support and assist her in exploring options and career paths after graduation.
Campbell has taken several courses with Longo, including Mapping Youth Leadership, a civic engagement course, and a Development of Western Civilization colloquium on Diversity and Democracy. She works with him as a member of the Dialogue, Inclusion, and Democracy Lab, an interdisciplinary course that engages students in civil discourse.
“Through my interactions with Michaela, I see her as a dedicated leader who gains the respect of peers and community partners because she listens and leads with compassion and humility,” said Longo. “As part of this fellowship, Michaela will get to be part of a national network of student leaders and further develop her public skills, as she is also engaged in collaborative public work locally. I believe that we will both learn a lot from this process as we meet weekly and engage in reflective practice around her experiences.”
Through her fellowship, which starts this fall, Campbell hopes to continue to refine her skills to tackle more complicated problems, while preparing to pursue a vocation that will help make a difference in the lives of others after she graduates.
“My hope is to help change the culture of PC to one in which every single student, no matter their lived experience, is expected to use their platform to combat the systemic injustice that our BIPOC students, faculty, and neighbors of Smith Hill are facing, and in the global community more broadly,” Campbell said. “I know it may be a bit controversial, but I think it’s really important , especially considering so much of my work is focused on advocacy with — and justice for — students and faculty on campus.”
Past Newman Civic Fellows from PC
- 2020-2021: Deborah Lopez ’21 (global studies, economics)
- 2019-2020: Junielly Vargas ’21 (public and community service studies and psychology with a minor in business innovation)
- 2018-2019: Katherine Martinez ’20 (biology and public and community service studies)
- 2017-2018: Phoebee Jean ’19 (health policy and management)
- 2016-2017: Abigail Wolf ’18 (public and community service studies)
- 2015-2016: Matthew Henry Smith ’16 (public and community service studies)
- 2014-2015: Gretta Schaaf ’15 (public and community service studies)
- 2012-2013: Magali Garcia-Pletsch ’13 (global studies with a minor in public and community service studies)
- 2011-2012: Kathryn McCann ’12 (public and community service studies and political science)
