Student Recognized with National Award for Peer Advocacy

Story by: Jasmine Hall, NCCU Office of Communications and Marketing Intern

For business administration major Hollan Strepay, service is embedded in his character. His desire to help others has been acknowledged by the Campus Compact, a Boston-based nonprofit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education.

Strepay is among the 262 students from across the nation that make up the organization’s 2019-2020 cohort of Newman Civic Fellows.

The Cary, N.C., native interests include entrepreneurship and student advocacy. Currently, he is actively addressing the digital divide for fellow students.

Strepay, a second-year student, strives to shorten the digital divide though his initiative Assisting Student Success in Supplying Technology (ASSIST), a technology inclusion program that provides laptops to students to enhance academic success. Thanks to financial support from North Carolina Central University’s Provost Office, Information Technology Services and University College, students were presented with 13 new Dell 2-in-1 laptops. Strepay’s overall goal is to provide all first-year students with laptops to aid their pursuit of academic achievement.

The Newman Civic Fellowship, named for Campus Compact co-founder Frank Newman, is a one-year experience emphasizing personal, professional and civic growth for students who have demonstrated a capacity for leadership and an investment in solving public problems.

Through the fellowship, Campus Compact provides a variety of learning and networking opportunities, including a national conference of Newman Civic Fellows in partnership with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. The fellowship also provides participants with access to apply for exclusive scholarship and post-graduate opportunities.

“We are proud to recognize each of these extraordinary student leaders and thrilled to have the opportunity to engage with them,” said Campus Compact President Andrew Seligsohn. “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 Campus Compact is about, and it's what our country and our world desperately need.”

The Newman Civic Fellowship is supported by the KPMG Foundation and Newman’s Own Foundation. Learn more at compact.org/newman-civic-fellowship.