CSB’s Eiden, SJU’s Curwick earn 2016 Newman Civic Fellow awards

If you looked up the definition of the Newman Civic Fellows Award in a fictional awards dictionary, the pictures of College of Saint Benedict junior Amy Eiden and Saint John's University junior Kevin Curwick would be next to the description.

After all, the Newman Civic Fellows Award honors inspiring college student leaders who have demonstrated an investment in finding solutions for challenges facing communities throughout the country.

That statement certainly describes both Eiden, an elementary education major from Cologne, Minnesota, and Curwick, an integrative health science pre-medicine major from Maple Grove, Minnesota, quite well. Both are committed to community engagement and activism.

Eiden and Curwick will be recognized for their work at the Minnesota Campus Compact's Presidents' Awards event Thursday, April 7, at Macalester College in St. Paul. (Both are currently studying abroad — Eiden in Guatemala and Curwick in South Africa — and will not be at the program.)

A total of 218 students were recognized for this honor nationally by Campus Compact, a Boston-based nonprofit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education.

Eiden serves as activities director at Bel Clare Estates, a St. Cloud-area mobile home park, teaching daily lessons for bilingual students ages 2-17. She also works to connect the Special Olympics organization to the CSB/SJU community through the DIFFERbilities Club, coordinating the selection of qualified volunteers from her peers, and then works with those volunteers and Special Olympics athletes.

She also coordinates service learning opportunities for students as a Core Leader for Students Today Leaders Forever (STLF). Through STLF, Eiden planned a 10-day Pay It Forward Tour that incorporated service learning, building relationships and self-reflection.

"The last two-and-a-half years of volunteering have shifted my life more than the previous 18 ever could have," Eiden said.

Curwick is a member of Bonner Leader Program, working as a Service-Learning Academic Coordinator in the Experiential Learning and Community Engagement office at CSB and SJU, where he facilitates the connection between students and community partners in central Minnesota.

He is also a National Ambassador for STOMP Out Bullying, an anti-bullying organization aimed at reducing issues of bullying in social media. Curwick gained national attention while attending Osseo (Minnesota) High School for creating a Twitter account that would run nice, uplifting messages to highlight the positive side of students who were being bullied at the school. @OsseoNiceThings now has nearly 5,000 followers.

"My time at CSB/SJU has been focused on engaging with the community and putting these experiences in the greater context of my educational and career aspirations," Curwick said.

The award honors the late Frank Newman, one of the founders of Campus Compact who was an advocate for the civic engagement of higher education. Newman Civic Fellows are recommended by their college and university presidents to acknowledge motivation and ability in public leadership.