Kaitlyn Kennedy ’17, a Visual Communications major at Farmingdale State College, has won the Newman Civic Fellows Award. The national award honors student leaders who have “demonstrated an investment in finding solutions for challenges facing communities throughout the country.”
A major reason Kaitlyn was honored with a Newman Award is her work with Island Harvest, the largest hunger relief organization on Long Island. Her contributions include an animation/infomercial that tells about Island Harvest’s services. Her design work also won her a Hagedorn Internship from Farmingdale’s Social Science Research Institute’s Center for Social Justice, which, in turn, led to the internship with Island Harvest.
In his recommendation letter to the Newman Award judges, Farmingdale President W. Hubert Keen said that Kaitlyn uses her graphic design skills “to compel people to think about issues, to develop a passion for addressing them, and most important, to take action for social change.”
Kaitlyn is also a Farmingdale Dean’s List student. She says about her commitment to social justice: “When I was 16 years old, I quickly realized the passion I had for helping people. I recognized that even the smallest gestures had a positive impact, and that brought me great joy. Now, being 21 years old, I’ve recognized that there are even greater gestures I can do, that will truly change another person’s life.”
