© UW Parkside 2022/Alyssa Nepper
As the University of Wisconsin-Parkside’s Newman Civic Fellow, Grant Pitts, feels a responsibility to serve as a civic leader for his peers and the campus community. As part of the Fellowship, Pitts has received a mini-grant from Campus Compact to help facilitate a new digital democracy wall. The Newman Civic Fellowship is a year-long position that acknowledges and supports student leaders at Campus Compact member institutions.
Each year the chancellor or president of each member university nominates a student based on their leadership and public service. Throughout the year, fellows are afforded opportunities from Campus Compact to cultivate their assets and help them develop strategies for social change.
Pitts is a junior sociology major from Kenosha. He is very involved with multiple organizations on campus. Pitts explains, “My role as Newman Civic Fellow is to get students engaged with civics to the fullest extent. That means voting, educating students about politics and government, and getting students to talk to one another about their political beliefs and opinions.”
The Newman Civic Fellowship Mini-Grant Program is sponsored by The Allstate Foundation and facilitated by Campus Compact. It provides financial support to Newman Civic Recipients for community impact projects. Thanks to funds provided by Allstate, Pitts is acquiring a digital smartboard to help improve the space. The improvements will allow the installation to be more interactive and provide more ways to access it and participate.
The digital democracy wall provides a place for students to voice their opinions and learn how other students may have a different perspective. “The Democracy Wall is a digital exhibit or installation that will provide students with a space to engage in civil discourse by responding to prompts put up by our Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere Campus Team. Students can respond to the prompts directly or respond to each other! We can also use this space to educate students about political issues or even to conduct an opinion poll,” Pitts explains.
Pitts believes that the Digital Democracy Wall will help students become involved in civic discourse and an active participant in our country’s democratic system. “The Democracy Wall will help advance the University’s mission by using technology in a program that will help prepare students to be successful in their civic life, providing them with intellectual and cultural enrichment. The Democracy Wall will fit into the University’s “Strategic Framework” via Parkside’s Civic Action Plan, preparing graduates to be knowledgeable citizens.”
To learn more about Campus Compact and the Newman Civic Fellowship, please visit https://compact.org/current-programs/student-programming/newman-civic-fellowship
Written by UW-Parkside
Link to original story: https://www.uwp.edu/explore/news/ncf-mini-grant-2024.cfm