When Hernandez learned he had been selected as a Newman Civic Fellow, one aspect of the honor stood out: the chance to join a national community of students committed to strengthening their communities.
Campus Compact's yearlong fellowship provides students with regular online leadership webinars. It also, in November, will invite all 150 to 200 Newman fellows to a weekend conference in Washington, DC.
“It’s a big networking opportunity,” Hernandez said, “and a chance to meet more people interested in this work and learn how they’re approaching the same problems I’m interested in.”
At Bowdoin, Hernandez has focused much of his community service on youth education and development. His interest in education stems, he said, from the positive influence of his own teachers, as well as firsthand experience with educational inequity.
“I went to a high school in a low-income community [in Atlantic City, New Jersey], and when I moved sophomore year to a wealthier suburb, I saw the discrepancy of resources in the two schools,” he said.
President Safa Zaki, who nominated Hernandez for the fellowship, highlighted his record of community engagement in her nomination letter.
She noted that he last year, he received a Maine Community Fellowship through the McKeen Center, interning with the Portland Housing Authority. He has also served with the McKeen Center’s Student Community Action Network, where he interned with Teens to Trails. For the past three years, he has participated in Bowdoin’s Common Good Grant program. He advises a local high school's Students of Color Coalition, and this fall will lead his second service-focused pre-orientation trip for incoming first years.
“Gary's pursuit of the common good and involvement in civic life is a model for all students,” Zaki said.
McKeen Center Associate Director Sam Cogswell, who advises the Common Good Grant program, said Hernandez contributes to the group with his thoughtful perspectives. “Gary is not usually the loudest voice in the room, but he’s someone who receives a lot of respect from his peers,” she said. “He thinks thoughtfully about his impact and Bowdoin College’s impact on the community.”
She added, “When we’re making decisions about grants, we oftentimes have to make challenging decisions with no right or wrong answers, and those are the moments when Gary shines. He usually has an insight that makes people pause or think.”
In his personal statement for the fellowship, Hernandez reflected on learning the importance of community service from his mother. He recalled accompanying her as an eight-year-old to help assemble Thanksgiving food baskets for families in need. His own family also received one of those baskets. He wrote that he sees community service “as a web of mutual support, as an exchange between neighbors who at different moments both give and receive.”
The fellowship also includes online leadership workshops and the opportunity to apply for a $1,500 mini-grant to support a self-designed social impact project. Hernandez hopes to apply for the grant to stage a bilingual production of Hamlet featuring actors of color. An English major, he plans to pursue a PhD in medieval literature.
