Hunter Whittington, a sophomore at East Carolina University, is one of 262 students selected as a 2019-2020 Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact, a Boston-based nonprofit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education.
Whittington is an ECU Honors College student from Clayton majoring in political science and economics. He has been involved with the Student Government Association, the Pre-Law Society and the Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement.
He became interested in politics while still in high school, when he started working on voter outreach during the 2016 election. Since then, he has conducted research on millennial voter turnout, organized voter registration drives, worked to keep polling places open on campus and advocated for student voter rights, according to his personal statement on the Newman Civic Fellows website.
Whittington “is a student leader, exhaustive in his efforts to raise awareness for and increase the level of civic engagement on our campus,” said ECU Chancellor Cecil Staton. “Currently, he is working to create a coalition of college students and local residents to foster a spirit of civic engagement in our community and raise awareness for local issues by giving constituents the tools to fight for the issues they care about.”
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 U.S. 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.
