Former HSU Associated Students President Nicole Alvarado got the call she was waiting for just as her final HSU classes were wrapping up in May.
Former HSU Associated Students President Nicole Alvarado got the call she was waiting for just as her final HSU classes were wrapping up in May. It was from the prestigious Bill Emerson National Fellows Program based in Washington D.C.
Nicole was selected to be one of 24 National Hunger Fellows for a year-long program, and is the only 2006 representative from the entire CSU system.
"I'm moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico to work for an organization called Farm to Table. There I will be the project coordinator for the Rural Food Gap Assessment Project," she reports.
The Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship is a project under the Congressional Hunger Center. Each year the 24 fellows are placed with urban and rural community-based organizations, such as food banks and local advocacy groups, and spend six months assessing food-security programs at a local level. The fellows spend the remaining six months in Washington D.C. at national anti-hunger organizations, including think tanks and federal agencies.
"It is a dual program -- both grassroots organizing and legislative," says Nicole, who graduated on May 13 with a degree in communications. But more importantly, "I get to work hands-on. It is about community shaping policy, not policy shaping community. I'll be working with real people and implementing what I learn when I go to D.C. It's like putting a face to public policy."
Nicole says this fellowship is the perfect opportunity to obtain experience in the community before pursuing a master's degree in community development.
"It also really excites me to collectively learn with motivated individuals from diverse backgrounds."
After her experiences as AS president, a year as a local committee representative, a residence hall living-group advisor, and a volunteer at the YES House, Nicole said she believes HSU and the surrounding community cultivate the framework for great community thinkers, which was just the preparation she needed for the Emerson fellowship.
"HSU is going to supply the leaders for the future," she said.
In fact, when interviewing for the program, she made a point to emphasize the strength of the Humboldt State and CSU student body. Previous Emerson fellows hail primarily from schools like Harvard, Yale, Brown, Duke, Cornell and Northwestern, not state universities. But Nicole takes great honor in representing the 409,000 students of the CSU system. "I'm anxious to prove the awesome leadership cultivated by the CSU."
Nicole, overwhelmed by shock and excitement -- and eager to get started -- will assume her post in New Mexico on August 21.
For more information about the Bill Emerson National Fellows Program, visit http://www.hungercenter.org/.