Adelphi University Bestows Mahnoor Misbah the Community Fellow of the Year Award

The Adelphi University Center for Career Development announced Mahnoor Misbah ’14 as the first Community Fellow of the Year award recipient during its Annual Community Fellows Breakfast held on August 30, 2012. Through the Community Fellows Program (CFP), Adelphi undergraduate students have the opportunity to get trained and paid for completing a 10-week summer internship at a prestigious nonprofit agency. Misbah interned with Global Kids at their Online Leadership Program over the summer.  

Through Global Kids, young people in New York City and D.C. public schools examine global issues, make local connections, and create change through peer education, social action, digital media and service-learning. Reaching more than 14,000 youth and educators each year, and many more online, Global Kids transforms lives while charting new life journeys.   

Misbah, a political science major enrolled at Adelphi’s Honors College, also completed the one-credit Internship Preparation Seminar prior to the start of her internship. Global Kids was Misbah’s first choice. She was attracted to their mission statement and goals to empower urban youth, hone their leadership skills and shape them into globally conscious individuals. She was grateful for the opportunity to work at the Online Leadership Program and found it meaningful to make creative use of technology to facilitate education and empowerment.  

During her 10-week internship, Misbah worked alongside the Online Leadership team and helped them organize their two main events for the year, the “Virtual Video Project” and “Race to the White House Project.” Both of the programs required her to work with high school students to assist them in using technology such as video and audio recording devices and software to create short films. She travelled through schools in all the five boroughs to help them create educational games and teach them how to voice their opinion using technology. Additionally, she attended several conferences including the Games for Change Conference and Emoticon. She kept a blog to share her experiences and created online badges to reward youth for their accomplishments in the program. Her work was highly applauded by her supervisor and others at Global Kids.  

The Community Fellows Program (CFP), a highly competitive program, matches qualified students—sophomores and juniors—to a participating nonprofit community organization. Students earn a $3000 stipend for working 300 hours over 10 weeks during the summer. The program has grown over three years since its inception; in 2010 the program placed 18 students in 16 organization; in 2011 it placed 39 students in 27 organizations; and this year, it saw an overwhelming participation of 63 interns working at 37 nonprofit organizations throughout the New York City and Long Island region.  

“The Community Fellows Program not only ensures meaningful summer employment opportunities for the students, imparting them with valuable working experience, but it also helps the nonprofit organizations, vital to the region’s development, that are continuously in need of volunteers,” said Jonathan Ivanoff, associate director for internships, for the Center for Career Development at Adelphi University. “The Center for Career Development is proud to honor Misbah and all the interns, as well as the participating nonprofits for making a significant impact on the fellows.” 

To learn more about the Community Fellows Program, visit students.adelphi.edu/career/students/cfp.php