Pictured from the left are the 2023 Clinton County Fellows, Garrett Simmons, Shannon O-Boyle and Kwame Acheampong.
Three Wilmington College students spent 10 weeks this summer immersed in programs and projects benefitting the community as the 2023 participants in the Clinton County Fellows program. The award-winning fellowship program in its 13th year connects college students or recent graduates with opportunities for positively impacting the county, fostering their personal and professional growth, and establishing or reestablishing their roots in the community.
This year's Fellows are all WC students, Kwame Acheampong, Shannon O'Boyle and Garrett Simmons.
Energize Clinton County oversees the program, which is administered by Dessie Rogers, executive director of the Wilmington/Clinton County Chamber of Commerce, and WC Trustee Taylor Stuckert, executive director of the Clinton County Regional Planning Commission (RPC). Dr. Michael Snarr, professor of political science, served as an adviser.
The trio of Fellows reported on their summer activities at the monthly Economic Network Alliance meeting held Aug. 3 at the College, which provided the Fellows with office and meeting space this summer. The Alliance is a partnership of the Chamber and RPC.
O'Boyle is a junior majoring in psychology and exercise science, a member of the swim team, and a 2021 graduate of Wilmington High School. She devoted much of her energy to a swimming and water safety program involving the Clinton County Youth Collaborative and Kiwanis Club. She created flyers and videos while highlighting a swim instructor curriculum. She also worked with the Clinton County Trails Coalition.
"The connections I made with local leaders were the most impactful parts of the experience," she said.
Simmons is a junior from Frankfort majoring in food policy/agricultural advocacy and agronomy and is a member of the wrestling team and Farmhouse fraternity. He worked with the Clinton County Workforce Collaborative and, in updating its workforce guide, conducted an extensive survey of unemployed persons to determine barriers faced in getting and keeping local jobs.
Simmons also explored opportunities for the College to engage with the Clinton County Farmers' Market. Some of the ideas that surfaced include serving food from the market in the Student Dining Hall, ways to encourage students to visit the Saturday markets and even becoming vendors at the market. He solicited involvement from the College's Student Government Assn. and Housing Office, resulting in those entities sponsoring the purchase of 300 food tokens for incoming first-year students to use while visiting the market.
"I've learned the importance of community engagement," he said, noting he additionally gained valuable experience with developing effective time management and independent work skills. "I've also learned how to reach out to people for help in accomplishing goals."
Acheampong is a senior majoring in political science with a minor in communication arts. He is a non-traditional student with a family in Cincinnati.
He addressed the aging library volunteer base with Friends of the Wilmington Public Library and created a social media plan and digital volunteer database while also exploring partnerships with existing entities that might have an interest. They are targeting volunteers ages 25 to 55.
Acheampong also used his digital media skills in producing a promotional video for the Fellows program as a means to attract financial support and gain the interest of potential future Fellows. The video featured Chas Wiederhold, a member of the program's inaugural summer in 2010, reminiscing about that experience and how it helped inform his life and career during the last 13 years. Over 13 years, the Fellows program has featured 45 Fellows contributing 18,000 hours of work on 116 projects.
"I've grown to love Clinton County," Acheampong said, adding it gave him an opportunity to "exercise his professional muscles" as a writer, photographer and videographer.