“A year unlike any other.” “Unprecedented times.” “A new normal.”
Those terms ran on repeat throughout the past academic year. The challenges they encompassed were very real, forcing everyone to stretch outside their comfort zones and adjust even further to the unexpected.
Yet O’Neill students, staff, and faculty worked through those barriers to come out better on the other side, inspiring each other as they moved through the year.
Mari Luna is actively working to help immigrants in the United States. She currently serves as a community organizer for Movimiento Cosecha, a movement that fights for the rights of all immigrants.
“Movimiento Cosecha has really allowed me to work directly with the people most impacted and center their voices when working with them to make a difference,” she explains.
The position is a perfect fit for Mari. She’s pursuing her degree in Civic Leadership at O’Neill while earning a Liberal Arts certificate in Social Justice Organizing. O’Neill is where she’s been able to learn the tools to pursue her passion for civic engagement.
She’s taken those classroom lessons and put them to use in real-life applications, advocating for bills that would provide tuition benefits to undocumented students and driver’s licenses to all Indiana residents. She also volunteers in programs addressing food insecurity, higher education, and basic needs access for historically excluded communities in Indianapolis.
“O’Neill has allowed me to see different perspectives and helped me realize there is a lot of theory within the curriculum that can change once you are doing the work out in the community,” she says.
O’Neill IUPUI’s André Zhang Sonera doesn’t just talk about the importance of community engagement; he has been living out his mission to make a difference in Indianapolis and his hometown of San Sebastián, Puerto Rico, for years.
After Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017, André stepped up to help from 1,870 miles away in Indianapolis. Just a year earlier, he had served as a Sam H. Jones Community Service Leader in his senior year at O’Neill, coordinating several campus-wide Days of Service. In the wake of Hurricane Maria, André saw an opportunity to put those skills to use to help his hometown.
He volunteered as the logistics organizer for ¡Puerto Rico Se Levanta!, helping organize a local donation drive to send necessities back home.
“As a group, we collected, sorted, and organized items donated from hundreds of people across Indiana who dropped off items at Lawrence Park, and then collaborated with multiple stakeholders and government agencies” he recalls. “Thanks to that collaboration, we transported more than 40 pallets of essential items to the affected communities in Puerto Rico—¡Con amor desde Indianápolis!”
Now a graduate student with O’Neill, the university is honoring André’s dedication to service and community by awarding him the William M. Plater Medallion for Civic Engagement. André says he was humbled and honored to receive the award as he closes out his academic career with O’Neill.
To anyone who knows Amber Rose Greaney, it was no surprise to learn that she was selected as a recipient for IUPUI’s William M. Plater Civic Engagement Medallion for the 2020–21 academic year. After all, her list of accomplishments, projects, and honors could fill a book—or two.
“Amber’s commitment to community engagement far exceeds that of most students I have had the pleasure of teaching,” says Cullen Merritt, a faculty member at O’Neill who has worked with Amber Rose on many research projects. “I have high hopes and expectations for Amber, whose academic and professional potential are unlimited.”
She was a member of the IUPUI Honors College and had already placed in the university’s Top 100 and Top 10 students as an undergraduate. In her graduate career, she was named to IUPUI’s Elite 50 and Premiere 10 grad students.
Yet Amber Rose herself was speechless when she learned she was receiving the award.
“I was overwhelmed with gratitude,” she says. “This award is special to me because it goes beyond academics and is really about the impact I’ve had helping organizations, communities, and future generations here in Indianapolis.
Cassidy Caudill’s time with the O’Neill School at IUPUI is coming to a close. The Master of Public Affairs candidate is set to complete her degree in December 2021 with a concentration in Policy Analysis. She currently works as a graduate assistant for enrollment management for the O’Neill School, but also serves as the chair for Paws’ Closet—a free on-campus clothing service for IUPUI students.
Paws’ Closet is just one of the ways in which Cassidy works to deliver on her commitment to Major in Making a Difference at O’Neill. She has also worked to advance advocacy of global poverty legislation.
“Civic engagement is important because I believe everyone has a responsibility to better their communities and the lives of the people around them through activities as simple as cleaning up trash around your neighborhood or as complex as advocating for social change,” Cassidy explains.
