Announcing the 2013 ADP/TDC Student Plenary Video Competition Winners

Remember that video contest we told you about?

The one where ADP wanted to find students to speak at the 2013 ADP/TDC National Meeting?

Well, we found them.

And, yes, to be sure, we had a great set of submissions–thank you to everyone who entered! However, there were not enough entries to conduct an online contest, which is why you didn’t ever receive notification about voting or how you could give us your two cents.

Still, we’ve identified our winners, the ladies below, who were selected by an internal AASCU panel to be our plenary session panelists.

Allow me to introduce you.

Meet Rachel Wintz:

From Palmer, Alaska, Wintz is a senior at the University of Alaska Anchorage, majoring in sociology, minoring in Spanish, and receiving a certificate in civic engagement. After graduation, she plans to work for the Peace Corps in South America then attend graduate school for a master’s degree in international development.

“I think the only way to have a healthy community is through active participation of civically engaged citizens,” said Wintz. “Because of this, we need to encourage people of all ages to be involved in their communities in order to make them better places to live.”

You can watch her video here.

And Bianca Simone Brown:

Brown, who grew up in Rodeo, California.is a first-year graduate student at Western Kentucky University (WKU).  She is the Public Achievement Coordinator for the Institute for Citizenship and Social Responsibility and received an undergraduate certificate from that department as well. Brown earned her BA in English and philosophy at WKU and is currently working toward a master’s degree in social responsibility and sustainable communities. After graduation, she plans to utilize her background in English studies to continue working with community members, affecting positive social change through literacy education for upward mobility.

Brown’s primary interest is taking an active role in helping others to realize and exercise their own power. 

“I believe that if one feels it is possible to be disempowered by others, one was never self-empowered to begin with,” said Brown. “As I feel involvement in political life begins foremost with the self-empowerment of the individual, I aim to inspire others through my own actions and philosophy of civic engagement: the hopeful messages each of us deserves to share with the world must be masterfully crafted, expressed with confidence, and relentlessly upheld.”

Being selected to represent civically engaged AASCU students around the nation is not only a personal honor Brown holds high, but she also said it speaks to the department (ICSR) she has been a part of for the past two years. She is grateful for her mentor and John Saltmarsh award-winning director, Dr. Paul Markham; her father, Bill Brown, who taught her to never stop fighting for what is right; and her mother, Maria del Refugio, who showed her what it means to be activist.

You can watch her video here.

Wintz and Brown will be joined by two community college students from TDC member institutions; we are looking forward to hearing what they all have to say!