![\"HalimatOshun\"](\"http:\/\/mccdemosite1.devsiteurl.com\/mcc-publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/98\/2015\/11\/HalimatOshun.jpg\")
Halimat Oshun \u201916 was recently presented the first Patrick Donohue Outstanding Service and Civic\u00a0Engagement Student Award at MCC. The award recognizes a student who has demonstrated a substantive\u00a0and positive impact through community involvement. It was presented at a reception attended by the\u00a0College community, alumni, and Professor Donohue\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
Ms. Oshun is a two-year member of Democracy House, MCC\u2019s service-learning program. She has\u00a0participated in the Habitat for Humanity build several times, a camp cleanup, and numerous blood drives.\u00a0She has visited the Menlo Park Home for Veterans on multiple occasions and works extensively with the\u00a0Center for Empowerment. Ms. Oshun has also done both Martin Luther King and 9\/11 days of service. She\u00a0is also a Dean\u2019s List student, and an officer with the Student Government Association.<\/p>\n
The award is named for Patrick Donohue, a former professor at MCC, who passed away in July of 2015.\u00a0Beyond his inspirational teachings on American politics, civic society and the democratic process, Professor\u00a0Donohue was a tireless supporter of student involvement in the local community. Soon after becoming an\u00a0instructor, he created Democracy House at Middlesex, which paired the needs of the local community with\u00a0the opportunity for students to enhance their academic and personal development through community\u00a0service. He left MCC in June of 2008 to pursue leadership of the Bonner Center at The College of New\u00a0Jersey.<\/p>\n
Jennifer Altman, sociology professor at MCC and the chair of the selection committee, spoke at the\u00a0reception.<\/p>\n
\u201cPat was the epitome of the perfect community college professor,\u201d she said \u201cHe was whip smart, but not\u00a0condescending. He was theoretical and practical. He was a doer, not just a talker and he was always\u00a0moving, always dreaming, always planning, always connecting people. I could see it in the way faculty\u00a0colleagues came up and brainstormed ideas with Pat; how the administrative staff glowed over the impact of\u00a0the projects; how Democracy House staff thrived off Pat\u2019s mentorship and commitment; how community\u00a0members hugged and thanked Pat for truly caring, making a difference and making the time to connect to\u00a0their worlds, their constraints, and their needs, and most of all, I saw it in the alumni and students. How they\u00a0told me over and over again how Pat has changed their lives, how Pat believed in them before they believed\u00a0in themselves. How Pat taught them to question, think critically and set higher expectations in the classroom\u00a0than they had ever set for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through partnerships with the Bonner Foundation, Professor Donohue was instrumental in bringing\u00a0AmeriCorps and Bonner Scholarships to countless students throughout his tenure at MCC. The Center\u2019s\u00a0partnerships with local nonprofits have focused on several areas of need in the greater Middlesex County\u00a0area including hunger, homelessness, urban education, the environment, youth and family services, youth\u00a0development, and immigrant services. For many years the Center has been on the President\u2019s Higher\u00a0Education Community Service Honor Roll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Halimat Oshun \u201916 was recently presented the first Patrick Donohue Outstanding Service and Civic\u00a0Engagement Student Award at MCC. The award recognizes a student who has demonstrated a substantive\u00a0and positive impact through community involvement. It was presented at a reception attended by the\u00a0College community, alumni, and Professor Donohue\u2019s family. Ms. Oshun is a two-year member of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3291,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3317","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mccdemosite1.devsiteurl.com\/mcc-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mccdemosite1.devsiteurl.com\/mcc-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mccdemosite1.devsiteurl.com\/mcc-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccdemosite1.devsiteurl.com\/mcc-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccdemosite1.devsiteurl.com\/mcc-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3317"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mccdemosite1.devsiteurl.com\/mcc-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3325,"href":"https:\/\/mccdemosite1.devsiteurl.com\/mcc-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3317\/revisions\/3325"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccdemosite1.devsiteurl.com\/mcc-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mccdemosite1.devsiteurl.com\/mcc-publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}