Fresno State pupil Kelsey Ferreira was selected to person the 2024 John D. Welty Award for Excellence successful Community Service. The award, which includes a $2,500 scholarship, is fixed each twelvemonth to a pupil who exemplifies the committedness to work that Welty championed during his 22 years arsenic president of Fresno State.
“I americium beyond honored to person this award, and for the accidental to service my community,” Ferreira said. “I look guardant to continuing to unpaid and research caller opportunities.”
A first-generation assemblage student, Ferreira’s work travel dates backmost to mediate schoolhouse and precocious schoolhouse erstwhile she began serving successful her location municipality of Tulare. Her committedness to serving others has lone grown astatine Fresno State, wherever she has completed implicit 1,300 hours of service.
With a passionateness for service, Ferreira joined the Richter Center Student Leadership team, partnering with the Central California Blood Center to program and instrumentality on-campus humor drives. Through her readying the past 3 semesters, she has helped enlistee implicit 180 student, module and unit ambassadors for the humor center.
“With this program, we are capable to scope much module and staff, informing them of the upcoming drives,” Ferreira said. “This leads to an summation successful humor donors. Ultimately, we person the imaginable to prevention much lives erstwhile we each travel together.”
Since Ferreira has been serving successful this capacity, donor numbers person accrued by an mean of 50% per drive. She strives to amended our field assemblage astir the dire request for humor successful the Valley and aims to foster assemblage engagement and animate a civilization of giving.
Ferreira besides has a passionateness for biology and clime consciousness and education. As a pupil successful the Fresno State College Corps programme for 2 years, she volunteered astatine the Fresno Chaffee Zoo wherever she was capable to amended visitors connected clime alteration and the impacts it has connected animals. Ferreira besides planned a fig of clime enactment events arsenic a subordinate of the Fresno State Climate Solutions squad that educates students and the assemblage connected the impacts of clime change.
Ferreira looks for ways to not lone service arsenic a unpaid connected campus, but seeks retired ways to measurement up arsenic a work leader. She is the existent Richter Center Student Leadership nine president and manager of operations, a humor halfway ambassador and a erstwhile Fresno State College Corps reflection leader.
She has besides served astatine Martin Park, Stone Soup Fresno, San Joaquin River Conservation and Trust and LUSO. She is connected way to postgraduate successful December 2025.
The John D. Welty Award for Excellence successful Community Service is sponsored by Fresno State’s Community Service Scholarship Program, successful representation of Marc and Marjorie Radin, who shared Welty’s dedication for engaging students successful work and making the portion a amended place. The Welty Award is administered by the Jan and Bud Richter Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning and the Career Development Center astatine Fresno State.
Ferreira, on with different work grant honorees, volition beryllium recognized astatine the yearly Spirit of Service Awards hosted by Fresno State President Dr. Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval, connected May 1.
(Story by Taylan Parker, Richter Center)
