By GRACE POHL
Staff Intern 

EWU's George Gay wins Washington Campus Compact President's Leadership Award

 

Last updated 5/4/2017 at 10:58am



George Gay may originally be from Tacoma, Wash. but he has left quite a mark in Cheney. The senior at Eastern Washington University recently won the Washington Campus Compact President’s Leadership Award for his involvement in the community.

According to the Students Serving Washington Awards (SSWA) website, the “President’s Leadership Awards are given to two selected student service leaders from each of the Washington Campus Compact member institutions for their leadership and service. Each Washington Campus Compact member President will be invited to choose two student service leaders to be recognized for their exceptional leadership and commitment to serving their community.”

When visiting EWU, Gay met with representatives from the Office of Community Engagement (OCE) and they talked to him about their volunteering opportunities so he decided to sign up.

One of the organizations he started is the Hunger and Homelessness Outreach in Cheney. He is currently the only member left after everyone else graduated last year.

“I thought it was my sensible duty to continue the program,” Gay said.

Gay is also an Eagle Volunteer Leader and participates at major OCE events like Martin Luther King Day in Spokane, EagleUP and HarvestFest. 

Another outreach Gay is a part of is the mobile food banks at Cheney High School and Westwood Middle School. This resource is available two times a month for the community. He is currently trying to start a food pantry on campus for EWU students.

Gay received an email saying that Christina Sosa nominated him for the award, but was not told he had actually won until he attended the ceremony in Spokane last month.

“I just felt happy knowing that my contributions mean something,” Gay said. “I credit all my success to being in the Office of Community Engagement. It is a student-led office. We organize everything and make it all happen.”

His involvement does not stop there, as he is a part of other aspects on EWU’s campus. He is a member of the Black Student Union, the fraternity Alpha Tau Omega, exercise science club – where he also volunteers his time to help people. He recently received another award to add to his collection, the Student Leadership Award for Individual Service.

The exercise science major intends to take a year off after graduating this June and plans on applying for a physical therapist assistant school (PTA) school.

“When I came to Eastern, I wanted to make my experience more than academics,” Gay added. “I wanted to learn more about the community of Cheney.”

Grace Pohl can be reached at grace@cheneyfreepress.com.

 

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