From a young age, Makayla Sejat has had a passion for serving others. Her life has been full of service, from helping out in community kitchens as a child to now devoting her time in various college leadership roles. Now, she will take her efforts to the next level as 鶹ý’s first Newman Civic Fellow.
The Newman Civic Fellowship is hosted by Campus Compact, a coalition of universities across the country devoted to civic and social responsibility. Student fellows are given resources and training to help them develop strategies to combat social injustices.
Sejat, a junior speech pathology and audiology major in the College of Education, Health and Human Services, discovered the opportunity through Kent State’s Community Engaged Learning, where she is a service leader. She serves as the vice president of philanthropy for her sorority and treasurer for the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association at Kent State. She has also recently been selected as a participant in the Student Leadership Development Program of the Ohio Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
“Originally, I wasn’t going to apply because it’s such an amazing opportunity, and I thought so many people would do a great job with it,” Sejat said. “But a week before the application was due, I just decided to apply because I thought the experience would be fun. I’m kind of on a roller coaster right now. I’m just excited to do anything and everything I can to make a change.”
Community Engaged Learning’s Assistant Director Craig Berger oversaw and coordinated the selection process, working with a team of campus professionals to find the best student for the role. While Campus Compact has coordinated the Newman Civic Fellowship nationally since 2011, this is the first year Kent State will be involved.
“What convinced us to bring this program to Kent State was the opportunity to highlight the amazing civic contributions Kent State students have made and to support future efforts,” Berger said. “We have a thriving civic culture throughout this university that sometimes goes unnoticed, and it only makes sense that we spotlight the commitment to community we know Kent State students have and put them in a position to work with their national peers.”
Each student fellow chooses a shared public problem to tackle throughout the year that affects their campus and surrounding community. Using the resources provided by the program, Sejat will focus on fighting issues of hunger and homelessness during her time as a Newman Civic Fellow.
“I’m going to work with the umbrella of issues related to hunger and homelessness,” Sejat said. “Just within these issues are so many different categories: You have college students fighting hunger because they’re spending all their money on school, children who have aged out of foster care, veterans, people with disabilities and so many more. So it’s really important to look at all of the different aspects of this issue.”
After the committee reviewed each application, finalists were invited for an interview before the committee recommended Sejat to Kent State President Todd Diacon, who submitted the final decision to Campus Compact.
“The committee agreed that all the finalists they interviewed were great candidates for the fellowship,” Berger said. “Committee members were impressed with Makayla’s planned approach of meeting with stakeholders one by one prior to developing and implementing a strategy to more deeply understand the root causes of hunger and homelessness as they exist in our community.”
Sejat will work alongside approximately 300 other fellows from across the country, meeting virtually every month to connect and develop their civic engagement skills. She is looking forward to connecting with the fellows to make a positive change, and she hopes that her involvement as the first fellow from Kent State will inspire other students to get involved with the program.
“Because I am involved in so many organizations, this is a huge opportunity for me to represent the Greek community, my major and the passion I have for that and Kent State,” Sejat said. “I want other students to want to be a part of this and to know that you don’t have to be just one thing. You can be whoever you want to be and make a difference in any way you want.”
Above all, Sejat is excited to continue serving her local and global communities and to hopefully change some lives along the way.
“I have always been someone who has given my time and energy to service,” Sejat said. “If I can change just one life, I’ll be happy with everything I’ve done.”
For students interested in becoming Kent State’s next Newman Civic Fellow, the 2022-2023 Newman Civic Fellowship application will be available October 2021. In order to be eligible to serve as a Newman Civic Fellow, students must plan to be enrolled for the full year they are to serve as a fellow.
To learn more about the Newman Civic Fellowship at Kent State, go to www.kent.edu/community/newman-civic-fellowship.
To read Sejat’s Newman Civic Fellowship Profile, check out .
For the full list of the 2021-2022 Fellows, visit
Banner Image: Left: Makayla Sejat. Right: Sejat working on Adopt-A-Soldier, a service project she created at her high school, which is now an annual project at the school.