About
UNLV Impact Awards seeks to recognize individual students, groups of students, and student organizations whose leadership and service advances learning, justice, and social change within the community. The Service Learning and Leadership team hosted the first Impact Awards program in spring of 2017 as a way of providing a space for community engagement activities to be shared and recognized as a valuable part of the UNLV student experience. Through these awards, students can be recognized in several different ways outlined below.
*During this event, we also recognize the efforts of the students who are engaged in our office through our different academic and programmatic offerings, including UNLVolunteers, Alternative Breaks and LEAD Team.
All submissions for the Community Engagement Certificate may also be considered for an Impact Award.
Award Categories
The formal Impact Awards seek to recognize exemplary community engagement activities within different activity categories. The award categories include:
Advocacy
Outstanding activity that supports an idea or cause that promotes positive social change through public and private communications; requires collecting evidence to support one’s position.
Community Building
Outstanding activity that creates capacity for future collaborative action by fostering trust and common purpose among groups with shared values or goals.
Community Organizing
Outstanding activity that involves the coordination of cooperative efforts and campaigning carried out by local residents to promote the interests and needs of the community.
Deliberative Dialogue
Outstanding activity that encourages the exchanging and weighing of different ideas, perspectives, and approaches around particular issues in a public setting.
Direct Service
Outstanding activity that addresses immediate needs, most often through social service agencies, churches, or schools.
Philanthropy
Outstanding activity that entails the collection of money and/or goods and the donation of them for the purpose of improving wellbeing.
Upcoming Impact Award Dates
Past Awardees
During the inaugural Impact Awards on Apr. 17, 2018, the following students and groups were recognized for their community impacts between Mar. 2017 and Mar. 2018:
Advocacy
UNLV Scientista Foundation for their work to empower women majoring in STEM fields by providing community, workshops, online resources, visible role models, and events such as the Beyond Curie event which addressed the discrimination women in STEM face.
Community Building
Joseph Thomson for his commitment, passion, and dedication to collaboration and relationship-building by hosting monthly community dialogues through “Pioneering Las Vegas History.”
Community Organizing
Karl Catarata for his efforts to engage his peers around numerous topics, including organizing over 300 students through UNLV’s National School Walkout on March 14th to protest congressional inaction around gun violence against marginalized communities.
Deliberative Dialogue
The United Conversations Network for their “#MeToo: What is Sexual Harassment?” event which focused on promoting dialogue and awareness about sexual harassment between students, faculty, and members of the local community.
Direct Service
- Individual: Alejandro Velez for their work with Spectrum on Ice
- Group/Organization: Rebecca Van Compernolle, Skylar Thornton, and Dak Kopec, Ph.D. for their interior design work serving clients with developmental disabilities at Bay Cove Human Services
- Program: Boo Bash 2017, which required over 1,300 hours of volunteer time to serve over 800 children and family members.
Philanthropy
Association of Pre-Health Professionals Fundraising Committee for their diligent work of raising over $5,000 for various charities, including $1,200 for the UNLV Route 91 reaction efforts.