{"id":10709,"date":"2026-05-25T05:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T09:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/?p=10709"},"modified":"2026-05-25T12:33:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T16:33:37","slug":"congratulations-and-thank-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/2026\/05\/25\/congratulations-and-thank-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Congratulations and Thank You!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Monday, May 11, 2026, we gathered for the 2026 Harward Center for Community Partnerships Annual Awards Celebration where we recognized this year’s awardees. We were pleased to recognize faculty, staff, students, and community partners for their excellence in community engagement. We continue to be grateful to our partners on campus and beyond, for the ways you rise to meet the challenges, and welcome the celebrations of building community. Please join us in celebrating the 2026 awardees<\/strong><\/a>, and in pausing to reflect on the words that three of them shared with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“[I]t\u2019s so great to watch our students bring their talents, energy and commitment into that work, and then to see how much they learn from the people they meet in Lewiston-Auburn and all around Maine.<\/em><\/strong>“
-Emily Kane, Professor of Sociology and Recipient of the 2026 Harward Center Faculty Award for Outstanding Community Engaged Work<\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

\n
\"Picture<\/a>
Professor of Sociology, Emily Kane <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been doing community engaged work here at Bates for many years, since Peggy Rotundo at what we then called the Center for Service Learning helped me cultivate a language and practice for something I felt so strongly but couldn\u2019t really articulate within the constraints of the academy. Working on various projects over those years, I\u2019ve learned so much from the many partners and local residents I\u2019ve worked with. And it\u2019s so great to watch our students bring their talents, energy and commitment into that work, and then to see how much they learn from the people they meet in Lewiston-Auburn and all around Maine.

That\u2019s the kind of mutual benefit the Harward Center is so good at- and it\u2019s a key part of the democratic engagement that higher education can and should foster and recognize, in all its messy complexity. So I really appreciate the recognition for my small efforts in that messy complexity. And given how much I love reciprocity, I\u2019ll turn the recognition back around at my community partners from over the years, at Don Harward\u2019s leadership and commitment to the college\u2019s civic mission, and at everyone at the Harward Center.

Bates is really well set up to do meaningful community work precisely because the folks at the Harward Center do such a great job structuring and facilitating partnerships that different students, faculty, and staff can contribute to over time, with long term impact even when that needs to build slowly and unevenly and my Harward Center colleagues show such a deep willingness to question their own practices so they keep growing in the work and thus can help the rest of us grow too.  So thank you very much for the recognition, and especially for all the Harward Center makes possible.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“[A]s I enter an uncertain, scary world, I will hold true to what
partnership is all about, to work collaboratively and courageously, perhaps not to change the world, but to remind myself that changing a life starts small.”<\/strong><\/em>
-Nathaniel Zuckerberg \u201926, Recipient of a Harward Center Student Award for Outstanding Community volunteerism and Student Leadership<\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

\n
\"Nathaniel<\/a>
Nathaniel Zuckerberg, Outing Club Trip Leader and Harward Center Awardee<\/em> (Photo credit: Nathaniel Zuckerberg)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

When Darby asked me, quoting her, to share \u201ca few words,\u201d I naturally thought I would start by sharing an experience 5 years ago. So, clearly, we have a lot of ground to cover. When I was applying to Bates, I got to speak with a few alumni, and perhaps ignorantly, I asked one, a recent grad at the time, \u201cBe honest, what is it like to live in Lewiston?\u201d Without missing a beat, she jumped in to explain the plethora of opportunities that Lewiston would provide and all the ways I would grow from them. But, I will remember one line in particular, \u201cLewiston is a changing place, and Bates is a place for changemakers.\u201d Back then, that line was a pitch, or at best an unfilled promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have not lived long enough, nor do I have the ego to claim I am a changemaker, but today, as I reflect on four years of community partnerships, I am proud and honored to have been part of the changemaking process. All of us in this room are acutely aware that change is slow; it takes time, dedication, and perseverance to enact it. And those, above all else, are the lessons I will take away from my time living, studying, and building relationships here in Lewiston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think back to my first community partnership, in Contemporary Social Problems, taught by my advisor and mentor, Prof. Emily Kane. I spent many afternoons down at Trinity Jubilee Center mopping floors, and as an 18-year-old, I would wonder, \u201cWhat does this have to do with my classwork?\u201d I no longer wonder what the answer to that question is because, for me, my partnership has taught me so much more than the classroom ever could. Whether it was student teaching or dedicating this year to my Community-Engaged Honors Thesis, I have learned to listen carefully and openly, that sometimes your presence is enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I think about this next big change in my life, I will be guided by these values and the lessons my partners have taught me. And as I enter an uncertain, scary world, I will hold true to what partnership is all about, to work collaboratively and courageously, perhaps not to change the
world, but to remind myself that changing a life starts small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“I had always wanted to connect people to resources, to make institutions listen better, to help young people understand their own power, to make people feel less alone inside systems that can be confusing or frightening. I just did not yet know there was a whole field, history, and political tradition for that.<\/em><\/strong>“
-Tamanda Namangale ’26, Recipient of the 2026 Bates College Civic Leadership Award<\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

\n
\"Tamanda<\/a>
Tamanda Namangale ’26 (Photo credit: Tamanda Namangale)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

“When I first started community engagement at Bates, I knew I cared about people and power and justice, but I did not yet have the language for the kind of work I wanted to do.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started by working with kids, which taught me many beautiful things, including the very humbling truth that the elementary school classroom wasn\u2019t my strongest suit. But even that was a beginning. It helped me understand that community engagement is also about discernment: learning where your care is most useful, where your voice belongs, and where your work can grow.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, I found my way to Community Organizing Alliance, the City of Lewiston, youth programs, immigrant student advocacy, voter engagement, campaigns, Juneteenth organizing, and the Harward Center. And somewhere in that journey, I realized that what I had been trying to do had a name. Organizing.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had always wanted to connect people to resources, to make institutions listen better, to help young people understand their own power, to make people feel less alone inside systems that can be confusing or frightening. I just did not yet know there was a whole field, history, and political tradition for that.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this year especially has shown me how far that journey has carried me. To go from not knowing the word for the work, to hosting a statewide youth-led gubernatorial candidate forum, and then performing at the Democratic State Convention, felt like a full-circle reminder that community does not only shape what we do. It gives us the courage to enter rooms we once could not imagine ourselves standing in.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I have learned most is what it means to hold and be held by community. There were moments when I was taking five classes, graduating early, carrying more than people could see, and still trying to show up. But I do not think I did that alone. So much of my courage was lent to me by community: by mentors, friends, organizers, supervisors, and the people who believed in me while I was still becoming.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am especially grateful to have Reese and Viany here tonight, two supervisors who have been part of that becoming.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This award means so much because it reflects the lesson I will carry with me long after Bates: community is not just where we serve. It is where we learn how to become brave.<\/em>“<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Monday, May 11, 2026, we gathered for the 2026 Harward Center…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":206,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","with-sidebar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10709"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10741,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10709\/revisions\/10741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/harward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}