SMSU's Seed Coalition Award Winners Announced
Published Monday, April 28, 2025
Marshall, Minn. —Seed Coalition has announced the winners of the 2025 President’s and Engaged Campus Awards. This year, 84 awardees were selected from 28 colleges and universities across Iowa and Minnesota. Among the President's Award recipients are three members of the SMSU college/university community: Jailah Smith, Ben Walker, and the Juneteenth Celebration Planning Committee (City of Marshall).
SMSU’s awardees were nominated by President Kumara Jayasuriya. Again this year, SMSU had three Presidents’ awards recipients recognized. And this year, SMSU also celebrates with a statewide winner AND an honorable mention in the Engaged Campus Awards.
SMSU Presidents' awardees are individuals or groups nominated by the SMSU President Kumara Jayasuriya to receive the award.
The President’s Student Leadership Award recognizes a student or student organization that models a commitment to civic responsibility and leadership:
Jailah Smith
Jailah Smith is a very active student at SMSU. She has served as an Admission's Ambassador for two years, a mentor for the AOS Summer Bridge program, member of the LatinX club, a student member of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee for SMSU, focus group leader for BIPOC campus climate, a member of student senate, and this year she created the "First Generation student club." In addition, to her active role on campus she is a great student and an excellent leader for AOS students.
The President’s Civic Engagement Leadership Award recognizes a faculty or staff member that has advanced their campus’ civic mission by forming strong partnerships and supporting others’ civic and community engagement.
Ben Walker
In 2024, Ben served as a faculty liaison for Mustangs Vote, SMSU's Voter Engagement Initiative, which is housed in SMSU's Center for Civic and Community Engagement. He offered valuable feedback as the initiative was rebranded. Ben attended the MN Student Voter Summit to connect with other campuses across the state and learn how to better engage SMSU students to vote. At this event, he learned about a mock polling site event, which was incorporated to Mustangs Vote programming. He also coordinated the visit of MN Secretary of State Steve Simon to campus. He spoke about voting to faculty, staff, and students and was even featured on the Mustang Blueprint, a podcast put on by SMSU students.
The Presidents’ Community Partner Award recognizes a person or organization that has enhanced the quality of life in the community and engaged in the development of reciprocal partnerships with the college or university.
Peoples Juneteenth Celebration Planning Committee (City of Marshall)
The Juneteenth planning committee is led by the City of Marshall with collaborative partners from Southwest Minnesota State University, Marshall Public Schools, Marshall-Lyon County Library, and the More Network to bring the annual Juneteenth celebration to our community. It is a one day of event, that provides recognition of the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, officially ending slavery.
Engaged Campus Awards are nominated by campus leaders, reviewed, and, for each category, one winner and one honoree are selected. SMSU had a strong showing this year with the top recognition and an honorable mention!
The Enactus- Mindful Meals was selected as honorable mention for the Emerging Innovation Award which recognizes a recent project, program, or initiative making unique and innovative contributions that demonstrate strong future potential, including student-led projects.
The Engaged Campus Award for Community Collaboration recognizes collaborative work among community and campus leaders that is deep, reciprocal, and transformational.
The Seed Coalition’s top Engaged Campus Award for Community Collaboration was presented to “AE 588: Beats, Rhymes, and Inclusive Minds” developed by Kelly Thelen and Michela Carattini of Southwest Minnesota State University. The graduate course AE 588: Beats, Rhymes, and Inclusive Minds serves licensed educators in the Worthington Public Schools and the Nobles County Integration Collaborative (NCIC) schools to address the urgent need for more engaging, culturally relevant, and equitable curriculum in Worthington, Minnesota's culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms. This campus-community partnership was deep, reciprocal, and transformational because it was co-created with local educators, ensuring that the course content was directly aligned with the challenges and goals of teachers in the district. Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all model, teachers co-designed the learning experience.
“This project was inspired by the belief that Hip Hop is more than music; it is a powerful tool for education, storytelling, poetry, art, knowledge, and liberation. We believe that teachers are key to providing students with the best tools for learning and growth,” said Kelly Thelen, Assistant Professor of Education at SMSU and Southwest Teacher Preparation Partnership Coordinator (SWTPP). “With the support of the Worthington Independent School District, Nobles County Integration Collaborative, Southwest Initiative Foundation, Community Education in Worthington, and Southwest Minnesota State University, we were able to create this course on short notice and provide teachers with literature, graduate credits, and interactive workshops. We built a unique collaboration grounded in community and creativity. In Nobles County, a community rich in cultural and linguistic diversity, Hip Hop pedagogy has created spaces where teachers and students feel seen, valued, and empowered. It is more than a project; it is a movement toward education that heals, uplifts, and liberates.”
“Inclusion has always been a passion of mine; as educators, it is our duty to ensure we reach every student in our classrooms. We both felt that integrating the arts into instruction was a key and nuanced way of opening the door to student learning and engagement while also reaching all students,” said Dr. Michela Carattini, Assistant Professor of Special Education. “We received an overwhelmingly positive response to our pilot launch and proceeded to provide three short workshops for teachers to engage and practice in not only hip-hop literacy, but using poetry, art, relational thinking across various subjects. The teachers were eager to implement what they learned and relayed the successes they were seeing in their classrooms.”
Seed Coalition Presidents’ Awards recognize outstanding contributions in civic and community engagement by students, faculty, staff, collaborative teams, and community organizations. The Engaged Campus Awards recognize great projects, partnerships, and programs related to civic and community engagement. Awards were presented at the state level on Friday, April 11 at Hamline University in St. Paul. SMSU will recognize award recipients at Mustang Ovations on Wednesday, April 30 from 4:00-5:30pm in the Conference Center Upper Level.
“In a time when community connections are more important than ever, these awardees are evidence of higher education's commitment to nurturing collaborative, responsive, and compassionate leadership,” said Seed Coalition Executive Director Rob Barron. "They prove that true learning isn't only about understanding problems—it's about taking decisive steps to address them."
Seed Coalition was previously known as the Iowa and Minnesota Campus Compact awards. The Seed Coalition strengthens the capacity of colleges and universities to fulfill the public purposes of higher education through its coalition of diverse college campuses in the Midwest. This includes educating students through community and civic learning experiences and making an impact in communities through reciprocal partnerships that address community-identified goals. Seed Coalition creates partnership opportunities, supports quality programming through professional development, and promotes the importance of the civic mission.
For more information on the Seed Coalition organization, visit: https://seedcoalition.org
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