Cultivating unforgettable social change: that is the goal for nine Moellership program recipients completing summer projects around the globe.

The Center for Leadership & Social Change’s Moellership program funds the opportunity for FSU students to focus 8-to-12 weeks of their summers on service at local and global nonprofit agencies. Moellership’s purpose is to boost student participation in extended service during and beyond the end of the program.

Biology and anthropology major Tori Bakley will engage with wildlife rehabilitation at ARCAS Rescue Center in Petén, Guatemala. Bakley hopes to gain a deeper understanding of the different treatments of wildlife internationally.

“I’m excited. I want to learn how to communicate with the community about the importance of wildlife conservation.”

Also in Guatemala, Hannah King is partnering her own social impact company with local nonprofit, Mayan Families. King’s international artisan trade company, Woven Futures, is already creating global social impacts by helping to eradicate poverty among indigenous groups throughout Latin America. This summer, King will be taking her work back to Guatemala with Mayan Families in hopes of combating poverty with artisan enhancement and micro grant programs.

Two undergraduates, Kadasha Eliacin and Savannah Grant, will stay in Tallahassee to complete their summer service projects.

Elician, a communications and entrepreneurship major, will be an Upward Bound counselor creating interactive lesson plans and events for students of underrepresented communities. The lesson plans and events will educate these students on the post-secondary and employment opportunities that are available to them.

Having completed previous service with Upward Bound Elician is excited to expand her role and experiences with the organization.

“I’m excited to work with new kids, and the returners. You learn as much from them as they learn from you.”

Grant, an International Affairs and Political Science major, will assist the Tallahassee Veterans Legal Collaborative in securing resources to aid FSU student veterans.

Her dissatisfaction with the veteran’s benefits system enforced her decision to service the community.

“A lot of legal issues can make veterans homeless, not be able to have a job, or just disable them. It is sad that they served us and we are not able to service them.”

Grant eventually wants to become a liaison between FSU and the Tallahassee Veterans Legal Collaborative so that FSU law students can attain internships with the collaborative and FSU student veterans can receive better access to the collaborative’s resources.

Courtney Alexander
College of Medicine, Spring 2021
Women’s Refugee Resettlement: Amurtel Greece
Athens, Greece

Lauren Moran
Psychology, International Affairs, Spring 2020   
Supplemental Education: Honduras Child Alliance
El Porvenir, Honduras               

Tori Bakley
Biology/ Anthropology, Fall 2018
Wildlife Conservation: ARCAS Rescue Center,
Petén, Guatemala

Lydia Moss
Theater, Spring 2020 
Youth and Arts: Palmer Munroe Teen Center,
Tallahassee, FL
 

Hannah King
International Affairs, Spring 2019
Indigenous Resource Development: Mayan Families
Panajachel, Guatemala
 

Savannah Grant
Political Science, International Affairs, Fall 2018                       
Legal Assistance for Veterans: Tallahassee Veterans Legal Collaborative
Tallahassee, FL
 

Kadasha Eliacin
Communication & Entrepreneurship, Spring 2019
First Generation College Access: Upward Bound College Reach Out Program
Tallahassee, FL
 

Melissa Carcamo
Political Science, Spring 2020
Gender, Health, & Education: Light of Hope Youth Initiative International
Machakos, Kenya
 

Nicole Blonsick
International Affairs, Spring 2019
Bilingual Immersion: Samara Pacific School
Samara Beach, Costa Rica
 

—Talise Burton