Senior Bonner Leader Neariah Mandisa-Drummond is the 2019 recipient of the John H. Barnhill Civic Trailblazer Award. Since 2011, North Carolina Campus Compact, a statewide network of colleges and universities, has presented the award annually to one college student in the state who has created and led innovative projects that address community needs.
While at UNC Charlotte, Mandisa-Drummond has developed a passion for serving people as a member of the institution’s inaugural class of Bonner Leaders. Along the way, she combined community service with her academic studies, motivated her peers to join in the work and created new programs and partnerships that will continue to engage students and impact communities even after she leaves Charlotte.
In her first year as a Bonner Leader, Mandisa-Drummond worked at Friendship Trays, a meal-on-wheels program for people in Charlotte experiencing food insecurity. Mandisa-Drummond worked with her team to research the possibility of developing a food rescue program connected to Friendship Trays. In her second year of volunteering at the nonprofit organization, she used her skills as a communications major to work on a social media and video marketing strategy.
