By: Erik Pedersen, Content Strategy Director
BALTIMORE – A first-year student was recently selected as Notre Dame of Maryland University’s representative for the prestigious Transform Mid-Atlantic Civic Fellowship, a program geared toward supporting student leaders throughout the region.
Joann Dubois ’27 will be provided with several opportunities to develop her leadership skills and understanding of civic and community engagement through the year-long fellowship, which is designed to develop student leaders who are engaged global citizens, actively contributing to the creation of equitable, healthy, sustainable, and socially just communities.
Dubois is enrolled in the School of Education’s 5-year Program, which will allow her to earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree during that time period. A Bonner Student Leader and a member of NDMU’s Elizabeth Morrissy Honors Program, Dubois is also heavily involved with the University’s York Road Education & Service (YES) initiative.
“It is with great pleasure that I recommend Joann for the 2024-25 Transform Mid-Atlantic Civic Fellowship,” said NDMU President Marylou Yam. “She is an exemplary campus and community leader, as well as a remarkable student in the classroom. It is difficult to imagine a student who is more deserving or who will bring more back to the NDMU and Baltimore communities as a result of this opportunity.”
Dubois led all of NDMU’s Bonner Leaders in volunteer hours during her first semester on campus last fall. She quickly stepped into a leadership role in the YES program, a mentoring and tutoring initiative benefiting students at Tunbridge Public Charter School and Govans Elementary School along the York Road Corridor. In her role as a community partner coordinator on NDMU’s student-led YES executive board, Dubois helps streamline the recruitment and training processes for volunteers in a way that better ensures consistency and commitment.
Dubois additionally works with NDMU’s Office of Service & Community Engagement, assisting with food access programs available to any campus-affiliated individual who self-identifies a need. She helps clean and restock Caroline’s Cupboard, NDMU’s 24/7 food pantry, she aids in the distribution of orders for Gator Groceries on the third Friday of each month, and she sorts and arranges donations for both Gator Thrift (on campus) and Gator Thrift on the Go (in the surrounding community).
“My service initiatives have allowed me to become more familiar with the Baltimore area, as well as the staff and students here at NDMU,” Dubois said. “This fellowship will allow me to further explore the needs of the community, and as a result, grow as a leader in the process while trying to combat those needs head-on!”
Members of the 2024-25 Transform Mid-Atlantic Fellowship cohort will participate in monthly sessions with guest speakers, regular reflections, a capstone project, and an in-person end-of-fellowship retreat. Transform Mid-Atlantic is a non-profit membership association of public, private, 2- and 4-year colleges and universities across Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Delaware; one student from each member institution is selected each year to participate in the fellowship program.
Established in 1895, Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDMU) is a private, Catholic institution in Baltimore, Maryland, with the mission to educate leaders to transform the world. Notre Dame has been named one of the best "Regional Universities North" by U.S. News & World Report.
