WHO ARE WE?

The Graham Center Student Fellows began in 2015 as a student-led extension of the Bob Graham Center for Public Service. Devoted to fulfilling the Graham Center's goal of training the next generation of public and private sector leaders for Florida, the Student Fellows worked to recruit passionate and civically-conscious members. Fellows represented the values of civic service, community engagement, and student leadership. In doing so, the Fellows worked closely with the Graham Center to implement student programs and initiatives, while also assisting the Center with its existing programs and events.

Eventually, as membership grew, the Fellows adopted its own organizational identity that evolved with a high emphasis on leadership, student-led initiatives, and informational events. We are specifically dedicated to improving the civic health of the University of Florida campus and the broader Gainesville community. The Fellows has emphasized a committee system where members' interests are at the forefront

Fellows enjoy opportunities for leadership experience and professional development through the Center’s public programs, experiential learning opportunities, and small group discussions with policymakers and innovative public leaders.

Our Vision: The Student Fellows work to inspire civic growth through initiatives that promote inclusivity, education, and service while building a diverse community of student leaders and future public servants.

Our Mission: The Student Fellows collaborate with the Bob Graham Center staff, other Graham Center student groups, and key public service leaders to advance civic engagement within the University of Florida through projects and initiatives that educate the student body on today’s pressing issues, encourage leadership development, and serve our community.

INCLUSIVITY

• We are committed to serving as an actively anti-racist organization that transparently challenges the systemic ways in which BIPOC are held back from the same opportunities given so freely to others. In doing so, we recognize the factors that inhibit growth, representation, and opportunities within our own communities and within the United States as a whole.

• To fix this, we are committed to addressing the ways in which we have not been inclusive through membership and/or programming. Our programming will now include events that challenge public servants to think critically about our systems of power and find meaningful ways to change the system.

SERVICE

• To understand what the community needs from us, we must first give back. We are committed to serving our community through voter registration events, educational outreach to schools in Gainesville, and helping with voter rights restoration.

• Service projects are determined by the Fellows, for the Fellows. Every year, our chosen service projects may differ depending on the needs of the community and the ideas of our membership.

Education

• The Fellows are committed to enriching the civic health of the University of Florida campus through student-led public programming that calls attention to today's most pressing issues.

• Though our executive board acts as a liaison between our members and the Graham Center for ways we can plug into Center-led public programming, we also hope to provide our members with the tools and leadership skills to lead their own events and projects for the issues they feel most passionately about.

Community

• Within our organization, we encourage community and relationship-building between our members and aim to provide ample opportunity for both professional and personal growth throughout your time as a Fellow.

• Since the Fellows are located within the Bob Graham Center, we also encourage Fellows to network and learn more about the leadership and development opportunities offered by the Center. These opportunities include the Tallahassee Internship, D.C. internships, the Civic Fellows program, Askew scholars, the City of Gainesville Fellowship, and many more.