(Sam Powers | Student Life) Senior fellow Caroline Fong (left) smiles with her boss from her summer internship, L. Elaine Sutton Mbionwu (right).

“I’ve been in St. Louis for three years now, and I’ve never spent a summer here,” senior Caroline Fong said. 

She and many other St. Louis Fellows echoed the same sentiment: while WashU is in St. Louis, students find it hard to actually engage with the community. In the business of changing that, the Gephardt Institute runs their St. Louis Fellows Program each summer. 

Another fellow, junior Spencer Annor-Ampofo, remarked that the program “changed how I saw St. Louis.” 

Each year, the Gephardt Institute accepts applications from students who are interested in community engagement in and around St. Louis. Most students who are accepted into the program are paired with a nonprofit organization for the summer through an additional application and selection process during the spring. The fellowship’s cohort also includes some fellows who are part of sub-cohorts working on more specific projects. In general, the program balances individualized work for specific organizations with cohort-wide activities, community engagement opportunities, and curriculum. 

The program was started in 2008 as the Goldman Fellows program by a WashU student who spent a summer in St. Louis and felt compelled to support other students in doing the same. According to senior Grace Archer, “it’s a well known program, and it’s definitely growing.” 40 WashU students participated in the program this summer, which is a sizable increase from 32 students last year, and 22 two years ago. 

“It launched as 10 fellows,” Sarah Nash said, the Community Engagement Manager at the Gephardt Institute, “and then about four years ago they started to scale it up.” 

“My favorite parts are just getting to watch students engage with and fall in love with St Louis,” Nash said. In addition to working 35 hours a week for their specific nonprofit, Gephardt prioritizes getting fellows out into the city during “Engage STL” days, where they visit different neighborhoods, meet with residents, eat locally, and support small businesses.

The organizations represented in the program vary widely. While some commit to hosting a fellow annually, new organizations apply each year. Nash embraces the fact that “every year we have fellows who introduce us to new community partners.” Since the program has a variety of different ways for fellows to choose their organization, Nash likes to say that the program is “student-led, but Gephardt-supported.” 

As the culmination of their 10 weeks of work, this summer’s fellows presented on their summer projects and recounted their experiences at the Delmar DivINe for all to see at their annual showcase. This year’s fellows worked at a wide range of nonprofits and organizations. 

Fong, who is studying Political Science, Art History, and Anthropology, worked for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Missouri. She worked in the intake complaint unit, receiving and delegating complaints “for review and research in order for them to be escalated to the legal team.” According to Fong, many complaints involved issues of prison conditions and police brutality that originated across the state. As for the program itself, Fong spoke to the sense of community she felt with other fellows: “I felt like I really got to bond with my cohort,” she said.

Archer chose a more health-related organization for her fellowship. Archer is a senior double-majoring in American Culture Studies and Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology (PNP). She worked for a Webster Groves-based nonprofit called the Ollie Hinkle Heart Foundation, founded by the parents of Ollie Hinkle after losing their son to congenital heart disease. According to Archer, the foundation “helped to provide mental health support and local community events for families that are impacted by pediatric heart disease.” She worked on a variety of fundraising and planning projects with the goal of raising awareness and providing support, including “a CPR and AED training in North County St. Louis for underserved youth.” Archer spoke highly of how the fellowship program allowed her to “be more involved in the St. Louis community,” both through her work at the Ollie Hinkle Heart Foundation and the outings arranged by Gephardt. 

Senior Alyena Gilani, who is studying Global Studies and Psychology, spent her summer with the League of Women Voters’ St. Louis branch. Gilani stated that the organization is involved in “a lot of voter advocacy” and “voter education programs.” Gilani’s work ranged from internal tasks to research on educational funding and local disparities to “getting the word out there that its important to vote.” Gilani reflected that “I hadn’t really gotten out of the WashU bubble,” which was a motivation to apply for the fellowship. “All of us [are] working together to impact the community in different ways, kind of like leaving our mark behind on St. Louis,” she said. 

Another fellow that was involved in voter engagement was Natalia León Díaz, a junior majoring in sociology and political science, with a minor in Latin American studies. She worked for the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, which does “everything from policy advocacy to education and engagement, and election protection.”

“Every day was different,” León Díaz said. Her work included coordinating communication with the St. Louis City Board of Election Commissioners, where she worked on ensuring “a voting place for detained individuals” as well as “conducting voter registration and voter education for community members.” Serving as Election Protection Volunteer during primary elections this summer, she worked on a report on voter issues in Missouri. 

“We have identified the biggest issues that we will be confronting in the November elections,” León Díaz said, referencing the report. “I’m very honored to serve especially during this critical time where voting rights are being infringed upon.”

Focusing on creating a different sort of change, junior Duaa Mohamed, a Global Studies major, worked at St. Louis Artworks. The organization recruits and hires teenage artists in the area, many of whom are from lower income communities. It also provides them with the supplies and funding to do their art, as well as career training. Mohamed proudly stated that “a lot of our alumni are now full-time artists in St. Louis.” She specifically worked in marketing and alumni outreach and conducted artist interviews to understand more about each artist’s inspirations. 

After speaking to the artists, Mohamed stated that “I think it’s important that kids know that there’s somebody sort of in their corner fighting for them to do the things that they’re passionate about.” A major takeaway for her was the value of small scale involvement. She feels that “you lose a lot of that personal touch the more macro you get,” and therefore, the connections she made this summer are unique. Mohamed encourages WashU students to visit the Artworks location, where they can experience and purchase the artworks in person.  

Avanel Mallon’s work was especially unique. Mallon, who is a sophomore studying public health and Spanish, worked at Rustic Roots Sanctuary, a farm in Spanish Lake, St. Louis. She reported that her organization is aimed at reducing food insecurity in the area, where there is “one grocery store for 18,000 residents,” making it a food desert. The community farm runs a low-cost farmers market and gives away free produce to seniors. What made Mallon’s work so unique was that, as she said, “part of my job was pulling carrots, harvesting, cutting celery and washing it,” in addition to outreach work. “Even as somebody from St. Louis, I learned so much more about my community,” she said.

Another health-focused organization represented in this program is the BRIC, which junior Spencer Annor-Ampofo worked for. The name stands for the Bullet Related Injury Clinic, which, as Annor-Ampofo reported, “offers a lot of services like wound care, bullet removal, [and] physical therapy,” all for free. The organization is especially impactful given that bullet-related injuries and subsequent complications are often not  adequately treated for. Majoring in African American Studies with a Biology minor, Annor-Ampofo recalled that at first, he would “sit in and scribe,” but later on he “learned how to ask different questions to make people open up.” 

“They felt comfortable here,” Annor-Ampofo said.  

Will Armstrong, a senior studying Sociology, History, and Spanish, spent their summer with the Missouri State Public Defenders in the trial office. Like many others, Armstrong’s work was varied, but it involved research, “helping out the attorneys on their day-to-day casework, writing pleadings” and even meeting with imprisoned clients. Outside of this, Armstrong worked on a litigation guide reporting on flawed science, which is scientific or medical evidence that scientists state is “not empirically viable” for use in courts. According to Armstrong, “courts in Missouri are lagging behind what the consensus” (in terms of valid evidence) “among the medical community is,” which is problematic when this sort of evidence is involved in a conviction. Many of the Missouri State Public Defenders’ clients had been convicted with such flawed medical evidence. Referencing their work, Armstrong said that “even though it’s taxing and it’s hard, it’s so worth doing.” 

Throughout the diversity of organizations, projects, and assignments, many fellows echoed the idea that this program was their way of connecting with St. Louis and impacting the community on a very personal level. As many students said, their hands-on, local experiences are unlike anything they had done during their time as a WashU student so far. Indeed, the value of direct community engagement cannot be understated, and has been treasured by generations of St. Louis Fellows. Nash strongly encourages any students who might be interested to apply, and applications for 2025 open in October. 

Additional reporting done by Alice Gottesman.