Austin Fashimpaur is not your average Salt Lake Community College student, and recently, Sean Crossland found a way to showcase that to the community.
Crossland, the director of the Thayne Center for Service & Learning, nominated Fashimpaur for the 2020 NASPA Undergraduate Rising Star Award. Fashimpaur won the award, and it is all thanks to the work he has done since attending SLCC.
“[Austin has an] outstanding grasp of logic, maturity beyond his years, willingness to step outside his comfort zone and communication skills that have made him a standout student,” Crossland wrote in part of his nomination letter.
According to the NASPA website, recipients of this award are those involved with “prominent higher education and student affairs leaders, programs, and initiatives for contributions and impact on the field.”
During his two-and-a-half years as a Bruin, Fashimpaur has been part of the Student Senate and currently serves as the environmental sustainability lead for Student Leaders in Civic Engagement, or SLICE.
Fashimpaur and a team of other committed students work together in order to create and execute plans they hope can impact students and the community for the better.
“I am really proud of the sustainability work. Last year, I was part of the Student Senate, and in that position, we did a couple different things around sustainability. Such as, we got $10,000 in onetime funding for the creation of a sustainability masterplan,” Fashimpaur said.
Fashimpaur went on to say, “Creating the voter engagement action plan, creating that culture and starting that plan, especially in such an important election year, was something I was really glad we could do.”
Along with Fashimpaur, three others from SLCC received similar awards:
- SLCC President Deneece Huftalin received the President’s award.
- Lee Martinez, former assistant director of Academic Advising at SLCC, received the Community College Professional award.
- Richard Diaz, director of the Orientation & Student Success program at SLCC, received the Outstanding Mid-Level Professional award.
The Globe staff would like to congratulate Fashimpaur and the other award recipients for their excellent work and dedication to SLCC and its students.
