OC’s Sonia Coffin accepted as 2020-2021 Newman Civic Fellow

Coffin was chosen due to her academic success and service through volunteering.

April 10, 2020 - The Newman Civic Fellowship is a competitive, year-long, program composed of only a few hundred college students from across the country working toward bettering their community, bringing about social change and educating their peers. Oklahoma Christian University junior Sonia Coffin, a political science major and honors student, has been chosen as a Newman Fellow for 2020-2021. The highlight of the program is a national conference in Boston later this year.

“I am most excited about the trip to Boston,” Coffin said. “It sounds like a great opportunity to be able to travel and meet like-minded people while also representing OC.”

As a Newman Civic Fellow, Coffin will attend online meetings that begin in September. She is already keeping in contact with other students selected as fellows through Facebook groups. In addition to establishing a community for connecting with other students, there are many networking and learning opportunities given to the students that are part of this program.

Coffin is appreciative of the support system and mentors at OC for helping her reach this achievement.

“I can say with full confidence that I would not have been able to be part of this fellowship without OC,” Coffin said. “Being in the Oklahoma City metro area has provided me with a wide range of political and law achievements that I would not have been able to find anywhere else in the state.”

Coffin was nominated by her academic advisor, Associate Professor of Political Science Trey Orndorff, and she was guided through the process by Honors Director Jim Baird and Celeste Dvorak in OC’s Honors Program. Coffin is currently a finance assistant on state Sen. Stephanie Bice’s campaign for U.S. Congress, and Coffin is well on her way to making a difference in the community and on campus.