Eric Mejia, of Richmond, Indiana, received the Richard J. Wood Student Community Commitment Award from Indiana Campus Compact today (February 24) during the 10th Annual Summit held in Indianapolis at the Ivy Tech Community College Culinary and Conference Center.

Eric Mejia received The Richard J. Wood Student Community Commitment Award from Indiana Campus Compact during the 10th Annual Summit today in Indianapolis.

Mejia is a junior double-majoring in business administration and Spanish at Indiana University East. He was one of two nominees for the award. The Richard J. Wood Student Community Commitment Award was created in 1996 in honor of Dr. Richard J. Wood who served as the founding chairperson of Indiana Campus Compact’s Board of Presidents from 1992 to 1996. This award continues Dr. Wood’s legacy as an advocate of students as stewards to the community, and recognize students at Indiana Campus Compact partner institutions who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to community engagement.

Mejia is driven by his faith and a desire to help others. And he credits the influence of “Corazon Latino” in his middle school years to help establish a foundation he still builds on today as a busy college student.

“Corazon Latino helped shape my leadership skills,” he says of the middle school youth group that is part of Amigos in Richmond. Amigos, Richmond Latino Center, supports the Latino community and connects cultures. At IU East Mejia already has extensive community service experience under his belt.

He is active in the IU East Center for Service Learning, where he is the program coordinator for two tutoring programs – Indiana Kids and Math Counts. He helps students grades 6 through 12 in those programs. He serves as treasurer for the Circle K International Club, a service group partnered with two Kiwanis Clubs in Richmond.

In his freshman year at IU East, Mejia traveled to Richmond schools including Hibberd Middle School to help students in the math classroom and to Test Middle School to assist with the Corazon Latino program. He helped with a workshop for Twenty-First Century Scholars at IU East, and modeled how they could help younger scholars by mentoring at Hibberd Early College Academy. Mejia has helped with countless other programs including IU East New Student Orientation and Amigos Summer Camp, as well as many service opportunities like Bingo Night for Riley Children’s Hospital, fundraisers for LifeStream, the Home Fires Campaign with the Red Cross, and many more.

Ann Tobin, Community Liaison for the Center, says she knew Mejia meant business about community service when he came to her table at his orientation in 2017 to find out about opportunities.

“Eric is motivated by being able to help people in the role of a mentor and leader,” she says. “It is an asset to the program to have a student coordinator who relates to his peers with ease as he helps to recruit, motivate and train other IU East students in tutoring and mentoring.”

Eric Mejia

Tobin shares that Mejia’s efforts have included helping develop new and more efficient systems for scheduling, training and tracking IU East tutors and mentors. He’s helped develop and implement career/college workshops for 6th through 12th grade students, including an “Hispanic College Night” at Richmond High School. He has worked with many younger Latino students by tutoring and providing a role model of a successful Latino college student “who has navigated through the academic and financial pathways, as well as language and cultural mazes.”

She says it was her pleasure “to nominate Eric for the 2020 Richard J. Wood Student Community Commitment Award. Eric is a critical asset to the IU East Center for Service Learning and the greater Richmond community. His enthusiasm, kindness and proactive approach to barriers are visible in all his undertakings.”

As a double-major, Mejia has a motivation based in breaking stereotypes and encouraging others in his community to excel. Raised in a single-parent household, he also found inspiration through the hard work and dedication of his working mother to provide for him and his siblings.

Mejia is a first generation college student who graduated with honors from Richmond High School. He also finds time to be active in his church, the Light of the World, where he encourages and mentors youth to become leaders in the community. “Faith plays a major part in my life,” he says.

IU East student Eric Mejia tutors a student at the Campus Library.

Mejia is the recipient of academic scholarships offered through IU East including Fred Nottingham Scholarship, Library Tutor Scholarship, David Starr Jordan Scholarship, Eleanor Turk International Studies Scholarship, Study Abroad Scholarship, Vigran Family Scholarship, and the Allan B. McCrea Scholarship. He was a student speaker at the Spirit of Philanthropy in September 2017.

He expects to graduate from IU East in May 2021 and plans to remain in Richmond and be involved in the community that is his home. “What I want to do is work at a local company,” he says. He’s looking into internships to complete before graduation.

Wherever he goes, it’s clear he will give it his all, says Tobin. “Eric is motivated by being able to help people in the role of a mentor and leader,” noting his work with students at Richmond High School, “helping them to overcome language barriers, discover their talents and skills, excel in their education, and make goals and plans for their futures.”