Thirty members of the University of Houston-Downtown community—students, faculty and staff—recently presented posters and presentations at the annual Gulf-South Summit on Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Through Higher Education this month.

UHD’s very own, Selena Garcia Palacios, received the “Outstanding Student Contributions to Service-Learning in Higher Education-Undergraduate” award. Garcia, who is graduating this spring with a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies, was the only student recipient. She also received $1,000.

Hosted at Sam Houston State University, the regional conference—Community Leadership: Educating The Next Generation—educated attendees on how campus-community partnerships, community engagement projects, service-learning courses, and many other initiatives provide resources to help meet community needs and furnish applied learning experiences for students, developing future community leaders.

Conference participants hailed predominately from Texas, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama and Georgia. The mission of the Gulf-South Summit on Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Through Higher Education is to promote networking among practitioners, research, ethical practices, reciprocal campus-community partnerships, sustainable programs, and a culture of engagement and public awareness through service-learning and other forms of civic engagement.