Honorable Mention Winner
John Allen, Jr.
University of North Florida
Graduate Student in Public Administration
3.71 GPA

While minorities in some schools may feel they don’t have a strong voice, John Allen, Jr. works hard at the University of North Florida to make sure that minorities and their organizations aren’t overlooked. Thanks to the 22-year-old’s revamping of the African-American Student Union and development of a campus-wide public relations campaign to recruit minority students, UNF now boasts one of its most diverse student bodies and freshman classes ever. AASU now has more than 250—40 non-minority—members. “Although this wasn’t an easy process, due to the organization’s reputation on campus, I was determined to promote unity, cultural appreciation, and leadership within the UNF and Jacksonville community,” Allen says.

It seems Allen will stop at nothing to make progress in motivating students all over the community to succeed. He does this by participating in UNF’s Office of Equal Opportunities and Employment Diversity Committee, where he serves as a student representative and helps to develop programs and events to address diversity issues at UNF. As a student instructor for the Nike Jaguar Community Scholars Program, Allen mentors at-risk high school students and college freshmen. “Throughout this time, what I’ve observed is an amazingly entrepreneurial young person who clearly understands his responsibility for making his community a better place, follows through on his commitments, shows a great level of leadership, and is highly effective at gaining consensus,” says Mauricio Gonzalez, vice president for student and international affairs. “He is a tireless and deserving young man who presents a positive impression in all that he does.”

Allen’s first task as AASU director was implementing a leadership retreat for UNF students who had not previously occupied leadership roles, helping them to develop self-confidence, networking skills, and managerial skills. It turned students who normally would’ve been considered “inactive” into student senators, club presidents, and community mentors. This was just one of the programs Allen had a hand in that increased minority participation on campus and united the students, supporting all ethnic and age groups.

Allen’s efforts don’t stop at UNF’s campus. He takes action through his roles as co-founder and president of The 51^st Way, Inc., where he has responsibilities such as teaching classes on goal-setting, self-image, and leadership and providing college student mentors for low-income high school students. In addition, he’s coordinator of the Upward Bound Community Scholars Program, which provides students aspiring to go to college with a summer program to prepare them for college admittance.

Jonathan Bishop, coordinator of multicultural recruitment and special programs says, he has known Allen since his first semester at UNF and recognized he wasn’t a typical “bright-eyed” college freshman from the beginning. “It was obvious that John was a young man with a sense of history, love for humanity, passion for learning, and vision of how he could positively affect change in his community,” Bishop says. “From his roles in Student Government to M.O.V.E. (Men of Vision and Energy) to being a mentor in the UNF Honors Program, John has demonstrated that he’s truly a young man moving in the right direction.”

The loans and scholarships Allen receives to pay for school only cover half of his total expenses. He’s able to pay the rest of his expenses through his part-time job as a Student Government employee.–RG

Contact Allen at allj0004@unf.edu.