Journey to the Campus Compact Student Leadership Award: EmRhys Jenkins ’26

In a remarkable achievement that speaks to their exceptional dedication to community service and social justice, CC’s EmRhys Jenkins ’26 has been named one of this year’s recipients of the prestigious Campus Compact Student Leadership Award. This national recognition celebrates Jenkins’s outstanding contributions to civic engagement and their tireless efforts to address homelessness in the Colorado Springs community.

As the founder of Allies of Unhoused Youth at CC, Jenkins has transformed their personal experiences with homelessness into a powerful force for change. Their organization works closely with The Place, a local homeless shelter, creating vital connections between campus resources and community needs. “The Place and my freshman year roommate, Melanie Robertson, have been my catalysts that drive me,” Jenkins reflects, acknowledging the crucial role that both engagement with community organizations and personal relationships have played in their journey.

Jenkins brings a unique perspective to their advocacy work, shaped by their own experiences with housing insecurity. Rather than approaching the issue from a place of pity, they emphasize the importance of understanding and direct engagement. “It’s easier to separate oneself and compartmentalize harsh realities of the systems in place rather than directly confront fundamental problems in our society that we are often implicated in,” Jenkins explains, challenging common approaches to social issues that create artificial divisions between folks from different backgrounds. They urge people to ask questions and risk saying the wrong thing, emphasizing the importance of engagement from the approach of understanding and connecting, not sympathizing and compartmentalizing.

Their academic journey as a sociology major at CC perfectly aligns with their advocacy work. Jenkins reflects on Professor Sandy Wong’s course on race and inequality as a pivotal moment that shaped their academic path. They approach their education with a practical mindset, viewing classroom learning as a tool for addressing real-world challenges and understanding social contexts. They prioritize their position as a CC student and the tangible societal change they can make with the resources they have access to currently.

A defining moment in Jenkins’s journey occurred during their high school years in Utah, when their success in speech events led to an opportunity to travel to Atlanta. The experience was marked by striking contrasts — experiencing homelessness while being flown to stay in an upscale hotel. During this visit, Jenkins witnessed Atlanta’s significant challenges with homelessness, sparking a desire to create broader change.

Looking ahead, Jenkins plans to leverage their upcoming recognition at Campus Compact’s annual Compact25 conference, which, in a full-circle moment, is being hosted in Atlanta this April. They aim to connect with the Atlanta Homeless Union and other organizations, seeking to strengthen their work in Colorado Springs through collaboration and knowledge-sharing across communities. They are open to funding opportunities and support for their goals.

The Campus Compact Student Leadership Award recognizes not just Jenkins’s achievements, but also their potential to inspire and lead future initiatives. Their work exemplifies the power of combining personal experience, academic knowledge, and community engagement to create meaningful social change. As they continue their journey at CC, Jenkins remains committed to building bridges between campus resources and community needs, while challenging others to engage more deeply with social issues.

Through their leadership of Allies of Unhoused Youth and their broader advocacy work, Jenkins demonstrates how student leadership can catalyze meaningful community change. Their recognition through the Campus Compact Student Leadership Award stands as a testament to their exceptional commitment to civic engagement and their innovative approach to addressing pressing social challenges and inequities.