Saint Michael's senior Ashley Lincoln of Adams, Mass., wins 2013 Engaged Student Award from Vt. Campus Com

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Saint Michael's student Ashley Lincoln (right), winner of the Engaged Student Award, shown with Carrie Williams Howe at VCC Awards ceremony.. Photo Copyright 2013 by Alison Redlich

COLCHESTER, VT (04/24/2013)(readMedia)-- Cited for outstanding dedication to projects to bring peace to the Congo, Ashley Lincoln, a Saint Michael's College senior biology major, was named the 2013 winner of the Engaged Student Award. The Award was presented at the Vermont Campus Compact 2013 Engaged Campus Forum held April 12 at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Burlington, Vermont. Participants were students, faculty and staff from Vermont colleges and the University.

Ms. Lincoln, the daughter of Krista Lincoln of Adams and of Todd Lincoln of Adams, was recognized for her leadership in the "Join Hands for Congo," project, a rally at the U.S. State Department that resulted in a meeting with Ambassador Donald Yamamoto with whom they discussed appointment a Special Envoy to address the crisis in the Congo. The actual naming of the envoy earned the Saint Michael's campaign special praise for the effort.

"Ashley deserves to be singled out as a mainstay of the effort," Dr. Laurie Gagne, director of the Saint Michael's Edmundite Center for Peace and Justice, wrote in nominating Ms. Lincoln for the Engaged Student Award.

"Ashley was elected President of the Campaign for the Congo for 2012-2013 and led our third post-card effort (to raise awareness of the crisis in the Congo), along with hosting New York Times East Africa Bureau Chief Jeffrey Gettleman on campus in the fall, and she is leading our efforts to reach new Secretary of State John Kerry through our "Jambo John" phase of the Campaign for the Congo this spring," Dr. Gagne wrote about Ms. Lincoln.

She was cited particularly for educating the whole campus including her professors, for giving presentations on her campus and other campuses, for recruiting new members, and for building relationships with the local Congolese community. She is tireless in working to have an impact on U.S. foreign policy towards the Congo, which she does because, she says, she "can't not do it," Dr. Gagne wrote. She especially feels the pain of women who have been assaulted in the Congo. She has been an educator and an inspiration, Dr. Gagne said of Ms. Lincoln.

"Ashley has been engaged with the Dear Hillary Campaign (for the Congo) heart and soul and could not be more deserving of the award," Dr. Gagne said.

Saint Michael's College www.smcvt.edu  students are challenged to do their best, find their niche, take on opportunities to grow, and immerse themselves in academic pursuits. Intellectual rigor, compassion, teamwork, caring-these characterize a Saint Michael's experience. A residential Catholic college, Saint Michael's is steeped in the social justice spirit of its founding priests, the Edmundites. Saint Michael's is located three miles from Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top 10 college towns. Headed by President John J. Neuhauser, the college has 1,900 undergraduate students and 500 graduate students. Identified by the Princeton Review, 2013 as one of the nation's Best 377 Colleges, and included in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013, Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Goldwater, Pickering, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and other grants. The college is one of the nation's top-100, Best Liberal Arts Colleges as listed in the 2013 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

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