Jasity Mena ’24 wins the 2024 Anna Lord Strauss Medal
The 2024 Anna Lord Strauss Medal was awarded to scholar-activist Jasity Mena ’24, an educational studies and sociology double major, human development minor and scholar in the Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy from New York, New York.
The award is given annually at Commencement to a graduating senior who has done outstanding work in public or community service, including service to the College. It is presented in honor of Anna Lord Strauss, a remarkable woman who was national president of the League of Women Voters, held five presidential appointments to national and international committees and missions, and served Connecticut College as a trustee for the extraordinary term of 32 years.
Mena has demonstrated a deep and unwavering commitment to civic engagement at Connecticut College, in New London and in her hometown of New York City, particularly in her efforts to empower and educate youth of color. Through the ENRICH afterschool program, the Drop-In Learning Center, Eye to Eye, and the Hispanic Alliance of Southeastern Connecticut, Mena has mentored New London middle and high school students and promoted Latinx empowerment. Last summer, she interned with the Partnership for After School Education in New York City, through which she co-led programming for the City Parks Foundation Green Girls outdoor and STEM education summer camp, and worked as a teacher’s aide with the East Harlem Tutorial Program. Through Conn’s Summer Civic Leaders Program, Mena has also worked with the Community Land Trust to address housing inequities and with FRESH New London to address access to fresh produce.
At Conn, Mena is a Posse Scholar, Holleran Center fellow, Housefellow and member of the Women of Color Collective. As a Center for the Critical Study of Race and Ethnicity intern, she was instrumental in organizing a recent CCSRE trip to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. She has also served as executive director for the People of Color Alliance, a student Advancement officer, a student teacher at the Child Development Lab School and a teaching assistant for the “Foundations of Education” course. In 2021, she was awarded a Newman Civic Fellowship by Campus Compact in recognition of her commitment to activism and public problem-solving.
In her coursework, Mena has achieved Dean’s High Honors. She completed a senior integrative project, “Education as a Force for Change,” and developed a tailored, trauma-informed training curriculum to prepare Conn students for internships, volunteer work or mentorship programs with New London Public Schools.
In a nomination letter, Education Professors Isaac Gottesman and Karen Pezzetti praised Mena’s commitment to service and leadership and her tireless efforts to educate and mentor young people.
“Jasity embodies what it means to put the liberal arts into action,” they wrote.
