Canales, Priddy Receive Student Leadership Awards

Mikel Priddy and Augustine Canales are among 42 students from Washington and northern Idaho to be recognized with the 2020 Chancellor’s Student Civic Leader Award. Every year, each president or chancellor of Washington’s two- and four-year public and private colleges and universities (and North Idaho College) presents the award to two students who are working hard to solve critical issues in their communities.

The award is sponsored by Washington Campus Compact, a coalition of higher education institutions which advances the public purpose of colleges and universities in the state.

Additionally, Canales has been selected to receive the 2020 Governor’s Student Civic Leader Award, representing all four-year public institutions of higher education in Washington.

“I’ve always been a mentor and a leader. I’ve just never recognized it in myself.”
——Augustine Canales, ’19

The award to Priddy recognizes her exemplary work in housing and food insecurity. Priddy is a senior majoring in environmental sustainability. For the past year she has served as the coordinator of UW Tacoma’s Giving Garden, which aims to address food insecurity among students by giving them the opportunity for a hands-on experience with fresh food grown by students, for students.

The award to Canales recognizes his efforts to break the “school-to-prison pipeline.” Canales received a B.A. in social welfare in 2019 and is now pursuing an advanced degree in social work. He has worked with the Communities in Schools program at Tacoma’s Mt. Tahoma High School, and has helped bring UW Tacoma’s Action Mapping Project to local middle and high schools.