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In partnership with  (CCNH), Granite State College is thrilled to recognize students, staff, and partners who are have demonstrated acts of service within our greater community. In a virtual held on April 14, honorees from the Granite State College community included:

• Martin Toe ’21
• Peter Conklin (staff)
• New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association

Meet the Honorees

Martin Toe ’21 received the 2021 Presidents’ Leadership Award. The award honors individual students or student organizations that have made “outstanding contributions to community service, service learning, and/or civic engagement.”

With interests that span music, spoken word, and community activism, Martin works toward integrating each of these passions into one, while earning his degree in Business Management. During his time as a student, Martin deepened his role in the community by pursuing an internship with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) as a Grassroots Organizer. In this role, Martin organized “Know Your Rights” training, a Civics Academy, and a delegation of young adults that traveled to Washington, D.C. to advocate with our congressional delegation for immigrant rights. While interning at AFSC, Martin seized the opportunity to take on a leadership role by co-founding  with a fellow organizer. Change for Concord is a diverse group of young adults who are working together to improve the quality of life for people in the Concord area and make it a more inclusive and accessible community. Martin credits AFSC for giving him the tools to lead and Granite State College applauds Martin’s efforts to strengthen our community.

Peter Conklin was honored with the 2021 Presidents’ Good Steward Award, which honors a faculty, administration, or staff member who has contributed their expertise to the community through public service. When the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in early 2020, Peter Conklin stepped forward. What began as an extension of his formal staff role as the Director of Facilities, Safety, and Sustainability, soon grew into something more significant. Peter emerged as a trusted source of information for colleagues across the College, delivering bi-weekly college-wide updates with accurate, science-based information in a distilled, accessible format. These presentations not only informed the work of the organization, but also provided valued support for his colleagues’ roles as citizens, parents, and caretakers. Through this process, Peter demonstrated humanity and shared the vulnerability that we all felt in the midst of a public health crisis. Through his regular communication, empathy, and sense of humor, Peter kept the College community informed, educated, and coordinated during the pandemic. Granite State College is thankful for Peter Conklin’s leadership and proud to recognize him as the recipient of the Good Steward Award.

The  (NHLRA) is the 2021 recipient of the President’s Community Partner Award, which celebrates nonprofit organizations that enhance the quality of life in the community in meaningful and measurable ways and engaged in the development of sustained, reciprocal partnerships with a college or university.

The NHLRA has long been a valued partner of Granite State College, teaming up to create professional development programs that strengthen the hospitality workforce and create opportunities for professional growth that can turn jobs into careers and that can strengthen the industry. Through this partnership, NHLRA has been an advocate of the restaurant and lodging industry in New Hampshire by co-creating industry curriculum from management to leadership, customer service, and conflict resolution to human resources and managing operations.

Throughout the past year, representatives from NHLRA have served on the Governor’s Economic Re-Opening Task Force and they have partnered with New Hampshire Travel & Tourism to create Rally for NH Restaurants, a grassroots campaign to promote restaurants and highlight ways the community could support restaurants through the winter months. They have been a critical intermediary to businesses, many of them small and independent, helping to identify and match those businesses to resources made available through myriad federal relief programs. NHLRA also launched the New Hampshire Hospitality Employee Relief Fund, raising nearly $350,000 and providing grant support to more than 750 individual employees affected by the pandemic. Granite State College commends the New Hampshire Lodging & Restaurant Association for their impactful advocacy and leadership.

For more information about Campus Compact for New Hampshire (CCNH), please visit: .

About: Campus Compact New Hampshire: Founded in 1997, Campus Compact for New Hampshire (CCNH) is a statewide consortium of college and university presidents and private sector partners who are united in their commitment to the civic purposes of higher education. Our mission is to be a catalyst to integrate community service and civic responsibility throughout the academic and student life goals of its member institutions.

CCNH works in close collaboration with the New Hampshire College & University Council, the New Hampshire Department of Education, Volunteer NH! and the Corporation for National Service and national Campus Compact. Campus Compact for New Hampshire is also sponsored by the New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation.