Acts of service often go unnoticed, but for University of Idaho senior Courtney Stoker, years of hard work have finally led to some recognition.
Stoker received the 2016 Rosa Parks Human Rights Achievement Award earlier this month at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Breakfast, along with Women”s Center Director Lysa Salsbury.
Austin Maas | Argonaut
Courtney Stoker collects donations from the Center for Volunteerism and Social Action”s various donation bins.
Stoker has worked at the UI Center for Volunteerism and Social Action two and a half years cultivating service opportunities for other students and engaging in social justice work herself.
“When I started at my position I hadn”t met Courtney, but I had heard stories about who she was,” said Natalie Magnus, director of the Volunteer Center.
Magnus and Lydia Hanson nominated Stoker for the award. Hanson said she and Stoker became close while planning a service trip to Indonesia.
Hanson said the trip to Indonesia not only began her friendship with Stoker, it was also the first time she observed Stoker”s work.
“I couldn”t really come up with a more deserving person for the award,” Hanson said. “Every interaction she has with a person speaks directly to their humanity.”
Stoker now works as the Outreach Social Justice Coordinator at the Volunteer Center.
She said so far her favorite part of her education has been the multiple Alternative Service Breaks she has helped coordinate and participated in.
“They”re an opportunity to use your privilege in a way that can help make a difference in the world,” Stoker said.
On the two-month-long trip to Indonesia where she met Hanson, Stoker said she and her group got to teach the locals English and lead an environmental sustainability effort and beach cleanup. Stoker said she has also traveled to Eugene to build a habitat for an endangered species of butterfly, and to Nicaragua to work on a coffee plantation.
Over winter break, she went on an ASB trip to Guatemala and worked with a variety of cooperatives to help encourage economic stability and environmental integrity.
After all her work, Stoker said receiving this award is encouraging.
“With social justice work it”s really easy to get down on yourself and think that you”re not making a difference,” Stoker said. “Getting a little recognition helps stoke the fire a bit.”
Hanson said she feels that simply being around Stoker and witnessing her resolve to aid others has made her a better person.
Magnus said she believes Stoker has contributed a lot to their team, especially with her work to bring back the Campus Conversation project.
Campus Conversations is a program designed to provide a platform for people to have conversations about difficult issues. The first Campus Conversation, held last semester, focused on recent Planned Parenthood controversies.
“I know that not only is her heart in this work, but she”s also very smart and forward-thinking,” Magnus said.
Stoker said she hopes this award will give her a bit of credibility and allow her to take more risks when it comes to her social justice work.
Stoker said she feels privileged to have been born in the circumstances she was and she would like to use that privilege to help others.
“The people in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Indonesia or wherever are humans, too. And just because they don”t have a certain passport shouldn”t mean that they aren”t able to do the same things as I am,” Stoker said, “I feel I have a responsibility to use the things I”ve been given in a way that helps other people.”
Austin Maas can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @austindmaas