I am delighted to nominate Fatima Omar for the 2012 AmeriCorps Service Impact Award. I have the great opportunity to supervise Fatima in her current term of service with College Possible.

College Possible is a nonprofit organization that is making college admission and success possible for low income students through an intensive curriculum of coaching and support. Fatima is serving as a College Coach at Saint Catherine University, working with over 100 college students supporting them in the pursuit of a college degree. Because the College Program is still in its developing stages, the position came with a bit of uncertainty and therefore required a very self-directed and self-motivated person. Fatima not only exemplifies these qualities, but far exceeds my expectations.

Ultimately, Fatima’s role is to help connect students to the resources on campus and to keep them on track to the end goal—college graduation. Fatima is truly committed to helping each of her 119 students succeed. To date, 100% of her students have completed their renewal FAFSA and at least one additional scholarship application. Fatima holds her students to the highest standards and does not allow any student to fall under her radar. Holding every student accountable often means long hours at the office, starting many days with 7:00am coffee meetings, and ending the evening with home visits. While most of her peers have the comfort of working from an office, Fatima does not have an office at Saint Catherine University. She has adapted to working from various locations on campus, while being just as effective in developing strong relationships with all her students. Fatima doesn’t hesitate to put in the time and effort to make sure that she is doing it to the best of her ability, often going above and beyond in order to get the job done.

While Fatima has done an amazing job supporting her students, she has also contributed her ethic of service when working with others in the organization. Her enthusiasm and positive attitude are infectious, and coupled with hard work and determination; Fatima is a natural leader among her peers. Fatima often offers her time and energy to help others on projects or with program wide events—from staffing student panels, to helping with student recruitment at a partner high school and being the face and voice for College Possible through various media outlets.

College Possible is an organization in which Corps members routinely go above and beyond what is required of them for their students. Even within such an organization, Fatima Omar stands out. I was an AmeriCorps member here myself, and I served alongside many others and supervised several more dedicated members and yet Fatima stands above the rest. She has raised the bar of expectations for my team and me! With her example we know that college success is truly possible for all students. Her students have achieved results that would not have been possible without her dedication and she’s also been an inspiration to her fellow AmeriCorps members in the process.

We are privileged to work with many outstanding service members through both our AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps*VISTA programs. However, Fatima’s dedication to her work, her complete dependability, constant inquisitiveness, maturity, flexibility, responsibility and focus on why she is here – to work toward a more just society and help students reach their full potential - makes her an ideal candidate for the 2012 Service Impact Award.