Patrick Kelly '25 Honored as a Newman Civic Fellow
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Through his focus on service, which began at a young age, Kelly endeavors to uplift overlooked communities.
Because of his enduring commitment to service, Patrick Kelly ’25, a political science and French double major, was recently named a Newman Civic Fellow. He is one of 142 young leaders hailing from 38 states, Washington, D.C., and Mexico, that comprise the 2024-2025 cohort of fellows. Through the yearlong program, which recognizes students with exceptional leadership potential, Kelly will have access to a wide range of learning and networking opportunities that will bolster his ability to enact positive change in the communities he serves.
For Kelly, those communities are numerous thanks to an engagement with service that began at a young age. While growing up in York, Pennsylvania, Kelly says, he was influenced by the experiences that spurred his maternal grandfather to flee the pernicious racism of 1950s Mississippi for Pennsylvania. He credits his family, members of which provide career guidance and after-school opportunities for young students in Harrisburg, for teaching him the importance of uplifting overlooked communities.
“My family has always placed importance on volunteering, public service, and getting involved in the community, especially on my dad’s side. They really pushed me to be aware of inequalities and injustices,” Kelly says. “Being able to do so many different things, even if they are small, for so many different people and seeing the effect it has on them is incredible.”
Throughout high school, Kelly was a peer tutor and, more recently, served as a summer intern in the office of U.S. Senator Bob Casey and with CASA, a nonprofit organization that supports York’s immigrant communities. At CASA, Kelly helped community members fill out N-400 applications for naturalization and drew on his proficiency in French to assist its Haitian clients. “Patrick is all about action,” says Senior Associate Dean of the College Kelly Wilcox, who nominated Kelly for the fellowship. “He is incredibly smart and articulate and enacts his values through concrete action and constant reflection.”
Service has also been a key component of Kelly’s Haverford experience. During the summer before his first year at Haverford, he applied for a position within the Marilou Allen Office of Service and Community Collaboration and got the job, a rarity for a first-year student. As a student leader in the office, Kelly works to connect Haverford students, particularly first-years, with communities across the greater Philadelphia area through the office’s programs.
“His commitment to service is evident in the work that he does for and with our campus and nearby Ardmore community, from welcoming neighbors onto campus for events to leading trips to local parks to plant trees. All in all, Patrick is just a perfect candidate for the Newman Civic Fellowship,” says Emily Johnson, the office’s director. “Patrick is a thoughtful and creative leader on our team, and we're proud of him and happy he is being recognized in this way.”
As he prepares to enter his final year at Haverford, Kelly has his sights set on his ultimate goal: service at the international level. He says he plans to leverage his majors to work with organizations and agencies focused on human rights and equality. This summer and fall, Kelly will be an intern with the U.S. Department of State and its Office of International Religious Freedom. That experience will also inform his senior thesis, which, Kelly says, will be focused on the rise of religious nationalism and its impact on religious minorities worldwide.
The Newman Civic Fellowship is a program of Campus Compact, a coalition of colleges and universities working to advance the public purpose of higher education. Learn more.
