Student Spotlight: Natalie Holguin ’19

Natalie Holguin is a third-year Health Science major here at Pace University. Working with the office since her first semester, there’s nothing she hasn’t done with CCAR. Read on to find out more about Natalie.

Year of Graduation: 2019
Major: Health Science

I feel like it [CCAR] is a bridge to connect students to outside resources.

What exactly do you do with CCAR?

I’m the Student Outreach and Social Media Coordinator. Before we had the Marketing Committee, I did a lot of the social media and I still do. I do a lot of the stories. Right now, I do an overview and check what’s going on with social media. A lot of the time, Jenny [Marbella] will come to me if she needs help with anything and I’ll help out but a lot of what I do is student outreach and trying to get students for events. If they need CE [Civic Engagement] hours or anything.

How did you get involved with CCAR?

I got involved my first semester. It was actually Heather Novak that came to one of my CE courses and she told me about Alternative Spring Break. My first semester here, I immediately applied. I was so intrigued. I went to Alternative Spring Break and that’s how I learned about CCAR and from that moment on, I applied for a job ‘cause they had an opening and that’s how I got started.

Why did you decide to work with them?

I wanted to work with them just because I loved what they were doing. I love the passion that they had for what they were doing. I loved that they were so willing and open to connecting students to getting involved with social injustices, getting students to vote, and community service, which is something that I’ve been doing my entire life. So it was good to [combine] those two worlds into one. Community service has been a part of my world since forever. Being able to do that at school and as my job was just a plus.

What does being involved in your community mean to you?

There is no technical definition and I feel like that’s where people find an issue. People are like, “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to get involved.” But even the littlest things like helping out in any setting that your community needs is beneficial for your community. Even minor things that you can do like starting programs [or] committees — anything helps. It doesn’t have to be something super major. You don’t have to go volunteer [or] build houses. That’s not what benefiting your community is. It is that, but that’s not the only thing that it is and that’s where people get confused and worried about community service. They’re like “Oh, I don’t have time,” but it’s the little things.

What does CCAR itself mean to you?

I feel like it’s a bridge to connect students to outside resources. As I said before, there’s political and social injustices that I want to talk about, so I feel like it’s giving a students a voice to talk about things that are passionate to them. I feel like it’s to also connect them with things that they weren’t aware [of] before and informing them on certain things that are happening in the community that they may not have been aware of. It’s kind of just a bridge to connect them in the future to things that they want to do later on in life.

What are some things you’ve done with CCAR or on your own time as a student leader and advocate?

With CCAR, I’ve done almost every single event. Every. Single. One. So I’ve done all the events but outside of class I just try to volunteer. I’ve done political campaigns. I did that a lot more before. I still want to do it but now my heart is more towards my major of health science so I’m [leaning] toward more clinicals and focusing on that community and that setting. My heart right now is in medicine.

Check in on the blog to see all the great things Natalie will be doing during her final few semesters at Pace.