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Honored for Service Beyond
MTSU Honors students Elliot Certain and Brian Maxwell were among 10 individuals in higher education bestowed 2024 Harold Love Outstanding Community Service Awards at the state capitol recently.
The Tennessee Higher Education Commission administers the award to five students and five faculty/staff members each year in honor of late state Rep. Harold Love Sr.
“I work very hard to better my community, and it’s nice that others can benefit from the results of my work,” Certain said.
An Honors Transfer Fellow and Social Work major, Certain has worked with several organizations, both on and off campus. At MTSU, he is passionate about the American Democracy Project and is founding president of the Student Social Work Organization. Certain also works with the Tennessee Equality Project, an organization that fights for LGBTQ+ rights in the state legislature.
“Elliot volunteered over 60 hours with the Tennessee Equality Project and provided exceptional work, particularly in his work with the ‘Fighting Injustice Together’ panel,” said Chris Sanders, executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project.
Additionally, Certain interned with the AmeriCorps VISTA program as part of the Literacy Mid-South Program, working with children in Memphis community.
Certain also earned the Carlisle Award, given to the top 10 legislators, at the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature in fall 2023.
Maxwell, 43, was also a Buchanan Transfer Fellow and graduated in May with a degree in Video and Film Production (see related article on page 22).
