Quinnipiac Presidential Public Service Fellows spending summer working in Hamden town government

Caption: From left, Prof. Genevieve Quinn, Elizabeth Connelly, Joshua Dontigney, Samaya Cabrera, Jenna Santos, Audrey Everett, Prof. Scott McLean, Kiera Baxter and Melody Saboori.

Seven Quinnipiac University students are spending the summer in Hamden town government, gaining first-hand experience in municipal operations while serving the community through full-time public service work.

The students are part of Quinnipiac’s Presidential Public Service Fellowship Program, now in its 23rd year.

The fellowship places outstanding Quinnipiac student leaders into municipal departments for paid full-time public service work during the summer. Students in the fellowship leverage their know-how for advancing projects defined by the community and that leave an enduring benefit to the town.

The fellows are: Kiera Baxter (Fairfield, Connecticut, Hamden Town Clerk Office), Samaya Cabrera (New York, New York, Hamden Youth Services), Elizabeth Connelly (Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, Hamden Mayor’s Office), Joshua Dontigney (Wallingford, Connecticut, Hamden Planning & Zoning), Audrey Everett (Wilmington, Delaware, Hamden Community Services), Melody Saboori (Reading, Pennsylvania, Hamden Economic Development), and Jenna Santos (Shelton, Connecticut, Hamden Grants Office).

The fellowship is supported by the office of Quinnipiac University President Marie Hardin and by a financial donor trust established by Hank Bartels and Nancy Bartels in 2003. Since the start of the program in 2003, 159 students have served as Public Service Fellows, representing nearly 50,000 hours of service in the community.

In 2026, the student fellows will contribute approximately 2,800 hours of service to town government operations. Fellows work directly in support of department heads and municipal leaders on projects ranging from grant writing and public relations to economic analysis, environmental policy and program logistics.

“This fellowship is extremely important to me, and I am grateful to have been placed at the Keene Community Center,” Everett said. “I strongly believe in giving back to the community, and this fellowship provides a meaningful opportunity to do so.”

“The Presidential Public Service Fellowship is a meaningful opportunity for me to further develop both personally and professionally while deepening my commitment to public service and community engagement,” Cabrera said.

“As a second-year fellow, I have seen firsthand how the fellowship can impact someone,” Connelly said. “By the end of the summer, I saw how my work directly impacted the government and the Hamden community.”

“The Presidential Public Service Fellowship is important to me because it provides the opportunity to engage directly in public service and see firsthand how local government impacts communities,” Baxter said.

The fellowship program was launched in 2003 and is directed by Scott McLean, professor of political science.

“We hear a lot about Generation Z as apathetic and distrustful of government. Not these students,” McLean said. “The fellows today are just as idealistic and hungry to make an impact as in the past. The difference now is that they come into the program already with more experience in data analysis, writing and program management.”