Mercedes DeMasi: She adds university trustee to her list of achievements

Written by Susan Wolf
Thursday, 15 July 2010 13:00

Mercedes DeMasi is an achiever. The home-schooled young woman from Redding, who just completed her junior year at Western Connecticut State University, has already amassed an impressive list of recognitions and awards.

Her most recent achievement was her election in May to the Board of Trustees for the Connecticut State University System, where she serves as a student trustee not only for WestConn but also as an advocate for all students in the university system.

“So I am a state official,” Ms. DeMasi said with pride. She is filling the unexpired term of a student trustee, a position for which she campaigned, and is one of the five student representatives for their respective colleges in the system.

Ms. DeMasi, the daughter of Victor DeMasi and Roanna Metowski of Redding, is a non-traditional student at the university, where she is studying anthropology and sociology, and conflict resolution.

Due to chronic Lyme disease, Ms. DeMasi ended up dropping out of her first year at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk, where she was a junior. She then educated herself, earning her GED with honors. Lyme disease slowed her down a bit once she entered college, but she has steadfastly pursued her degree and expects to graduate next year.

“When I was a teenager so sick from Lyme I never saw myself as a political person,” Ms. DeMasi said, “but I ran for office to do something good for my school.”

“Anyone can do this. I encourage other young people, especially young women, to get involved in politics, and to consider going to WestConn. Don’t look down on it because it is a state school, or local. You can get a high quality education there...”

She later added that she sees herself in the long term “not as a politician, but as a public servant.”

While at WestConn, Ms. DeMasi has become involved in campus life. She is serving her second term in the university’s Student Government Association, where she represents the School of Arts and Sciences. She is also a member of the Rules and Environmental committees and is a student representative on the school’s Strategic Planning Implementation Team for Student Enhancement.

Besides this, Ms. DeMasi is editor and president of the university’s Social Sciences Journal for 2010, and was assistant editor, vice president and treasurer of the 2009 journal. She is president of the Anthropology Club and has organized workshops and debates based on popular culture to promote healthy relationships.

Last spring, Ms. DeMasi completed an Honors Teaching Practicum by serving as a teacher’s assistant for a section of Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, and was a student panelist for the university’s Women’s History Month panel. She has written articles and editorials for The Echo, WestConn’s student-run newspaper.

Her path to the trustee post began, she said, when she became a member of the first cohort of the Hancock Student Leadership Program. She served as a student representative on its 2009-10 steering committee and is a Distinguished Hancock Student Leader.

The program required a 40-hour applied project.

“I never thought of myself as a student leader before the program,” Ms. DeMasi said. “It put me in touch with higher administration,” she said, pointing to Dr. Walter Bernstein, vice president of student affairs, and Dr. Averell Manes, assistant chair of the Department of Social Services. The two co-chair the Hancock program. Both are her mentors, Ms. DeMasi said.

In addition her other honors, Ms. DeMasi is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, WestConn’s Honors Program and Iota Iota Iota, the Women’s Studies Honor Society. She is the recipient of the 2010 Rosa Parks Global Citizenship Award and the 2009 Vice President’s Award for Student Leadership, the highest honor for student leadership conferred annually on a WestConn student.

Besides her college activities, Ms. DeMasi has studied in Nicaragua, where she volunteered at an elementary school. She has also volunteered in educational and community development initiatives in Brazil, Jamaica and Ghana, as well as for domestic community service projects.

In 2007, she took part in a two-week archaeological dig in Cypress. As a result, she wrote a paper on flax production in medieval Cypress that has been accepted for publication for an academic monograph. Ms. DeMasi expects to see her paper published by the end of the year.

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