New student activities leader at MCC ready to roll | Local News Stories
Students at Mohave Community College can expect to see a new face on staff when they step on the Havasu campus for the new school year.
Austin Covington is the new student activity coordinator at MCC Havasu. The position, which is new to the college, is tasked with assisting the campus’s student activities council and helping with other student life activities or events.
Maria Ayon, the dean of student and community engagement, says now that MCC Havasu has Covington to focus on student life at the community college, it frees up more of her time to focus on involving the community.
“Austin is a huge part of helping grow student life,” Ayon said. “It is nice to have someone who is familiar with our processes and procedures and then is also familiar with what has been done in the past. He also has a vision of where things can go with the right direction.”
Covington is no stranger to the Lake Havasu community or MCC. Covington says he has been in Havasu for 20 years and has worked for the community college — in one form or another — on and off since 2014.
Graduating from MCC with an associate degree in liberal arts, Covington transferred to Arizona State University and received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a minor in philosophy. After receiving his four year degree, Covington says he came back to Lake Havasu City to save money while planning his next moves.
It was during that down time, Covington says, that a friend told him about the new MCC president, Stacy Klippenstein, and the new MCC Havasu Dean, Ayon. Covington says he was excited about the vision Klippenstein and Ayon had for the college and wanted to be a part of enacting that vision.
“I really wanted to come back just to even be part of the college because their mission statements and goals are really interesting,” Covington said.
During his time as a student at MCC, Covington says he was active in almost every club the campus had including serving as president for the STEAM club and Phi Beta Kappa club. During his term as Phi Beta Kappa president, Covington says he worked with fellow students to create a literacy program for children in the community.
The project involved parents coming to the MCC library with their children for story time with students reading to the parents and their kids and then completing an activity — like building planes with Popsicle sticks — afterwards.
According to Covington, the project went on to win an award at the Phi Beta Kappa state convention.
“It turned out to be a really huge success,” Covington said.
Covington says experiences like his work with the literacy project helped make the community college think he would be a good fit for the student activity coordinator position.
“From my background (MCC) is hoping that I can give guidance to the new group of students and give them a powerful foundation to leap off of,” Covington said.
Covington says his biggest take away from all his extracurricular activities experience—and what he wants to impart onto students in his new role—is that it is not as difficult to make things as one might think.
“You can do stuff like (the literacy program) and all it takes is a little bit of motivation,” Covington said.
Looking ahead to the upcoming school year, Covington says he is excited to see what ideas students will come to him with, but he is also planning on getting the student activity council to focus on a legacy project they can leave behind.
“So they can show the college all the fun stuff they did and have something that will live on to remember them by,” Covington said.
The first day of classes for the fall semester at MCC is Aug. 22.
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