The National Collegiate Honors Council has named UT San Antonio Honors College seniors Jasbeth Medrano and Michael Pozos recipients of the 2025 Community Engagement Award.
The council, which supports college-level honors education, presents one award annually to a student or group showing a commitment to positively contributing to their community through service and leadership.
Medrano and Pozos were recognized for their innovative storytelling project, “Beyond the Block San Antonio,” which aims to amplify the voices of formerly incarcerated individuals and those affected by the criminal justice system.
Assisted by local and national criminal justice and advocacy groups, the two students held a series of storytelling workshops for participants wanting to contribute their stories to the project. Hosted together with several experienced public speakers, advocates and professors, the workshops provided helpful tools for sharing personal narratives through public speaking, presentations and writing.
“We sought to create a collaborative space for developing pieces and delivering peer feedback,” said Pozos, a public administration and policy major in the College of Health, Community and Policy. “This process involved trust and vulnerability because for our participants, these were not just stories, but their lived experiences.”
At the “Beyond the Block” keynote event last year, nine project participants had an opportunity to share their unique life experiences — through prose, poetry, music and other creative outlets — for an audience of more than 120 people.
“Our goal was to create a platform for system-impacted individuals to showcase their talents and engage the San Antonio community in challenging their preconceived notions,” said Medrano, a political science major in the College of Liberal and Fine Arts. “The community built through learning and storytelling acts as the groundwork for future shifts in the narrative around criminalization and incarceration, and plays a role in empowering overlooked communities.”
From classroom to community advocacy
Medrano and Pozos were inspired to create “Beyond the Block San Antonio” after participating in the Philosophy and Literature Circle, an Honors College course that allows UT San Antonio students to explore humanities, philosophy and literature alongside incarcerated participants at the Dominguez State Jail in San Antonio.
The impactful experience of learning alongside peer incarcerated scholars motivated the two students to extend the course to benefit the broader community.
“During our second semester of college, we took the Honors course taught by Dr. Mel Webb — Moral Imagination and Incarceration,” Medrano said. “Through shared poems, laughter and storytelling, we created bonds that inspired us to find ways to continue this learning and share it with our community, which manifested as ‘Beyond the Block San Antonio.’”
Medrano and Pozos also are active in community causes outside of “Beyond the Block San Antonio,” volunteering for various social causes and organizations on campus, in San Antonio and statewide.
Both are involved in the UT San Antonio Top Scholar program, a competitive academic program for high-achieving undergraduates. They also are former Texas Civic Ambassadors, a program offered by the Annette Strauss Institute that prepares college students to become active, civically engaged leaders.
“I have known both students since their freshman year, and I cannot think of better representatives for the community engagement award,” said Kristi Meyer, assistant dean for special programs in the Honors College and director of the UT San Antonio Top Scholar program.
“They approached this new experience with open minds, open ears, compassion and an interest in learning from others,” she added. “We know that the event helped others think about incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people from that same perspective.”
In November, the pair was formally recognized at the National Collegiate Honors Council Annual Conference in San Diego, where they also gave a presentation highlighting their work.
The Honors College at UT San Antonio offers Roadrunners an opportunity to participate in programs that expand their knowledge and help them grow as students and leaders.
The college’s emphasis on experiential learning and career readiness promotes student development outside the classroom through internships, community-based service learning, study abroad programs and undergraduate research.
